The filmmakers probably wanted to avoid as many comparisons as possible. What’s funny is that Robert the Bruce is widely credited with using a two-handed Claymore sword during some of his famous battles, but in the movie he never touches one.
On closer inspection, there are nearly zero fullers on the blades in Braveheart, whereas nearly all the swords of the Outlaw King have them. These grooves have nothing to do with blood, despite the feature’s popular nickname, “blood gutters," and they actually made blades structurally stronger as well. This was not an expensive option in the 1300s, but a standard feature of military blades. To shave weight from swords, nearly every blacksmith designed a groove in the blade called a fuller to make them as much as 25 percent lighter. Moving fast and preserving stamina were life-and-death battlefield attributes. “Maybe it doesn't matter if the sword isn't the one used in battle by Wallace…in the popular imagination it's highly appropriate-large, plain, and businesslike for a man of action." Stabbing is best reserved for short swords that can poke holes between a knight's plate metal. These things were made for bonebreaking hacking and bloody slashing, which are both energy-intensive attacks. The longer a blade, the more its weight becomes a liability. There is one thing conspicuously absent from the Braveheart sword. In the popular imagination it's highly appropriate-large, plain, and businesslike for a man of action.” “It's now the main focus of the cult that has developed around his memory. “Maybe it doesn't matter if the sword isn't the one used in battle by Wallace,” David Caldwell, National Museum of Scotland, told the BBC. To wield it effectively would require someone as tall as six foot seven inches, according to one BBC-curated page on the history of Scotland. The problem with that is the sword on display was not likely ever used by the famed rebel, or anyone else, in combat.įor starters, it’s obnoxiously huge. The movie sword very much looks like the Wallace Sword that is on display at the National Wallace Monument in Stirling. The most iconic image from Braveheart includes his impaling the ground with it after a victory.Īs can be said of the movie as a whole, the depiction of the sword is more inspired by myth than reality. Both films have these cornerstone weapons in abundance, but Braveheart puts one blade on center stage, William Wallace’s two-handed sword.