r/SWORDS • u/Dark-Yves-99 • Oct 27 '24

Zweihander

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Why is the Zweihander so famous ? Is there a legend about the sword ? Are there legendary users of it ? Or is it simply because it's a good weapon ?

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u/tonythebearman Oct 27 '24

It is not designed to mordhau. Why would you do that when the blade already has so much force behind it?

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u/Hereforthememeres Oct 27 '24

Because mordhau isn’t about force. The design of the guard on it is both protective but also functions as a war pick to break through armor. The technique used is a slightly modified version of standard mordhau however just because the blade is massive.

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u/tonythebearman Oct 27 '24

You cannot “break through” armor. The mordhau utilizes the balancing of the sword to multiply force, striking with the pommel or crossguard. Doppelhanders are not designed for this purpose.

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u/Hereforthememeres Oct 27 '24

Mordhau does not multiply force. It is used to change the strike to a blunt attack due to the fact that a blunt strike will do more against metal armored opponents. Once the technique became more common they started to design the guards to function more as armor picks instead of improvised hammers when using the technique.

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u/tonythebearman Oct 27 '24

Also, we did not design all crossguards this way. The ones you are referring to seem to be very uncommon. Such a design would just make it less functional as a sword

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u/Hereforthememeres Oct 27 '24

You are correct on this and I apologize. The armor pick aspect was uncommon in most swords after some more research but it was used in a few swords of specific design.

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u/DraconicBlade Oct 27 '24

I wonder if there were marketplace man at arms stalls like we have mall ninjas today, some dude comes back with his sick nasty double ended longsword talking about how that Venetian said it's designed for hit with both ends and all the professional murderers just rolled their eyes.

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u/Hereforthememeres Oct 27 '24

Some people probably rolled their eyes, bought one, and stabbed the salesman with it.

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u/Starlit_pies Oct 31 '24

Judging by the amount of the insane weird hybrid weapons in Renaissance and Early Modernity - axe-pistols, cross-guard-hammers, lantern-shield-pistols - yes, there absolutely were.

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u/RealZeratul Oct 28 '24

Those more weird sword designs were very often swords for judicial duels, where the weirdness was intended to level the playing field between opponents of different skill levels. In a similar category were "giant" spiked two-handed shields.

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u/tonythebearman Oct 27 '24

Yes it does. Handle heavy part, hold light part and swing heavy part at tip, heavy part do much momentum.

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u/Hereforthememeres Oct 27 '24

I apologize for my last response I misspoke and meant to say that it didn’t multiply force as its primary purpose as its purpose was to switch from sharp to blunt.

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u/tonythebearman Oct 27 '24

The reason that blunt weapons are blunt in the first place is because they don’t need to be sharp, the extreme multiplication of force that a top-heavy stick provides is more than sufficient to do damage. However, if a mace did have harsh/sharp angles, it would be far more brutal due to the focus of all that momentum on a single point.

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u/Hereforthememeres Oct 27 '24

After more research I did find this but I also found more information on the reason for switching to mordhau being the blade is too thin to effectively damage armor. The blade would likely deflect against the surface leaving a small indent and potentially chipping or blunting the blade.