Sinister weapons

[Jamber]

Agree with Feo Takahari. A weapon that has snide, conniving or just plain mean blade design, e.g. something designed to pull out entrails or to cripple without killing. Think of excessively curved blades, ones with many recurved points, or ones that are simply poison-tipped (or magic-tipped).

Sickle shaped blades are often a bit scary. (My dad cut his finger off with a sickle, so maybe that's just my outlook speaking...)

The blade used to wound Frodo in LOTR isn't exactly scary, but the principle works: a blade that melts away but for the tip, which slowly travels to the victim's heart.

What about a blade so incredibly thin it's both sharper than razorpoint and will always snap inside the victim? Sharp enough to embed deep in bone and never heal, but so fragile it's impossible to remove without splintering and causing more harm.

Loose ideas anyway, hope they help.
Jamber

 

[Telemecus]

Sorry Anders. Pig iron always makes me think old and ancient, because I was always taught that the Chinese started almost mass producing it around 600 B.C.E. That may just be wrong ( it is public school after all ), but it was just my personal view on it. Thank you for the insight, though. I like the feeling that it probably shouldn't have been made, since it sort of underlines the MC's conflict on the story.

Also, can anyone think of a really interesting (and creepy!) way to find this weapon? It is technically returning to the character, but I want to make that moment special.

 

[The Tourist]

Sorry Anders. Pig iron always makes me think old and ancient.

Not always.

For example, railroad tracks are essentially pig iron.

As for weapons, many modern knives, Like the traditional Ka-Bar, are made from 1084 or 1095. When it comes to 1095, both TOPS and ESEE knives use it.

It's an idea called "bend but don't break." Additionally, it's easy for untrained folks to sharpen this alloy. A wet rock out of the river will do.

For example, the knife pictured below is of modern manufacture and made from 1095 steel. I polished the edge in the same fashion I do for any client's knife. Trust me, it will cut you to the bone.

I think the issue is the telling of the tail. Why can't the mystic weapon be forged with a talisman, or by a mystic Asian knowing the togishi and bushido arts? After all, the Samurai were using red mud from a certain river bank for centuries to forge steel.

 

[Lillia Jane Marshes]

If the weapon is associated with magic, then it could have some part of sinister spell lingering on it that wasn't exactly noticeable, but puts anyone around it on edge. Practically, the spell might have been cast to unnerve opponents or discourage thieves from stealing it. That's the kind of thing I would do, anyway.

 

[The Tourist]

Lillia, I agree with your overall premise. But let me describe a visual.

For example, lots of Civil War sabers were blunt. They were designed for blunt trauma. Even a slight nick might break your arm. Painful, but survivable.

Right now I'm carrying a Buck 112 Ecolite. Even among women who dislike "tactical knives," it appears to be a reasonable working edged tool about the size, shape and weight of your average paring knife.

I polished mine, like the ZT0300 in my dominant hand pocket. While I use the little Ecolite to eat with when away from home, like at the coffee bar, it is sharper than a scalpel. For example, several years ago I had a mole removed from my forehead, and for fun the doctor and I had some cutting tests. My knife was sharper.

Swing a cutlass, you might hit something. But if I can cut you, you'll die.

What's my point? We are discussing stories. We like our villains evil, not just some putz like Iago. Most of the people in the theater jumped the first time they saw The Predator snap out the cutting edge on his arm. In making the movie "Alien vs Predator," the writers decided to make that weapon three times bigger.

I was taught to "show, not tell." If our villains are cold blooded killers, and one of them pops out a Buck 112, most of the readership will say, "No biggee, it's a paring knife."

Sinister weapons need to exist because they set the mood of the story.

 

[WyrdMystic]

Poison, a horrible nasty poison.....or disease. In the old days they used to catapult dead animals and soldiers over castle walls when they were under siege, the people inside would die of starvation and disease and then the enemies could just walk in....rarely were castles actually stormed.