Gabrielle (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
potedeiabard) wrote2022-08-21 08:02 pm
potedeiabard) wrote2022-08-21 08:02 pm
Entry tags:
The Weapons of The Battling Bard.
Gabrielle has quite the range of experience with weapons, going from rope to swords, to staff and Sais. Then, at the very end, she has possession of the Chakram! I'll be going into some details about it, especially the history of the Chakram.
THE STAFF.
First, let's begin with the Staff. The staff is the second weapon Gabrielle picks up in the show, having picked up a sword first, but it's the first weapon she sticks to through a large chunk of the first half of the show. She trains to use the staff courtesy of the Amazons, who show her the techniques of how to fight with a staff shortly after she became the Amazon Princess. It was the first weapon she formally trained to use, in a manner of speaking. Xena knows all about fighting with any kind of weapon, but she refused to teach Gabrielle to use weapons, feeling like she would push Gabrielle a step closer to her path, which she wanted to protect her from.
Regardless, Gabrielle primarily choose a staff to avoid lethal injury both to people and herself. It’s the perfect weapon for her early days, wanting to get into a fight but not meaning to fatally wound anyone. She goes through several staffs and we don’t even know what happens to the staff Ephiny gives her – the one with her hawk head on it. Even if that one was the one she was using in the later episode, there’s an instance where it breaks in half if I’m not mistaken LOL. Anyways, she goes through a small array of staffs and other staff-like weapons. A mop, for example, she uses it when raiding a pirate ship with Xena and Ulysses. Since she was the decoy, she grabbed whatever she could get from the jump, showing her tendency to improvise to find means to defend herself. From season 1 to season 4 she consistently uses a staff before she gets rid of it when she becomes a follower of Eli’s way of love but later in Season 5 she’s seen using a staff and at other times a spear.
In the second half of Season 4 Gabrielle turns into a full-stop pacifist but that doesn’t stop her from getting into trouble and needing something to defend herself. For the remainder of season 4 she stays away from most of the fight but in one particular fight we see an interesting device she crafted. It’s an item that allows her to blow powder in self-defense and while that’s vague breaking the code of the Way Of Love, it’s ultimately harmless and only incapacitates the enemy temporarily enough to make a run for it. It’s a nice device that she never uses again, but it does denote her cleverness in crafting things for the time in need.
THE SAIS.
Now, we have the iconic Sais. While they’re a great deal more lethal, they’re a handy tool for more than just stabbing and prodding. On many occasions she twirls the Sais to use the butt end of the handle for punching and hitting, making it a very tough hit to receive should you be unlucky. That way, she uses it defensively when it’s necessary, and she uses it when lethal force is needed. She’s also been seen throwing it towards things and other weapons to deflect them. Also, the prongs of the sai are good for blocking, catching and trapping sword attacks, and Gabrielle is seen plenty of times disarming someone by twisting the opponent’s weapon out of the way. Because of the flipping techniques employed in use of the sai, strong and limber wrists need to be developed if one is going to master their use, so that tells you something about her wrist-strength!
The Sai, by the way, is: “a traditional Okinawan stabbing weapon used for stabbing and striking. It is most famously used in ninjutsu and kobudo, but also in southern Chinese martial arts.” According to Wikipedia.
It is noted here, and I’ll replicate what it says in case this site goes down in the future, that:
”Even though the sai are sometimes called "short swords", they were not used as a traditional sword word be. Sai were primarily a defensive weapon. They were used more as a club would be.”
It seems that the writers intentionally designed Gabrielle’s new weapon to keep in mind the balance within her – fighting and defending, lethality or not. This is mun’s favorite Gabrielle weapon besides the staff. They’re both iconic and purposeful for the time they appear in the show, showing the growth of Gabrielle and her skills.
SWORDS
There’s only a few handful of instances where Gabrielle uses the swords. From the top of my head I can think of Ides of March (when she goes on a killing spree, or the ‘Gab Spaz’ as fans call it), the second time I can think of is in Fallen Angel, as an archangel and a third time during the Helicon fight in ‘To Helicon and Back.’
She doesn’t prefer to use swords evidently, as she uses them very little compared to staffs, spears and her sais. What I’m not including in ‘Swords’ are, of course, Katanas. She does use those, let’s get into that.
KATANAS
Gabrielle with Xena's katana.
She has her own Katana! I go into detail about its motifs very briefly here, but if you really want the full scoop you should check out this blog. The owner of the blog has the original prop used in the scene. Strangely, this is not the katana she ever uses in the two episodes of A Friend In Need. As some of you recall, she uses Xena’s Katana, found here, and learns the art of Shinkedo with the wooden training sticks. She uses Xena’s Katana, the enchanted, sacred Katana, to fight Morimoto twice before she gives it to Xena. As the show ends in this very episode, we never come to find out if she keeps any of the Katanas. Still, the few times she used it she seemed highly competent with it.
THE LEGENDARY CHAKRAM.
