Sword 'breaker' dagger. #sword #history #nerd #fencing #hema

[Dagnar]

According to Lindybeige they were used more by thief catchers or guards in cities with cramped spaces where a shield or buckler would be at disadvantage.

They didn't see widespread use because nothing really beats having a shield in the offhand in 99% of battle situations.

[delaneyholliman]

Maybe the “sword breaking dagger” means to break the sword’s direction, or break the movement of the sword

[gamesux]

"Sword breaker" may come from break as in it breaks the swords momentum/movement rather than it physically breaking the sword in two.

[Eis_]

The actual "sword breaker", and I mean it can actually break swords, is a heavy metal rod which was more prominent in China. I think there was also a bit of irony somewhere in the naming, I just can't remember.

[coyotecom]

What I'm hearing is "This is a great gimmick for a villain in your story to use because few people would know how to counter it"

[MeMyselfEveryoneElse]

The breaker comes from misnaming. As you catch the sword you break their parry attack. Hence sword breaker. Alec steel made one of these on his channel and explained the origin of the name i believe.

[CvCipher]

When I hear "was tricky to use and didn't catch on" about weapons.

I like to think there was one guy who was really fucking good with it and we just don't have any proof they existed.

[GameHunter]

I learned something new today.

Now I'm a little motivated

[matthewk]

Judging by the looks, the dagger would break before the sword, so most likely used just to capture the sword momentarily to get in close.

[pluviarium]

(light spoilers) King from One Piece has that sword catcher serration on the back of his sword (single edged sword), which is really funny because anyone that knows One Piece knows it's not at ALL historically accurate.
For anyone wondering the logistics of that, no he doesn't have a separate sword or dagger for striking. He catches his enemy's blade and uses it as an opening to punch them in the face. He has really long limbs so I guess it makes sense?

[Hutchensens]

feel like this is one of the only weapons you could dual wield in a backhand stance and it be semi functional

[richmondvand]

you'd typically use these in tandem with a longer offensive weapon. this is just a special use "shield" and would be used later when weapons became more common to wear

[jamessicard]

One of my favorite Long Swords in Monster Hunter is the Bazel Longsword that is also a blade catcher

[Pocketlol]

That is correct on a sword catcher. They were quite popular in medieval Sacrum Imperium Romanum and were really expensive due to production cost based on high quality steel. Also, in slavic regions in 11th century there was a real sword breaker - a broad damask steel sword which was believed to cut low quality swords. But because in those old days there were no fencing such beliefs were spreaded just to justify the cost of such a sword.

[tundralwhisper]

Maybe it's more like "Sword Brake(r)", because it (like a brake on a car) would severely slow and even stop a sword's momentum, and then a typo slipped in and now it's too common to correct it.

Or it was named sword breaker for the sake of sounding cool, perhaps making opponents focus more on it than they would've needed to, shifting their focus away from the opponent's actual sword.

[ndrdjoh]

Need to see these make their way into games

[waterslime]

I think they were talking more about a sword like inosukes katanas, could you check those out

[gani]

I always thought it was a mini saw so you can use it to cut some branches in the wood for fire

[TheLlamason]

I feel like
The risk with these sword catchers or breakers is that you’d catch the blade but the weight of the opponent’s strike would just push your blade out of your hands 🤷🏾

[terricrosby]

The breaker comes from common usage of the term i saw a few examples in a museum with some interesting designs