Hot take: Batleths are bad weapons. Probably introduced as a form of handicapping.
Shadiversity's take on Batleths which surely wont cause any controversy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsElSDXPgSA
this post was submitted on 11 Sep 2023
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Could also be that Klingon muscles are different from ours, they have a whole bunch of redundant organs after all, and the Batleth is designed to take advantage of their unique strengths
That is a excellent point, I hadn't thought of that, I just assumed all humanoids are about the same, but your totally right
All the extra pointy bits could be good for puncturing multiple organs at once
Physics does not work that way, you insolent fool!
Regardless of Klingon muscles, the fact that the blade sticks out sideways from the handle creates a lever arm that tends to make it droop due to gravity whenever it's held horizontally. Even if Klingon hands are different, they're not that different that it's somehow advantageous to keep torquing upwards so the blade points at the opponent instead of the floor.
Don't see a batleth as a weapon. See it as extention to your arms and movement - or something similar did Worf say to Alexander.
Yeah it often is described by Klingons as a monastic weapon, meant to teach a lesson or discipline while training with it. I don't think the idea is for like a formation of Klingons to march into battle all wielding Bat'leths.
You train with a Bat'leth and then when a real battle comes you are more prepared to fight with other weapons, or even unarmed. It even makes sense in that the Bat'leth is a very complex object. I can totally see how simply trying to spar with it would force you to think more about all the different ways you can use the thing in your hands to your advantage.
That makes sense. Interesting!
They look so scifi though
I rest my case, your honor.
I thought that was cannon? It's that not specifically mentioned somewhere? I can't remember when I heard it but I always thought that they were made to be hard to use, because winning a battle with a regular weapon is easy and therefore less honorable.
And if you watch the actors try to swing these things around they always look awkward.
Give it to a bunch of bored monks. If they could make something as useless as two chained sticks into a cool weapon..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gYb6ip-BHY
Bat'leth vs Sword sparring match
Basically dark age knights could have beaten Klingons in battle.
Even worf seems to agree, by Picard s3 he has a sort of batleth / katana hybrid instead of a classic one. Though I think he already said in DS9 that he actually prefers the mekleth.
It’s a Mek’leth (modified in PIC S03), which he has stated before is his preferred weapon. He even uses it in The First Battle of Deep Space Nine to defend against the attempted Klingon invasion.
It's worth noting, too, that Worf is an in-universe badass even by Klingon standards. He easily takes out Duras. He won a major Bat'leth tournament in Parallels. He beats Gowron to the floor in Apocalypse Rising. Later in the Dominion War, he takes on every single Jem'hadar in a prison and beats them all, which Mar'tok can't help but be impressed by. Late in the war, he beats and kills Gowron easily.
If Worf says the Mek'leth is better, then we should take his word for it.
Also, Gowron is a chump ass bitch and I'm tired of pretending he's not.
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For a minute I thought it was something like ice skating blades. Why does this weapon exist?
looks cool and alien, perfect for a tv show about warrior aliens.
This will keep happening until Amazon starts cracking down on cheap Ferengi knock-offs with fake reviews.
This sharpener has no honour!
Made by some p'tahk no doubt.
Everyone knows you must sharpen them with real stones from the home planet, lubricated with the blood of your enemies.
I was looking at the market and noticed that the blood of your enemies was too expensive. Is olive oil a good substitute?
Have you seen olive oil prices lately? You enemies blood is definitely cheaper.
I think this is one of those times when there's really no substitute for producing your own.
If you can't get fresh, instant is fine
Olive oil is too thick and will go rancid and harden. Use mineral oils
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What about Valyrian steel?
Is there any canon on the origin of the batleth?
Like, it's a fake weapon, badly designed, intended to look cool. But in universe, what's the history?
There's multiple ways to give a canon reason a badly designed weapon is such a cultural icon. Maybe it's based on the horns of a predator, or something like that, as an example.
I'm not a deep delver into such things, but I wonder if there's an official history behind it.
Like you guessed it is a cultural icon. The emperor that united their home world used it.
In Star Trek lore, the Klingon Kahless created the bat'leth around CE 625. According to Klingon mythology, he formed the blade by dropping a length of his hair into some lava from inside the Kri'stak Volcano, then cooling, shaping, and hardening it in the lake of Lursor.[5] He then united Qo'noS, the Klingon homeworld, by killing a tyrant named Molor with the weapon, which became known as the Sword of Kahless.
See, that makes sense why it's a less than ideal design. We have weird weapons here on earth that have significance, but aren't ideal designs. The batleth is more of a hungamunga than a longsword :)
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I feel like there must have been a scene between Worf and his son where he explains it.
Probably, though the scene that came to mind for me was from the DS9 episode where Worf, Kor, and Dax find the sword of Kahless.
This guy Bat'leths:-)
What about klingon daggers? But even if, it can't repair/improve klingon pain sticks, so it's useless anyway
DANG IT! Well now I gotta find another one...
I haven't found a blade yet that I can't sharpen with my Lansky kit. It would just take a couple hours to get the thing razor sharp