I would LOVE a full blown Forgotten Weapons-esque show about fictional armaments. Ian's videos on Halo and Fallout guns may be awesome, but they are few. We must have MOAR.
@@avlinrbdig5715 Ian McCollum did a few videos on weapons from Fallout and Halo, while larping in universe as if the channel was within the worlds of those game series I would love to see Skallagrim do a forgotten weapons style covering something, hence my comment
I was going to say same thing, the sword is longer in Conan the Destroyer. I would pick it up when I was at Sword and Stone. Felt over 8 lbs /3.6 kg or heavier.
"Are immortals magic?" Yes. A special kind of magic. 🙂 Honestly, the Kurgan sword video was how I discovered Skallagrim. Thank you for this follow-up. 🙂
She has the look of someone who has seen a thousand weebs poke out a thousand eyeballs while making lightsaber sounds and Naruto running through the store.
@@nekrataali she's used to it but also keeps a close eye on it every single day! It's a crap job but somebodys gotta do it! These nerd fantasy weapons won't sell themselves! lol
I thought it was more just nervousness about being on camera. I can't imagine someone working at Fire & Steel being shocked by nerds at this point (they go to all the conventions) lmao
The Kurgan's sword appears to be someone in the film crew (not necessarily the prop guys who had to implement it) taking the concept of a takedown rifle (with the stock and barrel being separate pieces from the main body of the gun, for ease of transportation... or smuggling) and applying it to a rather long sword without putting enough thought into how guns and swords are different. I wonder how many props they made for the sword, since I'm like 99% certain that the prop being assembled in the hotel room scene is never used for the fight scenes at all.
I am picturing a sword tip with a cable attached to it and sections of blade that thread onto the cable and connect to each other mortise and tenon style. Then when you screw on the pommel you tension the cable. Possible, but maybe not likely.
@@trikepilot101- Still not workable for a proper weapon. Joined metal sections used in blade-on-blade fighting wouldn't have the resilience of a single piece of metal.
I assure you 100% the atachable sword was NOT used in the figths. In every movieN dozens of props of each weapon are made; some simply for securitty reasons (if one breaks, you need to have another one just in case) and more for different uses. For combat they tend to use fiberglass or rubber replicas painted silver to ensure safetty of the actors and only in closeups or in scenes where you need the ligth to reflet or shit like that you actually use metal swords. Theese are called the 'hero swords'; as they need to look really cool. Sometimes the sparring swords may be made of metal (cause painted fiberglass may not be shinny enougth for the directors vission) but they may do some bendy dull swords for the figth (reduce risks as well as possible) and steel ones for the 'hero shots'. Appart from that, they migth produce even more replicas if a sword suffers some change: if it's stained with blood, oxidation of suffers some chip, dent or even breaks; you make a specific sword for that scene in particullar. The modular sword in highlinder falls into that category. They most deffinetivelly dessigned a 'hero sword' made out of metal and with the ansembly mmchanism just for that scene only... maybe it was the same as the one of the scene where the spikes come out... but this migth even be a different prop. Finally, in modernmovies, they tend to do 'half swords'. This are very speciffic swords for figth scenes. Aa they name sggest, they are not complete; just the handdle and a 10 or 20 inches of sword. The idea behind that is that the rest of the sword can be digitally added later; so the actor, can figth around without any fear of injuring the extras, making very reallistic acting of stabbning or cutting througth people. You gain a lot of combat fluiddity with this, alongside quite some safety... but sometimes it may increase the 'ligthsaber effect'; as not having real contact mmakes the illusion that every sword-swing can go trhough flesh, bone and armour as a hot knife througth butter ...soooo half a dozens sord would be made more likelly; and no; the 'lego sword' would never be used outside of the close-up asembly scene.
@@dhorn4005 - We know the 'some assembly required' prop wasn't used except in that scene. We're speculating on how it might be done IRL (even though it doesn't work as a weapon).
I'm guessing with Conan's sword they went shorter than expected so it would be easier to keep the whole blade in frame during shots. And it's bulky because they didn't want it to look like a toy next to Arnold.
@@schwartzy65 In the movie the skeleton hand looks really big. And Arnold was 1,88 m and had a weight oh 108 kilos (slims down to 98 for the crucifiein scene) and by decades of barbel grabbing and holding his hands were really huge and strong. So a "Katana" would look like a thing stick...
To give it some credit to the universe building, Conan's setting is supposed to be primitive and forging long and slender blades is very difficult. Early iron age swords tend to be shorter and rather bulky compared to late medieval one's for example.
With Kurgan’s sword, where he assembles it, I think the filmmakers wanted to get the effect of assembling sniper rifles and such like you see in action movies
I've read all of Marvel's Conan comics up to 1980 so far (the 1982 film mostly came to be due to the popularity of those comics, moreso even than REH's original stories), and Conan has a completely utilitarian attitude to swords - he generally just uses whatever is lying around or takes them from dead bodies etc, and thus doesn't have any particular iconic sword of his own (same in REH's original stories, though his fondness for Irish weapons often led to him wielding "broadswords", despite the fictional time period). Almost all of these swords are one-handers, generally your basic arming sword - but occasionally curved blades of local varieties in say, Turan and places like that. Sometimes axes when the plot calls for it. But never a longsword or two-hander, it's possible that the comics creators weren't really familiar with anything beyond the stereotypical knightly arming sword, in fact larger swords seem uncommon in contemporary fantasy art too - I have yet to find a Frazetta illustration of any sword beyond single-handed length for example . I think the association between barbarians and larger swords must have developed later in the 80s or even in the 90s. In any case, the filmmakers' points of reference in the comics and wider Conan and fantasy art scene were almost entirely straightforward blades of the kind we'd refer to as "arming swords" now, so that's what they made. Aside from the handle being a little long, that seems to be a common thing in film for some reason.
