Medieval Weapons Expert Rates 7 More Weapons Scenes In Movies And TV | How Real Is It? | Insider
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- Опубликовано: 22 май 2024
- Tobias Capwell is the curator of arms and armor at The Wallace Collection in London. Here, he reacts to seven memorable scenes featuring medieval weapons and armor and rates them based on their historical accuracy.
Capwell looks at armor and weapons within fantasy franchises, such as Eomer's helmet in "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" (2002). Using artifacts from The Wallace Collection, Capwell addresses the realism of knightly combat in "Henry V" (1944), "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" (2005) and "Game of Thrones" (2011). Does chain mail look anything like it does in Netflix's "Outlaw King" (2018)? And would armor deflect arrows as in "The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc" (1999)?
Tobias Capwell is an author, lecturer, broadcaster, and the curator of arms and armor at The Wallace Collection in London. He has been a horseman and martial artist since childhood, is a founding member of the modern historical jousting community, and has fought in major international tournaments all over the world. Capwell has written many books and articles on weapons, armor, tournaments, and knighthood, including "Armour of the English Knight 1400-1450," "Arms and Armour of the Medieval Joust," and "Masterpieces of European Arms and Armour in the Wallace Collection." In 2015 he had the honor of serving as one of the two fully armored knights who escorted the remains of King Richard III from the battlefield at Bosworth to their final resting place in Leicester Cathedral.
Find out more about The Wallace Collection here: www.wallacecollection.org/wha...
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Medieval Weapons Expert Rates 7 More Weapons Scenes In Movies And TV | How Real Is It? 
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we need ditch guy, armor guy (tobias), and moustache guy (rawlins) to have a sit down all together and just judge medieval movies
Yes
How about making one too :D?
Would be like judge, jury and executioner of modern Hollywood...
Wait! Who’s ditch guy? I feel like I need to see his videos...
Make this happen
To be fair to Narnia, Peter is a boy from 1940's England, he's probably never held a sword in his life
In fact, I'm pretty sure that's borderline stated in the series. The encounter with the wolves was his first taste of real combat.
Exactly. So it’s accurate.
Ikr?
yeah. I was about to say that lol
Imagine if Hitler found Narnia
I love how he talks about the merits of wedge formation without commenting on the fact that there are rhinoceros and cheetahs in that army.
And the king's horse is a unicorn lol
How would that change anything? I mean, it might, but it's not like we don't already use animals in combat.
@@ricobarth We only use dogs now,
War Elephants are a thing.
War Elephants were most definitely used.
Clearly Monty Python's The Holy Grail gives the most historically accurate depiction of medieval armor and weaponry.
To be fair, it's surprisingly accurate.
The only problem is it's so endlessly quotable... I can't watch any scene in any film or show wear someone gets hit with an arrow and doesn't immediately die without thinking "message for you, sir!" 🤣
Even the holy hand grenades is accurate ??
The animal husbandry was clearly the most accurate. From digging in historical places we now know there were many coconut horses. Enough for an immense amount of cavalry troops!
@@michaelkeaton5394 Holy Hand Grenades of Antioch were commonly used in medieval warfare in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
Was any mediaeval armour rabbit proof?
Pointing a sword at someone out of range only makes you look like you've never held a sword in your life.
So 10/10 scene then, considering that was the actual first time Peter held a sword.
*2nd time, the wolf literally refers to a previous scene where Peter failed to kill him
It also makes it very very clear how long your reach is, and everyone attacking you will know how far to stand to not get cut.
Yeah, no I agree with acid, the whole point of the scene was that Peter was not a swordsman, an unready, unaged, and untested prophesied king who was easily dealt with by a seasoned soldier. And the wolf got overconfident and got himself killed by a novice.
While we are talking, cinema always has to balance realism with budget and cinematic presentation, so earlier when they whined that Eomer didn't have his helmet strapped down and it was too high, it's left out that A, you need your eyebrows to convey emotion so you can't cover them, and B, he was taking his helmet off in that scene. You can't take movies this seriously. Oh well, off to the next video, 680,393,174,318,123,480 to go and I can say I've watched youtube
yeah he reminds me of holding a gun
Actually completely wrong. Many books talk about how to defend from dog and wolf attacks suggest you do exactly what he did because dogs/wolves dont jump at you when you have something like a pole between you and them.
9:03 “AYY HE’S CLOSED IT!”
“Yeah I’d give it a 7”
I know! He gave it nothing but compliments, and gave it a 7.😅
i guess its only because of the talking animals...
He is also grading the movie for the earlier sword scene
@@MrIronhat Which is dumb, because it's obvious the character knows nothing about swords.
