Female armour in fantasy books/games

[ALB2012]

I found this a very interesting article so decided to share.

Some of these ladies armour is not excatly...practical unless they work on the assumption their enemies are too busy drooling to stab them

Fantasy Armor and Lady Bits - Mad Art Lab

 

[Steerpike]

Could be magical armor. I mean, if a ring can provide someone protection then surey an enchanted chainmail bikini or a codpiece can do the same

 

[ALB2012]

This is useful too
Dark Treasury: Dark Fantasy Writing Resources

 

[SeverinR]

I think it is traditional male geeks writing female skin revealing garb or armor.
Armor can be appealing and still be protective.

Google'd female armor, didn't find reasonable female armor.
female armor - Bing Images
This one isn't bad, but her chest is still exposed even though it isn't showing skin.

I did notice, "female armor" is more often shown as leather, not metal.

I will admit, I had a character that wore very revealing outfits, that did so just to distract men. But most of my female characters are more realistic and wear amor that is useful.

 

[ALB2012]

Well there is that...

 

[Jabrosky]

For me it depends on the environment and the character's fighting style. A lot of my heroines live in very hot environments and have fighting styles emphasizing agility or mobility rather than brute strength. In their case extensive armor would actually discomfort and hinder them. However, my male characters in the same settings similarly don't wear a lot of armor either. I agree that the common double standard is annoying and has its roots in male prejudices.

 

[saellys]

Straight talk: it can be hard to squeeze into a flat breastplate, but shaping it to fit around the boobies will lead a swordpoint or spear straight into your heart. This is probably a major reason why so many examples of armor for women are predominantly leather, and also why so many people go off the deep end of unbelievability with the Slave Leia look, just so their characters won't be mistaken for a man (heaven forfend!).

Sometimes this is tolerable--Dejah Thoris had a perpetually bare midriff in John Carter of Mars, but she also had a body type that suggested she could actually do most of the things her character did, and it was great fun to watch her fight. Other times, when the fur-bikini-clad female character in question has skinny little twig arms and we're meant to believe she can actually draw a longbow or wield a greatsword, it's just insulting to everyone involved.

Women Fighters In Reasonable Armor is a great resource for inspiration (which sadly has not been updated in a while). There's everything from boiled leather to full plate. Boobplate appears now and then, but it's usually toned down compared to, say, Magic: The Gathering artwork--some of those cards get pretty Madonna.

I also adore OtherWorld Miniatures' figurine concept art. They all present unmistakeably as female, but their gear is appropriate to their character class and purpose and they look like they can actually fight.

For wonderful modern examples, check out Virginia Hankins and Jessica Post. They're both professional jousters and they do just fine in masculine-style armor (Hankins' has a bit more of an hourglass shape, but would still help deflect a blade rather than bring it in for the kill). Point is, if your female fighter's gear is appropriate for the environment and her purposes, you're set. If that necessitates putting her in full plate that will get her mistaken for a man, figure out whether or not that's a problem in your world, and respond to that organically. If a character is jousting with bare skin--anywhere--you have a problem.

 

[Sheilawisz]

I know that this is about female armour in books and games, but anyway I wanted to say that I absolutely loved Alice's Armour in the Tim Burton's 2010 Alice in Wonderland film with Mia Wasikowska.

That armour was so cool that, after the first time that I watched the movie, I started to consider giving armour to my Mages... It would be a great combination for their Longswords, but in the end I abandoned the idea.

To watch Alice fighting with armour, shield and sword was the best part of the entire movie =)

 

[saellys]

I didn't seen Alice in Wonderland, but I felt the same way about Snow White's armor in Snow White and the Huntsman. It was gorgeous.

 

[Saigonnus]

I always thought depictions in cover art and magazine articles ridiculous in many cases, especially chain mail bikinis that offer basically no protection at all. I believe it's perfectly reasonable to have women dressed in armor that takes their curves into account without sacrificing the overall protection the armor offers. If armorer can fashion a perfectly fitted suit of armor for men of all shapes and sizes, they could do much the same for women. If the ladies are particularly buxom, their charms could be cinched (like supposedly happened to Judy Garland playing Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz) so they aren't SO pronounced and yet not so much that they would be uncomfortable while wearing armor for a hard day's ride.