I believe Conan's movie swords were made that way because the cast were trained by a Japanese swordmaster,.and I think John Milius probably had a bit of a thing for Japanese swords... So they're basically European katanas 😅
The Atlantean sword IS a one handed arming sword. Remember, Conan found it in a tomb, where the remints of the original owner still had a good grasp of the sword. And if you look at the actual remains, the bloke was absolutely massive, where the sword would be just enough for one-hand use.
It's perfect that it's broad and relatively short. Conan was king of thieves in the movies. As a king he gets a spear. And it works as a gladius, sort of a shield breaking crowbar. And it can be heavy as heck. It's Atlantean magic and Conan is huge. It's like Mjolnir. It could weigh 200 tons and Conan is fated to wield it regardless.
EXACTLY Its a detail that i myself missed for decades, till one day i looked closely when he reaches and takes off the skeleton's hand off the pommel of the sword and you can clearly see that the Atlantean's hand is TWICE de size of arnold's Cause in Hyborean lore, Atlantis citizens where Giants, descendants of the People of Mu who where Demi-Gods like beings. So it ABSOLUTLY makes sens that the sword's dimension and weight, would be off for a "normal" human
THE SKELETON WAS SCULPTED TO BE HUGE (MORE TAHN 2 METTERS TALL, PROBABLY 2,5: LOOK "CONAN UNCHAINED", THE OFFICIAL MAKING OF). SITED, HE IS ALREADY SIZE OF CONAN WITH WAY BIGGER HEAD. IT ADDS SOME FANTASY IN IT AND SHOWS A DISAPEARED SUPERIOR RACE.
There were TWO Atlantean swords. The one from Conan the Barbarian and the other from Conan the Destroyer and they were slightly different from each other. The one from Conan the Destroyer, if I remember correctly, had a longer (3/4" maybe?) grip and the wrapping around the grip was darker. The one in your video appears to be modeled after the sword in the Conan the Barbarian (first) movie.
I vaguely remember a behind the scenes bit about the Atlantean sword where they said they had to make it a little larger than normal so it would look normal in Arnold's hands. Apparently, the original normal sized sword looked tiny when he held it, so they had to upsize it a bit, like 10%, I think. I looked up how big he was in the movie, he was 6'2" and 210lbs (95.5 kilos and 1.9 meters tall)
@@garynevills5562 The Atlantean sword from the first movie was 38 7/8" total long. The Atlantean from the second movie was 41" total long. The second one also weighed 7 oz. more.
@@garynevills5562 That makes sense. I was thinking that the scale looked similar in hand, but obviously Arnie was a lot bigger, so the prop must have been larger.
1980s fantasy movies turned up "the rule of cool" to 11. Realism and practicality were secondary concerns at best. Their primary constraint was having practical props that could be made on budget. If Conan the Barbarian and Highlander do not get you interested in swords, few things will.
This is a fantastic series idea. I love the mix of travel + interacting with (presumably) fans of the channel with doing your usual work of analyzing fantasy weapons
To anyone interested in the topic I strongly recommend Schwerpunkt's video on the sword in the Irano-Germanic culture. I'd love you Skall to cover his channel at some point
Great, fun breakdown (would be a literal breakdown if you used the Kurgan sword in real life). I like that you included the store attendant and got her input, as well.
The funny thing to me about the Atlantean is that it feels like they basically took the look of one of the large Renaissance two-handers (Montante, Spadone, Zweihänder, whatever you wanna call it) and then decided to apply it to a much smaller weapon. Like, it almost looks like you've got the ricasso ending in two very stunted parrying hooks, so it's basically just shrunk in most dimensions. Imagine the grip being twice as long, the crossguard extending like three times as far to either side (whilst being more slender) and the blade being also about twice the length, the parrying hooks a bit longer, and you've basically got the lay-out down.
@@julietfischer5056 unless it has some important part in history. consider the original curtana was a supposedly short and blunt tipped because it broke in battle.
Hope there's more content from this visit! Looks like a ton of fun. I also have a soft spot for the conan swords and I think all of us sword nerds have tinkered about with making the design more efficient XD
That gladius over your left shoulder, especially at around 3:50 to 3:55? I own one of those. I won't *necessarily* regret owning it, since it was a kind gift from family, but... yeah, it's 1000% a wallhanger. Pretty, but a wallhanger.
AKSHUALLY in both the World of Darkness RPG setting and the proprietary Highlander RPG, the immortals can channel their... Quickening chi energy in a way similar to Jedi using the Force, allowing them to move faster or jump higher, but also imbue weapons with it, increasing damage or making them unbreakable, which retroactively explains why we see them cutting through cars and concrete pillars without being damaged, and is also the source of the sparks when two imbued weapons meet. Soft canon/secondary source though it may be, it is a very handy explanation for how Kurgan's take-down sword could work.
Wonderful to see two weapon geeks approaching these fantasy designs from different perspectives of practicality. Loved getting to hear about the engineering challenges of remaining faithful to the original prop design while also incorporating the functions of the weapon as observed within the film; it is an I interesting balancing act!
Eagerly awaiting the rest of the series. And I really REALLY want that Loki scepter! Edit: I wonder how good it is in a real fight, compared with or against a more traditional quarterstaff or spear or mace. (Minus the magic/energy blast, of course)
This was super cool to see! I totally would love if this became more common! Great video and compliments to the store for inviting you in to check out their stuff!
Great video as always and it seemed like both of you were perfectly awkward on camera talking there at the end 2 fellow weapon 'tism nerds! lol though I think everyone that watches is touched by that fancy/ 'tism #swordsarecool
Apparently the parts of the Kurgan's weapon lock into place, but the novelization expands on that sword's design by explaining that it's a re-creation of his original sword, which as the centuries passed became too large and bulky to carry around without drawing attention, and so he commissioned a version of it that could be disassembled and transported more discreetly.
agree on both. Lean up and lengthen the Conan sword a bit and it can be beautiful and far more functional. The Kurgan sword as one solid piece would be cool and far more.... realistic ?
