The longsword duel from THE KING is on point.

I think this 2019 King's Duel is one of the best sword fights I've seen on screen recently. So I'm going to break down swordsmanship and filmma

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and what I think works and what I think doesn't work so well. In terms of context, what you need to know is that Timothee here plays Henry, Prince of Wales, aka Hal. His brother, Thomas, has been sent to crush Harry the Hotspur's rebellion, but Hal appears and demands this. . He sees the rebel camp. Deliver the following message to Percy Hotspur. Tell him that Prince Henry challenges him to settle the score today.

Man vs. man. He and I will fight in the places of our armies. Yes my lord. It is based on Shakespeare. Narrative, this really works. And it makes Hal, who eventually becomes Henry the Fifth, a fascinating character. He is arrogant and you will see that reflected in his fights. But he also cares about the lives of his subjects, as for

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ing, they wield long swords, also known as hand and a half swords. And here's an interesting detail I learned from Guy Windsor's book The Medieval Longsword: Between about 1380 and 1410, knights began wearing visors, but they didn't yet have clasps or padlocks to secure them. and both the play and the movie take place around 1403.

So the goal was to try to open their visor and hit them in the face. And this is part of the strategies we see at play in this fight. At the beginning of the fight, in the first sentence, Hal and Hotspur are largely in, so it's completely accurate that they are in what Fiore would call a short guard. Fiore de'i Liberi was the author of the 14th-century manuscript The Flowers of Battle, which is one of the oldest surviving fencing manuals. If you do HEMA like me, you are more likely to see the long guard. Starts with , useful for forming the guard Posta Longa Fiore actually says that the short guard is more appropriate for those with armor than without.

You can also do that lunge, from Posta Breve. This short stance with his sword is very withdrawn. I'm resting the knob just below where my belt would be. My tip is maybe a little higher, and you can see it in action in this shot. I really love this counter camera move. It makes the two fighters surrounding each other feel really dynamic, and that increases the tension for two people who would otherwise do nothing. Fiore says the short guard should lead to a lunge with a stepping step, which is what Hal does. It's just not a very committed attack.

He is forcing Hotspur back in the hope of creating an opening, which is what happens. But that's because Hotspur lets their guard down, which doesn't really make much sense. A trained swordsman should be able to retreat and maintain his guard, but the movement back creates a sense of motivation to lower his guard. So let's go with that. And that lowered guard creates an opening, a very clear opening in Hotspur's head. That brings me to a general critique of the depiction of

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s in popular culture. Most movies, books and comics present long swords as heavy and cumbersome things, but believe me, they are actually very fast.

Left-handed, the pommel gives you very precise pin

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control, meaning they are an excellent slashing and thrusting weapon. But we tend to see more slashes in theatrical swordplay because slashes are bigger moves. That means they read the audience much better. We can understand what the fight is about and they read the actors in the scene much better, which makes timing easier. The other thing to keep in mind is that choreographed fights are meant to look good. It's not really about trying to hurt the opponent or even touch them. When you choreograph these things, you want to create a sense of intensity and danger and what I call visual plausibility, which brings us back to this moment.

There's no tactical reason for Hal to do this one-handed slash here, but it adds movement. He looks great and sets up Hotspur's detour into a quote-unquote real fight. Hotspur would have nullified the attack completely. It's going to fail. and Hal has created a huge opening in his head. He just watches as he leans forward. But they cleverly filmed it in profile. So at speed you have no real idea of ​​how wide the incoming attack is. Therefore, Hotspur's decision to deviate is plausible. The Hotspur Diversion. He's also very big, which visually justifies why he doesn't just hit Hal over the head as he walks by.

From a story

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of view, this initial attack by Hal highlights Hal's arrogance. It's complicated and it's reckless. Hotspur seems more controlled. Just look at this moment, Hal rejects Hotspur's sword. And that seems really quite aggressive. And the cool thing about it is that sword-beating is historically accurate, and it's something that performers can do quite safely, and it all leads to this great choreography. When I first saw this movie, it was this line from the fight that made me say, oh hell yeah, they know what they're doing. Hotspur shoves Hal in the face, Hal makes the save.

