Massive, thick, heavy, and far too rough. Final part.
This is the last entry on Guts' arsenal, at least for the moment. I may cover the Berserker Armor someday, but it's not really in the scope or spirit of the blog, and I also do not have any sort of hard figures or real-world comparisons I can really draw on. So instead of the armor, we're going to be talking about the most iconic weapon from the series.
The Dragonslayer Sword:
This monstrous blade was forged by the blacksmith Goto. A nobleman commissioned him to forge a weapon that could kill a dragon. After much difficulty, Goto presented this weapon. The nobleman, furious at how ugly it was, demanded Goto's head. For you see, there were no dragons to be slain: It was merely meant to be a decoration. Despite it being originally intended by his Patron to be a wallhanger, the weapon Goto made is fully functional. So functional, in fact, that he considers it his finest work but for the fact no man could ever wield it....
Until Guts came along, anyways.
So let's jump right in!
Realism of design:
As far as the overall design, the only thing historical is the length. The thickness, width of the blade, and hilt design are all fictional in origin, and with good reason, which I'll get to later on. The length, however, is about right, in terms of scaling. A real world Zweihander was often longer than the man who wielded it. How MUCH longer varies, anywhere from a few inches to nearly a foot. The Dragonslayer appears to be roughly 10 to 12 inches longer than Guts is tall. That makes it somewhere in the neighborhood of 7 to 8 feet, as Guts stands at 6 foot, 7 inches, give or take. However, we come to a major fly in the ointment in terms of this weapons design: It's thickness. this weapon, viewed from the edge on, is nearly TWO INCHES THICK AT THE SPINE. While it DOES narrow at the edges, it does so in a sharp V shaped fashion, with no secondary bevel. This is more like an axe or chisel than a sword. Additionally, the blade has no distal taper, the spine and edge are the same thickness at the heel of the blade as they are at the tip. This is..... not the best design choice for a cutting weapon. In fact, short of "blunt bar of metal", it's one of the worst. This would present significant difficult in actually *cutting* the enemy, as the blade would not be very sharp, and thus would need to be swung very, VERY hard and fast to deal damage, something known as "Kinetic sharpness."
But when it WAS swung, what would that look like?
Realism of Damage:
Unlike the rather glaring design issues, which are intentional, I will grant, this aspect of the weapon is portrayed very true to life. When the Dragonslayer is brought to bear, it truly lives up to it's name. Countless foes, mortal and demonic, have felt it's edge used in anger, and only one has lived to tell the tale. Men are torn apart by it as limbs are sheared clean, and entire bodies are ripped in two. Armor is little if any defense, as the blunt force of the blade is just as deadly as it's axe-like edge, and lesser weapons are sometimes bent or even shattered by the impact. Demons fare little better, as it's massive blade shatters bone and cuts deep into flesh, severing limbs and tearing natural armor apart. It should be noted, the wounds left by this terrifying weapon are NOT clean cuts, they more resemble tears or rips in flesh, and bones are shattered, rather than cut. This makes it, once again, more like an axe. This is not a cutting or slicing weapon, it is a CLEAVING one, and it carries with it immense blunt impact, such that Guts has, on occasion, turned the blade sideways and used it as a paddle-like percussive weapon. It is largely the speed this blade is swung at that deals the damage, Guts has superhuman strength and stamina. He utilizes this to wield the Dragonslayer with speed, grace, and terrifying cutting ability, harvesting his enemies.
In addition, ending the life of countless demon Apostles has imbued this sword with supernatural energy. This allows it to inflict even greater harm onto demons, and it is capable of harming, and in some cases, even KILLING gods. While I cannot measure EXACTLY what that would take, the mere fact that it's edge was able to cut and mortally wound The Sea God's heart means this is technically the most powerful weapon on this blog so far: It was used to commit Deicide.
Could you use it:
In simple terms? No. The Dragonslayer is, at one point, implied to weigh somewhere in the ballpark of 400 pounds. Knights have tried to lift the weapon, and were unable to do even that, let alone swing it. No human in the real world could ever use this effectively, it would be slow, exhausting, and damaging to the body to even attempt such a thing. Further, by the calculations I did, 400 pounds is about right (I got 385 from my figures), meaning most humans couldn't even lift the damn thing. This means the Dragonslayer weighs about as much as a full grown American Black Bear. I don't care how big and strong you are, you will not be able to handle this thing like a proper sword.
Could we make it:
This is actually a bit of a tricky question. In THEORY, yes, you could forge a massive bar of steel like this thing, heat treat it, and all the other necessary processes to make a blade. Notice I say "in theory." In practice, it would be nearly impossible to forge this. You'd need a way to LIFT it, for starters, and then to safely handle it, since you cannot grab hot steel with your bare hands. After that, you'd need a forge large and hot enough to do it, an anvil large enough to hold it, a hammer that can move the absurd amount of steel in a reasonable amount of time, a quench tank big enough to submerge it, enough oil to do said quenching, and all of this is assuming you don't have any cracks, any cold shuts, the blade doesn't warp, and nothing else goes wrong. The odds are just not in your favor to make this thing, and even with modern technology, I very much doubt you could make a faithful replica of the Dragonslayer.