In the White Wolf RPG system, they included the Immortals. They could imbue their blades with some magic (mostly damage related, so not sure how relevant), so maybe that's how the Kurgan was able to affect his if he counted on his own size & strength for damage. Other traits of the Immortals was greater speed & strength than humans (not on par with Vampires, but up there) and their blood wouldn't nourish the Vampires, though one of the clans wanted them for research purposes. Were-beasts generally didn't interfere with the Immortals, as long as they stayed out of the Were's way.
There have been a few movies, Legend of Zorro and The Scorpion King come to mind, where someone will be using a sword, and then unlock it into two swords. Don't know that the concept is worthy of a video but it's one of those movie inventions that are entertaining but I assume entirely impractical.
remember my dad showing me the first highlander when i was a kid and him going on a rant about how impractical the kurgan's sword would be thank you for bringing a fun memory back to my brain and great video as usual
I think with the Kurgan sword in the movie they were going for a scene like where you see the bad guy putting his sick sniper rifle together but because immortals fight with swords they just did the bit with a sword and didn't think about it too hard (maybe because of all the coke). I had no idea the Conan sword was that short, I always thought it was longer. Maybe I need to watch those movies again.
The Conan swords ( Atlantain and father's) I have the originals from United Cutlery and there quite heavy, but beautiful to look at.....oh, expensive as well.....brilliant video.
The Kurgan Sword in the film is basicly a four part sword, made to fit in such a small case. It's stupid to brake the blade like that, without having a better way to reconnect the parts. A three part sword seems logical. Part 1 Handle and Pommel as a nut on the end, Part 2 Blade with the Tang ending as a bolt. Part 3 Crossguard depending on how it attaches to Blade Tang (like a clasic Vice), or directly onto the Handle. An interchangeable crossguard could provide more of a problem for the opponent in a number of fights.
You know the biggest attraction of the original Highlander movie was when the sword hit the concrete pillar in the parking lot and cut into the stone. When the blades met, sparks flew. Kurgan put his sword together from several pieces. And when one died sparks flew and lot of electric interference, telekinetic chaos happened. All nonsense, yet these things made the movie great. A true movie where anything could happen, just for the story. Conan was a lousy story, yet the orchestra and Schwarzenegger was fantastic. These stories had heart and soul. Who cared about reality? Yet it always brings smile to my face when I see scenes from these titles.. Where are these kinds of movies today?!!
I think Matt Easton did a review of the Conan sword while visiting Windlass. I think they were live blades, such as they were. I enjoy reviews from different perspectives. Good job.
He used wood mockup with the two blade pieces held by a long rat tail screw from the pommel. I don’t know if can be applied to real hard steal blade, however looking from the suitcase there doesn’t seem to be a long screw to attach the two blades together. Even if it does it’s not enough to take even one hit before it splitting.
In the expanded lore of the Highlander universe, they can actually imbue their weapons with power, especially once they've bonded to it. This is why sparks can often be seen coming off when they parry each other, and how they can cut through things like concrete pillars and steel pipes, and even (I believe either in the third movie or the first TV series, I forget which) slice a car door in half. The nerd-theory (lightly touched upon in the canonical lore) is that there is a channel of energy which passes up through the spine and skull of an Immortal, which is understood to basically be the "kundalini" energy in yoga (the Indian mysticism kind, not the "white-ladies-pretending-to-exercise" kind), which also corresponds to "chi/qi" energy. An Immortal is basically a person (or... whatever) that has their 'chakras' perfectly in alignment and thus is immortal unless that channel is severed and the energy siphoned off by another Immortal. They can learn to channel this energy into their weapons to make them more powerful, or into their senses to give them psychic powers (clairvoyance, for instance). -Edit: Theoretically, the Kurgan could have kept his sword together with his mystic abilities, but I still think the "take-down" design is silly. Especially since the original movie only hinted at these abilities and didn't make it explicit.
I actually really really like the design of Kurgan sword when I thought about it more. I can totally see him sticking to overall old design since it's the design he's familiar with. And since he fights with it for centuries he doesn't want to let go of it. But then eventually coming across some swordsman that had a parrying dagger with that design, fighting him, and even though defeating him, being like ''I really like that, I want that for my sword'' and ordering his sword to be upgraded like that, even though it makes little sense for his sword design. Then not touching it for several centuries again and then modern times come and he's like ''actually it wouldn't be bad to have a more compact sword now that it's not common to carry it around'' and again ordering, by then probably a machinist instead of blacksmith, to make it come apart into several pieces. Also I'm pretty sure those weapons either have to be magical or have some unimaginable metalurgical properties since in the first fight scene, we see them cutting into concrete without much if any damage to their swords, weird sparks flying everywhere, etc.
Nice follow up video on two far older videos! Both are more or less rather simple swords with the Kurgan sword being a lego technics edition sword in the movies.
I think the reason you would want a heavy sword is because people are throwing their bodies at you with momentum, on a battlefield. Maybe that makes sense for Conan. For the Highlander that’s simply not their situation. They’re doing fencing/sword duels which someone would prefer a smaller and lighter sword. The huge, heavy sword looks cool but it would be completely impractical for a duel.
When it comes to the scene where the Kurgan puts his sword together it was like one of those scenes where an assassin opens a suitcase and pulls out the parts for a sniper's rifle. Granted it is helpful to be able to conceal such a weapon, but the notion the sword could be broken down into parts and still function is pure Hollywood.
Honestly, I think an immortal would probably have access to enchantments so he probably enchanted his sword to be able to come and self-weld together sort of like a magical Nanotech of some kind
Beg your pardon but have you actually SEEN any of the Highlander franchise? While there were a few Immortals with supernatural abilities (Coltec, Cassandra, Garrick etc.) that kind of "enchantment" didn't exist. At no point did we ever see anything like it.
I’ve always thought of the four-piece Kurgan sword as Kurgan’s ‘training’ sword which he used to train with (motel scene). Kurgan’s actual ‘functional’ sword would’ve been stored away somewhere which he used when out ‘hunting’ for other immortals. At the end of the day the four piece Kurgan sword was meant to look ‘cool’ on film and it was.
