What sup with Korean Novels and the protagonist main weapon being a spear?

spear you mean p*nis?

 

If both have a shield, the swordsman has a huge advantage since the sword is more flexible and can more easily circumvent the shield by getting up close. The spear, wielded with one hand will have a lot of difficulty piercing the enemy whilst avoiding the shield.


check around 10 minute mark

 

People always forgot about stamina when talking about 1v1. Unless you are mc with plot armor, stamina management and a bit of luck will be the key. But I still use spear.

I can agree with that. Then again also In real life, when faced with chance of injury , sword pretty much have alot disadvantage, not counting stamina management and how heavy their armor will be. Unless you have full plate armor, with kite shield of course.

 

Well, don't some of those korean MCs start out their adventures as the equivalent of low-level troops in some huge battle or something ? Low-level troops get low level weapons. CN MCs are usually more the jianghu type, essentially wandering cultivators, who if fighting in large groups don't necessarily use tactics, but a lot of duels instead.

Spears are much easier to make in larger quantities (provided there are trees nearby).

As for whether spears or swords are better , and evne more so with shields, there are very many possibly match-ups & combinations there, disregarding any difference in skill, so it's frankly impossible to say whether any type is better, because situational circumstances and luck play major roles as well. So unless anyone is willing to match up every single type, longsword, shortsword, broadsword etc. vs different lengthed spears and then add in different shields such as bucklers, kiteshields , round shields etc. well, you can say whatever you want, but there's no real way to get an accurate statement on it, and no matter what you said, some wouldn't agree.

 

SL didn't use spears

 

because if they use sword they will turn to SAO kirito wannabe

 

Honestly don't mind it. Seems weird that for most of history the most common weapon for a soldier is a spear but all media nowadays has some kind of boner for swords lol

 

I don't know how true this phenomenon is, but if it is, then that just means that a lot of Korean writers have good taste.

 

All this talk of sword and spear reminded me of an idiotic mc who wields a sword(for short-range) in the left hand and a spear(for mid-range) in the right because it was 'practical'.

 

It makes sense that swords are popular in general, being an all-rounder weapon that is easy to carry, but given how a lot of stories deal with (practically)unarmored and shield-less combatants the spear really should have a lot of advantages in an actual fight regardless of if it is in a 1v1 or a group.
I'm a bit doubtful about the idea of korean authors having more spearwielding mc's in general, though I would approve of it if so.

What I really want to see more of though is functional armor and pollaxes to counter it.

 

Swords are for indoors fights / militia / status / decoration and they are easy to carry. Spear are for Outdoor fights and Wars.

Spear if you have place to use them are just better.

Medieval long bow require lot a strengh, so female aren't good pick for archers.

1 handed sword is not faster than 2 handed, the 2 handed is faster. It is easier to use a 2 handed sword and give lot of advantages : speed, strengh, range, better grip...

Also armor is extremely effective and protect very well not quite like you see in fictions. Light armor can be pierced but not quite cut by a slash. Heavy armor is only sensible to blunt and to gap in the armor.

Every fiction fall into these traps.

 

Probably worth mentioning that in fiction it doesn't matter too much what actual fighting is like, but more how the weapons works for an idealized fighting. I feel like the popularity of swords in fiction is in part for dueling between two characters that have some drama between them, it seems like swords its easier to switch between blocking and attacking without the need to shift how you're holding it, the fighting is closer and more personal. Also in real fights people are much more easily taken out by small injuries, and that's part of the usefulness of the spear, but for fiction fighting the sword has more dramatic injuries like running someone through or hacking a limb off (even though this would actually be more difficult).

That said there are ways to bring those kinds of things in with spears and other weapons and I love seeing variety of weapons used. But I think its understandable why swords become such a staple of dramatic combat.

 

historically, Korea during mid-age in Joseon Era was mainly focused on long range fights, involving archery and artillery.
Reason why they lost many battle against Jurchen or the japanese invasion as their melee infantry did not catch up the tactics and equipment as it didn't get evolved much through time (koreans focused practically all on long range tactics with cannons and archery). once u let enemy melee infantries, u had little maneuvers to get out safely.

 

Spears are actually better for both offense and defense. Superior reach confers a massive advantage in melee combat, and that advantage isn't readily apparent on the printed page so people tend to get a false impression. The real reason why swords are more popular is that they are more sexy. Swords have been symbols for warriors for hundreds of years an in many cultures. The reason is that they are easy to wear so warriors can take them when they go shopping or out to eat or other social functions. There are entire classes of swords which are exclusively meant for civilian use. Spears are less useful as symbols because you'd only carry one when you intend to fight someone.

 

I did say I was talking about the combat worked dramatically in fiction rather than how it actually works in real life. Its the way swords can be used for defense that makes them interesting for dramatic combat. Like in how many films during a sword duel they'll cross swords, regardless of how often it actually happens or why they would hold it so long, it dramatic because their faces are close but they're unable to harm each other so they can stare each other down, they're also defending but each of them is very close to the blade so it increases the feeling of danger. Keeping someone at a distance may be more effective, but its less dramatic and personal for fiction.

I agree being able to carry swords wherever is another appeal, but I don't think its the only one.

 

I'd say that spear defense combined with good footwork is more visually impressive than sword clashing. Then again, I find that the close up of faces during a sword clash looks dumb. But the point is that we're talking about how it's depicted in books - the visuals don't really matter in this case.

That wasn't quite my point. It was that swords are sexier because they're the symbol of warriors, and that they're the symbol for warriors because they're easy to wear. It's the same reason why the revolver is so prominent in film Westerns even though rifles were vastly superior weapons.

 

Well I'd agree that spear choreography done well does look very impressive, and of course I think all kinds of combat can be done well. I just think the proximity of sword combat and its suitability for more personal feeling conflicts plays a big part in their popularity in fiction.

I'm more familiar with filmed combat than written combat, so I just use those examples because they come to mind more easily. This of course does skew my thoughts on the subjects, and probably writers have more options in terms of jumping into characters heads and fudging distances and timing such that characters can be reacting to each other when it would otherwise be impractical. I still think the stuff I mentioned above would affect how most average authors visualize sword fights versus other fights, but I'd have to read more examples to see if its typically done that way or not.

 

I agree