Cutting your fingers off with half-swording

A while ago I uploaded a little sword practise video with some fancy video game moves and what people got upset about were not the super unrealistic Witcher-inspired pirouetting strikes, but me grabbing the blade and striking with the crossguard.

"You cannot hold a sword like that"
"You would cut your fingers off if you did that in reality"

Half-swording against Mordhau

Actually, this move is called a Mordhau, or "murder strike" in English and is a legit and very handy way to use a sword - here is why.
Swords are far more versatile than most people know. We are so used to seeing them just to be for hitting and stabbing (and for fancy moves that might look cool but are far from being efficient), that something like half-swording, where you grab your blade with either one or both hands, looks just downright wrong - but its not:
If you are facing an opponent in full steel plate, you can forget about hitting and thrusting with your sword - it is not going to do much (that's what armour is for) - you need more force to penetrate the armour at the weak parts.

Like this.

You can do that by either supporting the blade with one hand and then thrusting the tip into the weak parts of the armour, or by turning your weapon around and hitting with the crossguard or pommel like you would with a mace or hammer (which are pretty good at penetrating armour).

The art of war is about being inventive and adaptive and there is a reason the sword was amongst the more popular weapons - would you rather bring a basic-, or a utility knife when going out camping?


But its going to cut your fingers off
I think this comes mainly from people who have never held a real sword.
Understand, that a longsword is not a razor - it is sharp, but the edge is not thin enough to cause injury just by holding it very firmly.

You can either wrap your palm around the blade, leaving no pressure on the edge or just go for the full and firm grip - and no one will pull that sword out of your hands -  (besides, they would have to drop their own weapon if they wanted to seriously try which leaves them in grand disadvantage).
Think of a mace - who in the right state of their mind would even want to try catch that mid blow? A fool who is going to get their hands broken I think.

Some swords were even not sharpened the entire length to make half-swording even more comfortable, but even with a sharp blade, you don't really need gloves (I find them making one's grip less efficient).


What is your weapon of choice?~