Oh, I didn't even know Canada had any brick-and-mortar stores like this...I thought I'd have to get my nerd on solely through online stores. It's nice to know some cool looking wall-hangers are readly available without the import duties. Looking at the site, they do also have a few carbon steel blades...although none of them say the brand/who made them or where it came from.
Oooh i know something, alot of movie swords that are "one handed" swords have longer handles because we as an audience enjoy that epic moment the hero lands the final devastating blow, and that blow is expected to be two handed. Todd did a video about it.
The reason Ah-nuld's sword was so great was the architectural connection with the rest of the Atlantean tomb where he found it. It all followed the same design with some logical features (such as the skeleton of the king on the throne wearing greaves and bracers, which some real ancient warriors did), making it seem plausible that this civilization could practically have existed in the setting.
Crom! I wonder if something as simple as film aspect ratios played a part. So making the blades shorter just so they fit in frame better while doing heroic poses etc.
If you're an immortal in the Highlander universe, what type of sword will you choose to fight another immortal. Take a note that you must always have to chop off the head to really kill the other immortal.
@@daredl807 I don't recall the immortals in The Highlander wearing full plate, they're immortals anyway, the only thing they should worry about is their head from getting chopped off.
If I made those two sword recreations, I'd probably make two major prop changes. First one is I'd make the handles more ovoid for practical edge alignment. It would do very little to change the asthetics but add a whole level of function. Secondly I'd make sure the Pommels where heavier so they actually shift the weight balance of the sword to a more proper position. A heavy blade for sure, but one that's surprisingly well balanced. Lightening the blade would be done by hollowing out forward parts that won't take much stress. Such as how they made the cross-guard on the Kurgan Sword hollow, yet still fully functional.
"Hey guys, thanks for tuning in to Fantasy Weapons, I'm Skallagrim Nilsson, and today we're looking at the Atlantean sword..."
I would LOVE a full blown Forgotten Weapons-esque show about fictional armaments. Ian's videos on Halo and Fallout guns may be awesome, but they are few. We must have MOAR.
@@nextcaesargaming5469did this happen? Where is the vedeo? Skallagrim in forgetten weapons style is amazing
@@avlinrbdig5715 Ian McCollum did a few videos on weapons from Fallout and Halo, while larping in universe as if the channel was within the worlds of those game series
I would love to see Skallagrim do a forgotten weapons style covering something, hence my comment
@@nextcaesargaming5469 yeah i knew that
Just wondered if skallagrim did one in the forgotten weapons style too. Would be cool af
@@avlinrbdig5715 Unfortunately, no
But yeah, that would be absolutely awesome if he went and did that
Hell yeah fantasy weapons scrutinized is back Baby. I love it.
1) recently went heavy into Warhammer 40K and I love your name.
2) I would geek out at this store so hard.
The sword was lengthened a bit in Conan the Destroyer.
The blade and handle were each made 1" longer.
I was going to say same thing, the sword is longer in Conan the Destroyer. I would pick it up when I was at Sword and Stone. Felt over 8 lbs /3.6 kg or heavier.
So, you're saying it's all about that last two inches?
@@Bubben246 that's what counts in the end ;)
@@bethholley9659i think you meant to say 3.6kg not 8.6 if it felt like 8lbs
@@lalli8152 You are right. I have corrected my mistype.
"Are immortals magic?" Yes. A special kind of magic. 🙂
Honestly, the Kurgan sword video was how I discovered Skallagrim. Thank you for this follow-up. 🙂
I see what you did there
Queen sang it therefore it must be true.
That's not quite the line or lyric, but yes, good! 👏
"Are immortals magic?"
They're, certainly, not aliens
It´s a Kind of Magic.
How do you know? Have you seen aliens?
(Hidden Narrator) - "... Immortals are actually aliens from planet Zeist".
I mean they are the Princes of the Universe
@@CSSuser Do Tikki & Plagg count ?
As Magical Aliens ? Or Immortals for that matter.
Nervous shop lady did an excellent job.
To be fair, the average customer would be just as likely to stab themselves or others doing moves like that.
She has the look of someone who has seen a thousand weebs poke out a thousand eyeballs while making lightsaber sounds and Naruto running through the store.
And she was cute.
And she's cute.
@@nekrataali she's used to it but also keeps a close eye on it every single day! It's a crap job but somebodys gotta do it! These nerd fantasy weapons won't sell themselves! lol
I like how the lady in the video had a slight "who's this nerd and what is he talking about" expression at the beginning of the video 😆
They all bowed down before him as he was leaving the store.
I thought it was more just nervousness about being on camera. I can't imagine someone working at Fire & Steel being shocked by nerds at this point (they go to all the conventions) lmao
That's some good customer service, helped him find stuff and even helped with his video.
Then at the end she's literally fingering herself in front of him. Not a joke 7:55
Funny, I was actually wondering if she knew who he was. Either way, surprise cohost.
Kurgan sword: like Queen said It's a kind of magic
If we ignore the second movie, which should not exist, we can say that everything is magic.
The Kurgan's sword appears to be someone in the film crew (not necessarily the prop guys who had to implement it) taking the concept of a takedown rifle (with the stock and barrel being separate pieces from the main body of the gun, for ease of transportation... or smuggling) and applying it to a rather long sword without putting enough thought into how guns and swords are different. I wonder how many props they made for the sword, since I'm like 99% certain that the prop being assembled in the hotel room scene is never used for the fight scenes at all.
They have the technology...
I am picturing a sword tip with a cable attached to it and sections of blade that thread onto the cable and connect to each other mortise and tenon style. Then when you screw on the pommel you tension the cable. Possible, but maybe not likely.
@@trikepilot101- Still not workable for a proper weapon. Joined metal sections used in blade-on-blade fighting wouldn't have the resilience of a single piece of metal.
