There is something that bothers me in fantasy novels/movies. For the most part, I can ignore many things, but when a character has one quick sword lesson from a master and ends up being able to fight off bad guys later, it really drives me crazy.
Do you know how long it takes to become a master swordsman? I have no clue, but I bet it takes a long freakin’ time. Think about a sport like wrestling. You can wrestle all your life and still never be one of the best in your area. That is with thousands of years of practice. And yet, I am supposed to believe that a couple Hobbits will be able to do anything with a blade after a five minute tutorial from Aragorn? C’mon now.
It happens all the time in fantasy (and Star Wars for that matter, Luke picks up a lightsaber and is able to fight Darth Vader without dying in two seconds–granted, Vader was not trying to kill him). One of the few series I can think of that got it right was Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle. In those books, Eragon trains with Bron every night while they travel. He remarks how his training is brutal at first and after a few weeks he is able to last more than a few seconds against Bron.
Do you want to see what it looks like when someone with minimal training goes up against someone who has dedicated their life to it?
Yep, six seconds. That is how it would look if you spent a few hours training with a sword then decided to go up against someone like Lan Mandragoran…
