Two bladed weapons

What games inspired you to start this thread? I mean titles

I think that a double bladed weapon could be used like Bō or Jō staves in Bōjutsu/Jōjutsu (think Darth Maul here ). On the question "why" you answered yourself. It's just too impractical.

I've never handled one, but I picture them as having blades as long as or shorter than the staff part of the weapon. The weapon would have a "hilt" that would produce a lot of leverage behind the blade, perhaps too much, increasing the odds of damaging the blade. Also, I think it would be almost as big a threat to the user as to the opponent. A thrust would involve having a blade pointed at the user. If that thrust is stopped it could conceivably be shoved back into the user. The user would be endangered by the blade nearest him. More trouble than it's worth. A plain old staff would be better.

On a side note, while watching Darth Maul at work, I couldn't help noticing that his double bladed lightsaber combined with his billowy clothing looked like an excellent way to set himself on fire.

I think a double ended spear would be very practical and look really cool

hm.. i guess nothing beats efficiency in war eh? I get what you are saying and it makes sense.

Seems like I read somewhere the ancient Greeks used double ended spears. Or maybe the second end was just a pointy buttcap that was improvised as a second spear tip. I don't quite remember.

Doubled ended weapons existed ffrequently in more sportlike fighting such as martial arts, dueling, etc. but they were for all intents and purposes completely absent from battlefields. The sarissa DID have a pointy buttcap that could be reversed if the main spear head was damaged, but I'd honestly consider this to be more of a sword and back-up dagger type of configuration than a two bladed weapon one.

For double blades swords, this idea sounds cool but it just doesn't work in reality for one specific reason - PoBs. A swords cutting efficiency is directly related to the point of balance. If the point of balance is a high number like 8 inches, then the sword will be a monsterous cutter (ignoring blade geometry and other variables). If it's close at about 2 inches, the sword's cutting ability will be lessed greatly. With a double bladed sword, the point of balance will be a NEGATIVE number, sitting squarly in the hilt. This means that the sword will cutt with the efficiency of a wiffle bat, flying off of objects because the blade has no mass behind it.

That's right, when an opposing phalanx formation was broken, sometime the butt-spike would be used to make sure enemies behind you weren't going to get up and attack from the rear by stabbing downwards as they stepped over the fallen. It was also believed that if a spear what broken in combat, then the remaining length would still have been used as a shorter spear until another could be acquired or they were forced to use their xiphos.

Actually I think you will find that as long as they were stabbing someone with it which end they were using would have been inconsequential especially when it broke down into melee. I think that the spear work in 300 is a good example of how the spear would have been used on the ancient battlefield. Yes I know 300 is based on a comic book but the way they used their spears looked very accurate to me.

I'm afraid I have to agree with rammstein on the argument of the xiphos. The spear was the primary weapon for most of the ancient cultures, the sword was not in mass production at that point in time. I think the first mass production of swords was the roman army and the gladius.

Very true, but you also have to understand that A Hoplite by definition meant something like armored man.... thus to be a hoplite in a phalanx serving a greek city state during the classical and Hellenic periods you would have been required to have at least a shield, breastplate and spear, ( which of coursewas the primary weapon )

The xiphos wouldn't have been standard issue, but any citizens that served as hoplites would have been able to afford most of the required items, otherwise they would have been used as skirmishers, peltasts.. etc. etc.

As far as the Xiphos being standard issue, I'm sure you're right although I never claimed it was.

Edit: Lakedemonian Spartiates and peers were all required to carry a xiphos into battle. But that's only one small city state and I still believe your right about the mass production topic.