This, in technicality, is something that a Xena!Mun should cover, however since Gabrielle inherits the Chakram and finally catches it near the end of AFIN, it is now part of her arsenal and should be explained here! There's an extensive history on the chakram, I must admit, and it should be covered in full but for the sake of brevity and my sanity I will keep it in simpler terms. Contrary to what mun originally believed, the chakram is actually a real life weapon but it is used differently in the show. "The Chakram or Chakra was used mostly by the Sikhs of north west India for hundreds of years."
While the Chakram in real life is a flat, steel sharp disk/ring that's used to throw and pierce an enemy, it does not bounce off like in the show and it is grabbed specifically to avoid cutting your own hand. That's perhaps where the idea of being unable to grab the chakram unless you're an expert (or the chosen one) comes into play. However, Xena's original Chakram has some engravings to it and while they may not serve any purpose aerodynamically, real life chakrams sometimes had those engravings to them that did serve distinct purposes. Think of them as deadly frisbees! Very fun to do against surfaces and trees, but not something you can use to play with the kids.
I will quote these few bits from the Xena/Hercules wiki article, because it is very insightful and puts it way more succintly: "Because of its otherworldly origins (The Chakram in the lore of the show is that it's possible that Ares gave Xena the Chakram which he stole from Kal, the God of War in Italia), the Chakram is a magical weapon that possesses its own unique qualities beyond that of more mundane weapons, most notably its physics-defying ability to ricochet and return to its thrower.
The Chakram is shown to be an incredibly powerful weapon in the right hands. Despite having a razor-sharp edge capable of slicing flesh and stone alike, it has displayed the ability to inflict purely blunt damage even when striking with the sharp edge, as Xena is shown numerous times throughout the show using the Chakram to knock people unconscious without wounding them. A blow from the Chakram was also shown to be strong enough to break Xena's back without causing severe lacerations. Whether this blunt vs. sharp quality is based purely on the thrower's skill or one of the weapon's innate magical abilities is never fully explained."
Basically, it all depends on the intent. I have no idea how I will roleplay this if needed, considering Gabrielle would only use the chakram unless absolutely necessary. But back to what it all pertains to Gabrielle.
The Balanced Chakram.
The chakram she inherits from Xena is the "balanced chakram" (shown above) that splits in two and it's been the only chakram Gabrielle catches (not counting the time Xena was in Gabrielle's body, because Xena knows how to catch it). It functions like the original chakram almost identically, except that it's caught a little differently now and it can split mid-air to hit two or many different targets in one clean swing. It can also be split in two without throwing it, making it a sharp tool for fighting close quarters. It is just as powerful as the original, with a lot more tricks to it for sure, but nothing much is known about this chakram, nor it is explained. It holds the same abilities as the original one, being both a blunt or sharp weapon for long distance, for sure so there's not much more to this one.
And that about covers all the main weapons Gabrielle uses! Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go hibernate and process all this information!
Last updated: August 24th, 2022
First, let's begin with the Staff. The staff is the second weapon Gabrielle picks up in the show, having picked up a sword first, but it's the first weapon she sticks to through a large chunk of the first half of the show. She trains to use the staff courtesy of the Amazons, who show her the techniques of how to fight with a staff shortly after she became the Amazon Princess. It was the first weapon she formally trained to use, in a manner of speaking. Xena knows all about fighting with any kind of weapon, but she refused to teach Gabrielle to use weapons, feeling like she would push Gabrielle a step closer to her path, which she wanted to protect her from.
Regardless, Gabrielle primarily choose a staff to avoid lethal injury both to people and herself. It’s the perfect weapon for her early days, wanting to get into a fight but not meaning to fatally wound anyone. She goes through several staffs and we don’t even know what happens to the staff Ephiny gives her – the one with her hawk head on it. Even if that one was the one she was using in the later episode, there’s an instance where it breaks in half if I’m not mistaken LOL. Anyways, she goes through a small array of staffs and other staff-like weapons. A mop, for example, she uses it when raiding a pirate ship with Xena and Ulysses. Since she was the decoy, she grabbed whatever she could get from the jump, showing her tendency to improvise to find means to defend herself. From season 1 to season 4 she consistently uses a staff before she gets rid of it when she becomes a follower of Eli’s way of love but later in Season 5 she’s seen using a staff and at other times a spear.
In the second half of Season 4 Gabrielle turns into a full-stop pacifist but that doesn’t stop her from getting into trouble and needing something to defend herself. For the remainder of season 4 she stays away from most of the fight but in one particular fight we see an interesting device she crafted. It’s an item that allows her to blow powder in self-defense and while that’s vague breaking the code of the Way Of Love, it’s ultimately harmless and only incapacitates the enemy temporarily enough to make a run for it. It’s a nice device that she never uses again, but it does denote her cleverness in crafting things for the time in need.
Now, we have the iconic Sais. While they’re a great deal more lethal, they’re a handy tool for more than just stabbing and prodding. On many occasions she twirls the Sais to use the butt end of the handle for punching and hitting, making it a very tough hit to receive should you be unlucky. That way, she uses it defensively when it’s necessary, and she uses it when lethal force is needed. She’s also been seen throwing it towards things and other weapons to deflect them. Also, the prongs of the sai are good for blocking, catching and trapping sword attacks, and Gabrielle is seen plenty of times disarming someone by twisting the opponent’s weapon out of the way. Because of the flipping techniques employed in use of the sai, strong and limber wrists need to be developed if one is going to master their use, so that tells you something about her wrist-strength!
