Highlander Connor Sword Re-Design

[Hitogiri]

What would you like to see on a newly designed Highlander hilt? What aesthetic features do you think are cannon and what would you like to see changed or refined? Would you be receptive to a complete recarving of the scenes? Would you rather have the tea ceremony as it is now? Or would you like to see guys making swords? Or samurai doing battle?

What do you guys think?

 

[Onigiri]

Well the one I am building has the dragon head and tail cast in bronze on an old tachi style hilt/tsuka (full white same wrap without ito), the original Highlander tsuba, and done on a Karasu Maru style Tachi blade in Tachi mounts. I think this is a much more 'historical' design, historically accurate and yet retains the magical feeling of the Highlander blade while remaining recognizable.

 

[cheech9898]

If going with a different carved scene, I like the samuri battle idea..... It may be neat too if it was an immortal samuri fight and showed one decap'ed and a quickening

 

[Onigiri]

The problem with a samurai battle scene is that there WERE no samurai when that sword was made. Remember in the mythos that this sword was made in about 500 BC...LONG before the samurai existed. At best it should be a Chinese scene of some sort as 500 BC Japan wasnt recognizable as Japan.

 

[Onigiri]

Case in point the original inhabitants of Japan were the Ainu, a caucasian race, and it was approx 500 BC when the 'Yayoi' (the asiatic precursors of the modern Japanese) showed up. Eventually, as more of the(migrating over from the Asian continent) asiatics showed up in Japan they pressed the Ainu to the North eventually subduing them. This was when the Yamato culture was established. The early Yamato Japanese culture was based on the culture of China and it would be centuries before anything that we would recognize as 'samurai' would come in to existence.

 

[Djinn]

Honestly I liked the idea of Connor's sword being an amazing invention ahead of it's time. Because of that I would rather it not look like a contemporary Muromachi or Edo period sword. But slightly different in a few ways. I would not want it to look exactly like a katana, but something much older and much more stylised since it predates the katana by a few centuries.

I would keep the white carved handle because that has been the most important characteristic of the sword throughout the movies and tv show. But I don't know if I would want it so ornately carved. The dragon head on the end I would keep, but not half of the side carvings. They would not display common 13-16th century activities. The sword was supposed to predate all of those. Possibly more writing carved into the side of the handle. Something closer to a spell or teachings that a warrior should always remember when going into battle.

 

[JunkSabers1138]

What would you like to see on a newly designed Highlander hilt? What aesthetic features do you think are cannon and what would you like to see changed or refined? Would you be receptive to a complete recarving of the scenes? Would you rather have the tea ceremony as it is now? Or would you like to see guys making swords? Or samurai doing battle?

What do you guys think?

overall, if there is to be any redesign, just keep the overall look the same, tea party * i never thought it was a tea party... just everyday life in Japan* and everything, just refine the look. Kinda like the various versions of the Highlander sword thats out there now: the props, the marto, the albions, the chinese fakes, they are all different in VERY obvious and noticeable ways, but they are also the same design: Dragon head, mane, scales, Japan scenes, Lion/Dragon, fans, clouds, leaves, etc.

Basically, the sword as is is perfect. Plain and simple. Even though its not a historical design (unless someone makes one as close as possible while being traditional as possible), and its kind of an anachronism (maybe someone from the future made the ultimate Japanese sword and through some freak accident came back in time and makes/gives the sword to Ramirez and... damn, too much Highlander 2 and The Source... moving on). But anyway... it just clicked perfectly with all of us... a truly perfect sword. it dons the perfect sword hall of fame, joined by such big names like Anduril, the Buster Sword, the Atlantean Sword, the Gunblade, He-Mans sword, Links sword, the sword from thundercats, and others i cant think of right now. Yeah, rediculous designs from a historical and realistic standpoint, but these arent just swords, they are characters in their own right, with life stories of their own, not to mention a design that evokes the deepest senses of awe in the majority of us. However, the only thing that never changes is change, sometimes good, sometimes bad...but no matter when a sword is changed dramatically, as long as the version i love most is out there, i couldnt care less

this does sound like a very cool project though; I'd love to see it develop. And whomever wants one for themselves, may they have the means to achieve that dream

 

[jts1031]

I would keep the white carved handle because that has been the most important characteristic of the sword throughout the movies and tv show. But I don't know if I would want it so ornately carved.

I prefered to think of it as a historical record of what Ramirez saw. Maybe the hilt started out as a plain piece of ivory with the dragon head on it. And over time, Ramirez added the scenes depicting things he'd seen over the centuries...

 

[Djinn]

But a lot of those scenes should take place somewhere around the time Ramirez was in Scotland or after he died.

There is no way he saw tea ceremonies of Muromachi period Japanese people in 500 BC.

 

[Hitogiri]

What about a hybrid version of the H1 and H3? Have a pin like the H1 but the H3 head with a fuchi?

 

[The Wolf]

I agree with keeping the basic appearance.
Maybe change the tsuba from perfectly round to somewhat egg shaped like the first tsubas were.
The handle was a stock handle with a dragon added. I would prefer a completely sculpted handle (perhaps with Shikiko on it) and the same dragon head and tail.
I still love the original prop though.

The Wolf