I assure you 100% the atachable sword was NOT used in the figths. In every movieN dozens of props of each weapon are made; some simply for securitty reasons (if one breaks, you need to have another one just in case) and more for different uses. For combat they tend to use fiberglass or rubber replicas painted silver to ensure safetty of the actors and only in closeups or in scenes where you need the ligth to reflet or shit like that you actually use metal swords. Theese are called the 'hero swords'; as they need to look really cool. Sometimes the sparring swords may be made of metal (cause painted fiberglass may not be shinny enougth for the directors vission) but they may do some bendy dull swords for the figth (reduce risks as well as possible) and steel ones for the 'hero shots'.
Appart from that, they migth produce even more replicas if a sword suffers some change: if it's stained with blood, oxidation of suffers some chip, dent or even breaks; you make a specific sword for that scene in particullar. The modular sword in highlinder falls into that category. They most deffinetivelly dessigned a 'hero sword' made out of metal and with the ansembly mmchanism just for that scene only... maybe it was the same as the one of the scene where the spikes come out... but this migth even be a different prop.
Finally, in modernmovies, they tend to do 'half swords'. This are very speciffic swords for figth scenes. Aa they name sggest, they are not complete; just the handdle and a 10 or 20 inches of sword. The idea behind that is that the rest of the sword can be digitally added later; so the actor, can figth around without any fear of injuring the extras, making very reallistic acting of stabbning or cutting througth people. You gain a lot of combat fluiddity with this, alongside quite some safety... but sometimes it may increase the 'ligthsaber effect'; as not having real contact mmakes the illusion that every sword-swing can go trhough flesh, bone and armour as a hot knife througth butter
...soooo half a dozens sord would be made more likelly; and no; the 'lego sword' would never be used outside of the close-up asembly scene.
@@dhorn4005 - We know the 'some assembly required' prop wasn't used except in that scene. We're speculating on how it might be done IRL (even though it doesn't work as a weapon).
I'm guessing with Conan's sword they went shorter than expected so it would be easier to keep the whole blade in frame during shots. And it's bulky because they didn't want it to look like a toy next to Arnold.
I've heard their sword trainer was a kenjutsu guy. So they made the sword with katanaesque proportions.
Also in the film conan gets the sword from some giant king in the cave.. so for it was def one handed sword for the king.
@@schwartzy65 In the movie the skeleton hand looks really big. And Arnold was 1,88 m and had a weight oh 108 kilos (slims down to 98 for the crucifiein scene) and by decades of barbel grabbing and holding his hands were really huge and strong. So a "Katana" would look like a thing stick...
Yea. It seems Arnold just too big and tall, normal looking swords seems unremarkable
To give it some credit to the universe building, Conan's setting is supposed to be primitive and forging long and slender blades is very difficult. Early iron age swords tend to be shorter and rather bulky compared to late medieval one's for example.
With Kurgan’s sword, where he assembles it, I think the filmmakers wanted to get the effect of assembling sniper rifles and such like you see in action movies
... it's still no less stupid.
Absolutely. It was just a movie trope. And as for durability, yeah it's magic. That's fine. It's not the dumbest thing in the film.
I've read all of Marvel's Conan comics up to 1980 so far (the 1982 film mostly came to be due to the popularity of those comics, moreso even than REH's original stories), and Conan has a completely utilitarian attitude to swords - he generally just uses whatever is lying around or takes them from dead bodies etc, and thus doesn't have any particular iconic sword of his own (same in REH's original stories, though his fondness for Irish weapons often led to him wielding "broadswords", despite the fictional time period). Almost all of these swords are one-handers, generally your basic arming sword - but occasionally curved blades of local varieties in say, Turan and places like that. Sometimes axes when the plot calls for it. But never a longsword or two-hander, it's possible that the comics creators weren't really familiar with anything beyond the stereotypical knightly arming sword, in fact larger swords seem uncommon in contemporary fantasy art too - I have yet to find a Frazetta illustration of any sword beyond single-handed length for example . I think the association between barbarians and larger swords must have developed later in the 80s or even in the 90s. In any case, the filmmakers' points of reference in the comics and wider Conan and fantasy art scene were almost entirely straightforward blades of the kind we'd refer to as "arming swords" now, so that's what they made. Aside from the handle being a little long, that seems to be a common thing in film for some reason.
I believe Conan's movie swords were made that way because the cast were trained by a Japanese swordmaster,.and I think John Milius probably had a bit of a thing for Japanese swords... So they're basically European katanas 😅
Personally I suspect the "barbarians using longswords" thing is mainly due to the Heroquest board game.
@@Wright805 These are all good points. Thanks for sharing.
Well, for movies you must have merch. No swords or other weapons that look like they've guest-starred in movies since the days of Errol Flynn!
@@trikepilot101 You're most welcome.
The Atlantean sword IS a one handed arming sword. Remember, Conan found it in a tomb, where the remints of the original owner still had a good grasp of the sword. And if you look at the actual remains, the bloke was absolutely massive, where the sword would be just enough for one-hand use.
Came here to say the thing. The King in the tomb was a Giant.
It's perfect that it's broad and relatively short. Conan was king of thieves in the movies. As a king he gets a spear. And it works as a gladius, sort of a shield breaking crowbar. And it can be heavy as heck. It's Atlantean magic and Conan is huge. It's like Mjolnir. It could weigh 200 tons and Conan is fated to wield it regardless.
EXACTLY
Its a detail that i myself missed for decades, till one day i looked closely when he reaches and takes off the skeleton's hand off the pommel of the sword and you can clearly see that the Atlantean's hand is TWICE de size of arnold's
Cause in Hyborean lore, Atlantis citizens where Giants, descendants of the People of Mu who where Demi-Gods like beings.
