Hereâs some art by Munwie on Deviantart:
Meanwhile, this is an obvious reason why Viking helmets didnât have horns.
Going into battle wearing handlebars for the opponent to play with is a Bad Idea. That didnât stop other cultures (Indo-Persian, Japanese) from doing so, but Vikings? NO.
The origin of the Nordic Horned Helmet is actually known: they first appeared in C.E. Doeplerâs costume designs for Wagnerâs âRing Cycleâ operas.
Incidentally, calling mail armour âchain-mailâ first happened in the novel âThe Fortunes of Nigelâ by Sir Walter Scott.
Something similar has happened with the word âlongswordâ, which only came into general HEMA use for what had previously been âhand-and-a-halfâ or âbastardâ swords about 20 years ago; even then the first time I saw it (in âMedieval Swordsmanshipâ Š 1998 by John Clements) it was two words with a hyphen: âlong-swordâ.
As a single word itâs been part of the fantasy fiction arsenal since the mid-1970s, for example in C.J. Cherryhâs âGate of Ivrelâ Š 1977, I used it in âThe Horse Lordâ Š 1983, and Iâm sure a search through very early D&D manual could place it even earlier.
Longsword is certainly a handier term than the alternatives, but IIRC even âhand-and-a-half swordâ is no older than Victorian. In the Middle Ages a sword was usually just âa swordâ; it was very inconsiderate of them not to think of later generations who might like to label things with a bit more exactitudeâŚ
Not all Munwieâs Deviantart birds are corvids, and not all are sinisterâŚ
âŚthough you might have second thoughts about that if you know anything about the lifestyle of the European Robin.
Theyâre ferociously territorial, their usual song translates as âGet Off My Lawn Or I Will Kill You With Deathâ, and weâre grateful the two pairs in our garden are the size they are and not as big as e.g. tyrannosaur turkeys.
Which having written it is a mental image I really didnât needâŚ