Writing About Swords, Bows, and Other Weapons in Fantasy and Historical Fiction (Phrase Sheet/Brainstorm Aid)

It’s important to understand how different weapons are used. You can’t hack someone’s head off with a fencing blade and slashing with a double-handed axe would tire you out. Here’s the three main classes. Some weapons can do two, but I’ve yet to see a weapon to be capable of all three:

1. Slashing/Cutting/Slicing

. unable to cut through hard objects

. curved weapons, often slender and sharpest on outer edge

2. Thrusting/Piercing/Stabbing

. targets gaps in armor to pierce vital organ

. weapons often straight, thin; may be lightweight

 

3. Cleaving/Cleaving/Hacking/Copping/Cutting/Splitting

. broad, heavy, solid weapons held with both hands

. aims to hack of a limb then decapitate or split the skull

. generally slow

 

PARTS OF WEAPON

Ricasso (unsharpened length of blade just above the guard or handle)

Ribbon of steel

Curves of deadly steel

Knuckle guard

Sword-hilt

Crosspiece/crossguard (bar of metal at right angles to the blade)

The shell of his hilt (fencing sword)

Quillions (an arm of the crossguard of a sword)

Haft (handle of axes usually)

From point to pommel

Head from haft



HANDLES/DECORATION

Red-hafted war axe

“Lion-pommeled dagger” (George RR Martin)

“Elric fingered the raised runes on the hilt of his black broadsword” (Michael Moorcock)

Short-handled cleavers

“She had handles of ash wood, one either side of the sword’s tang and over the years the twin handles had become polished and smooth. Such worn handles are dangerous. In battle they can slip in the hand, especially when blood is splashed on them”

Ivory-handled rapier

“Hilt was ivory, carved with a spiral pattern”

“Studied the hilt, which was carved from the hard black wood of Syrian terebinth.” (Steven Saylor)

“pearl-handled fruit knife”

A sword with a silver-chased guard

Silver-hilted sword

Jewel-hilted

Jewelled knob

Snakes coiling handle of dagger

A silver knife, its handle cunningly wrought like twining vines

S-shaped quillions

Gold and bone hilt

“Its grip was white leather, its pommel a rose in alabaster” (George RR Martin)

Feathered spear/tasseled spear

BLADES/BLADE CONDITION

Thin-bladed

Broad-bladed sword

Wide-bladed sword

Black-bladed dagger

Leaf-shaped short sword

Serpentine dagger

A serpentine blade as long as his forearm

Wavy-bladed

Curved and tapered at the elevated end like a slice of melon

Slender blade/knife

Double-edged dagger

Serrated falchion

Sawtoothed

Notched sword

“Square-section stilettos, the kind engineers and artillerymen carry, with a scale of inches engraved on the blade” (KJ Parker)



“Drawing second sword, its blade etched in prayers as were my own” (Devin Madson)

“The sword… Ceda had never seen one so close in daylight. It looked like a sliver of night, a thing hidden from the sun’s eye.” (Bradley Beaulieu) 

“The blade was silver-green and in its surface one could sometimes glimpse a swathe of twilit sky, or the colossal trees of some primordial forest, as though the sword itself were a window to another, older age.” (Nicholas Eames)



“Most swords smelled like iron, or oil, or else they didn’t smell at all, but Vellichor wafted like a spring breeze, rife with the scent of flowering lilacs and fresh green grass” (Nicholas Eames)

“The blade itself had a milky quality to it, as if someone had just breathed on the steel and paused before wiping off the condensation. Below the seeming haze were tiny arcs and lines, slightly darker than the rest of the steel, running throughout the blade. Black Isle steel, forged at the monastery of the same name, renowned for its strength and near-legendary ability to hold an edge. It was the best steel that money – or anything else, for that matter – could buy.” (Matthew Woodring Stover, Acts of Caine)



A design of vine leaves etched on the blade

Spears oval blades (heavy)

“bronze-tipped spears”

“Leaf-shaped spearhead”

Two-pronged spear

“Spears can be tipped with metal (bronze or iron), with stone (knapped flint), with anything else at hand (bone, glass shards), or, at a pinch, simply have one end sharpened to a point.” (Rayne Hall)

Double-headed great axe

“Bearded blade of her axe”

Axehead

Double-axe



“Unicorn-headed mace”

Nail-studded club


SHIELDS

“round shields could be domed or conical in section; such shields were fitted with a pair of rope or leather handles attached separately at each end to rings fixed into the body of the shield” (Osprey Publishing on Byzantine Cavalry)

Hide shields

“The best shields are made of lime, or else of willow”

Round, iron-bound willow with a big bronze boss

small round shields belted to their opposite forearms

“Shields bore some strange device”

Oblong shields

Warboard

Shields often consist of wooden frames covered with leather, hides or metal. (Rayne Hall)

Curved shield

Leaf-shaped shields

Figure-of-eight shield

“He bore a tower shield of black and white cowhide edged with bronze”

Tower shield

Buckler

“Both men carried shields, but they had stripped the leather covers from the willow boards so that the shields bore no device, thus declaring themselves to be masterless men for hire.” – Bernard Cromwell



Old archers’ shields, big wickerwork screens behind which two bowmen could shelter

pavis/Pavaises (a large shield covering the whole body used especially in siege operations to protect crossbowmen and sometimes carried by a pavisor before a knight or archer)
BOWS



“Point of interest by the way, any bow that’s been laid up in the rafters for twenty years and never strung, like Ulysses’ bow was supposed to have been, would have snapped like a dry twig long before you could get a string on it” (KJ Parker)

Arbalest (a crossbow with a special mechanism for drawing back and releasing the string)

Flatbow

Longbow

Recurved bow

Composite bow

Steamer for steaming the limbs of a bow into recurve

Bow made out of buffalo ribs

It’s the best timber for bow-making (osage), better than yew or hickory or ash or elm (KJ Parker)

“One of those flimsy Egyptian pieces of a real Phrygian bow of horn wood and leather?”

