I know of Orcish armor and Orcish Battleaxes, but my question is, are Orcs so obsessed with axes and hammers that thier smiths do not even attempt to forge blades of any kind? I know the skill perks for Orcs with blunt weapons, but that shouldn't mean that they are completely adverse to using swords, shortblades, or daggers.

This is just speculation, but it probably just boils down to them wanting a power weapon; blades aren't necessarily powerful compared to some axes. Orcs are "barbaric" in a vague sense, so to me this correlates to that idea.

I'd say that swords are expensive, valuable weapons requiring some sort of crafting tradition regarding them and alot of resources, but everything from the Roman themes to the stray fantasy cliches shout me down on that one.

Orcish weaponry and armour probably being relatatively uncommon anyway, maybe it's just that hammers and axes are more favoured, therefore over-represented.

I suppose one could try and rationalise it - swords are primarily weapons of war, wherears spears and axes and hammers recall their more practical origins as tools, therefore swords typically are a symbol of warfare around the world, making their absence a psychological aversion to acknowledging their own savagery. But that might be overthinking it, even if it sounds good. Better than
"because they like barbarian crunch!"

That is an acceptable rationalization (and that's all it's meant to be)

But one could say that the Orcs have always been at war, trying to prove their own existent among men and mer.


~TK.R

Orcs seem to prefer heavy weapons. Warhammers, battleaxes, and crossbow bolts.

...I know. That's the whole point of it. That's why it would be an "aversion to acknowledging their own savagery" through preferring weapons with more practical as opposed to martial symbolism. Cognitive dissonance and all that.

Like I said, it was just a random attempt at an explanation.

I find that ridiculously funny for some reason?:)


Since they are "barbaric" they would use what's more useful, not what's more technical.

Let's say for example you get hit in the chestplate...
If you get swiped at and get the slightest impact from a bladed weapon: You get scratched armor and generally won't be hurt.
If you get swiped at and get the slightest impact from a bludgeoning weapon: You get muscle fatigue along with a high chance of being taken off of your feet.

If you get stabbed at with a bladed weapon, but just get the tip of it: You receive a wound, but can still fight if you're tough.
If you get attacked with a similar attach, but with the end of the bludgeoning weapon: You would get the wind knocked out of you.

If you block an attack from a bladed weapon: The shield(unless of crappy quality) WILL deflect a sword.
If you block an attack from a bludgeoning weapon: The jolt of the weapon hitting the shield can disable you for at least a second.

Bludgeoning weapons are MUCH more practical for a "savage" lacking finesse needed to use a sword.

Correct my weakpoints(if you can find any), but that may be the answer right there.
Unless TES weapons have different properties than RL weapons.

Crossbow bolts can actually be pretty heavy. And like hammers and axes, bolts punch through armor.

Some stave martial arts are quite sophisticated actually. It's a fallacy to equate all blunt weapons to primordial combat.

Crimson Paladin, You mean like, holding the bolt in the hand and using it melee?

[Did I get that stuff right? I had to leave the room(health problems) so my concentration was broken.]

They're only useful when fired from a crossbow. Heck, they're deadly when fired from a crossbow. And even orcs can't ignore ranged combat when it involved heavy armor-piercing metal boltss

I have always seen Orcs with hammers and axes, but never any projectile weaponry. I am trying to remember if I have ever seen an Orc with a claymore. So now my question is, has no Orcish sword ever been made or has there been a few through time that just never make it to the TES games? I admit that of course orcish smiths are going to be experts in creating big, heavy, durable, and powerful warhammers and axes, but I feel that swords could be a good backup for an Orc.

Ehhh. Im trying to make a point that orcs would be well-suited to carry a shortsword as a back up weapon, but every scenario I think of, a warhammer would suit an Orc just fine. So I'll just stop.

Well, Malacath himself is always protrayed as wielding a scimitar. Umbra in Morrowind was wielding...well, Umbra Sword.

I don't think Orcs just completely forsake teh idea of using swords; a noble Orc even wielded the legendary more-than-likely-scimitar Neb-Crescen. Granted, he also killed some random chick with it literally for no reason, he wielded it nonetheless.

I'm not sure I understand the line of questioning, I found Orcish swords all the time in Daggerfall. That was back when Orcish armor was stronger than Ebony though, maybe they lost the smithing recipe? None the less, gameplay proves that orcs use bladed weapons: their character model in DF carries a falchion.

How did I forget about the original Umbra? Too much bittergreen.

While not directly having anything to add to the discussion, I feel I must still say this: In a culture with a focus on heavy armours, such as Orcs (presumably) do, it seems very likely to me that they would develop, or rather adapt to perhaps, the use of crossbows (or other "heavy" ranged weapons) because of their effectivity against said heavy armour. They are also "very" easy to use, and does not require as much training as bows.


Umbra?

edit: Too late. Again.

I put it down to the game engine, myself. I think the devs probably went with the 'barbarian crunch fetish' line of thinking, which isn't actually a bad thing in and of itself. I run mods that add Orcish swords and daggers so it's not really an issue for me anyway, lol.

Yes, thats what I thought to begin with.

Dear Bittergreen,

The answer is:
Orc smiths are master craftsmen, they only have one weakness, making something pointy, long, broad and thin, they have to much muscles for that and if they would hit the sword it?s blade would just break.

Loves and bullets, Vincentmulder

There's one with a crossbow at the Malacath shrine (Four Corners quest). She has some of the few Orcish bolts in Morrowind.

Hammers and axes are far more effective against plate armor, as God of Warcraft pointed out above, while swords are next to useless. So I think Orcish tactics and fighting styles simply concentrated on the best way of incapacitating heavily armored opponents, which is to hit them as hard as you can.

Ah yes, and Orcs are of course famous for their plate armour too - and probably one of the most common opponents for an Orc is another Orc.

I don't know what it might mean.... but I want to point out that Malacath has a scimitar (or it at least looks like one)
http://www.imperial-library.info/book_daedra/dae_malacath.jpg
http://www.imperial-library.info/book_daedra/statue_malacath.jpg
http://www.imperial-library.info/book_daedra/ob_daedra_malacath.jpg


~TK.R

Not only that, but swords are almost useless in medieval war situations. Halberts, spears, maces etc. were used, not swords.

Yet the Romans used them great effect; when used as stabbing weapons, and in later years, they became more for stabbing; they could go right through armor and cause nasty some internal damage.