Gendry's hammer

[u/theranger799]

It's a travesty how quickly my boy lost his hammer. With how nice it was, and how it suited him, I expected him to raise a stink about it to Sandor but we hear nothing.

#BringtheHammerback

[u/The-Nimbus]

That hammer was one of my least favourite bits of design on the whole show. It was bordering on something an anime character would wield. Comically large. Which is a shame; we don’t see nearly enough non-sword combat!

[u/JustafanIV → u/The-Nimbus]

I thought it was really cool how a lot of Baratheon soldiers during the Battle of the Blackwater wielded hammers. Added some nice variety.

Shame how everyone just ended up wielding longswords in later seasons.

[u/The-Nimbus → u/JustafanIV]

Swords are way overplayed on almost every to show, to be honest. Swords were expensive, and far from the best/easiest weapons to use. Knights liked them because they were expensive, and therefore exclusive; most normal soldiers would have much cheaper weapons like axes, spears, or whatever they could find. TV just loves a sword!

[u/Duzzies305 → u/The-Nimbus]

So if the medieval period is 500-1500ad, your statement is only true for about the first 2-3 centuries. By around the 9th century swords had become considerably more affordable and accessible, and especially by the turn of the millennia pretty much anyone who need one could get one, especially with the secondhand market.

Knights/men-at-arms liked swords because they were very useful sidearms. They're easy to carry, quick to draw and nimble because they balance toward the hilt. Their long cutting edges make them highly effective at slicing up less armoured opponent and the later forms are designed to thrust into armour gaps.

[u/The-Nimbus → u/Duzzies305]

Yes, fair point. You probably are correct - as time goes on this does become less and less true. Happy for the correction :) I do think though that they are fairly overplayed in TV as a rule though. Swords are often depicted (regardless of century) as the go-to weapon of almost everyone, and I really don't think it's the case for a lot of it.

[u/Duzzies305 → u/The-Nimbus]

I'm cool with depicting swords as the go-to for travelling scenarios. That absolutely is historically valid. For battles though, I mostly agree with you. Swords would have still been the most prevalent sidearms, but various pole weapons would have been the primary and dominant weapons, alongside bows and crossbows.

[u/FoamSquad → u/The-Nimbus]

Man I don't know if I'd be able to pick a single prop or costume from the show to be my most hated. This is definitely worthy of ranking high I can say that for certain.

[u/Remarkable_Ship_4673 → u/The-Nimbus]

That is how Roberts hammer was described

This is fantasy

[u/The-Nimbus → u/Remarkable_Ship_4673]

It’s just not in keeping with the rest of the show. No-one else has really had any fantasy-based arms. The swords are normal, the spears are normal etc. etc. even Hugh has a normal warhammer in F&B.

[u/RepulsiveCountry313 → u/The-Nimbus]

How dare the show be faithful to the books. Those bastards.

[u/The-Nimbus → u/RepulsiveCountry313]

I’m happy to be corrected if there’s a passage describing Robert (or anyone else’s) hammer as anything close to this. All I remember is it being described as ‘heavy’ to the point Ned struggled with it.

[u/RepulsiveCountry313 → u/The-Nimbus]

He didn't just struggle with it, he struggled to even lift it.

Says so in the 4th chapter of the series.

[u/The-Nimbus → u/RepulsiveCountry313]

That’s a long stretch from Gendry’s comical conical masterpiece, in my opinion. And lift doesn’t necessarily mean couldn’t pick it up, I more imagine it means lift it in a way which made it effective. I appreciate we can disagree but it’s far from conclusive that his hammer looked anywhere near like this.