Elegant Weapon for a More Civilized Age: Difference between revisions

{{quote|It was an ancient tool of his people and a laughable anachronism, save that Stenwold had witnessed what he could do with it.}}

* [[Robert A. Heinlein]] - [[Author Appeal|who was a competitive fencer in his Naval Academy days]] - goes to some length to point out how a sword is really great in several of his books. Never jams, never runs out of ammo, and so on.

** He also has his [[Mary Sue]] (Lazarus Long) talk about learning how to best use a bayonet in the ''twenty-fifth'' century.

* Hiro Protagonist, the [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|hero protagonist]] of ''Snow Crash'', carries a [[Katanas Are Just Better|katana]] for various reasons, not least because it makes him look like a [[Badass]]. In one job he was equipped with a particularly powerful pocket-sized handgun that looked like a fashion accessory and so was somewhat inadequate for intimidation. Carrying a sword, on the other hand, gets you a little more respect.

** Hiro also uses his... "Redneck Katana", which is a piece of rebar a meter long with tape wrapped around the end to make a handle. Whether or not this is an "elegant" weapon is left as an exercise for the reader.

*** The "redneck katana" was used by Hiro as a training weapon in his apartment (storage building), specifically to increase strength and muscle tone.

* Averted in a [[Spider Robinson]] short story. Street gangs carry swords because they look cool, and a critic dies because he [[Smug Snake|refuses to accept]] a world with both swords and laser pistols. {{spoiler|He walks into a sword while getting mugged.}}

 

* Inverted by the Howling Voice Guild of the ''[[Suikoden]]'' series, who are the only people in the world to wield guns. As Cathari explains in ''[[Suikoden V]]'', they're louder than bows, so worse for stealth, less accurate, and less reliable (Though not in [[Gameplay and Story Segregation|actual combat]], where one shot from Cathari can do more damage than most fighters can pull of in three, she also has a high hit rate). In a civilized age, they're the only ones using these uncivilized weapons. The only thing that makes them useful is as an intimidation tactic.

* Parodied meta-wise in ''[[Halo]]''. Luke Smith says that the Spartan Laser is not an overpowered weapon, but an elegant weapon from a more civilized age. Said [[In Name Only|"Elegant Weapon"]] is a [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|Goddamn]] [[Frickin' Laser Beams|Laser]] [[BFG|Cannon]] that kills nearly everything that goes into the path of the laser. And that thing costs more than four fully-armed warthogs and is worth only five shots per battery! ([[Video Game Cruelty Potential|Not that it isn't fun to use]])

* ''[[The Lord of the Rings Online]]'' extends the reforged weapons from earlier ages (as seen referenced above from the books) to players with Legendary Items.

* The various beam katanas from ''[[No More Heroes]]'' are quite common, but the people who actually know how to skilfully use them, like Travis and Henry, aren't the ones who are getting their heads cut off.

 

== Web Comic ==

* [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]], complete with a ''[[Star Wars]]'' reference, in [http://sluggy.com/daily.php?date=020702 this] ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' strip.

{{quote|'''Gwynn:''' Torg, are you stupid or something (...) running into a gunfight with a sword?

'''Torg''' ''(running away)'': Clumsy and random's got my name all over it! }}

** Double Subverted when the sword actually ''does'' prove decisive, in that battle and in others down the road. It saved the characters more than once, in situations where other weapons would obviously fail (soul trading demons in the spirit world for example).