Wax their strings

Strings soggy, fletchings wet, and these bows break for a pastime in the damp

He unhitched his bow and ran the string through his forefinger and thumb to wring the water out

“The short bow of Wales, drawn to the breast, not to the arm”

Bowcase



ARROWS



Gull-fletched shaft

Black-feathered arrow

“His arrows were fletched with grey goose feathers”

“Quiver of arrows fletched with hawk feathers”

Short reed arrows

Flight arrows with purple fletchings to identify them as the chief’s own

Was buried in horse manure up to its blue and white duckfeather fletchings

“At Garthan Hold, training arrows have sandbag heads.”

“Archers did not carry the quivers that hunters used, for quivers were open at the top and their arrows could fall out when a man ran or stumbled or clambered through a hedge. Arrows in quivers got wet when it rained, and wet feathers made arrows fly crooked, so real archers used linen bags that were water-proofed with wax and sealed by laces. The bags were bolstered by withy framed that spread the linen so the feathers were not crushed.” – Bernard Cromwell


POOR CONDITION



Blade pitted from rough use

Dagger with a chipped blade

Rust-splotched

“The sword he’d been given by the Guild rattled in its scabbard, rust flaking off the metalwork” (Richard Ford)



SHEATHED/CARRYING WEAPONS



Fleece-lined scabbard

Scabbard, made of bamboo wrapped in silk

“Baldric: a belt for  sword or other piece of equipment worn over one shoulder and reaching down to the opposite hip”

Swords wrapped in oilcloth (to keep them sharp)

“He wore an elaborately crafted belt decorated with gold and gems from which hung a curved dagger”

Sword harness

“Its hilt was a span and a half, wrapped with sweat-stained leather, pommel a plain steel knob”

“Scabbard rode his left hip”

Hung at his side

“Dagger worn on the belt make it a symbol of male virility. In many cultures and periods, men demonstrated their manhood by displaying ornate daggers at the front of their hips, the bigger, the better.” (Rayne Hall)

“Short swords and daggers belted at their sides”

I pulled the knife from my forearm sheath, covering the motion to prevent any stray glint of light

Into a sheath on the arm of his jacket

Rapier slapping at my side

Sollis ran them twice around the field at full speed, the unfamiliar weight of the swords making them sluggish

Turned to face her more directly, the scabbard of his bastard sword dragging across the rug

Shields hung at our sides or on our backs



Crossbow slung at his saddle



“Sentries making his rounds, his wooden club on his shoulder”

“To make climbing easier the sword would not be thrust through the belt, but carried over the shoulder with the blade edge up and the handle near the left ear” (Osprey Collection on Ninjas)

A dagger can also be concealed in the back of the bodice or in a hair ornament….can pretend to twist her necklace anxiously, or to fidget with her hair, and quickly draw the blade.(Rayne Hall)



Putting his thumb behind the guard of his sword and shifting it out half an inch so they could see it.

Shoved his sword into his scabbard

WEAPON TYPES

Sidearm (weapon such as sword, revolver, bayonet worn at side)

There’s no clear distinction between knives and daggers; sometimes both words are used for the same weapon. In general, the dagger is designed mostly for thrusting and the knife mostly for cutting [slashing]  (Rayne Hall)

Knife of bone and iron

“What items are within reach? If the attack happens while she’s sitting at a desk, she may grab a letter opener” (Rayne Hall)

Meathook

Billhook (“This was originally an agricultural tool, a hook-shaped blade for clearing brush. Adapted as a weapon, the billhook has a long handle, a long sharp spike as a tip, and a pronounced hook/blade which serves to pull and cut the enemy’s legs and ankles.”) (Rayne Hall)

Mallet | Cudgels | Flails | Truncheon

Smith hammer

Shoeing knife

“* A pointed key can inflict damage if held so the sharp tip pokes out between the fingers of a balled fist.” (Rayne Hall)

A woodcutter’s axe

Dirk | Pocketknife | Carving knife

Shortsword

Broadsword

Knout (a whip used for flogging)

Fishing spear

“Spears are cheaper than swords, which makes them suitable for equipping large armies” (Rayne Hall)

“A fighter who is skilled with a staff can grab a broomstick or a garden hoe and use it as a staff.” (Rayne Hall)



Falchion (a broad, slightly-curved sword with a cutting edge on the convex side)



Glaive (sword, usually a broadsword)

Poleaxe (axe with very long handle; like a halberd)

Longaxes

Hand-claws

Dueled with blunted longswords

Singlestick (fighting or fencing with a wooden stick or sword held in one hand; also the weapon used)

the kusarigama, the combination of a sickle and chain, The chain had a weight on the end and could be flung to halt at a pursuer. The attacker would then drag him off his feet and kill him with the sickle blade. (Osprey Collection on Ninjas)

Gaff ( a stick with a hook, or a barbed spear, for landing large fish)

Knobkerrie (a short wooden club with a knob at one end used as a missile or in close attack especially by Zulus of southern Africa)

WEIGHTED



Heavy and not well balanced Lead-weighted war axe

“Told him that after a while, a soldier can’t walk properly without that three-pound weight on his left hip; you feel unbalanced, as though one leg’s suddenly become an inch shorter than the other”

“A heavy sword, weighted toward its tip. A slashing weapon, not a piercing blade”



MISC



“a sword could also be used in climbing a wall, because the strong iron sword guard could provide a step if the sword was leant against a wall” (Osprey Collection on Ninjas)

DISCLAIMER: None of the longer excerpts belong to me. The intention here is to get your brain jogging, not directly insert quotes into your work.