Sword Sunday #52 - North's sword...and all good things must come to and end.

So, in something of a new tradition for my family, we sat down Christmas eve and watched "Rise of the guardians" as a family. Say what you will about the movie, but I found that the story narrative, the characters (a Tattooed Russian "Santa", a marshal arts trained, six foot tall, Australian Easter Bunny,  a hummingbird-winded, feathered Tooth fairy, and a plump, Sand man literally made of magic sand) and the plot to be engaging, fun, and most importantly, entertaining. 

So, for the fifty second Sword Sunday of 2020, I wanted to have some fun and talk about the set of swords our butt-kicked Santa Clause was swinging as he went against "Pitch", the aptly nick-named Boogieman. 

Our hard hitting Russian enforcer brings a matched pair of single bladed, straight-backed swords with single hilts and hand-guards. The handles are wrapped, and likely wire wrapped to help shift the center of gravity back towards the hands for balance, which lends itself towards the speed of the strike with a single handed weapon. 

If you look at the weapon in detail, it is actually a fairly well illustrated back-sword, which dates to the second quarter of the sixteenth century in western Europe, and did, in fact, have some counterparts into Russia. Like the weapon in the movie, the back sword was regarded has a sharp, fast cutting weapon with a secondary thrusting attack. It was made for the speed of the strike, and was used as a fast moving weapon meant to cut deeply on the strike or the draw. 

And, if you look at the movie and how "North" wields his matched pair, that is very much in line with how he swings at the Nightmares and then at "Pitch" in the film. 

So, Truth be told, Kudo's to the director and animators for this really well done bit of Hollywood weaponry. 

And, that leads us to our final topic of the series.

When I set out to do this project, I knew that it was be a one year undertaking, and I knew that while there was a lot more to talk about, I couldn't blindly go on just talking about swords, not with as many things as I have going on right now in my life. And.... to think that I laid out this project before 2020 became "2020".... the fact that I made it is, frankly, no small miracle in my opinion. 

I hope you have enjoyed this year-long voyage of swords as a topic, both as weapons and a cultural icons. it has been an eye opening process writing about them, and an engaging process sharing my findings and information about them with you.

But, as was said by better people than me,

All good things must come to an end.

And with that, I leave you on this, the last Sword Sunday, and the last Sunday of 2020. 

His Lordship Ivo Blackhawk
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"Long Live the King!"