 

[Anders Ämting]

The sad thing is that the reason we get this kind of thing is because it's excatly what the target demographic (presumably teen boys) actually want.

Here, look at this:

That's the female ebony armor from Skyrim. Boobilicious cuirass aside, it's both badass and sensible. (And really, the boobsplate is probably mostly a matter of making it more distinct to the male version.) You can fault Bethesda Softworks for a lot of things, but they do tend to stick with a certain stylistic vision when they make their games.

Now, here is a mod replacer for the same armor that a player made:

Somebody seriously put actual effort into making that. Somebody learned how to extract a model from the game, edit it in a 3D software, adjust its compatibility with the game in a second software, edit the textures in a third software, and then put it all back into the game - all of it for free, in his spare time - because he thought it was better than playing a female character who's actually covered in armor.

This is exactly the kind of person the video game industry is counting on to buy their games, pretty much.

 

[Anders Ämting]

For me it depends on the environment and the character's fighting style. A lot of my heroines live in very hot environments and have fighting styles emphasizing agility or mobility rather than brute strength. In their case extensive armor would actually discomfort and hinder them.

Eh. All armor is hot and uncomfortable. You wear it anyway because being hot and uncomfortable is still preferable to getting stabbed, and most armors do not slow you down nearly enough to make a vital difference.

If wearing armor in battle was not more beneficial than not wearing armor, nobody would bother with them.

 

[saellys]

I've always been really impressed with the female and male equivalent outfits and armor in the Elder Scrolls series, so that mod gave me a bout of nausea.

 

[Jabrosky]

Eh. All armor is hot and uncomfortable. You wear it anyway because being hot and uncomfortable is still preferable to getting stabbed, and most armors do not slow you down nearly enough to make a vital difference.

If wearing armor in battle was not more beneficial than not wearing armor, nobody would bother with them.

And there actually exist many examples of societies in which the warriors practically wore no armor. Most pre-colonial African soldiers, including the ancient Egyptian and Nubian ones, didn't wear much armor despite having bronze or iron metallurgy. Considering that Africa has a much hotter climate than Europe where armor was more in vogue, that makes sense. If armor feels hot in Europe, imagine how stifling it would feel in Africa out of all places.

 

[The Writer's Realms]

I didn't seen Alice in Wonderland, but I felt the same way about Snow White's armor in Snow White and the Huntsman. It was gorgeous.

Totally agree. Bad ass plate, looked amazing, and practical.

 

[Kit]

I have trained in a number of fighting styles, both unarmed and with various weapons, and in every single one of them you really *NEED* to have the chest flattened and out of the way as much as possible. I always wear tight compression bras, and even so the chest can still hamper certain movements to a really annoying extent. It's like trying to fight while wearing a harness and two bags of flour strapped to your chest.

Any fighting outfit that has the boobs hanging half out is ridiculous. Outfits that "lift and separate" are great if you want to pick up guys at the bar, but not if you need to fight.

 

[ALB2012]

Well I know which set I would prefer in a sword fight...
The first is scary badass and female and the second is well not going to protect any of the bits that will kill her if she gets stabbed in them...

When I was playing Dragon Age someone on the forums said he had mods to make all the lady characters naked...

 

[SeverinR]

Straight talk: it can be hard to squeeze into a flat breastplate, but shaping it to fit around the boobies will lead a swordpoint or spear straight into your heart. This is probably a major reason why so many examples of armor for women are predominantly leather, and also why so many people go off the deep end of unbelievability with the Slave Leia look, just so their characters won't be mistaken for a man (heaven forfend!).

Sometimes this is tolerable--Dejah Thoris had a perpetually bare midriff in John Carter of Mars, but she also had a body type that suggested she could actually do most of the things her character did, and it was great fun to watch her fight. Other times, when the fur-bikini-clad female character in question has skinny little twig arms and we're meant to believe she can actually draw a longbow or wield a greatsword, it's just insulting to everyone involved.

