Yesterday we looked at Lady Liberty with a sword, and today we look at a sword-wielding woman currently of greater global interest: Brienne of Tarth. As Game of Thrones starts this Sunday, it won't be long before we're seeing armor-suited folks like her putting some wear and tear on their weapons. Which makes one wonder: How much range of motion does Brienne and her foils really have in that get-up, with the metal plates and the greaves and all?
The answer is "Quite a lot," assuming her suit was designed along the same principles as the armor of 15th-Century Europe.* Below we see a very surprising video put together by France's Le Musée National du Moyen-Âge de Cluny ("The National Museum of the Middle Ages Cluny"), whereby they drop two chaps into 15th-Century armor designs, then make them do everything from jumping jacks to jumping each other:
*The Game of Thrones/Song of Ice and Fire series is loosely based on the real-life Wars of the Roses, which took place in 15th-Century England. That conflict had the real-life Lancasters and Yorks vying for the throne, which inspired author George R.R. Martin's Lannisters and Starks.
Spoilers: IRL the Lancasters won (though admittedly the conflict is thought to have been dragon-free).
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I am not sure why this would be a surprise, they designed for use, not looks and armour that didn't allow one to do the job at hand would have been pretty useless. That said some of the armour used by mounted knights had serious weight issues, as in fall off and not get back up. Samurai armour is something that should be looked at, it was not only lightweight and flexible but also highly effective.