So it ABSOLUTLY makes sens that the sword's dimension and weight, would be off for a "normal" human
THE SKELETON WAS SCULPTED TO BE HUGE (MORE TAHN 2 METTERS TALL, PROBABLY 2,5: LOOK "CONAN UNCHAINED", THE OFFICIAL MAKING OF). SITED, HE IS ALREADY SIZE OF CONAN WITH WAY BIGGER HEAD. IT ADDS SOME FANTASY IN IT AND SHOWS A DISAPEARED SUPERIOR RACE.
The best part is there’s 2nd part coming!
So the 2nd part is the best part?
@@Ossory88 idk about that, i’m just glad there is another video about this is coming
Thanks for the video Skal. Looking forward to the rest of this series. Always nice to see you looking at fantasy designs.
I genuinely like how invested the lady is in these weapons , not just a sales(wo)man but seems like also a fan .
There were TWO Atlantean swords.
The one from Conan the Barbarian and the other from Conan the Destroyer and they were slightly different from each other.
The one from Conan the Destroyer, if I remember correctly, had a longer (3/4" maybe?) grip and the wrapping around the grip was darker.
The one in your video appears to be modeled after the sword in the Conan the Barbarian (first) movie.
I vaguely remember a behind the scenes bit about the Atlantean sword where they said they had to make it a little larger than normal so it would look normal in Arnold's hands. Apparently, the original normal sized sword looked tiny when he held it, so they had to upsize it a bit, like 10%, I think. I looked up how big he was in the movie, he was 6'2" and 210lbs (95.5 kilos and 1.9 meters tall)
@@garynevills5562 The Atlantean sword from the first movie was 38 7/8" total long. The Atlantean from the second movie was 41" total long. The second one also weighed 7 oz. more.
@@garynevills5562 That makes sense. I was thinking that the scale looked similar in hand, but obviously Arnie was a lot bigger, so the prop must have been larger.
@@Skallagrim if it helps Marto still makes the original Atlantean Swords if you really want to go down that rabbit hole
God damn this takes me back. Who also was around when Skall talked about these swords in the good old days?
1980s fantasy movies turned up "the rule of cool" to 11. Realism and practicality were secondary concerns at best. Their primary constraint was having practical props that could be made on budget.
If Conan the Barbarian and Highlander do not get you interested in swords, few things will.
The subtle Conan theme in the background ❤
It contributes to the mood of the video, without interfering with the dialogues. A really good choice, in my opinion.
great effort that you actually traveled there and handling them in person ^^
This is a fantastic series idea. I love the mix of travel + interacting with (presumably) fans of the channel with doing your usual work of analyzing fantasy weapons
To anyone interested in the topic I strongly recommend Schwerpunkt's video on the sword in the Irano-Germanic culture. I'd love you Skall to cover his channel at some point
Very interested to see what other videos will come from your visit. I'm a sucker for pop culture weapons and how they would work IRL
Last time I was this early the Sons of Aryas had not yet risen.
But the oceans already drank Atlantis?
Based Hyborean comment
But was it an age undreamed of?
@@weldonwin It was days of high adventure!
@@seanobrien798 Like when Harold and Kumar went to White Castle?
Ha! What a lovely video idea :). I'm happy they allowed you to do this
Thanks, Skall!
Great, fun breakdown (would be a literal breakdown if you used the Kurgan sword in real life). I like that you included the store attendant and got her input, as well.
The funny thing to me about the Atlantean is that it feels like they basically took the look of one of the large Renaissance two-handers (Montante, Spadone, Zweihänder, whatever you wanna call it) and then decided to apply it to a much smaller weapon.
Like, it almost looks like you've got the ricasso ending in two very stunted parrying hooks, so it's basically just shrunk in most dimensions.
Imagine the grip being twice as long, the crossguard extending like three times as far to either side (whilst being more slender) and the blade being also about twice the length, the parrying hooks a bit longer, and you've basically got the lay-out down.
Perhaps it was longer, broke, and then had a new tip worked onto it.
Twice the length, but appropriately thick (the one in the movie is too thick for the length), with a proper taper.
@@Liethen- No king is buried with a refurbished sword.
@@julietfischer5056 unless it has some important part in history. consider the original curtana was a supposedly short and blunt tipped because it broke in battle.
Hope there's more content from this visit! Looks like a ton of fun. I also have a soft spot for the conan swords and I think all of us sword nerds have tinkered about with making the design more efficient XD
This will be a fun series! Looking forward to more!
Skall vlogs! Skall vlogs! Skall vlogs!
(Plenty if old vlogs in the woods, or hiking/biking, but vlogs with other people is rare nowadays! LOVE!)
That's certainly a cool series. Looking for more coverage of fantasy swords/movie props!
That gladius over your left shoulder, especially at around 3:50 to 3:55? I own one of those.
I won't *necessarily* regret owning it, since it was a kind gift from family, but... yeah, it's 1000% a wallhanger. Pretty, but a wallhanger.
lol at the cut from Arnie holding the normal sized Atlantean sword prop, and you holding the mini one, makes you look like a giant.
Steel Dawn's swords! I have wanted one since I watched the movie as a kid. Classic post-apocalyptic sword and honor flick.
"It feels like it wants to be a bigger sword than it is" ... 😏
That's what she said.
This dude fell in love with that steel right then and there! You know he went back and bought that thing after the video and paid state taxes lol
AKSHUALLY in both the World of Darkness RPG setting and the proprietary Highlander RPG, the immortals can channel their... Quickening chi energy in a way similar to Jedi using the Force, allowing them to move faster or jump higher, but also imbue weapons with it, increasing damage or making them unbreakable, which retroactively explains why we see them cutting through cars and concrete pillars without being damaged, and is also the source of the sparks when two imbued weapons meet.
Soft canon/secondary source though it may be, it is a very handy explanation for how Kurgan's take-down sword could work.
Wonderful to see two weapon geeks approaching these fantasy designs from different perspectives of practicality. Loved getting to hear about the engineering challenges of remaining faithful to the original prop design while also incorporating the functions of the weapon as observed within the film; it is an I interesting balancing act!
Eagerly awaiting the rest of the series.
