Sword



A sword is a weapon that is comprised of a piece of metal pressed into a long, thin, shape with a pointed tip. It has a guard to protect the wielder's hands. In battles, these were often preferred to pistols, as unmodified pistols only carried one shot before needing to be reloaded.

A person using a sword is called a swordsman.

A sword fundamentally consists of a blade, with one or two edges for striking and cutting, a point for thrusting, and a hilt for gripping. The basic intent and physics of swordsmanship remained fairly constant down the centuries, but the actual techniques varied among cultures and periods as a result of the differences in blade design and purpose. The names given to many swords in mythology, literature, and history reflect the high prestige of the weapon. A single–edged sword had a sharp front edge for attacks and a strong edge for parrying.

Swords could be used both for fighting and as ceremonial weapons.

Normally, a swords had a scabbard: a protective cover often provided for the sword blade. Over the millennia, scabbards have been made of many materials, including leather, wood, and metals such as brass or steel.

Cutlass
"The favourite weapon of all seafarers and certainly of all pirates was the cutlass."

- David Cordingly in the Below Deck/Weapons DVD/BD featurette.

The Cutlass or short sword is a slashing backsword or sabre that is short, thick, and slightly curved. It was often used at sea by sailors and pirates and the standart weapon of Royal Navy enlisted personal and Royal Marines. A person armed with it can be called a coutillier.

A cutlass blade was usually 70 to 80 centimeters in length and ca. 5 centimeters in width.

Reports indicate that the weapon was used as early as 1667 by French Pirate François l'Ollonais but there is no evidence that it was invented by the pirates. Cutlasses were favoured by sailors due to their small size and ease of use; The weapon was commonly used for cutting ropes, canvas and wood, and in battle for close quarter combat and boarding actions. Another advantage to the cutlass was its simplicity of use: It required less training than the rapier or small sword, and was more effective as a combat weapon than the full-sized sword. The cutlass was used primarily for hacking and slashing but an experienced swordsman could also use it for stabbing (Matelot was stabbed with a cutlass during the battle aboard the Interceptor). Normally a fighter used only one cutlass and kept the other hand (if he had one) free or held a pistol in it, but it was also possible to fight with two cutlasses as Elizabeth Swann did during the Battle of Isla Cruces. Some pirates used hangers or sabers instead of cutlasses, Chinese pirates used the Dao.

Cutlasses were reportedly still in use by the Royal Navy as late as 1941, and in Korea by a US Marine. It is still used in some navies as a ceremonial side weapon. The cutlass was (and is still) used as an agricultural implement and tool, commonly in rain forest and sugar cane areas. Jack Sparrow's cutlass was first turned bronze, then silver, but only the tip turned gold.

Dao
The dao (Chinese: 刀, "knife" is a single-edge Chinese ceremonial sword with a curved blade, often referred to as a broadsword in English. The dao, as one of the four primary Chinese weapons, is known as "The Marshal of All Weapons".

While dao have varied greatly over the centuries, most single-handed dao of the Ming period and later, and the modern swords that are based (sometimes loosely) on them share a number of characteristics: Dao blades are moderately curved and single-edged, though often with few inches of the back edge sharpened as well; the moderate curve allows them to be reasonably effective in the thrust. Hilts are canted, curving in the opposite direction as the blade which improves handling in some forms of cuts and thrusts. Cord is usually wrapped over the wood of the handle. Hilts may also be pierced like those of jian for the addition of lanyards, though modern swords for performances will often have tassels or scarves instead. Guards are typically disc-shaped often with a cupped shape to prevent rainwater from getting into the sheath, and to prevent blood from dripping down to the handle, making it more difficult to grip. Sometimes guards are thinner pieces of metal with an s-curve, the lower limb of the curve protecting the user's knuckles; very rarely they may have guards like those of the jian.

The dao was widely used by Chinese soldiers, criminals and pirates for fighting as well as for executions. Captain Sao Feng was proficient in the use of a dao.

Hanger
"Do you think this wise, boy? Crossing blades with a pirate?"

- Jack Sparrow to William Turner

A hanger is a type of cutlass.

It has a slightly longer blade than a standard cutlass, and has a generally straight or slightly curved edge. The guard is generally curved around the hilt. Soldiers and woodsmen preferred the Hanger. Hangers light blades and were primarily used for self defense. Often they had a shell guard to protect the hand. They were less rugged that an cutlass and often carried as a status symbol by gentleman and officers.

Captain Jack Sparrow favored a hanger in combat, preferring a slightly longer blade than ordinary cutlasses for additional reach.

Jian
"That's why I brought this!"

- Elizabeth Swann to Davy Jones

Jian (Chinese: 劍) is a Chinese fighting sword with a flat, wide blade and a tapered end. It is known as "The Gentleman of All Weapons".

One-handed versions have blades varying from 45 to 80 centimeters (17.7 to 31.5 inches) in length. The weight of an average sword of 70-centimeter (28-inch) blade-length would be in a range of approximately 700 to 900 grams (1.5 to 2 pounds). There are also larger two-handed versions. famous jians often had propper names.

