Large Swords?!

[Darth Vaildra]

So my first anime experience was Final Fantasy and what FF doesn't lack in is large swords. I never understood how cloud could so effortlessly wield a large sword and then more animes began to do it and now I am lost.

How are these tone, not big, people able to wield such swords besides anime logic. It got me thinking, could this happen on this site with the right training?

What do you guys think?

 

[Ellie Mors]

[member="Phantom"]
It's called lack of logic or physics. It's "possible" in the sense of "I write it, so it shall be", not so much in the sense of "Is this believable?".

 

[Durotar]

[member="Phantom"]

IRL, I can lift a 'small' buster sword-ish thing pretty easily. But I'm built kinda thick.

Anyway, buster swords are totally a thing in Star Wars.

 

[HK-36]

[member="Phantom"],

There's a show on Discovery Channel coming out you should watch,

It's called "Big, Giant Swords"

 

[Grrwunhoooll Agaburry]

Good thing this is all fiction [member="Darth Vitium"]

 

[Rena Kryze]

There's a video of a buncha guys who forged a to-spec buster sword.

They can't even carry it, much less swing it.

 

[Fatty]

It's basically the Rule of Cool, but if you're looking for a psuedo-believable explanation, perhaps the blades are made out of a fantasy metal that is super light weight, so even though it's bigger it weighs no more than an ordinary sword? Or perhaps fantasy muscles, it's like magic, except that instead of affected your environment, it affects the "caster" passively, as a unique racial/class ability. Or perhaps the blade is simply magic, kinda like Thor's hammer, where it would be impossible for anybody else but you to lift because magic.

That's the anime/FF explanation. In star wars, that's a little trickier.

Yes, the force in most instance could be consider essentially for all intents and purposes magic, so I guess it's not too far fetch to be trained to lift huge ass swords, but it's likely you will have to start out as a normal swordsman first, probably build a bigger swords out of progressively lighter and lighter material, meanwhile learning how to buff your strength to heft the thing. Keep in mind however, the Ashin Varanin attempted to get an anime style big ass sword and if memory serves correctly, failed. So yeah, keep that in mind!

Good luck!

 

[Qae Shena]

Mmkay. I'ma also add my opinion here as someone who's trained in a couple different sword schools as well, and dabbled in a stack of others.

A sword relies on being balanced. What does being balanced mean? A well-balanced sword has a point slightly beyond the crossguard (a couple inches or so is good) where the weight of the hilt and blade are even. A balanced sword is easy to wield. You can spin it, you can cut with it, yadda yadda yadda. It also prevents injury on the part of the wielder.

A sword like the buster sword, with a gigantic blade and a flimsy hilt, is so ridiculously unbalanced that you can't wield it effectively. It really is an anime thing.

If you made a balanced sword that big - and I say if, because I daresay it's not possible - then perhaps with sufficient strength augmentation, as well as reinforcing your skeletal structure to handle the weight (because trust me that stuff is not kind to the wrists) you might be able to do it.

 

[Durotar]

strength augmentation, as well as reinforcing your skeletal structure to handle the weight

*points at self, and then points at Balaya*

This is why I made this character this tall.

 

[Darth Vaildra]

[member="Qae Shena"]
[member="Fatty"]

you guys had very helpful answers (Qae I am with you on knowing about swordsmanship, but probably not to your level.)

My intentions are I need a weapon (not now) that will go great with dragon riding one day if that path goes through. I know a common choice would be a lightpike, but I want to go nontraditional. So ether a large sword (not buster sword, but still large) or a lightsaber that is crafted to release a blade that looks exactly like a double edge sword.

 

[Qae Shena]

[member="Phantom"] Something like a lightclub. Exceptionally-long lightsaber blade.

 

[Seris Vant]

[member="Phantom"]

Hit the gym cream puff. Become swoll. Get the girls mirin. Then you can wield an ultra greatsword. Or just pick a super strong race like a Gen'dai or something.

 

[Arrbi Betna]

I run an alt that uses a big ol' sword. That said, he's a big guy who has used it all his IC life (he's middle aged). Plus he's a Force augmentation (strength and endurance) specialist. Probably the only way to really do it reliably, and even then its not good for more than sweeping attacks, brutal chops, and raw power strikes.

 

[Ellie Mors]

[member="Kezeroth the Malevolent"]
Let me amend what I said to correctly portray how the physics and logic in Star Wars works, as well as how we approach these things:

• Your body should be in proportion with the weight of the blade's edge in relation to the weight of the hilt.
• Your character should be strong enough to lift said sword to begin with, and by extension any other material of the same weight.
• The sword should be correctly made, as per [member="Qae Shena"]'s post.
• If the sword is 2 meters long and 1/3rd of a meter wide and 15 cm thick, that thing is not going to weigh less than 10-20 kg. Sorry.
• Depending on the metals used, such as Desh-Terenthium(An Alloy), that sword is not going to make it through the factory as being capable of actually being used to cut things. As Desh-Terenthium and other super-mega-light alloys are made for ship-building and light armors specifically because they trade-off durability(as someone who buys 800$ knives to use in a kitchen setting, I can specifically speak on the quality of metals in blade working) for low-weight and flexibility. That means that 6 foot sword of yours will be broken quite quickly, bend over from its own weight, and become horribly blunt after a single use. It might not even cut through something the first try.
• Metals of higher quality (exception being Songsteel and Phrikite, because of their durability and light-weight attributes) will weigh more than a blade of, say, steel in the real world of the same size and shape. A beskad of those dimensions mentioned above, for example, will weigh Considerably more than any real blade made of real steel.
• Fiction is fiction, but disregarding set-in-stone physics is not up for debate.

If you are a Gendai and have a natural aptitude for strength, however, then that would make sense. But being a 6'5" Human male (2 m) weighing roughly 160lb (72kg) and trying to hold a buster sword-sized blade with one hand, and maybe even two, let alone using it in a combat situation, is entirely unbelievable and largely illogical and probably impossible. Not without power armor or implants, or maybe force augmentation if you're really good with that.

 

[Qae Shena]

By the way, for reference:

This is the video in which the buster sword is made and wielded. It is to scale. It is eighty pounds. Notice that they carry it against their shoulder in two hands and within seconds it's already uncomfortable.

To address one of [member="Darth Vitium"]'s points - it's probably going to be a little more usable than that. A sword has some flex in it intentionally to counter the dulling/etc first try.

 

[Ellie Mors]

[member="Phantom"]
Use a claymore. It is large, it is heavy, but it is totally believably within the realms of your ability to use without appearing far-fetched and illogical.

 

[Ellie Mors]

it's probably going to be a little more usable than that. A sword has some flex in it intentionally to counter the dulling/etc first try.

The issue is that Desh-Terenthium is much akin to what aluminum is to steel. While a steel blade has some flexibility, Desh-Terenthium would not simply be "some" it would be flexible. It isn't the kind of metal one would use for a sword above a certain length or without blending with durasteel. It would be ideal to lessen the weight of a sword using Desh-Terenthium, but I'm referring to one made entirely from that material. (To avoid a submission in the factory of a sword of that size made specifically from that material).

 

[Allyson Locke]

What happened to a good old fashioned lightsaber or sith sword?

 

[Qae Shena]

[member="Spencer Jacobs"] - power creep happened

 

[Darth Vaildra]

[member="Darth Vitium"]


Claymore was more of my idea, I just wanted to go big to see what the biggest would require.