And I really REALLY want that Loki scepter!
Edit: I wonder how good it is in a real fight, compared with or against a more traditional quarterstaff or spear or mace. (Minus the magic/energy blast, of course)
This was super cool to see! I totally would love if this became more common! Great video and compliments to the store for inviting you in to check out their stuff!
Great video as always and it seemed like both of you were perfectly awkward on camera talking there at the end 2 fellow weapon 'tism nerds! lol though I think everyone that watches is touched by that fancy/ 'tism #swordsarecool
Apparently the parts of the Kurgan's weapon lock into place, but the novelization expands on that sword's design by explaining that it's a re-creation of his original sword, which as the centuries passed became too large and bulky to carry around without drawing attention, and so he commissioned a version of it that could be disassembled and transported more discreetly.
Thanks for the video, as were you I wasn’t thrilled with the shaking of the Father’s sword. However it did look good so I was happy to see it.
Yay, those are the kinds of videos that got me hooked on this channel in the first place, years ago.
Oh helllllllll yeahhh! Missed this earlier today, I'm so hyped
agree on both. Lean up and lengthen the Conan sword a bit and it can be beautiful and far more functional. The Kurgan sword as one solid piece would be cool and far more.... realistic ?
Kurgan's sword in Medieval Scotland had fixed blade catchers, they only popped out on his suitcase version when he fixed the blade on.
In the White Wolf RPG system, they included the Immortals. They could imbue their blades with some magic (mostly damage related, so not sure how relevant), so maybe that's how the Kurgan was able to affect his if he counted on his own size & strength for damage. Other traits of the Immortals was greater speed & strength than humans (not on par with Vampires, but up there) and their blood wouldn't nourish the Vampires, though one of the clans wanted them for research purposes. Were-beasts generally didn't interfere with the Immortals, as long as they stayed out of the Were's way.
Good on you for getting it there and interacting with the fantasy community in your latest videos!
excited for this series. I enjoyed this video, can't wait for the followups!
There have been a few movies, Legend of Zorro and The Scorpion King come to mind, where someone will be using a sword, and then unlock it into two swords. Don't know that the concept is worthy of a video but it's one of those movie inventions that are entertaining but I assume entirely impractical.
remember my dad showing me the first highlander when i was a kid and him going on a rant about how impractical the kurgan's sword would be thank you for bringing a fun memory back to my brain and great video as usual
Full marks for that And Justice for All t-shirt.
I digged seeing Kyojuro's Flame Nichirin on display in the backround.
Still my favorite Nichirin.
Spring-locked bearings inside the sword would lock the parts together. A magnet on the end would also help keep the parts seated and aligned.
I think with the Kurgan sword in the movie they were going for a scene like where you see the bad guy putting his sick sniper rifle together but because immortals fight with swords they just did the bit with a sword and didn't think about it too hard (maybe because of all the coke).
I had no idea the Conan sword was that short, I always thought it was longer. Maybe I need to watch those movies again.
And now I am picturing a battle between Conan and the Kurgan. Would have been an interesting crossover.
Love to see this series comeback!
Yeah.. that opening... Can see a future episode "Thanos' Sword critique"
The first problem with Thanos' weapon is that it exists
The Conan swords ( Atlantain and father's) I have the originals from United Cutlery and there quite heavy, but beautiful to look at.....oh, expensive as well.....brilliant video.
Can't believe you haven't done this sooner
I love that you can handle and wield the actual weapons as you speak about them.
Cool vid
Looking forward to the rest
The Kurgan Sword in the film is basicly a four part sword, made to fit in such a small case. It's stupid to brake the blade like that, without having a better way to reconnect the parts.
A three part sword seems logical. Part 1 Handle and Pommel as a nut on the end, Part 2 Blade with the Tang ending as a bolt. Part 3 Crossguard depending on how it attaches to Blade Tang (like a clasic Vice), or directly onto the Handle. An interchangeable crossguard could provide more of a problem for the opponent in a number of fights.
You know the biggest attraction of the original Highlander movie was when the sword hit the concrete pillar in the parking lot and cut into the stone. When the blades met, sparks flew. Kurgan put his sword together from several pieces. And when one died sparks flew and lot of electric interference, telekinetic chaos happened. All nonsense, yet these things made the movie great. A true movie where anything could happen, just for the story. Conan was a lousy story, yet the orchestra and Schwarzenegger was fantastic. These stories had heart and soul. Who cared about reality? Yet it always brings smile to my face when I see scenes from these titles.. Where are these kinds of movies today?!!
You mean my sword isn't supposed to spark like this with electricity!?!?!? THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Looking forward to the next one of these videos. I love them.
I think Matt Easton did a review of the Conan sword while visiting Windlass. I think they were live blades, such as they were. I enjoy reviews from different perspectives. Good job.
Well, Skal. The Kurgan is played by Clancy Brown. So... Yeah. He can make a Ginzu knife into a sword. Legendary actor.
On the topic of the Kurgen, Jörg Sprave did a mockup of the sword in relation to exactly how it works in the film, segmented blade and everything
Really!?!!? I will go look that up!
He used wood mockup with the two blade pieces held by a long rat tail screw from the pommel. I don’t know if can be applied to real hard steal blade, however looking from the suitcase there doesn’t seem to be a long screw to attach the two blades together. Even if it does it’s not enough to take even one hit before it splitting.
looking good skall. looks like you are definitely making progresss!!!!
I was admiring the Klingon Batleth (sp.?) on display in the background. As I recall you did a video on it some time ago.
Yes! Looking forward to the next videos!
I've been watching a long time, love the channel, and keep up the good work, man!
Ooo we are going on a trip!
In the expanded lore of the Highlander universe, they can actually imbue their weapons with power, especially once they've bonded to it. This is why sparks can often be seen coming off when they parry each other, and how they can cut through things like concrete pillars and steel pipes, and even (I believe either in the third movie or the first TV series, I forget which) slice a car door in half.