@@souldanny. I think they didnt explain that to him
"Since I was kid, I've been riding on horses and fighting in Armor"
That is an interesting childhood
I wish i had his childhood.
Maybe he's a time traveller.
Mongoltape intensifies
A lot of reenactors take their kids to events, seems like a lot of fun for the kids. I would have loved it I think.
Meanwhile I spent mine farming and I’m still farming. Huh.
Funny how silly Army Of Darkness has more accuracy than some of the serious medieval dramas. I love it!
Giving Bruce Campbell anything less than 10/10 would be a sin.
@@desther7975 Hail to the king baby!
Groovy
still agree it should be titled MidEvil Dead
@@cex9964 its a trick. get an axe.
Too bad they only show 1 second of the movie he considered 'one of the absolute best'
Exactly! Show us more! Also I hate how they are ending the video while he still talks, moving him on a smaller square to show the credits... To save like 3 seconds ? 🤷♂️
Copyright law allows only you to show the amount needed for the purposes of education and criticism
@@kewltony But the movie came out in 1944. Would copyright still apply?
@@alinalexandru2466 maybe someone else has better information, but I think the copyright lasts 70 years after the deaths of the writers and directors
@@kewltony you are correct! At least in the U.S.
Tobias Capwell is a fantastic expert, serious academic credentials but also an actual tournament jouster. He really knows what he is talking about - great choice Insider.
ok how expert can he be ... his museum has 40 bodies of anglo saxons who got injured and or died while in battle ON HORSE BACK ... yet he says the anglo saxons didnt fight on horse back ... his own museum proves that to be FALSE ... he's the BLOODY CURATOR and he MISSED these 40 skeletons or something ... what they were hidden behind the wooden shield fragments ... or something ... yeah NOPE .. he is NOT an expert ... he is a reenactor ... NOT an expert ...
@@0623kaboom I have no idea what you are ranting about, sounds like a crackpot grudge of some kind. If you actually have any knowledge of the field of medieval armour and arms you will know Tobias is widely respected, he advises and lectures all over the place because he is one of the leading experts in the field and his published work is about the best reference work there is on the subject.
@@0623kaboom I can't cvomment on the 40 Anglo-Saxon warriors who died on horseback, I've not been able to find details of them after a brief Google search, nor ont he museum's web page.
What I will say is that 40 bodies does not a cavalry force make. What he actually said in the video was that Anglo-Saxons did not fight like knights on horseback, and that is a point pretty much universally agreed upon. From contemporary accounts, Anglo Saxons rode to battle and largely dismounted to fight on foot, with a fresh reserve of mounted troops to sweep up fleeing enemy. They did not fight like the Normans and later knights, who fought most of the battle from horseback. There is scant evidence for anything else, and it normally involves accounts of mounted raiding parties and the like. Again, that is not fighting battles. Your 40 mounted Anglo-Saxons could easilly have been a raiding force, or have been killed while giving chase to a fleeing enemy.
I don't need to fight his battles for him, but I'd do some reading up on Capwell before dismissing him as a "mere" re-enactor...
Such an expert that he claims rectangular shields didn't exist despite evidence of them being used ranging over thousands of years even into the late medieval era. Maybe the "expert" needs to look back into his supposed area of expertise instead of making outlandish and erroneous claims.
@@Nyx_2142 what evidence do you have of rectangular shields? Genuine question.
6:57 - I agree that that's not the proper way to hold a sword, but I actually like that they did it that way. As the host (quite correctly) observes, Peter looks as though he has never held a sword in his life in this scene, and that is as it should be. This is only the second or third time Peter has ever even drawn his sword, and at this point in the movie he still hasn't had any lessons yet. So, yeah, he should look like he has never used a sword in his life, because for all intents and purposes, he hasn't. I wouldn't be surprised if they deliberately didn't give the actor any lessons in swordsmanship before filming this scene in order to make his inexperience as authentic as possible.
Thank you! I came for this comment! That's the whole point. He's a kid from 1940's England, so he hasn't really held a sword much. Although I always wondered about the previous book, where they had fully grown up in Narnia, and how much experience he'd had as an adult. Of course it's possible for some of that to fade, I suppose.
@@megan5867 with respect that scene is from the first movie not the second. The calvary charge is from Prince Caspian but the scene with the wolves is from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Peter is facing down the head of the White Queen's secret police in that scene and that wolf was actually his very first kill and very first taste of combat.
If you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus Is Lord' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. -Romans 10:9
I also like how Peter, who grew up in England during (I believe) WWII, uses the sword, as Tobias says, “like a gun”. That’s the kind of weapons he’d be used to seeing.
_"And seeing a knight fighting on a wall in a siege with arrows stuck in him is the best thing I've seen all day."_
Yep, that's a weapons nerd all right.
