Medieval Weapons Expert Rates 7 More Weapons Scenes In Movies And TV | How Real Is It? | Insider

Tobias Capwell is the curator of arms and armor at The Wallace Collection in London. Here, he reacts to seven memorable scenes featuring medieval weapons and armor and rates them based on their historical accuracy.

Capwell looks at armor and weapons within fantasy franchises, such as Eomer's helmet in "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" (2002). Using artifacts from The Wallace Collection, Capwell addresses the realism of knightly combat in "Henry V" (1944), "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" (2005) and "Game of Thrones" (2011). Does chain mail look anything like it does in Netflix's "Outlaw King" (2018)? And would armor deflect arrows as in "The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc" (1999)?

Tobias Capwell is an author, lecturer, broadcaster, and the curator of arms and armor at The Wallace Collection in London. He has been a horseman and martial artist since childhood, is a founding member of the modern historical jousting community, and has fought in major international tournaments all over the world. Capwell has written many books and articles on weapons, armor, tournaments, and knighthood, including "Armour of the English Knight 1400-1450," "Arms and Armour of the Medieval Joust," and "Masterpieces of European Arms and Armour in the Wallace Collection." In 2015 he had the honor of serving as one of the two fully armored knights who escorted the remains of King Richard III from the battlefield at Bosworth to their final resting place in Leicester Cathedral.

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Medieval Weapons Expert Rates 7 More Weapons Scenes In Movies And TV | How Real Is It?

[xadrach]

we need ditch guy, armor guy (tobias), and moustache guy (rawlins) to have a sit down all together and just judge medieval movies

[ViperofStumps]

Clearly Monty Python's The Holy Grail gives the most historically accurate depiction of medieval armor and weaponry.

[cataphract]

I love how he talks about the merits of wedge formation without commenting on the fact that there are rhinoceros and cheetahs in that army.

[Satellite_Of_Love]

Funny how silly Army Of Darkness has more accuracy than some of the serious medieval dramas. I love it!

[acidbrns]

Pointing a sword at someone out of range only makes you look like you've never held a sword in your life.

So 10/10 scene then, considering that was the actual first time Peter held a sword.

[ZOCCOK]

"Since I was kid, I've been riding on horses and fighting in Armor"
That is an interesting childhood

[nordboya]

Tobias Capwell is a fantastic expert, serious academic credentials but also an actual tournament jouster. He really knows what he is talking about - great choice Insider.

[Rhojin]

6:57 - I agree that that's not the proper way to hold a sword, but I actually like that they did it that way. As the host (quite correctly) observes, Peter looks as though he has never held a sword in his life in this scene, and that is as it should be. This is only the second or third time Peter has ever even drawn his sword, and at this point in the movie he still hasn't had any lessons yet. So, yeah, he should look like he has never used a sword in his life, because for all intents and purposes, he hasn't. I wouldn't be surprised if they deliberately didn't give the actor any lessons in swordsmanship before filming this scene in order to make his inexperience as authentic as possible.

[TeutonicKnight]

To be fair to Narnia, Peter is a boy from 1940's England, he's probably never held a sword in his life

[gedeonnunes]

In defense of LoTR, I guess the helmets are so up above their eyebrows in order to maintain the actors' facial expressions easily readable. That was a great video!

[rjfaber]

That cavalry charge from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is one that's stuck in my head ever since I saw it first. Haven't watched it in a long time now, but I love how not only do they close the visor to be more accurate, but they make it a cinematographically significant moment as well.

[Julia-lkjn]

_"And seeing a knight fighting on a wall in a siege with arrows stuck in him is the best thing I've seen all day."_
Yep, that's a weapons nerd all right.
I just *love* that of all movies, the zombie-time-travel carnival ride _Evil Dead_ get's this compliment, because the equipment in that movie was such a joy. Way ahead of it's time. At that point other big productions had just moved away from just using vaguely metallic looking cloth for chain mail (an excellent way to torture SCAs and other historical nuts), and that movie was doing such a splendid job on wardrobe and weapons and armor.

[zhetarho]

Too bad they only show 1 second of the movie he considered 'one of the absolute best'

[namekal]

Fascinating commentary by Tobias Capwell. One note about Henry V, though: although it's true that Olivier and the other foreground actors were wearing steel armor, owing to wartime shortages there was no metal for the extras. So most of that realistic-looking armor you're seeing in the background is actually made out of wool.

[misterspaceman]

Everytime I hear a commander yell "Fire!" to their archers I'm always taken out of it a bit. Mainly because they should be yelling "Loose!". Fire is a command given after the development of gunpowder weapons.

[jonatandewaele]

7:10
"except making you look like you've never held a sword in your life."
Peter (the guy who's being reviewed): **holding a sword for the first time in his life**

[radiofrog]

9:03 “AYY HE’S CLOSED IT!”

“Yeah I’d give it a 7”

[aidanfarnan]

Can we take a moment to enjoy the fact that "Army of Darkness" gets a 10/10?
Groovy.

[ModernKnight]

Great work Toby, really happy to see you spread the reality of historical armour to a wider audience, congratulations!

[reubenlopez]

The Wallace Collection is AMAZING. Thank you for your work on keeping it as one of the best things I ever saw in my visit to Europe