Totally understandable. And that allows Hotspur to cut the opening on the other side. This is a very tactical game, forcing Hal to use half a sword. He parries the incoming blow by reinforcing the structure of the sword with his left hand. This is historically accurate, really cool. And it's quite common in armored combat, especially armored combat that approaches close combat. and we are in struggles. Hal grabs Hotspur's sword hand by the wrist and Hotspur does the same. They are at a stalemate. This happens to me quite often in

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combat, but our combat is friendly, so we can't do this.

And just a quick note on the ma

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of the film here. I think this is a wonderful moment where the choreography, camera position and editing work together. We can see the momentum from the header transferred due to the cut. That is very precise. The headbutt probably wouldn't do much through the armor, but it's visually plausible and sells very well with the filmmaking. It feels brutal. The cutoff point here also makes it safer for artists to do so. You don't need to hit them so hard. And Hotspur takes advantage of that header to break the gap. and weaken Hal's structure.

Hotspur can and should deliver a killing blow, but they've had to slow Hotspur's reaction here because this is a choreographed fight. So we want to prepare for this moment, giving you enough time to know how to nullify the blade by crouching. Again, this is accurate and very interesting. I even managed to do it in a tournament once, and now that creates an opportunity for how to pick up and throw your opponent. Grappling is a big part of HEMA and many of the historical texts. In fact, you can still see these types of throws in modern tournaments.

The two-leg takedown was not normally done with armor. It's a more unusual move. The problem is that in armor, your center of mass is much higher. So countering it is much easier. In fact, there are many elements of the choreography here that feel like an MMA cage fight to me. because I think to a modern audience that interprets it as a real fight, it now makes sense that Hal is taking down the Hotspur. They both wear armor. Cutting weapons are not as useful. Do you really want blunt force trauma, put them on their backs in heavy armor and then punch them or stab them Hotspur by grabbing the longsword with both hands so it's a strong hit while aiming for the gap in the armor?

So good! And what I really love about the filmmaking during this whole fight is that it's not fancy. They're mostly wide shots and medium shots, so we can see what's happening, and it makes it believable that it's these two men mourning each other, and not close-ups of the artists. And they break the distance, so we have gone from a closed game to a wide measure. We see some of the same ideas repeated because, well, characters and people have signature moves. There are things we feel comfortable doing, especially under pressure. Hotspur starting with half spade makes sense.

It's simply more common in armored combat to start with a half sword, because if you want to force the blade through a chink in the armor or under an unlocked visor, then this grip will make it easier. and we get some more showdowns in the classic Hit The Sword Not Your Opponent choreography. Loved everything, especially Star Wars. It's the busy work of fight choreography. The fight progresses towards a kind of half-sword

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. And we got this big hit with the cross guard. Hits with blunt objects. Nice. Now, I don't believe in this disarming because if Hotspur is hitting the weak point of the sword, the top of the sword, then he should stay behind Hal.

Instead, I think Hal is actually throwing the sword, which doesn't make sense, but is visually plausible in the moment because of the action. For story reasons, they don't actually want the sword behind Hal, they need it. in front of him. They want Hal to retreat and reach for the backup weapon of choice for armored longsword combatants: the Rondel Dagger. Rondel daggers are awesome because they're really useful for... ahh... stabbing through gaps in armor. Rough. But very good. Many thanks to Gindi Wauchope of the Historical Fencing School for her technical and historical knowledge. The King is great.

You should see it. He has great writing, great filmmaking, and great visually plausible fight choreography. Hi, I'm Stu Willis and we're filming Zero. We make videos, posts, and essays on shot design and swordplay (sometimes). If you like what you saw, visit us at shot-zero.com to find all the ways you can follow us. and thanks for watching.