I just *love* that of all movies, the zombie-time-travel carnival ride _Evil Dead_ get's this compliment, because the equipment in that movie was such a joy. Way ahead of it's time. At that point other big productions had just moved away from just using vaguely metallic looking cloth for chain mail (an excellent way to torture SCAs and other historical nuts), and that movie was doing such a splendid job on wardrobe and weapons and armor.
Everytime I hear a commander yell "Fire!" to their archers I'm always taken out of it a bit. Mainly because they should be yelling "Loose!". Fire is a command given after the development of gunpowder weapons.
I find it super cringy too, despite being a small thing. Most accurate would be to have a single command to pull and loose the bow, it's not a weapon you can keep drawn for any amount of time without exhausting yourself, losing aim due to shaking, and risking injury.
They use it coz it's more easily understandable for modern world and I guess coz it just sounds better.
That's bollocks. The commander could yell any word, even "potatoe", and everyone would understand from the arrow volley that it was the release command.
@@weiSane Only it sounds far worse to anyone who knows this bad trope, or has given this a few seconds thoughts. Just shouting "Shoot!" is not going to confuse anyone
To go a step further, there's no real record of any "loose!" command either. Medieval archers did not fire in volleys - but shot as quickly as they could once given the command to begin - often by musical call or the throwing of a baton.
My face when Army of Darkness is 1000% more accurate than Game of Thrones.
That's what happens when you have one of the top armourers Jeffrey Hedgecock make the armour and swords. :D
@@avkdf4536 wait....... Jeff Hedgecock made the armours for Army Of Darkness?!
@@j.g.elmslie9901 Yep. Most of the armour was vacuum molded off of steel pieces he had made, but the main characters were actual steel though.
I was hired to be there with a bunch of other reenactors who had their own harness. Lot's of fun!
Game of thrones armor was mostly garbage and looked like plastic
It's the greatest dumb movie ever made and one of my favorite movies ever.
7:10
"except making you look like you've never held a sword in your life."
Peter (the guy who's being reviewed): **holding a sword for the first time in his life**
Can we take a moment to enjoy the fact that "Army of Darkness" gets a 10/10?
Groovy.
Hail to the King
That cavalry charge from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is one that's stuck in my head ever since I saw it first. Haven't watched it in a long time now, but I love how not only do they close the visor to be more accurate, but they make it a cinematographically significant moment as well.
Its such a good film
And Liam Neeson voiced Aslan!!
@@benjamincutts6949 Haha, you don't want to know how long I went without ever realising that. I had to have it pointed out to me, which is silly given how recognisable Liam Neeson's voice is.
By the way, now I'm rambling about that part of the film, I absolutely adore the way they used the griffins (at least I think that's what the winged cats are supposed to represent) to precision-bomb the enemy; such a brilliant way to use fantasy creatures in a way that real medieval people obviously never could, but would have made perfect military sense had they had them available.
@@rjfaber1991 The sequel film, Prince Caspian, has the Telmarines use proper infantry squares marching in formation towards the Narnian army, with good use of Trebuchets to assault the Narnian stronghold. Of course, the Telmarines weren't prepared for the ground to collapse beneath them or the literal forest to start attacking. Overall the Narnia films did pretty well in depicting fantasy medieval combat, even if they are some errors and classic Hollywood moments.
@@rjfaber1991 its one of the best films out there, the CGI is phenomenal for its time, still holding up to this day. The story is very faithful to the book, and the underlying Christian allegories are very obvious, I love it
The casual throwaway line, "I can stab him straight through his windpipe" was hilarious. This man knows armoured combat as well as any man alive today so yes, he can.
In defense of LoTR, I guess the helmets are so up above their eyebrows in order to maintain the actors' facial expressions easily readable. That was a great video!
He really seems to love LOTR though giving it good notes in this and the other video.
But one big strength of LOTR was costume design which Hollywood still doesnt seem to understand...
@@rostigerrolf4490 have you seen the behind the scenes parts where they have a bunch of people actually knitting the chain mail for the scenes? just think about it.. they actually had people link those chain rings together by hand, just for the movie to look good.
don't find that level of dedication and passion much anymore in today's fantasy/medieval movies.
@@_claymore You also didnt have good costumes in older movies but some of it is budget restriction of course. Nowadays its just lazy or they dont have enough time. I think LOTR is so special because they really did care and they took enough time. You cant just mass produce those costumes, weapons etc. in no time.
They also just HAPPENED to choose the scene where Éomer's sword literally falls out of his scabbard 🤣
They were also not in combat so they might push up their helmets or leave then chin strap undone. Just like footballers sometimes have their helmets in a more relaxed postion on their heads.