Which, in it's own way, isn't so bad. After all, we'd only need it if there were any dragons.
The Dragonslayer Sword:
This monstrous blade was forged by the blacksmith Goto. A nobleman commissioned him to forge a weapon that could kill a dragon. After much difficulty, Goto presented this weapon. The nobleman, furious at how ugly it was, demanded Goto's head. For you see, there were no dragons to be slain: It was merely meant to be a decoration. Despite it being originally intended by his Patron to be a wallhanger, the weapon Goto made is fully functional. So functional, in fact, that he considers it his finest work but for the fact no man could ever wield it....
Until Guts came along, anyways.
So let's jump right in!
Realism of design:
As far as the overall design, the only thing historical is the length. The thickness, width of the blade, and hilt design are all fictional in origin, and with good reason, which I'll get to later on. The length, however, is about right, in terms of scaling. A real world Zweihander was often longer than the man who wielded it. How MUCH longer varies, anywhere from a few inches to nearly a foot. The Dragonslayer appears to be roughly 10 to 12 inches longer than Guts is tall. That makes it somewhere in the neighborhood of 7 to 8 feet, as Guts stands at 6 foot, 7 inches, give or take. However, we come to a major fly in the ointment in terms of this weapons design: It's thickness. this weapon, viewed from the edge on, is nearly TWO INCHES THICK AT THE SPINE. While it DOES narrow at the edges, it does so in a sharp V shaped fashion, with no secondary bevel. This is more like an axe or chisel than a sword. Additionally, the blade has no distal taper, the spine and edge are the same thickness at the heel of the blade as they are at the tip. This is..... not the best design choice for a cutting weapon. In fact, short of "blunt bar of metal", it's one of the worst. This would present significant difficult in actually *cutting* the enemy, as the blade would not be very sharp, and thus would need to be swung very, VERY hard and fast to deal damage, something known as "Kinetic sharpness."
But when it WAS swung, what would that look like?
Realism of Damage:
Unlike the rather glaring design issues, which are intentional, I will grant, this aspect of the weapon is portrayed very true to life. When the Dragonslayer is brought to bear, it truly lives up to it's name. Countless foes, mortal and demonic, have felt it's edge used in anger, and only one has lived to tell the tale. Men are torn apart by it as limbs are sheared clean, and entire bodies are ripped in two. Armor is little if any defense, as the blunt force of the blade is just as deadly as it's axe-like edge, and lesser weapons are sometimes bent or even shattered by the impact. Demons fare little better, as it's massive blade shatters bone and cuts deep into flesh, severing limbs and tearing natural armor apart. It should be noted, the wounds left by this terrifying weapon are NOT clean cuts, they more resemble tears or rips in flesh, and bones are shattered, rather than cut. This makes it, once again, more like an axe. This is not a cutting or slicing weapon, it is a CLEAVING one, and it carries with it immense blunt impact, such that Guts has, on occasion, turned the blade sideways and used it as a paddle-like percussive weapon. It is largely the speed this blade is swung at that deals the damage, Guts has superhuman strength and stamina. He utilizes this to wield the Dragonslayer with speed, grace, and terrifying cutting ability, harvesting his enemies.
In addition, ending the life of countless demon Apostles has imbued this sword with supernatural energy. This allows it to inflict even greater harm onto demons, and it is capable of harming, and in some cases, even KILLING gods. While I cannot measure EXACTLY what that would take, the mere fact that it's edge was able to cut and mortally wound The Sea God's heart means this is technically the most powerful weapon on this blog so far: It was used to commit Deicide.
Could you use it:
In simple terms? No. The Dragonslayer is, at one point, implied to weigh somewhere in the ballpark of 400 pounds. Knights have tried to lift the weapon, and were unable to do even that, let alone swing it. No human in the real world could ever use this effectively, it would be slow, exhausting, and damaging to the body to even attempt such a thing. Further, by the calculations I did, 400 pounds is about right (I got 385 from my figures), meaning most humans couldn't even lift the damn thing. This means the Dragonslayer weighs about as much as a full grown American Black Bear. I don't care how big and strong you are, you will not be able to handle this thing like a proper sword.
Could we make it:
This is actually a bit of a tricky question. In THEORY, yes, you could forge a massive bar of steel like this thing, heat treat it, and all the other necessary processes to make a blade. Notice I say "in theory." In practice, it would be nearly impossible to forge this. You'd need a way to LIFT it, for starters, and then to safely handle it, since you cannot grab hot steel with your bare hands. After that, you'd need a forge large and hot enough to do it, an anvil large enough to hold it, a hammer that can move the absurd amount of steel in a reasonable amount of time, a quench tank big enough to submerge it, enough oil to do said quenching, and all of this is assuming you don't have any cracks, any cold shuts, the blade doesn't warp, and nothing else goes wrong. The odds are just not in your favor to make this thing, and even with modern technology, I very much doubt you could make a faithful replica of the Dragonslayer.
Which, in it's own way, isn't so bad. After all, we'd only need it if there were any dragons.
I don't know about that. With all the awesome metal-making technology we have nowadays, I think one of these could be made. With computerized equipment, you could maybe do it, of course a man couldn't handle it, it would all have to be done with robots and automated machinery.
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