The Dark Knight in a Bygone Era
This isn’t the first medieval Batman I’ve ever seen, but I do have to say it might be my favorite. That armor is just…fantastic, and I’d love for someone to try and cosplay this to the letter.
The artist in question can be found here, and has a stable of other digital artwork that’s well worth checking out. Hell, I should probably just give them their own post sometime, it’s that good. But you’ll have to be content with The Dark Knight for now.
If swords were the guns of the middle ages, shouldn’t he not use one?
Kind of has a Dark Souls vibe… Now that’s dlc I would pay for!
I’ve seen a number of medieval renditions of The Dark Knight and they all include swords. Considering that swords are purpose built killing tools and that Batman has a “thing” against killing people, should we assume that a Dark Ages Bruce Wayne holds a different sense of ethical behavior? Hmmmm….
Now I could see him using a mace however. slightly less leathal depending on where you hit…
“If swords were the guns of the middle ages, shouldn’t he not use one?”
Swords weren’t the guns of the middle ages – that would be crossbows, the great equaliser that allowed an untrained peasant to kill a knight.
A sword was more than just a killing, cutting weapon, especially the cruciform-hilted knightly sword. The hilt was as much a part of the weapon as the blade, and could be used as a hook to disarm an opponent or as a bashing weapon to hit someone in armour that couldn’t be penetrated by the blade.
It was also the symbol of a knight’s status an honour – without a sword, he would just be a thug in a suit of no doubt stolen armour. With it, he can fight in a variety of styles, both lethal (against monsters) and non-lethal.
I love coming up with detailed answers to questions like this 🙂
While a sword might be a purpose built killing tool, the implements of archery dealt far more death over the course of the dark ages and are a more accurate “gun” substitute metaphorically speaking. Swords were expensive to produce and were the purview of the wealthy such as our friend Bruce Wayne. From an artistic standpoint, the type of sword it is says quite a bit. The way Mr. Wayne is carrying his blade here and the proportions of the crossguard, hilt, and pommel suggest a straight blade such as a longsword or bastard sword; weapons with “noble” connotations and associations.
My problem is with the armor rather than the sword anyway…look at how the bat symbol connects into the pauldrons. Raising your arms would be a nightmare.
Just my two cents
A sword of that length could not be drawn from the back. It would have to be drawn from the hip. Otherwise, awesome piece!
Well, an elitist medieval attitude could just be about leaving the criminals crippled for life. Batman could just leave quadriplegics in his wake.