The Power and Collectibility of the Two Handed Sword

Whether you are an ancient swordsman screaming over the top of a hill with both fists wrapped around five feet of cold hard steel, you are an Orc barbarian with twenty eight hit points and infinite endurance, or someone in period armor re-enacting their favorite scene from the latest blockbuster movie there is something to be said about owning a two handed sword. Two handed swords have long been part of the pop-culture scene since the day they were invented. There are many reasons for this from their usefulness in battle, to the simple "cool factor" of how big they are.

Swords have always represented power and the bigger the sword the more powerful the one wielding it must be. It was simple mathematics. A large individual with a big sword equaled someone of greater power. They were favorite weapons of renaissance era mercenaries as anti-pike and halberd weapons and they continue to be favorite weapons today during re-enactment scenarios of those battles.

The Myth of the Super Heavy Two Handed Sword

There are some common myths about two handed swords though. The most prevalent one being that they weighed thirty or forty pounds and were incredibly hard to lift and wield. While these weapons were certainly heavy by sword standards they were not unwieldy due to weight. Their difficulty in use came about in close quarters fighting due to their length.

The reality is that any sword made in that era weighing more than ten pounds would either be shaped like a tremendous butcher's knife or a metal pole. If a weapon were four feet long and two inches wide the density of carbon steel, the substance swords were made of at the time, would dictate that it have a thickness of over half an inch at the minimum. Even a ten pound sword would be hopelessly thick unless it was shaped like a cleaver.

The weight of these swords tended to average between three and a half to five pounds with a length that was within four to six feet. The heaviest and longest were normally made near the end of the renaissance period to combat pikes and halberd in the front lines.

Popular Usage of the Two Handed Sword

The two handed sword has appeared in movies and fantasy literature for many years and the popularity of collecting fantasy swords designed around this type of blade has continually increased over the years due to the appeal of the massive weapon. Nothing says in your face power quite like a hulking two handed blade that can cleave a charging Drow or Half-Orc fighter in twain.

Medieval Weapons