Cultural Weapons: Jet’s Hook Swords
Jet’s hook swords go by a variety of names:
Twin Hooks (Shuang-Gou/双钩)
Tiger-Head Hooks (Hutou-Gou/虎头钩)
Heaven & Earth Sabers (Qian Kun Dao/乾坤刀)
Sun & Moon Sabers (Ri Yue Dao/日月刀)
Regardless of what you call them, they’re a fascinating choice of weapons for the roguish guerrilla fighter. For one, while hook swords are now used in a few different forms of kung fu, they’re traditionally associated with Northern Shaolin. Firebending is also based in Northern Shaolin Kung Fu. In other words, Jet’s fighting style is likely heavily inspired by firebending. This is both very appropriate and very tragic: On one hand, most of Jet’s worldly possessions are likely scavenged from violent encounters with the Fire Nation; on the other hand, considering all the hardship Jet has experienced as a result of firebending, it probably causes him more than a little strife that he has to defend himself using firebender-esque techniques.
If you’d like to see some amazing demonstrations of hook swords click here, here, and here.
The other aspect of Jet’s swords that’s so interesting are their historical context. Like Zuko’s broadswords, Jet’s hook swords are a relatively new kind of weapon from the Qing Dynasty, were created/used exclusively by civilians, and initially had a rather “low class” reputation. They’re fitting weapons for an orphaned freedom fighter who regularly takes on trained soldiers. Is it any wonder why Jet and Zuko worked so well together on the ferry to Ba Sing Se?
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