Earnest
Since: Jan, 2001
Jan 13th 2012 at 6:08:11 PM
•••
When I wrote the analysis section I was thinking along the lines of that horrible saying "Those who can't, teach." So those who can't fight in the front lines do the support work, and as per the trope they get a lot less respect for it.
You have a point that a healthy swordloving culture should respect the blacksmith, but the point of the trope is that these people are unhealthily skewed into viewing those invaluable support activities as being worthless. Basically, what you're saying is true and sane, but the point of the trope is that these people aren't thinking clearly, so what you've basically got is a criticism of the culture.
On the analysis section, I'm not sure blacksmiths would be so ostracized in a sword-loving society. After all, they MAKE the swords. I think Blacksmiths would be rare, given how most of hte planet would love to skip it, and blacksmithing would be an underrated, yet incredibly valuable and still respected job. T Hat and the blacksmith would probably familiarize themselves with swords very quickly, in case they WERE called into battle.
Hide / Show Replies