Elizabeth Swann used a Jian during the battle of Calypso's maelstrom.

Keyblade
"That's an interesting sword you're carrying"

- Sephiroth to Sora

A key-shaped sword-like weapon in the Kingdom Hearts universe. The Keyblade has the power to combat darkness and free hearts from the Heartless. It also has the ability to lock and unlock all manner of doors and keyholes. The Keyblade chooses its wielder and will appear in that person's hand when summoned. Another important power is that it can lock the "heart" of a world, preventing it from being destroyed by Heartless. There are different Keyblades, possessed by various characters in the Kingdom Hearts series. Sora owes one, and Jack Sparrow takes an interest in taking possession of it, briefly holding it before it returns to. As Jack could hold it in his hand, he must have the right qualities to use a Keyblade.

Longsword
"Who makes all these?"

- Jack Sparrow to William Turner

A sword used by sailors with a handle that could be held with either or both hands. It may or may not have had a straight blade. On the video game Sid Meier's Pirates! a longsword may be used in three types with the cutlass and rapier, Regular sword, Balanced sword, or Perfectly Balanced sword. The first one looked like the description above, the second one looked like an incomplete cutlass, and the third one looks like an early knight's sword. It is the average sword of the game, with cutlass being weak and rapier strong.

Rapier
"I found half a dozen rapiers..."

- Arabella Smith



A rapier is a sword with a long, thin blade used for thrusting. It often had an extremely ornate hilt. Rapiers were used in the 16th and 17th, primarily for civilian combat and duels.

Rapier generally refers to a relatively long-bladed sword characterized by a complex hilt which is constructed to provide protection for the hand wielding it. While the blade might be broad enough to cut to some degree (but nowhere near that of the thicker, heavier swords in use around the Middle Ages), the strength of the rapier is its ability as a thrusting weapon. The blade might be sharpened along its entire length, sharpened only from the center to the tip (as described by Capoferro), or completely without a cutting edge as called "estoc" by Pallavicini, a rapier master who, in 1670, strongly advocated using a weapon with two cutting edges. A typical example would have a relatively long and slender blade of 2.5 centimetres or less in width, 1 meter or more in length and ending in a sharply pointed tip. Rapier fighters often had a dagger in the other hand to parry his enimy’s rapier. Pirates rarely used rapers, however some maltese knights carried rapiers and used them in battles against Barbary Corsairs. By the year 1715, the rapier had been largely replaced by the lighter smallsword throughout most of Europe, although the former continued to be used.

Fitzwilliam P. Dalton III used this weapon when fighting Jack on the beach. Jean Magliore and Captain Hector Barbossa also used rapiers.

Sabre
"...I practice with them three hours a day!"

- William Turner II to Jack Sparrow

A sabre is a special type of Backsword with a long, flat and usually (but not always) slightly curved blade. Sabres were used primarly for slashing, chopping and cutting enimies.

In the Great Age of Piracy the sabre was not so important for warfare as in the 19th century, when it replaced the small sword and became the main Mêlée weapon,  but was already often used, espicially by pirates and privateers operating in the Indian ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, like the Barbary Corsairs. Their leader, the Pirate Lord Ammand was known to use a sabre. Some european and american pirates also used the sabre and chinese pirates used the Dao, which is a chinese type of sabre.

Small sword
"Nice sword."

- Davy Jones on James Norrington's sword

The small sword (or smallsword, also court sword or dress sword) was a light, one-handed weapon commonly carried by officers and civilians. It was used often used as a duelling weapon. The hilt was usually of the shell type, and was often decorated. It was principally a thrusting weapon and often (especially when the sword was worn for fashion) the edge was not sharpened. It had a triangular cross-section, and the blade was roughly 60 to 80 centimetres long. Smallswords were the standart sideweapon of Royal Navy officers who used this weapon in battles against pirates. Some pirates also carried smallswords, but normally, pirates prefered cutlasses as they were heavier and it was possible to break a smallsword’s blade with a cutlass as Blackbeard did during his last fight against lieutenant Maynard. In addition, pirates who were not very skilled with the sword had a fighting technique based on slashing and hacking, while the small sword was desined for thrusting.

The sword forged by William Turner for James Norrington was a small sword.

Notable swords

 * James Norrington's sword
 * Silver Tongue
 * St. Piran's Blade
 * Sword of Cortés
 * Jack Sparrow's sword
 * Bone Sword
 * Ghost sword
 * William Turner's sword

Behind the scenes

 * In Pirates of the Caribbean Online the Cutlass is the main melee weapon. The game features three types of Cutlasses:the Rusty Cutlass, the Iron Cutlass and the Steel Cutlass.
 * Unlike many other pirate movies in which all pirate officers duelled with rapiers, the Pirates of the Caribbean movies gives a realistic depiction of pirate weapons.
 * Peter Twist gave the historical advise on weapons for Pirates of the Caribbean and Bob Anderson trained the actors in swordfighting.