Women Fighters In Reasonable Armor is a great resource for inspiration (which sadly has not been updated in a while). There's everything from boiled leather to full plate. Boobplate appears now and then, but it's usually toned down compared to, say, Magic: The Gathering artwork--some of those cards get pretty Madonna.

I also adore OtherWorld Miniatures' figurine concept art. They all present unmistakeably as female, but their gear is appropriate to their character class and purpose and they look like they can actually fight.

For wonderful modern examples, check out Virginia Hankins and Jessica Post. They're both professional jousters and they do just fine in masculine-style armor (Hankins' has a bit more of an hourglass shape, but would still help deflect a blade rather than bring it in for the kill). Point is, if your female fighter's gear is appropriate for the environment and her purposes, you're set. If that necessitates putting her in full plate that will get her mistaken for a man, figure out whether or not that's a problem in your world, and respond to that organically. If a character is jousting with bare skin--anywhere--you have a problem.

Rather then form fit the breasts, make it like a shirt form, with the breast area as one bulge instead of two. Then the blades aren't angled towards the heart.
The scrawny little muscle girls should not be using swords or bows, as if they were well versed in their use, they would have at least moderate muscles. Scrawny girls are house maids or nobles that practice art or music. They don't work for a living.

Eh. All armor is hot and uncomfortable. You wear it anyway because being hot and uncomfortable is still preferable to getting stabbed, and most armors do not slow you down nearly enough to make a vital difference.

If wearing armor in battle was not more beneficial than not wearing armor, nobody would bother with them.

As history shows, when armor did little to protect the warrior, they left it behind.

And there actually exist many examples of societies in which the warriors practically wore no armor. Most pre-colonial African soldiers, including the ancient Egyptian and Nubian ones, didn't wear much armor despite having bronze or iron metallurgy. Considering that Africa has a much hotter climate than Europe where armor was more in vogue, that makes sense. If armor feels hot in Europe, imagine how stifling it would feel in Africa out of all places.

I think the crusades and armor cost alot of lives related to heat and dehydration didn't they? Armor is very good at keeping heat in on hot days, and very good at disapating heat on cold days. Opposite of what a person wants.

Either you wear armor to protect you, or you wear clothes to look good. It is very hard to do both and be practical. I think if fantasy armor of today was ever made in history, it was probably a parody to amuse the audience, rather then actually to fight in. Such as chain maille under wear? Although all armor was expensive to make, so it might not ever been created until modern times.

One thing, though. I bet removing part of ones armor on a hot day was common. Say the vambraces or guantlets(arms), or the greeves(legs)
And a female with these gone and bare skin might look nice (even better when she has some muscles to display). But if no fighting was expected they would probably remove all armor. Having the breast plate on would be better then no armor.

 

[SeverinR]

For some reason I can't edit, computer is acting wierd today.

Note:
The thoughts posted are imho.

 

[wordwalker]

Rather then form fit the breasts, make it like a shirt form, with the breast area as one bulge instead of two. Then the blades aren't angled towards the heart.

Seems like a good compromise-- even if it's not flattening enough to be realistic for combat (as Kit said) it's something for artists to consider if they still need to give armored women a figure. Anything's better than getting cleaved for the sake of cleavage.

I think the crusades and armor cost alot of lives related to heat and dehydration didn't they? Armor is very good at keeping heat in on hot days, and very good at disapating heat on cold days. Opposite of what a person wants.

Either you wear armor to protect you, or you wear clothes to look good.

Quite true; weather and such matter. Beyond that, heroes have other reasons they may not use all the armor they could. The world's first full-strength D&D party was very clear about that:

The Company took little gear of war, for their hope was in secrecy not in battle. Aragorn had Andúril but no other weapon, and he went forth clad only in rusty green and brown, as a Ranger of the wilderness...

So a lot of heroes expect to be dealing with hostile cities or whole armies rather than groups small enough to fight, so they'd want light or no armor that left stealth possible. Ditto for thieves, spies, and other city intrigue types-- and also for merchants, noblemen, and anyone else who's expecting to talk rather than fight at the moment.

And once you bring someone down to light armor, it's possible that the trickier women might want something that looked even less like fighting gear. But... well, that's no reason to get ludicrous.