Fascinating commentary by Tobias Capwell. One note about Henry V, though: although it's true that Olivier and the other foreground actors were wearing steel armor, owing to wartime shortages there was no metal for the extras. So most of that realistic-looking armor you're seeing in the background is actually made out of wool.
This guy really understands fantasy and he doesn't just say "iTs HiStOrIcAlLy InAcCuRaTe" cuz he knows this is an other world/culture that still can be realistic based on its own rules. He is the guy who history/fantasy fans wanted.
Yeah, i really appreciate how he mentioned in the previous episode that story telling and narrative are important
I would love him to explore what would happen in a fight where you had leopards with infantry-level intelligence, but all the weapons/armor are at medieval level tech. Would they charge, or be 2nd wave flank cavalry?
@@ricobarth Depends, leopards are fast animals but low stamina, you usually wouldn't want to waste them on charges unless its to overwhelm opponents quickly.
Flanking would possibly be best and have them in sort of hit and run type tactics. Taking out archer or siege troops.
Well if it were based on the prehistoric times he can say that
@@ricobarth I'd say they would make excellent skirmish/ambush troops in semi-independent units. They would be great for harassing enemy supply lines.
7:13 in Peters defense, he never has held a sword before, or at least, been in a proper fight with one
im just glad they included a narnia movie. it seems like everyone forgets about them when critique videos like this are done
@@rachelh1720 yeah
Good point. It actually makes sense that a boy from the 20st century would hold a weapon like that.
Generally keeping the point of your sword in front of your opponent, especially if they don’t have a sword is the best way to go. Most stances have some bending of the elbows, but the point is facing the enemy. How else could someone get into a bind anyway?
@@rachelh1720 I mean do you expect narnia to have some medieval significance? Animals literally talk.
Now i want this Guy and the ditch guy debating about wedge formations and their effectiveness!
I've watched so many of these "expert rate" videos and every single time the expert is the most amicable and enthusiastic person. It's so fun to watch people talk about their passions. Tobias was great here and I found myself more than once pausing the video to google and read up on things he spoke about (notably Gilles de Rais - what a horrible bastard! And to see that there was a pseudo-retrial in France in 1992 that found him NOT GUILTY - without consulting experts - is crazy!)
What makes you think they did not consult experts? Did you even research his backstory? You figured that people don't lie? There is a lot of convincing material that the acusations actually made up to discredit him. But it's much more sexy to believe that he was a child murderer who tried to summon a demon.
Just something I want to point out, Peter (Chronicles of Narnia) doesn't know how to use a sword, he's not even from that time period, which makes perfect sense as to why he held it as a gun, keeping in mind he came from WW2 Britian.
Yeah, and he's like, saying to the wolves, "back off nazis, or, I swear, I WILL shoot you with this.... er..... sword?"
@@SimonAshworthWood well well he's got a pommel..
@@ricobarth it was his 1st time in narnia when encountering the wolves
Great work Toby, really happy to see you spread the reality of historical armour to a wider audience, congratulations!
Toby Capwell......stabbing reality straight into the windpipe of modern misconceptions.
Love your ASMR videos :)
@@justinlay7085 thanks. It's ages since I jousted against Toby, seeing him here reminded me that it's been too long out of the lists.
We’d LOVE to see you do a video of this style Jon... mi lord :D
great spread of a false hood too even his OWN museum has about 40 skeletons that PROVE anglo saxons DID fight on horse back ... in BATTLES .. because there is NO OTHER WAY to get the injuries that their bones show ... yet he says they didnt ... seems he is a pretty bad currator and missed about 10m sq area of skeletons that prove him to be wrong
The Wallace Collection is AMAZING. Thank you for your work on keeping it as one of the best things I ever saw in my visit to Europe
I like the fact that a museum curator has his own armor.
My late uncle (he sadly died WAY too early and quite unexpected) actually made his own armour (and he was a museum curator in Germany as well and one of the only real "Plattner" smiths - the German name for people who create plate armour - left in Europe at that time, which was in the late 80s/early 90s. He reproduced some historical armour that well, that other museums asked him to please stamp them with his sign to make sure nobody would mistake them for the originals! :-O ). He was doing demonstrations about how to create and form armor on different occasions (at museums or festivals), too.
And he was one of the people who researched the famous artificial iron hand of Goetz von Berlichingen (he's listed multiple times as source on the German Wikipedia page for them, and at least once on the English one, too).
When you entered his house (which looked like a normal family home from the outside, even kind of boring), you were greeted by a wide hallway with armor suits left and right down along it, crossed swords and axes on the walls, wooden wainscot everywhere, and so on. It really looked like you just entered a small castle - and he actually referred to it as "Burg Fuchsbau" (literally "Castle Foxhole"). He was so much fun to be around, I really miss him - even though he only came by at our place maybe three times a year. :-(
Anyone who can casually say "So I'll stick this on" while putting on an actual medieval-style helmet is automatically a hero in my book.