The nerd-theory (lightly touched upon in the canonical lore) is that there is a channel of energy which passes up through the spine and skull of an Immortal, which is understood to basically be the "kundalini" energy in yoga (the Indian mysticism kind, not the "white-ladies-pretending-to-exercise" kind), which also corresponds to "chi/qi" energy. An Immortal is basically a person (or... whatever) that has their 'chakras' perfectly in alignment and thus is immortal unless that channel is severed and the energy siphoned off by another Immortal. They can learn to channel this energy into their weapons to make them more powerful, or into their senses to give them psychic powers (clairvoyance, for instance).
-Edit: Theoretically, the Kurgan could have kept his sword together with his mystic abilities, but I still think the "take-down" design is silly. Especially since the original movie only hinted at these abilities and didn't make it explicit.
Excellent video. I'm excited to see more of these.
Great video Skall!! Love videos like these
I actually really really like the design of Kurgan sword when I thought about it more. I can totally see him sticking to overall old design since it's the design he's familiar with. And since he fights with it for centuries he doesn't want to let go of it. But then eventually coming across some swordsman that had a parrying dagger with that design, fighting him, and even though defeating him, being like ''I really like that, I want that for my sword'' and ordering his sword to be upgraded like that, even though it makes little sense for his sword design. Then not touching it for several centuries again and then modern times come and he's like ''actually it wouldn't be bad to have a more compact sword now that it's not common to carry it around'' and again ordering, by then probably a machinist instead of blacksmith, to make it come apart into several pieces. Also I'm pretty sure those weapons either have to be magical or have some unimaginable metalurgical properties since in the first fight scene, we see them cutting into concrete without much if any damage to their swords, weird sparks flying everywhere, etc.
In movies like that, nobody's paying attention to how real swords work.
Nice follow up video on two far older videos! Both are more or less rather simple swords with the Kurgan sword being a lego technics edition sword in the movies.
I think the reason you would want a heavy sword is because people are throwing their bodies at you with momentum, on a battlefield. Maybe that makes sense for Conan.
For the Highlander that’s simply not their situation. They’re doing fencing/sword duels which someone would prefer a smaller and lighter sword. The huge, heavy sword looks cool but it would be completely impractical for a duel.
When it comes to the scene where the Kurgan puts his sword together it was like one of those scenes where an assassin opens a suitcase and pulls out the parts for a sniper's rifle. Granted it is helpful to be able to conceal such a weapon, but the notion the sword could be broken down into parts and still function is pure Hollywood.
I loved this! Thank you so much! I have the Father's sword, and it makes that same noise! lol
Honestly, I think an immortal would probably have access to enchantments so he probably enchanted his sword to be able to come and self-weld together sort of like a magical Nanotech of some kind
Beg your pardon but have you actually SEEN any of the Highlander franchise? While there were a few Immortals with supernatural abilities (Coltec, Cassandra, Garrick etc.) that kind of "enchantment" didn't exist. At no point did we ever see anything like it.
Very interesting to hear a person talk about the design challenges of making knock-off wall hangers.
Cool. I hope there is a part two with even more swords like that :D
oh hey, Fire and Steel. They always have a big kiosk in the cons I go to around the GTA. Fun people.
Skallagrim: "are immortals magic?"
Everyone: "It's a kind of magic...
One dream, one soul.."
I’ve always thought of the four-piece Kurgan sword as Kurgan’s ‘training’ sword which he used to train with (motel scene). Kurgan’s actual ‘functional’ sword would’ve been stored away somewhere which he used when out ‘hunting’ for other immortals. At the end of the day the four piece Kurgan sword was meant to look ‘cool’ on film and it was.
Oh, I didn't even know Canada had any brick-and-mortar stores like this...I thought I'd have to get my nerd on solely through online stores. It's nice to know some cool looking wall-hangers are readly available without the import duties. Looking at the site, they do also have a few carbon steel blades...although none of them say the brand/who made them or where it came from.
Loving the fantasy weapon reviews
Looking forward to the Kitty Rainbow blade review!
Something I wasn't expecting today...seeing Skall with the Conan and Kurgan swords. Life is full of fun little surprises.
Oooh i know something, alot of movie swords that are "one handed" swords have longer handles because we as an audience enjoy that epic moment the hero lands the final devastating blow, and that blow is expected to be two handed. Todd did a video about it.
Not the question i asked but answer i needed, love these films
The reason Ah-nuld's sword was so great was the architectural connection with the rest of the Atlantean tomb where he found it. It all followed the same design with some logical features (such as the skeleton of the king on the throne wearing greaves and bracers, which some real ancient warriors did), making it seem plausible that this civilization could practically have existed in the setting.
Crom! I wonder if something as simple as film aspect ratios played a part. So making the blades shorter just so they fit in frame better while doing heroic poses etc.
skalls fits are always on point for him man
he stays on brand lol
Ah, I recognize "Fire and Steel". They go to a lot of conventions in the Toronto area with their great products
I know they're fun wall hangers, but the clicking of Conan's father's sword is killing me :D
If you're an immortal in the Highlander universe, what type of sword will you choose to fight another immortal. Take a note that you must always have to chop off the head to really kill the other immortal.
A falchion 100%. The thing has enough stopping power to hurt a man wearing full plate, and if there's one thing falchions do well it is chopping.
@@daredl807 I don't recall the immortals in The Highlander wearing full plate, they're immortals anyway, the only thing they should worry about is their head from getting chopped off.
If I made those two sword recreations, I'd probably make two major prop changes. First one is I'd make the handles more ovoid for practical edge alignment. It would do very little to change the asthetics but add a whole level of function. Secondly I'd make sure the Pommels where heavier so they actually shift the weight balance of the sword to a more proper position. A heavy blade for sure, but one that's surprisingly well balanced. Lightening the blade would be done by hollowing out forward parts that won't take much stress. Such as how they made the cross-guard on the Kurgan Sword hollow, yet still fully functional.