꧁ World-Breaker꧂

In the Skulduggery Pleasant series, Cleavers - magical soldiers/law-enforcement - are consistently referred to as weilding scythes.

This is rather odd, as scythes are … not weapons. They’re dangerous, sure, but they’re fundamentally not designed for combat. The sharp bits are simply in the wrong place:

Historically speaking, scythes were only ever used as weapons by peasants who didn’t have access to actual weapons (Asian kama fall into this category). And even then, whenever possible, peasants relying on a scythe for combat would have a blacksmith adjust the blade to a position more like a traditional polearm, creating what was known as a war scythe:

(Or even switch out the handle as well to create a scythe sword!)

Now, I don’t think the Cleavers can possibly be using war scythes, because no modern narrator would look at one and identify it as a scythe. It looks like a polearm, and only by examining it might one realise “oh, this used to be a scythe”.

We can’t pawn this off on magic; Cleaver scythes are enchanted to be magic-resistant, and made from a magical super-sharp material called “woven razor” (making it perhaps extra important to hit enemies with the super-sharp edge), but there’s no magic in the Skuduggery Pleasant series that seems like it would draw strength from the symbolism of the scythe or anything like that. Nor can we pawn it off on ignorance, some clueless in-universe bureaucrat thinking it was a good idea; even if Cleavers weren’t regularly seeing combat, one would expect immortal sorcerers who were personally alive and fighting wars during the Middle Ages to be familiar with melee weaponry!

However…

There were historical melee weapons which somewhat resembled scythes. In English they were typically referred to as war (or horseman’s) hammers, picks,  and axes, rather than scythes. The Indian term for such weapons seems to have been zaghnal. The resemblance to a scythe is definitely there:

The primary purpose of this sort of weapon is piercing armour with that hardened steel point, swung hard and with weight behind it. Which actually makes a lot of sense as weapon for magical warriors who are going up against a lot of enemies with magical durability/armour!

There’s a definite tradeoff in this design between that ability to focus force on a point to pierce armour, and how much of the (magical woven-razor) edge is exposed to the enemy in a swing. It’s not as good at slashing as a traditional axe, halberd or the like. Indeed, you’ll notice that many of those historical examples of this type of weapon didn’t even bother to sharpen the edges of the “blade” at all! (Even with me going out of my way to find the most scythe-like ones.) But some did, and ultimately you’ve still got a somewhat decent magically-sharp axe in addition to an anti-armour pickaxe.

Unlike most fan interpretations, our realistic Cleaver “scythe” would have a straight handle, not the curved handle of an agricultural scythe. Also unlike an agricultural scythe, the blade would be sharpened on both sides, probably as thick as possible in the middle where the force of a blow on armour lands (unless magical materials make this unneccesary), and probably shorter than most depictions. And there would almost certainly be some kind of counterweight surrounding and on the other side of the handle, whether it’s a hammer head, a spike, a decoration, or a small axe-head.

This fanart seems the closest:

Hi, first of all, your team is awesome. I had so much fun doing this!!

The gifts for the 2020 Skulduggery Pleasant Fic Exchange are here!

I was blown away by this year’s turn out - both by quality and quantity! With seventeen sign-ups the 2020 exchange was our biggest yet and there’s a whole lot of talent and creativity on display this year. 

A big thank you to everyone who got something written. You’ve all done an amazing job! But a special shout-out goes to @isauntervaguelydownwards (LassieLowrider) who filled in as a pinch-hitter at the last moment (again!). You are my hero! 

A list of all the gifts written for the 2020 exchange can be found under the cut. See what takes your fancy and don’t forget to show the authors some love with comments and kudos!