I absolutely love that he gave GOT a 1 and Army of Darkness a 10.
I just love how it puts GoT in its place. I've heard people say how GoT is so accurate to medieval times, when it's really not, but still acts like it is.
Proving Army of Darkness is a 10/10 film lol
Or maybe he’s just biased, GOT is a fantasy after all lol
@@saadlachhab3893 so Is lotr? He ranked it 10/10 is some vids
@@naturalone6529who claimed GoT is meant to be accurate to medieval history? It’s a fantasy world based on the book series A Song of Ice and Fire…
I wanna see more of this guy. so rare to see one of these where the guy takes the rules/setting of a fantasy world into account when critiquing. Would also love to see him critique some scenes from a Knight Tale
I was an extra in the Outlaw King knighting scene, one of the knights, and I was a Scottish soldier in the final battle scene. I was impressed that they managed to fit more than a hundred of us in actual metal for this bit, almost full body mail. I agree about the ventails being missing, especially on the cast members, but overall I thought the attention to detail on the film was done with some decent care (minus Edward II being present at the Battle of Loudon, that messed up the whole logic of the history and the plot lol).
When Narnia does a better job armoring than GoT...
Also Army of Darkness ffs lol.
The armour in GoT really bugged me.
@@Outland9000 Everyone hates Game of Thrones now.
@@0816M3RC I started watching it real late. Which sucks because I like it atm, but I know the ending is bunk.
@@0816M3RC I mean, I dont hate it. I enjoyed seasons 1 to 4 and parts of 5 and 6. I just wasn't keen on the armour. I am *_not_* a fan of D&D though. Generally I consider them to be a pair of hacks.
Finally insider gets a guy who knows what hes talking about, more of mr. Capwell pls
yet he says anglo saxons didnt fight on horse back .. yet they have many anglo saxons bodies that have injuries that can only be done to a person WHILE on horse back and IN battle ... heck his museum even has a few in their collection ... pretty bad curator if he misses the basics within his OWN collection that HE is responsible for ...
On EVERY one of these videos, there is always someone saying "Finally insider gets a guy who knows what he's talking about" or "Finally Insider gets a real expert"
It's almost as guaranteed as someone saying Mike Tyson's quote "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face" on any video with Mike Tyson in it.
@@Tommy9834 as well as comments saying "this person is great very blunt unlike alot of other experts" or "this person is nice very kind unlike alot of other experts" or something along those lines yes I'm glad I'm not the only one who is annoyed with comments like Alden's and the ones I mentioned
You often don't realize how much there is to know on a subject before a real expert chimes in. This man, Tobias Capwell, just has so much knowledge and knows history so well it's a joy to listen to.
4:11 ''I can stab him straight in the throat.'' I know he's right, but the off handed viciousness of that comment still made me chuckle.
Army of Darkness getting 10/10 made my day.
I love Capwell! He's not only a fascinating person to hear speak on his subject, but he's also done a lot to interact with the online community of enthusiasts and make the academic side much more accessible
Éomer's helmet was that high because it was an introduction to the character and they wanted to ensure the audience established a connection with him by seeing his face
He does acknowledge that Hollywood loves to show the actors' faces.
It could also be that he was wearing it high since he was riding with his band or group of soldiers. Wearing it low would affect visibility especially when you're out looking for Orcs on the horizon.
He does put it lower in later scenes, see Helm's Deep and Pelennor Fields for reference.
My big problem with the Ser Jorah vs some Dothraki fight scene was that they really went overboard with showing how heavy the armor is. Jorahs movement is way too sluggish.
In their defense, he's also not a young man anymore. Yes, he's a skilled warrior, but his prime is behind him, and he was fighting multiple enemies. Can't really see the issue with him being sluggish. Would have liked to see that pointed out, tho.
In general everybody thinks medieval plate armor was this super heavy, encumbering mass of metal that made people sluggish tanks.
Then you can surprise them by showing them a video of people moving like damn cats in full plate, or explaining that if you take a modern military man, he's gonna be a carrying a lot more weight in gear than a knight did back in the day.
Yeah the whole "hur hur stupid knight in too much armor gets beat by the lighter faster dude" thing is really tired. If you're not in plate mail, there's just no way you're going to keep up with a dude that doesn't need to care about 90% of your sword swings.
Keep in mind they've been traveling in the hot desert sun for a long time.
@@GaudyGabriev yeah in the Marines our plates snd helmet weigh about 120 pounds altogether if memory serves. It takes conditioning but you absolutely get used to it
Needs more ditches.
