Zixinus wrote:Lord Revan wrote:it would be intresting to see how'd they explain Link's iconic outfit though there's been versions that looked more realistic (like the Twilight Princess one).
Traditional clothes? With the exception of the back-scabbard (you wear a sword on your side with good reason*) Link is wearing fairly regular medieval clothes, especially in versions when he isn't wearing stocking (or they may be pants) or what may be long-sleeved shirt underneath the tunic. He looks like a relatively richer (with the belt and boots) medieval peasant.
Or if you want it to look Badass, make it Gambeson (i.e. quilted armor), with the tunic being leg protection. And have mail armor under that. Link is supposed to be a trained Hylean warrior/knight, after all.
*The idea of a back-scabbard is a modern anachronism made by people who are annoyed by having a sword at your side and want their hands bother-free. Back-scabbards were worn historically but only with swords too long to be worn on the side. The problem with back-scabbards is that you require complicated setup to get it to work and even if you manage to do that, it takes longer to draw from and makes you more defenseless more (with a side-worn sword, drawing out the sword can give you some limited ability to block). In the first Witcher game they actually didn't use scabbards because they would constantly clip out. However it looks better as it changes the profile of the character and makes the sword-hilt at head-level.
Uh, no. Close but no. As far as I know, it is
completely anachronistic nonsense and
especially impractical for a longer sword. The problem is that the sword exceeds the length of your arm such that its impossible to actually pull out of a rear scabbard-- and specialized rigs won't help you past a certain length. Some swords that RPG designers show with back scabbards were as tall as the user! Any rig that you might have heard of was almost certainly a Hollywood device made for movies like Highlander or Conan the Barbarian. IF you wore a sword on your back-- which could happen-- it was not a weapon you expected to use at a moment's notice, but rather one you were transporting from one battlefield to the next.
If the sword was too long to be worn at the side, then it wasn't worn
at all; it was carried at hand.
These are the methods recommended by contemporary soldiers. These swords were mainly battlefield weapons; the only greatsword that is an exception to that rule was the Spanish montante (also seen occasionally in Italy under a different name) which were used by bodyguards. Again, these swords were as tall as the user, so there was no point in wearing it at all. In most sparring I see with the montante, they usually start with it point down on the floor and then they kick it up. Meaning, it was probably just held in hand like a walking stick. You could probably hold it in its scabbard to protect the point, but that is as close to wearing it as you would get. Remember, if you were allowed to walk around with such a large weapon in town anyway, you could probably get away with simply having it in hand.
Ironically, since Link wields a one handed sword and shield, his weapon might just be short enough that it could feasibly be drawn from his back. It just isn't a very good idea since you can't quick draw it that way. And European swordsman had their own Iado like strikes they could do starting with a sheathed sword, like going from
here to
this cut to the wrist. Back scabbards are just stupid.