"Those shields are good for another thing: noise. Make lots of it..."
— Gobber the Belch, How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
Drums of War are intimidating, but to create a stronger psychological effect, why not create your percussion line out of deadly weapons? If this interests you, why not try having your characters strike their weapon against their shield? A clear way of showing your audience that your media-work is a blast from the chaotic, bloody past (or is a dystopian setting that has managed to return to that chaos), the harsh thrum of a deadly weapon will stand out among the generic Hollywood brass.
This might also be used as a way for warriors to salute their leaders (see below.)
In the world of video games, this often serves as pure aesthetic. Some video games, however, will use this as a feature to affect the morale of characters or Draw Aggro. Also, in some cases (usually involving either Super-Strength or exotic materials), this may function as a sonic attack and/or produce a shockwave of some sort.
Not to be mistaken for sexual intercourse with a shield, or confused with Instrument of Murder.
Examples
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Comic Books
- Transmetropolitan: The riot police thump their shields with their fists before charging a crowd, presumably for intimidation purposes.
Fanworks
- The Mountain and the Wolf: The Norscans often hit their shields with their weapons, either as a challenge, to psych themselves up before battle, or to mark the start of a duel.
Film — Animation
- Frozen II: After Anna tells Lieutenant Mattias the truth about the dam, he and his men hit their swords against their shields to attract the Rock Giants so they can destroy it.
- How to Train Your Dragon (2010): Banging on your shields is one of the tactics taught to young warriors, as it makes a noise that disorients a dragon.
Film — Live Action
- Magadheera: Right before the film's iconic 100-vs-1 fight when the Shere Khan army marches up with 100 of their best warriors to challenge Kala Bhairava, several mace-wielding warriors begin intimidating Bhairava by hitting their shields with their maces.
- Marvel Cinematic Universe: This is a signature move of Captain America, in conjunction with Thor. When Thor first attacked Cap in a brawl during The Avengers (2012), his hammer Mjolnir was completely repelled by the shield, creating only a loud shockwave. They then began using this as a tandem move, with an entire team of HYDRA soldiers being blasted away by it in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Then in Avengers: Endgame, Captain America, now wielding Mjolnir himself, struck his own shield with the hammer to stun Thanos in their duel.
- Troy. Achilles hits his sword against his shield right before entering a fight.
- Zulu: The first hint of the Zulu forces approaching the British outpost at Rorke's Drift is the sound of them beating on their shields en masse and in perfect unison. Lt. Bromhead, unnerved for the first time in the film, remarks that it sounds like an oncoming train. The Zulu continue to do it several more times as psychological warfare, terrifying the soldiers of the outpost, though they stand their ground regardless.
Literature
- Belisarius Series: The Roman soldiers salute Anna when she arrives at the Iron Triangle by banging the hilts of their swords on their shields. This is because Anna insisted that military hospitals she visited on her way observe proper sanitary conditions, saving the lives of many injured soldiers in the process.
- Discworld: The veteran Hero Cohen the Barbarian reminisces about the good old days, where on the night before a battle you'd think nothing about staying up all night doing things like bangin' your spear on your shield and chanting war cries, just to make sure the other mob are disadvantaged by not gettin' a wink of sleep.
Live-Action TV
- Legends of Tomorrow: At the start of the battle in the episode "Camelot 3000", some of Damien Darhk's Brainwashed and Crazy soldiers hit their shields with their swords before attacking Camelot's army.
Tabletop Games
- Hero System: In the supplement Fantasy Hero, a description of the Jarlspein (King's Games) mentions Brondheim warriors beating their spears against their shields to applaud the efforts of the contestants.
Video Games
- 0 A.D.. There is a planned animation in which a legionnaire strikes his shield with his short-sword.
- The Banner Saga: Varl shieldbangers often do this when activating their abilities or moving.
- Darkest Dungeon 2: The Man at Arms' selection animation for the "Bolster" skill is him rapping his shield with his mace.
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: Enemies with shields may taunt the player by banging their weapons on their shields.
- God of War (PS4): One of Kratos' unarmed combos ends with him punching his own shield to release a shockwave that can break the guard of an enemy.
- Hidden Dragon: Legend has a Shield-Bearing Mook enemy, the Defender-class soldiers, where in their Mook Debut Cutscene three of them corners you and their leader tries intimidating you by tapping his shield with his sword.
- Injustice: Gods Among Us: Wonder Woman's win animation has her say "You're no match for an Amazon". She then taps her sword against her shield before thrusting the sword into the air.
- She does this again in her intro animation in Injustice 2.
- Mount & Blade — Viking Conquest: The player can order their soldiers to start hitting their spears against their shields by pressing "t." The game calls this a "shield taunt," and doing it with enough men can boost your morale and damage that of the enemy.
- Rome: Total War: The hastatii, among certain other infantry units, will hit their weapons against their shields during the deployment phase. This may continue during the battle phase, until the fighting happens.
- Warcraft III: The Orc Warlock hits his shield with his weapon as an Idle Animation, despite being a ranged caster unit holding a magic staff.
Web Animation
- The Saga of Biorn: Biorn the Death Seeker repeatedly slams his sword on his shield as a challenge to other warriors. Unfortunately, they keep dying to completely different causes.
Real Life
- Riot police will strike their shields with batons in synchronization as they advance towards a crowd, for psychological intimidation on the mob, and to bolster their own morale at the same time.
- This article on the Other Wiki
mentions the Barritus, a historical war cry that sometimes included the warriors hitting their weapons on their shields to create a chaotic percussion.
- The term "Swashbuckling" comes from this. Bravoes looking to pick a fight would go around "swashing" (beating their swords on) their bucklers (a small, round shield).
- An unconventional example. In the Houston Astros sign stealing scandal, members of the Houston Astros baseball team used cameras to steal the signs of the opposing pitchers so they would know what kind of pitch was coming up. They then banged on trash-can lids with baseball bats to alert their hitters when to expect an off-speed pitch.
