{"id":31749,"date":"2016-03-18T06:30:09","date_gmt":"2016-03-17T17:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=31749"},"modified":"2016-03-17T21:31:59","modified_gmt":"2016-03-17T08:31:59","slug":"use-of-weapons-the-armoury-of-epic-fantasy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2016\/03\/18\/use-of-weapons-the-armoury-of-epic-fantasy\/","title":{"rendered":"Use of Weapons: The Armoury of Epic Fantasy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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USA<\/p><\/div>\n

When embarking on a High Epic tale like The Wall Of Night <\/strong><\/a>series, with its diversity of heavily armed societies, making an inventory of the epic armoury becomes a priority.<\/p>\n

Any good armoury, after all, should comprise an array of weapons—some magical, some mythic, some even real—that may, depending on circumstances, save the day for the story’s protagonists.<\/p>\n

The Soul-Sucking Sword<\/strong><\/p>\n

A favoured contender for any self-respecting High Epic tale has to be The Soul-Sucking Sword<\/strong>. After all, they do abound within the annals of the epic literature we love: from Elric of Melnibon\u00e9 and Stormbringer, to CJ Cherryh\u2019s Morgaine with Changeling, and Steven Erikson\u2019s Anomander Rake and Dragnipur.<\/p>\n

Even Robin McKinley\u2019s (far) more benign Blue Sword has an ambivalent sense of humour. When the chips are down, a soul-sucking sword—or one that can drop whole mountain ranges, like the Blue Sword—has to be handy to any protagonist with worlds to save and a destiny to fulfil.<\/p>\n

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UK\/AU\/NZ<\/p><\/div>\n

There may not precisely be soul-sucking swords in Daughter Of Blood<\/em>, but there is reference to black blades:<\/p>\n

\u201cBlack blades.\u201d The moth\u2019s spiral from his vigil was a phantom whisper as Parannis stalked forward, power and terror billowing ahead of him like a Wall storm. Kalan drew a deep, tearing breath and prepared to cut his wards loose\u2014but the moth flutter brushed his mind again:<\/em> \u201cBlack blades; paired blades. Darkness draws darkness, Kalan-hamar-khar.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Darkness draws darkness. … Kalan hurled his shield into the face of Parannis\u2019s advance, drew Asantir\u2019s second sword and closed again with the Son of Blood.”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

There is also a frost-fire sword with a liking for geas—<\/em>but to say any more than that might<\/em> be a spoiler.<\/p>\n

The Spear of Power<\/strong><\/p>\n

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USA<\/p><\/div>\n

Spears of power are almost as popular in the epic armoury as soul-sucking swords. Tolkien\u2019s Gil-galad carried Aiglos, which \u201cnone could withstand\u201d, into battle against Sauron at the end of the Second Age, while the Irish hero, Cuchulain, possessed the G\u00e1e Bolg, the spear of mortal pain. <\/em><\/p>\n

Whether the spear of power is quite as effective as a soul-sucking sword remains moot however. Tamora Pierce\u2019s heroine, Keladry, may wield the glaive to good effect in the Protector of the Small<\/strong> series, but proficiency with a spear does not preserve Oberyn Martell in George RR Martin\u2019s A Song of Ice and Fire<\/strong> series. Nor does it appear to have done Kaladin a great deal of good, so far, in Brandon Sanderson\u2019s The Way of Kings.<\/em><\/p>\n

Perhaps this is why the spear-based action in The Gathering of the Lost<\/a> (<\/em>The Wall Of Night<\/strong> Book Two)<\/em>\u2014in the absence of weapons of power\u2014focuses on the Keladry-style glaive, with its advantage of reach, which is known colloquially as the \u201cladyspike\u201d in Emer:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe defender waited until the assailants were close enough to block the aim of any enemy archers, before stepping clear of the entrance. He was holding a ladyspike in a businesslike fashion and wearing one of the bestial helms\u2014a contradiction Kalan was still trying to work out when the ladyspike severed one opponent\u2019s head, the return cut taking the next assailant at the knees.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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USA<\/p><\/div>\n

Taking Care of Business: the Axe<\/strong><\/p>\n

Probably the most famous axe in the epic armoury would have to be Druss the Legend\u2019s Snaga, from the David Gemmell classic, Legend<\/em>\u2014and of course the dwarf Gimli, in The Lord of the Rings<\/em>, is an axeman. The axe of the Goddess, in Guy Gavriel Kay\u2019s Fionavar<\/strong> trilogy may be a weapon of power, but otherwise the axes of Fantasy tend to be non-magical, even everyday weapons: the epitome of their functional brutality being John Aversin in Barbara Hambly\u2019s Dragonsbane<\/em>, who first drugs his dragons, then butchers them with an axe.<\/p>\n

Daughter of Blood<\/em> keeps faith with this epic tradition, with several axe references focusing on its functionally brutal uses:<\/p>\n

\u201cHe drew the axe and swung in one swift, fluid movement. If Malian had not been expecting an attack, the blade would have split her skull. Yet even as he moved, her mind was burrowing into the wooden handle, splintering it to shards as the weapon cleaved the air.”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The Giant-Killing Bow<\/strong><\/p>\n

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UK\/AU\/NZ<\/p><\/div>\n

From Paris slaying Achilles from the walls of Troy, through Robin Hood righting wrongs, to the archers of England versus the might of French chivalry at Agincourt, the longbow has always been the weapon that evens unequal odds, whether in legend or history.<\/p>\n

Legolas is probably the most famous single archer of current Fantasy, but it is Bard of Dale\u2019s black arrow that slays the dragon Smaug in The Hobbit<\/em>. Bands of archers also feature throughout the genre, with notable examples being those that join the defence of Dros Delnoch (Legend<\/em>) and Ritgers Gap (The Blue Sword<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

Like axes, the bows that appear in Epic Fantasy are largely non-magical, a tradition I have respected, while sneaking in just a hint of that giant-killing element of legend and history in The Gathering Of The Lost<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\u201cSer Raven gave no obvious signal, but at his last words a circle of archers emerged from between the tents. Ser Alric was with them, an arrow notched to the longbow he carried, with more bowmen from Wymark on either side\u2014but Kalan could see the badges of Bonamark, Allerion and Tenneward as well, and several of the tall, quiet men from Aralorn. He could not see the Darksworns\u2019 faces, but a look at Orth convinced him that it was only the archers that had stopped him. The giant warrior did not look like he cared a clipped coin for any truce, even the Derai\u2019s, if it did not suit his purpose.\u2019<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Soul-sucking swords, spears of power, the businesslike axe, or giant-killing bow\u2014these are all just a sample of the Fantasy armoury\u2019s inventory.<\/p>\n

But on your <\/em>quest to fulfil your destiny and save the world, which Fantastic weapon would you choose?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When embarking on a High Epic tale like The Wall Of Night series, with its diversity of heavily armed societies, making an inventory of the epic armoury becomes a priority. Any good armoury, after all, should comprise an array of weapons—some magical, some mythic, some even real—that may, depending on circumstances, save the day for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,30,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-about-my-books","category-epicfantasy","category-funstuff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31749"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31754,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31749\/revisions\/31754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}