One of the
Stock Poses: a character holds his or her sword upright, with the blade between his or her eyes. Incredibly common.
Often followed by
Stab the Sky.
Examples
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Anime & Manga
Films — Animation
Films — Live Action
- Aragorn does this at the beginning of the battle with the Uruk-hai in Fellowship of the Ring. Viggo Mortensen makes it come off like a pre-battle salute.
- Also invoked in part by Théoden in The Two Towers, when he first picks up and looks at his sword. The actor even clarified in the commentary that he was supposed to look past the sword to avoid looking cross-eyed. Followed by a glance at the held-down Wormtongue.
- During the dueling club scene in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the pre-duel mimicks the classic fencing salute, which incorporates this trope.
- In Star Wars, practitioners of the Makashi style of lightsaber combat would sometimes perform a "Makashi salute" before fighting an opponent. The salute involves holding the lightsaber vertically in front of their face, then swinging it down toward the side.
Literature
Video Games
Western Animation
Real Life
- In modern fencing, the salute has three steps, the first one is Stab the Sky, the second one is Staring Through The Sword, and the final one is Swipe Your Blade Off without the blood.
