Medieval Fight Scenes for Knaves – Keep It Simple, Swordsman

Melee weapon fights.  Swords, shields, spears, axes, clubs, I could go on and on.  I love ’em and there’s a great chance that you love ’em, too.  But you can’t deny that it’s as much as a science as much as it is an art form.  You can either end up with a battle that really feels like a life or death fight, or you can come up with something that feels more like a high school stageplay where the combatants seem more occupied with fighting the opponent’s sword instead of the one holding it.

Suddenly what we thought would look like this…

…looks more like this.

Because of this, there is a constant temptation to detail every movement to really show every action of the fight.  There’s just a few problems with this.  Most young writers are not experts of Antiquity and Medieval warfare, myself included.  We can dig into as many as books and records and Wikipedia articles, watch as many experts on the subject on YouTube as possible.  Something, somewhere, our prose is gonna slip through the cracks.  People who actually know what they’re talking about are going to read this, in all likeliness, and they’re going to smell someone compensating for inadequate experience a mile away.

I’ve seen it in my own writing where I try to over-describe what is happening in the fights, only to learn later just how much I’m obviously trying to sound like I know more than I actually do.

Dang it, Jim, I’m a storyteller, not a weapons expert.  I’m a philosopher, a theologian.  I can learn definitions all I want, but I’m going to get things wrong with medieval battles if I try to write it in the ways that people who have the know-how know how.

That’s why I have decided to write this blog.  I know I am not the only one who struggles with this, as not many writers will ever have the privilege to learn the real mechanics behind the weapons and combat techniques or instincts they know.  Therefore I have a few short points I’ve tried to apply to myself to avoid me making the serious mistake that Mark Twain was talking about when he said,

“It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”

• In short, if you can’t tell it right technically, tell it right artistically.

Focus more on the characters, the stakes of the fight, the emotions and the general tactics they bring to the table by general descriptions that paint a picture of meaning rather than motion-for-motion directions.  You need not stress yourself about trying to get everything right if you don’t go down that route to begin with.  Rather than trying to think your way through a hypothetical chain of footwork changes and attacks with shifts in grip and blocks, describe it as a furious assault, a stunning attack, a blindside swipe.

• Pace the fights accurately

Most fights between two individuals are rather short because fights are exhausting and dangerous.  One wrong move, and you are either sliced, impaled or left exposed for the finishing blow.  Sure, some duels might drag on, but that might be because of the liberty of pauses, as they square off, judging and mentally measuring to ensure they don’t hit air on their attacks.  Fights can be over in a moment.  A misstep can mean death.  Finally, fighters often need to analyze their opponent for a second to evaluate each other’s strengths and weaknesses.  Every time they merge, it should be a flurry of action, a wrestling match with a sharp weapon in either hand, and a frightening clash which often leads neither side unscathed.  This also leaves for occasional moments for important glances, expressions and maybe a bit of dialogue or two.  Keep in mind, however, that these pauses aren’t often very long.

• Fights with melee weapons are life and death, messy and not meant to look cool.

However someone is a well-trained warrior, a skilled duelist or a crafty swordsman, many fights devolve into an animalistic brawl of wrestling with a pointed weapon in your hand.  There are no rules in a fight to the death, and your readers aren’t going to spit in your protagonist’s face for using their legs in a sword fight when the opportunity presents itself.  Weapons will sometimes be flung from hands, forcing them to use grappling moves and unarmed strikes until they are recovered.  In short, don’t try too hard to make these fights picture perfect and clean.  When your blood is on the line, you will do what you must, leaving mercy and honor for how you continue once your enemy is beaten.

For one of the best examples of how you can get a perfectly thematic sword fight whilst using realistic combat, check out this video by Adorea.  They’re a group dedicated to making short films using trained, dedicated, accuracy-valuing modern day combatants, and the result is a ripper to look at.  Think your way through this fight in the way you would describe it, focusing more on the general moves of the fight while accentuating more on the intensity and shifting of advantages of one character over another.  It’s in character that conflict actually lies, not in hitting metal against metal.

And that’s it for this blog.  I wish you all Godspeed and Peace be with ya!  I hope this helped, and I decided to make this a nice, short concise bit o’ musing based on some things I discovered on my own journey.  Needless to say, in the spirit of this blog, I cut right to the chase.

Sweet Mother of Albion, that pun was terrible.  Indy, play me out.