How many swords could a person carry without getting ridiculous?

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In the story I'm working on, soldiers need to carry multiple blades because they are prone to getting stuck in the monsters. When I realized this was an issue, my first thought was that they could wear a skirt made of scabbards, but obviously that would be ridiculous. My next thought was, well, how many are reasonable?

Does anyone here have practical experience with swords or a good guess?
 

frimble3

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No experience, but I'm thinking that more than two is going to be somewhat awkward to walk around with.
If the problem is 'getting stuck in monsters', how about a guard part way down the sword, like a boar-spear, so the sword can only go so deep and no further? Deep enough to kill, but not deep enough to go all the way through the body?
 

Barfus

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Thousand upon thousand, in every nook and cranny of their being. No seriously, depends on the swords and what their purpose is. You could probably carry two blades on your hip, probably a large knife strapped to your tight and maybe an ankle knife. It also depends on how mobile do you want to be, high mobility means less weaponry. If you're going tank style, you could also carry a large sword with no sheath and a full arsenal but do expect to be moving very much.
 

Brightdreamer

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No experience, but I agree that more than two full-sized swords might be awkward. (I suppose one could do two across the back and one or two off the hip, but I don't think that would be particularly convenient.) Longswords, I'd think one would be about it.

Now, if you're talking daggers or knives as backup blades, you could probably carry a reasonable number of those.
 

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Four seems perfectly fashionable to me: two worn across the back, with handles sticking up above the shoulders, plus two on the hips. And also belts of daggers and throwing knives worn across the chest. And boots with little blades in the toes. Optionally, a hat with a bladed rim that can be thrown, or a helmet with a sharp spike welded to the crown.

-Derek
 

CameronJohnston

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It depends on the type and length of swords my friend, and if you want them to fight at a moment's notice - at the end of the day you can throw practicality to the wind and have them carry loads. Realistically, two across the back would be possible (though not able to be drawn quickly) one at the hip and a dagger at the other side. Two swords on the hips could get pretty messy/tangled (don't try running with that). My suggestion: a pack pony with a big roll of spare swords atop it, led by a squire/trainee who runs back and forth with replacement blades as needed.
 
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Chris P

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A quick Google pulled up this post on how much a European longsword weighs, and the consensus seems to be about 3 pounds, give or take. I don't know if that includes the scabbard or not. That might not seem like much, but as mentioned above mobility will be an issue. My laptop seems light until I'm running through an airport with the laptop bag bouncing on my hip.
 

Paul Scott

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I would say two longswords at most one on each side of the hip unless the character has alien features like more arms to wield the swords etc. It would be perfectly feasible for the character to carry more blades then just the two swords hidden on its person.
 

Luke Bruton

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I could imagine having two samurai swords strapped to the back plates of their armour and maybe a dagger or a smaller kind of sword in a holster by their thighs personally hope the writing goes well for you!
 

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CameronJohnston;10483390 a pack pony with a big roll of spare swords atop it, led by a squire/trainee who runs back and forth with replacement blades as needed.

The squire is a good idea. Sort of like a golf caddie but with a bag of swords instead of clubs.
 
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Marlys

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Human beings are, above all, problem solvers. My thought is that if the current swords don't work well, they'd come up with something that does--either a modified sword or a different type of weapon that can be re-used.

Another question that comes up in your current scenario is where are all these swords coming from? Is this society able to mass-produce them? If not, they're likely to be quite expensive. Who pays for them?
 

Tazlima

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Why have a separate sheath for each sword? If they need that many, couldn't they go with some slightly smaller/thinner swords and carry them in a quiver, like jumbo-sized arrows? You could probably fit quite a lot that way.

Oooh! Another idea!

What if the swords were hollow (or maybe shaped like a "V") and nested inside one another like measuring cups? You carry them like regular swords, and draw the innermost first, then the next smallest, and so on. You could line the inside of each one with soft material so it served as the sheath for the next size up.
 

D. E. Wyatt

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Speaking as a practitioner:

It's not so much the weight (swords are light) it's the size. It can be very easy to trip over your own scabbard if you're not careful, and trying to carry more than one sword is just going to compound the problems as they get in the way.

You'd carry ONE full-length sword on your person — usually either an arming sword (one-handed) or a longsword (two-handed) — as a sidearm and worn at the hip (back scabbards for any sword of appreciable length are NOT practical, and it can be very difficult to draw from that position. That's why in the original Conan movies, Ah-nold MOVES HIS SWORD from his back to his hip whenever Conan expects to need it). Your primary weapon in the West would be a polearm such as a polehammer, halberd, or pike (this is where the katzbalger came in; as a sidearm for pikemen) which would be carried in a "carry arms" position (it always irks me in video games seeing polearms strapped to peoples' backs :p ). The exception to the "one sword" would be if you also were carrying a doppelhander in place of the polearm, as was often the case for the Landsknechts, and these would be carried in a similar manner to a polearm (those are the very big two-handed swords which filled a roll closer to polearms). Any secondary bladed weapons beyond that would generally be some form of dagger such as the rondel (traditionally worn at the back). And if you're wanting your character to be carrying a large number of weapons, daggers would be the best choice.

