Secrets of the Sword

October 8, 2012 PBS Wisconsin Leave a Comment

Watch NOVA: Secrets of the Viking Sword at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 10 on Wisconsin Public Television.

There’s nothing like a brand-new shiny sword to put a skip in your step. I think it has to do with the way the metal is crafted and polished to the point where it almost looks like it’s glowing. It’s quite rare to see metal that is actually visually appealing (gold and silver aside). Most of the metal surrounding us is crude and often rusting or at least hidden with a coat of paint, but not a sword.

It’s a perfect case of ‘looks can be deceiving.’ Swords were created to be a powerful weapon to take into battle time and time again, but to still look so elegant and even beautiful as well is amazing. What we think of today as just a weapon was really more like an investment. It wasn’t something you collected for fun, it was something of high quality that you could hold on to and rely on for years to come. I suppose nowadays it would be like buying a really nice watch… I’m sure someone could come up with a thin argument that a watch can defend you in battle?

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