Can You Catch a Sword Blade With Your Hands?

Good old fantasy tropes... A movie badass doesn't even need a weapon, they just clap their palms together, catching a sword cut and stopping it before it can touch them. Not even the ultra sharp katana can penetrate the hero's bare handed defense, apparently. :)

Would that work in real life or would you just look like an idiot (with a split head)? Well... there's the concept in theory, and then there the practical reality of facing a swordsman who is actually intent on doing damage... instead of a limp, compliant partner in a McDojo demonstration.

Defending oneself unarmed against any kind of sword, knife, dagger, etc is extremely risky, at least without superhuman skill, reflexes, and timing. When I demonstrate some ways of potentially evading cuts and thrusts, keep in mind it's just for entertainment purposes. Don't try it at home and please don't put yourself in danger.

Part 2 (gauntlets vs. sword):

*** Music ***

Intro song:
"Illuminate" by Vindsvept
Used with artist's permission

Outtakes:
"Little People At Work" by Horrorpen
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license (CC BY 3.0)

Outro:
"Highland Storm" by The Slanted Room Records
Used with artist's permission

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[paulherman]

You CAN catch a sword with your hands, but there's a bigger question: who is going to catch your hands?

[acethemain]

I like how she has to basically attack like a minecraft character

[justjoe]

I'm watching a viking pirate and his wife demonstrate that you can't catch a katana mid swing in 2021 by using a messer and that's exactly why I'm here, top tier content man, keep it up

[josephmorse]

The Mythbusters tackled this one years ago. They found that a full power vertical slash would likely cut through the flesh of your palms and dig into your head.

[zipityzap]

Palms are sweaty
Sword is coming and speedy
Catching but it’s slipping already.
It’s human spaghetti.

[kingduckie]

To be fair. The scene from The Crow was him showing off, at that point he was functionally immortal so he could have just ignored the knives but he was showing off.

[damuvang]

She looks like a character out of those dystopian fantasy worlds where they run around with melee weapons in the modern era. Like the badlands, hunger games, etc.

[houayangtherd]

Sword catching is just a martial art story trope on how OP the hero is.

[PresidentSunday]

"And even if you put your entire body weight into i-"

-Skallagrim fucking dies on camera

[Zedrinbot]

Clearly, the no. 1 strategy when fighting unarmed against someone with a sword is run away

[WillcraftAnimations]

Ghirahim taught me that if you're gonna pull stunts like this, you gotta wear proper protection first. Like, you know, have hands literally made of metal all the way through. That helps. Also a bit of magnet-magic to make sure you don't miss. And most importantly, don't fight an opponent using motion controls. They will confuse you.

[blightedscourge]

I didn't get a sword strike to the head, I parried the sword with my face.

[juliamay]

How to deal with a sword while unarmed: unscrew the opponent's pummel and end him rightly

[caseyb]

There is a story I read about of a WWII veteran that 'caught' a sword in his hands. The blade was a family heirloom and was actually pretty dull. He didn't do a fancy clapping grab either, more of a instinctive reach up and grab it like it was a club as it was coming down. It cut into his palms pretty bad despite being dull but he was able to wrench it away from the Japanese soldier.

[mineofitsown]

The only things you’d read in a manuscript of unarmed vs sword is “DON’T”

[bigbrownhouse]

Next video: how to catch a sword with your carotid artery

[LuxisAlukard]

Marrige goal:
Pack couple of sword, camera and go to the woods

[andrewszigeti]

0:38 "If you have super reflexes, speed... etc etc..."

Don't forget plot armor!

[a-blivvy-yus]

TL;DR version:
If you're not the person with the sword, be where sword isn't.

[BionAvastar]

Mad Props to the swords woman who never flinched when Skall was 2inches away from her face on some of the follow up attack demos.