Monstrous Weapons of War

 

An orc sword is different than a human sword. One can not simply pick up an orc sword and use it. This was my thought after a morning show last week when Stephen and I were jabbering on the morning show last week. We were talking about the length and weight of the sword and strength required to use a sword by a giant. That led me to thinking about the morphology of weapon used by various beast and creatures of legend. Weapons would be designed by and for their wielders. 

Imagine a typical giant, say abut twelve feet tall. Let’s assume this is a dumb giant and only uses club or club type weapons it makes itself. This particular giant wanders through the woods and find a branch to use as a club. A giant’s hands are huge and its strength is much greater than that of a human so it would choose a larger and heavier branch. Without considering the weight of the branch consider the width of the branch or its circumference.

The circumference of the branch alone would be huge compared to what a human would use, much less a gnome. That matters. A human would not be able to wrap their hand around that club the giant uses. Considering that, what size would the hilt of a sword be if designed for a giant. It would be rather large. The sword would be unwieldy for humans and most others of not equal size.

Further, how long would a sword be if wielded by a giant. Assuming everything else is equal and giants are but large humans, the length of a giant’s weapons would be much greater. Would a fifteen-foot-tall giant wield a sword the same length as a human. No, it would not. A two-handed sword for a giant of that size would likely be as tall as the giant, roughly fifteen feet long. Not only would the weight be different, the center of gravity for the sword would be different. 

There are many factors that would go into weapons development for monsters. Though I do not want to labor my mind too much about fanciful weapons for monsters, I think that for the weapon’s book I will design a few weapons that take a monster or beast’s morphology into account. For example, orcs will have larger hands than a human, more like a chimpanzee but even longer. The hilt would be larger and likely unwieldy to humans. Additionally, since this a fantasy world, I can make up stuff and design weapons that better reflect a monster’s fighting style.

I will see if I can get Peter o draw me an orc sword today. I rather like the orc swords in the Lord of the Rings movies.