At least three.
And a wall or palisade behind the ditches
Disturbing lack of ditches.
His advice has helped me in Valheim no end 🤣
Ditch, please!
And rocks to throw at people. It's great.
Ever ancient warfare expert they bring on. “No fire arrows and more ditches”
I always thought ditches were common knowledge and was always confused when movies never used them.
Henry V movie had some emphasis on combat engineering.
I will say I wish we'd seen more input on the Game of Thrones example, as beyond the gorget's fitting the armor itself feels a lot better in action than most portrayals of plate armor and the like are given.
This guy needs a TV show. So informative and enthusiastic.
I love how he takes story telling and the context of the movie into consideration when rating them. It's not just about the realism in the context of our world, but how convincing and logical it is for the world within the given movie.
lmao Army of Darkness is what get's the 10. Awesome
It actually deserves it.
Or you could say....Groovy
More Tobias Capwell please! His expertise is sorely needed!
It’s interesting to see how different guests contradict each other. This guy talks about fire arrows being useful in naval battles, but the guy in the naval battle video says they wouldn’t really be used. He also says that the wedge formation of a cavalry charge is very effective, whereas the video about tactics has the Oxford professor saying that there isn’t much evidence that the wedge formation was effective.
right?! it just shows you that we still have lots to learn about medieval warfare!
Yea lol the thing is each person only has one life, and so it is difficult to become truly expert on each subcategory.
There's zero doubt wedge existed and was often used, based even purely on documentary evidence, but judging *whether something was effective*, especially whether it was more effective than X or Y other formation, is a whole other ballgame and in reality would require science to determine, which is somewhat difficult when you're killing a bunch of dudes each time you "test" and each battle is unique and brutal in its own way. It's the kind of distinction I could totally see historians contradicting each other over, and just makes it more fun to read up on.
It’s a real illustration of the fact that if u get five historians in a room, u get ten different opinions
To be fair, as a lightly armoured (thin leather jacket, no helmet, regular pants) infantry guy to go first in a wedge is just asking to have a very short life.
Compared to a heavily armed, professional soldier on a big honking horse going first in a wedge with a lance as a deterrent will have a quite decent chance of walking home on his own that evening to sleep in his bed.
Especially if the cavalry is fighting infantry without pikes.
Wedge formations have their place, as do every other formation, they are just very situational.
I have seen/read about very few wedges in ancient battles, but they do become more popular as armour gets better, and one fights less professional soldiers.
From what i read about fire arrows in naval warfare, it was mostly used by ambushers shooting ships/boats going along smaller rivers so to set fire to The sails and such to mostly slow down the enemy ships/boats. So more of a "slow them down, by us time" tactic, from what i read at least
10/10 for Army of Darkness. Thanks Toby, I knew I could count on you!
That made me too happy! Love that movie.
Toby is the best possible expert for this series. Couldn't find a more knowledgable or better qualified person if you tried.
Except he is terribly wrong about wedge formation. Its one of the worst formations for cavalry especially with your king at the front - all you are doing is making enemy really prepared to kill first 10 people at the point of that wedge. They will die.
7:00 I would just like to point out that while that scene was not the first time Peter had had his sword drawn, he’d only gotten it earlier that day or the day before, it WAS the first time he had to USE it, AND he’d had no training with it beforehand. Context is important, man.
I could watch Toby Capwell in videos all day. An academic with practical knowledge as well is a rare find. Well done and more please!!
And they call it a cave , A Cave !? - Gimli's voice
a MINE
I believe that "Hold your sword like a gun" moment was that characters first fight, the first time he ever really held a sword and the first time he actually kills anything.
I think they get training later before the battle, but don't quote me on that.
Man this guy is awesome, so informative and knowledgable!
Seeing what proper head protection looks like - how much of the actor's face it cuts off under the mouth and obstructs from the eyes up - no wonder it's the first thing nixed during character design. Even simple hats often don't make it to the screen, not to mention helmets. With tha in mind, I'm actually hoping for more LOTR-like ill-fitting helmets that show both the character's face and the protection they're wearing.
Also, who else paused to jump into a wiki rabbit hole about Gilles de Rais and the attempt to retry him in 1992?
07:06 "Pointing a sword at somebody with your arm fully extended..." is the main guard in Destreza, old spanish fencing (with only one hand and facing sideways, that is...) but it's great for this scenario. By doing that you maintain your enemy as far from you as possible. Wolves don't have the ability to take your weapon from you, but they can bite IF they get close.
Destreza also uses a much longer blade and a cup hilt to protect the hand in a 1v1 duel. Peter has none of this with that arming sword and standing at long-point. It's great defense in front of you, but sacrifices any quick reaction to the side or rear. But in context of the movie, Peter doesn't know how to fight with a sword.