The Sai, by the way, is: “a traditional Okinawan stabbing weapon used for stabbing and striking. It is most famously used in ninjutsu and kobudo, but also in southern Chinese martial arts.” According to Wikipedia.
It is noted here, and I’ll replicate what it says in case this site goes down in the future, that:
”Even though the sai are sometimes called "short swords", they were not used as a traditional sword word be. Sai were primarily a defensive weapon. They were used more as a club would be.”
It seems that the writers intentionally designed Gabrielle’s new weapon to keep in mind the balance within her – fighting and defending, lethality or not. This is mun’s favorite Gabrielle weapon besides the staff. They’re both iconic and purposeful for the time they appear in the show, showing the growth of Gabrielle and her skills.
There’s only a few handful of instances where Gabrielle uses the swords. From the top of my head I can think of Ides of March (when she goes on a killing spree, or the ‘Gab Spaz’ as fans call it), the second time I can think of is in Fallen Angel, as an archangel and a third time during the Helicon fight in ‘To Helicon and Back.’
She doesn’t prefer to use swords evidently, as she uses them very little compared to staffs, spears and her sais. What I’m not including in ‘Swords’ are, of course, Katanas. She does use those, let’s get into that.
Gabrielle with Xena's katana.
She has her own Katana! I go into detail about its motifs very briefly here, but if you really want the full scoop you should check out this blog. The owner of the blog has the original prop used in the scene. Strangely, this is not the katana she ever uses in the two episodes of A Friend In Need. As some of you recall, she uses Xena’s Katana, found here, and learns the art of Shinkedo with the wooden training sticks. She uses Xena’s Katana, the enchanted, sacred Katana, to fight Morimoto twice before she gives it to Xena. As the show ends in this very episode, we never come to find out if she keeps any of the Katanas. Still, the few times she used it she seemed highly competent with it.
This, in technicality, is something that a Xena!Mun should cover, however since Gabrielle inherits the Chakram and finally catches it near the end of AFIN, it is now part of her arsenal and should be explained here! There's an extensive history on the chakram, I must admit, and it should be covered in full but for the sake of brevity and my sanity I will keep it in simpler terms. Contrary to what mun originally believed, the chakram is actually a real life weapon but it is used differently in the show. "The Chakram or Chakra was used mostly by the Sikhs of north west India for hundreds of years."
While the Chakram in real life is a flat, steel sharp disk/ring that's used to throw and pierce an enemy, it does not bounce off like in the show and it is grabbed specifically to avoid cutting your own hand. That's perhaps where the idea of being unable to grab the chakram unless you're an expert (or the chosen one) comes into play. However, Xena's original Chakram has some engravings to it and while they may not serve any purpose aerodynamically, real life chakrams sometimes had those engravings to them that did serve distinct purposes. Think of them as deadly frisbees! Very fun to do against surfaces and trees, but not something you can use to play with the kids.
I will quote these few bits from the Xena/Hercules wiki article, because it is very insightful and puts it way more succintly: "Because of its otherworldly origins (The Chakram in the lore of the show is that it's possible that Ares gave Xena the Chakram which he stole from Kal, the God of War in Italia), the Chakram is a magical weapon that possesses its own unique qualities beyond that of more mundane weapons, most notably its physics-defying ability to ricochet and return to its thrower.
The Chakram is shown to be an incredibly powerful weapon in the right hands. Despite having a razor-sharp edge capable of slicing flesh and stone alike, it has displayed the ability to inflict purely blunt damage even when striking with the sharp edge, as Xena is shown numerous times throughout the show using the Chakram to knock people unconscious without wounding them. A blow from the Chakram was also shown to be strong enough to break Xena's back without causing severe lacerations. Whether this blunt vs. sharp quality is based purely on the thrower's skill or one of the weapon's innate magical abilities is never fully explained."
Basically, it all depends on the intent. I have no idea how I will roleplay this if needed, considering Gabrielle would only use the chakram unless absolutely necessary. But back to what it all pertains to Gabrielle.
The Balanced Chakram.
The chakram she inherits from Xena is the "balanced chakram" (shown above) that splits in two and it's been the only chakram Gabrielle catches (not counting the time Xena was in Gabrielle's body, because Xena knows how to catch it). It functions like the original chakram almost identically, except that it's caught a little differently now and it can split mid-air to hit two or many different targets in one clean swing. It can also be split in two without throwing it, making it a sharp tool for fighting close quarters. It is just as powerful as the original, with a lot more tricks to it for sure, but nothing much is known about this chakram, nor it is explained. It holds the same abilities as the original one, being both a blunt or sharp weapon for long distance, for sure so there's not much more to this one.
And that about covers all the main weapons Gabrielle uses! Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go hibernate and process all this information!
Last updated: August 24th, 2022