Size DOES Matter...

With many thanks to Lily Grace (who you can find @craftyactor on Instagram) and Jack Stockdale-Haley who are marvellous.

Additional information:
The small lady with the giant sword is Vin from Mistborn.
Keep Close to the Guide - Philip Ayers

[Vespuchian]

Everyone's chill until the Gnome with a hammer shows up to the bar brawl.

[figo]

People telling me size doesn't matter always irked me. I mean, have you tried reaching the top shelf in a grocery store with only 5 feet to your name?

[MichaelJenkins]

I envy Jill's neighbors and the endless hours of free entertainment they must get just by looking out the back window.

[pwnmeisterage]

I've worked in a door-and-window manufacturing plant.
I can say with certainty that taller people with longer reach have definite advantages when handling large, heavy, tall, wide objects. They can easily flip, balance, and manipulate things which smaller people find awkward to grip, lift, and balance.
Important to know if you're ever confronted by an attacker who's armed with a door or window.

[tigdogsbody]

“In a real fight, I have a black belt in running away." My boxing coach, a very scary man, was always saying this trueism.

[Vesperitis]

As Sir Terry once said, size does matter when the dwarf's teeth are at the same height as your groin.

[SavageGreywolf]

are spears considered _dishonorable, _ really? I think they're just upstaged by swords in fiction because a sword is a _knight's_ weapon while a spear is an _infantry_ weapon, and fiction seems to love nobles and leader types. A foot soldier isn't generally the focus of most stories, because they're seen as less 'important'.
Spears at least definitely show up in the hands of heroes in classical settings because they were the premier tech of the day.

[pdxgearcon]

I'm a 6'2", long-limbed HEMA guy, and shorties like your friend are my least-favorite opponents. I am made of targets that stick out all over, relatively speaking, and they're small enough to get montante-quality defensive coverage out of a longsword.

[toodlescae]

As a 4'10" woman who weighed 100 lbs at the time, I found a reversed pool stick to the kneecaps effective. When the guy went down I cracked him over the head with a heavy glass beer mug. Then I called the cops to come get the guy out of my bar.

I also follow the philosophy of being sneaky and fighting dirty because people always underestimate short people, especially women. My dad taught me to get them down however you can and make sure they stay down. However, I'm not sure this would work or be appealing in fiction.

[weldenbringhurst]

The bow is also a very misunderstood weapon. Strength is extremely important in archery since the power of the arrow is directly correlated with how heavy the draw is and how far back you can pull it. Someone who is small and weak wouldn't be able to use heavy warbows successfully.

[OllyRoger]

I'm happy to see attention being brought to the fact that the spear, arguably the best melee weapon humanity ever conceived, is basically nonexistent in modern fiction.

[doyouwanttogivemelekiss]

Even assuming that Lily has the strength to wield the greatsword: there is obviously a more limited range of angles she can use without hitting the ground.

[starsgears]

We always tell people at my HEMA school that there's an inverse relationship between height and viciousness. Tall people can fight like gentlefolk. Short people... meh, manners.

[harveyman]

Shields are *especially* advantageous for a short person because of the reach and relative size. Reach advantage of the taller person is reduced with a shield if they can't hit you, so you can rush past their optimal range to get at your optimal range with the smaller weapon. Also, the smaller you are, the more of your body a shield will cover compared to a larger person with the same shield.
Famously, relatively small Romans used the giant shield and shortsword combo to dominate much larger "barbarian" peoples from the north.

[mildlycornfield]

Lily: 'Stabs' Jack with a spear
Also Lily: Skips away after doing so

[matthewmcneany]

There are reasons that most armies throughout history have been mostly armed with spears and shields.

[nitzeart]

Shields are like the big hats in period dramas. They’re s hard to put in a visual medium but they’re also essential to immersion haha but there are ways to put them, clever costumers and good directos have done so

[englandcalling]

My weapon of choice is humour. If I can catch my opponent off guard with a bad pun or joke, I make my escape before they've stopped groaning or giggling. It's especially effective if you lack height, skill 'and' strength.

[asitallfallsdown]

Really love the confrontation with the physical reality instead of pretending it's no big deal or doesn't exist. I love recognizing that a disadvantage exists, and exploring how it can be overcome and accounted for in a story instead of swept under the rug. Personally as a fan of magic to begin with, I make my characters favor magic, crossbows, or subterfuge & poison.
Hollywood likes to give bows to women, but someone that loved archery growing up... I can say that I struggled with 50lb bows let alone the 85+ lb proper war bows. Somewhat ironically, melee weapons are preferable since they aren't as heavy as some might think and are designed to be well balanced, and spears can account for height disadvantages.
Where we really even the playing field is with firearms. There isn't as much of a difference there. Anyone can pull a trigger. It becomes a question of how well you can handle the recoil and kickback of the weapon, such as the bruising a shotgun can give your shoulder, and arm fatigue in holding up a rifle for long. But all negligible compared to the advantages and most other weapons. So the cowgirl archetype is actually a pretty good one I'm a fan of for non-magic settings where guns exist. Like steampunk fiction or urban fantasy.

[Kurse_of_Kall]

I love Jack, his humor and his hair. Lily is delightful, and as a fellow short lady, I appreciate her as a stand-in for educational purposes :D

The three of you together are very enjoyable, would love to see more!