Very different. In Destreza you're using a light one-handed sword with your shoulders more or less parallel with the blade. Holding a longsword with squared shoulders out in front of you actually shortens your reach compared to if you held it with one hand and turned your torso sideways. So not only is he giving up mechanical leverage and tiring himself faster by extending his biceps completely, he's actually shortening his reach.
Extended in the historical manuals doesn't mean you have your elbows locked like Peter's, which is what Toby was criticizing.
Long point, which is the guard he's trying to assume, has the point extended out in front of you. Extended, but you're not locking your elbows.
I was actually going to say fighting styles all over the world have used defensive stances with arms extended and many different styles of swords. Thank you for pointing that out. But also, Peter did not know what he was doing. (And absolutely no-one is going to grab a sword from your hands in a fight. Extending your arm like that would get you killed.) He should have also pointed out that the movies give to much armor to the armies. Armor was expensive and most soldiers didnt have any. You had to be wealthy and/or very important to have armor.
It’s crazy they made such a realistic film in the height of WW2
Great video! I adore Toby and Roel as experts for the Insider, they are true prfessionals. Interesting thing about Eomer's introduction is that he's got that helmet so high because that's his first scene in the movie and audience is meant to see his face - as Toby said. However, Karl Urban does put his helmet lower and straps it in later scenes, just watch battles in Helm's Deep and on Pelennor Fields for reference.
I love this guys break downs they are so on the point and honest.
7:12 but that’s the point though, Peter is from 1930s England, he doesn’t know how to use sword.
And he agrees, that’s exactly what he says. I don’t see how he’s wrong.
1940s
Toby's back at it again! Hope to see more videos with him reviewing weapons and armor in the future.
In the Narnia scene where Peter is pointing the sword at the wolves, at that point in the movie he had no weapons training whatsoever so it's spot on film making really :) the Narnia battle is so epic it almost makes you cry lol
I could seriously watch this 'Experts Rate' for HOURS! I love this series so much.
I feel sorry for the chap who had to boil off the mercury and had to breath the vapor. Plus who knew Army of Darkness was so accurate, SHOP SMART, SHOP S-MART!
I would have liked to see him reacting to Braveheart armors and the cavalry charge of Kingdom of Heaven
Why? there is nothing CORRECT about Braveheart, like at all!!
He did in another video.
It's so wonderful to see Mr Capwell's information coming out. I hope that if enough cinema-goers learn the beauty and function of armour or weapons and how it related to mediaeval society then directors and producers will make it a priority to address these things.
They only add to cinema, they don't detract from it. They immerse the viewer into the story.
Honestly, watch anything this gentleman produces. Always engaging and always informative.
I love how he goes easier on fantasy films and talks about the real life inspirations, yet totally rips apart films that claim to be "based on a true story" hahaha. As it should be. I'm always disappointed to learn that a film "based on historical events" is totally wrong and full of nonsense. I don't think the film industry has to embellish everything to make it more appealing.. If you study history you find that there is plenty of fantastic material to draw from without any distortion.
Imagine The Lord of the Rings started with 'Based on a true story' ...
@@AGH331 well it kind of is ?
tolkien's idea was Lotr is English pre-history
Say that to the makers of "Tora! Tora! Tora!" and "Midway". Fantastic moves, and I love them to death, but the general public is not as excited.
It’s not that they think they need to embellish it, it’s that they don’t bother to do deep research in the first place. They do very shallow research, throw together a script, and call it historically accurate
@@timmorris8932 This guy gets it! My Wife is somewhat interested in the Pacific Theater and loved crappy films like Pearl Harbour and the more modern Midway. I said to sit down and watch these two films specifically. They bored her to tears.
Can you do a video on a tank commander or crewman react to some tank movies like in Fury ,Kelly's Heroes, Band of Brothers, The Pacific, The Beast, Rambo 3, T-34, Patton, The A-Team, etc.
Get The Chieftain (Nicholas Moran).
You can definitely fly a tank through the air by firing in the opposite direction though.
Tank movie? T-34.
Transformers
Woohoo more Toby Capwell!
I love this series of items. Yes we know it's just a film but what I enjoy is the knowledge these people pass on to us.... Excellent, thank you.
7:12 In Peter’s defense here, if I remember correctly, he’s had that sword for less than a week and no formal training by that point in the movie.
It is rather rare that I give something a thumbs up before actually watching it, but I see Toby talking about medieval weapons and armour and already know it will be good.