If you wanted to carry around multiple swords, you could hang one from the saddle of a horse.

In fact, if your characters' swords have a routine problem of getting stuck in a monster to the extent they can't be withdrawn again...why are they even using swords? It sounds like bludgeoning weapons such as hammers and maces would be a much more practical choice.
 

zanzjan

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Since this is a fantasy world, gotta ask: how many arms do they have?
 

Layla Nahar

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I like 4*. & it's the number of death, fwiw

not counting any smaller blades scattered here and there. (If you have a long thigh, that would be a short-sword)

Best real-life example - Sasaki Kojiro was said to have worn 3 swords. (But he still got killed in a duel...)

I think waaay to much about swords...
 

themindstream

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Why have a separate sheath for each sword? If they need that many, couldn't they go with some slightly smaller/thinner swords and carry them in a quiver, like jumbo-sized arrows? You could probably fit quite a lot that way.

I almost poo-pooh'd this because swords rattling loose in an arrow-style quiver would be bad for the blades (same reason you don't want to keep good knives loose in a kitchen drawer). But then I remembered I've seen a video game character with something like a quiver, carrying at least three swords (he collects blades from defeated foes).

If that looks heavy, it's worth keeping in mind that he's likely got enhanced strength going for him and that this game series isn't shy about exaggerating weapon proportions. But it works insofar as I didn't question it when seeing it in the game.
 

JustWriteMike

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One on the hip and another, much shorter one, across the back, and as last resort a dagger. In line with some of the comments here, as a soldier facing this problem I would consider:
1) why am I even using swords when they’re so problematic?
2) if I must indeed use swords then I would want as many as possible nearby, but not necessarily on my person.
 

shortstorymachinist

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Are these stabby swords or slashy swords? If they're stabby swords, people could probably rig up some kind of detachable handle and a bunch of estoc blades in a quiver-like thing. Sort of like Attack on Titan, except those are slashy swords.

And now that I think about it, you could also go Witcher style: One sword for people and one for monsters. The monster sword can be designed in such a way that it doesn't get stuck, like it has a serrated edge or something. Unless you really want the swords to get stuck as a world building aspect?
 

themindstream

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I think this is the important part of this example. Video Games can get away with a LOT (IE, there's NO WAY Link could draw a sword the length of the Master Sword from a full scabbard on his back).

Oh I agree. But as a visual design element it didn't jump out at me as being utterly ridiculous. They basically worked it into one compound scabbard instead of strapping scabbards all over him.

Personally I also lean toward thinking that a spear would be a better weapon for the scenario described but I can be swayed by Rule of Cool somewhat.
 

Roxxsmom

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A quick Google pulled up this post on how much a European longsword weighs, and the consensus seems to be about 3 pounds, give or take. I don't know if that includes the scabbard or not. That might not seem like much, but as mentioned above mobility will be an issue. My laptop seems light until I'm running through an airport with the laptop bag bouncing on my hip.

Arming swords (often incorrectly referred to as long swords in games) weighed less than long swords (which are often referred to as two-handed swords in games). According to this site, arming swords would rarely exceed 3 pounds, with most weighing less. How swords were balanced also played a big role in how easy they were to wield. I think a sword in a scabbard would be less awkward than something the size and shape of a laptop banging at one's hip. They were designed to be carried that way, while laptops aren't.

http://www.thearma.org/essays/weights.htm#.W_2FmuKIbyQ

Like you said, however, anything might seem awkward if you have to carry multiples of it for a long time. The issue with carrying more than a couple swords at a time in scabbards wouldn't just be weight, though, there would be problems with drawing them. Drawing and re-sheathing a back-slung sword isn't as easy as stories make it seem. The size and shape of the sword are going to be factors here. Carrying two, criss crossed, to be drawn with each hand would likely be rather awkward, especially for someone who isn't ambidextrous.

https://www.quora.com/How-realistic-is-it-to-carry-and-unsheathe-a-sword-from-your-back

I'd say carrying more than one at each hip and one over the back (assuming the sword is of a type that works for the latter) would be the upper limit. Some readers likely wouldn't care, but others might shake their heads in disbelief if a character is bristling with swords. I agree with others who suggest the pack horse and squire.

Also, swords wouldn't tend to get stuck in whatever you use them on, because they are designed not to.
 

Blinkk

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I think this is the important part of this example. Video Games can get away with a LOT (IE, there's NO WAY Link could draw a sword the length of the Master Sword from a full scabbard on his back).

I'm playing Witcher 3 right now and every time Geralt sheaths his sword on his back I always try to catch the frame where the sword magically jumps a foot. That angle is physically impossible to sheath a long sword. You'd need arms longer than the blade.

In reality, if you choose to have a blade on your back, you'd need something shorter than the length of your arm. As fun as they are, games get away with improbable physics all the time.
 
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