[Lachgar Yassin]

Hi guys.
Reading HoC right now. Finished the prologue and 1st chapter. I am loving it so far. However I have a question concerning Karsa's sword, it's a wooden sword if I got it correctly. Nevertheless Karsa has been able to wound and decapitate his rivals using it. I can't imagine how a wooden sword could do the damage of cutting no matter how big the sword can be. Is it like a sharp wooden sword? or does the secret reside in the blood-oil the Uryd use to polish the weapon and increase its efficacy?

This post has been edited by Lachgar Yassin: 08 April 2017 - 11:50 PM

[D'rek]

My guess is that the blood-oil process is similar to how they would make wooden armours (especially rattan armour) used in ancient times on Earth. In some places, they would repeatedly soak the wood in certain oils and dry it out, and this would eventually harden the armour substantially. I would guess that the Teblor swords are made through a similar process, but the particular tree they use and the blood-oil are both significantly stronger than anything we have on Earth, and so the result is a super-wooden sword that is so strengthened it is tougher than steel.

[Andorion]

Lachgar Yassin, on 08 April 2017 - 11:49 PM, said:

Hi guys.
Reading HoC right now. Finished the prologue and 1st chapter. I am loving it so far. However I have a question concerning Karsa's sword, it's a wooden sword if I got it correctly. Nevertheless Karsa has been able to wound and decapitate his rivals using it. I can't imagine how a wooden sword could do the damage of cutting no matter how big the sword can be. Is it like a sharp wooden sword? or does the secret reside in the blood-oil the Uryd use to polish the weapon and increase its efficacy?

The efficacy of the sword lies both in the wood the Teblor use - a particularly hard type of wood, and the blood oil which makes it durable and gives it an edge.

[weaverbird05]

If I remember correctly, didn't it describe the blood oil creating an almost resin-like coating and edge, so not only is the wood infused with the oil, it also created a coating to it? I'm fairly certain that was in HoC... if maybe later on.

[Abyss]

Also that it would 'heal' the wood of nicks and scrapes iirc.

And in HoC Karsa oiled his sword, then let (original) Havok sniff it and it made the horse even more homicidal.

I would have speculated that the oil might do something to people Karsa stabs, except that he never really stabs anyone more than once.

[worry]

The original title of House of Chains was Horny For Blood.

[Abyss]

worry, on 19 June 2017 - 07:29 PM, said:

The original title of House of Chains was Horny For Blood.

What, 'Oily Chains of Lust' was already taken?