Leave it to "Army of Darkness" of all movies to get 10/10 hahahaha
thank you i was wondering what movie that was
Didn't expect silly ass Army of Darkness to be so accurate
9:51 He didn't mention that a commander yelling "FIRE!" to archers is inaccurate because the verb "fire" was only meant for firearms, so people did not say "fire" as in "shoot" until the 18th century which is the first time line infantry with muskets was common place.
I feel like maybe Ash told them to say that since he actually has a gun and wouldn't really know what terms these guys would use.
I love how much he loves the Lord of the Rings!
Toby: "When you point a sword at someone like a gun, straight out there when they're out of range, it's like you've never held a sword before in your life."
Me: "Um, yeah. He hasn't."
Great observation there.
Also, I love his reaction to Peter putting his visor down; not only is it practical, it looks boss as heck when he does it.
Ironically, that's one of the better fights in Game of Thrones. Jorah's plate armor works as intended, completely negating the Bloodrider's arakh. And the fight goes as expected for a knight in plate vs an unarmored opponent armed with just a slashing blade
Actually pissed me off quite a bit that he didnt get to that point in the scene to comment on it.
@@rossclarke5194 I also that it was kinda weird he gave the whole thing a one when he's given like a 7 for movies that have had worse mistakes.
Also, Game of Thrones is an alternate reality medieval world. Who's to say that the neck-plate in GoT world isn't worn on the outside?
@@chad1755 No. In every political, militar and even cultural (with some renames and little things) Song of Ice and Fire universe is fully based in reality. Only some magical aspects are fantasy
@@jamie_d0g978 Huh? Westeros has a different history than medieval Europe. And it is the progression of history that dictates the evolution of armour. So it makes perfect sense if the armour has minor variations.
7:14 the funny thing is, Peter is still a novice at that point in the story, so it really seems to serve to tell a story.
I would like to hear his opinion on the Riddle of Steel as presented by Crom. 🤔
5:00 Gilles de Rais was not a serial killer, his family and the church framed him and kept his fortune.
May I ask if you have anything to back this up? From what I've heard him being innocend is just a fringe theory.
In my art, I'm striving to depict armor that is stylized yet functional. These videos are really helping me get a better grasp of how to do it properly. I could listen to this guy talk about medieval arms and armor all day and not get bored
If I could recommend someone to study up on for that, I would also recommend John Howe...yes, the same John Howe who designed most of the armor for LotR. Not only is his art, including his fantasy pieces, fantastic (he did one piece showing an armored centaur...full barding for the horse half, gothic plate for the upper). but himself is a re-enactor as well.
I love how Toby just casually keeps a knight helmet in his backpocket.
“Holding the sword like that makes him look like he’s never held a sword before.” Well, considering it’s a 1940’s English kid in an alternate world, that’s probably accurate.
This reminds me of Shadiversity going nuts when a castle surrenders because of knights with fire arrows outside threathening to shoot them
I should have written archers instead of knights
Its hard to defend a castle when everything worth Defending has burnt down.
@@bloodypine22 But "fire arrows" dont just burn down things, they don't work that well (if at all)
@@MrSam1er Fire arrows do work quite well, and they were used. Check out Mark Strettons tests.
If a fire arrow will light a bale of damp hay on fire. It will light up a straw roof and thus the wooden framework on fire.
Great video!! Thanks
awesome analysis! 10/10, good sir 👍
When the cavalry charge from Narnia came up I was like "oh no, please don't tell me my favorite scene from this movie is inaccurate or inauthentic". I was pleasantly surprised.
Proper respect for a classic historic documentary: Army of Darkness.
Give us more of this man!
This gentleman talks as if he was actually there, incredibly fascinating. Great stuff!
Arrrrrrrrrgh, that "gold" armor at 5:28.
I'm really glad they showed the image of _real_ gilded armor, because the moment I saw that movie armor my brain went "WT-, that looks like play-mobil armor at best". The color is too flat, there's no reflection... it looks like it's not even trying to look like gold.
I love the detailed critique; I suspect helmets are often worn too high and not closed up enough so the mimics of the actors are fully visible. But yes, badly closed-up armor? Just ask Ser Hugh of the Vale.
I'm curious what movie is that scene from at 5:28?
"But seeing a knight fighting with arrows stuck on him: is the best I've seen all day! 10/10."
I want Tobias to react to Dark/Demon's Souls Armors & Weapons!
Love this guy! You can tell he likes good fantasy and movies that doesnt take themselves too seriously.
Wow, this guy is a true expert - great video
Yees this guy again
Actually, extending your sword horizontally is a defensive position in kendo, although, it'd only be used in a 1 on 1 duel situation against another sword of the same or lesser length
Very informative video Thanks Tobias! (I would wear armor, but give me some air conditioning to go with it cuz it gets hot wearing all that!!)
I freaking LOVE that they threw in Army of Darkness! Love, love it.