I recommend to go to a medieval fair, there you can touch and handle melee weapons freely to get an idea how they feel. I remember that I once handled a parade sword which had a very thick and ornate blade, my arms were hurting immediately. Then the guy handed me his own short sword which was used in the fighting demonstrations and it was literally like picking up a can of beans: much lighter weight than expected and I couldn't feel at all the "length" of the blade when I swung it around - it was perfectly balanced in the hand.

In fairness, that misconception doesn’t just spring from imagination. Prop weapons generally are heavy, because they need to be thick to have blunt edges.

Here is Adam Savage picking up swords and making similar remarks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJypHnsEn8o

Maybe that is what you saw.

Have to remember that average human is 10 on usual scale in these games. And any character using any type of weapon getting bonus from strength has at minimum 12 or most likely 16 or above stat. Which means they are lot stronger that average.

True, but your weapons still need to be light to be able to carry the 20 wheels of cheese you'll be eating mid-fight to heal up because you can't be bothered to learn alchemy.

Syrio literally says that knight's swordsmanship is "hacking and hammering":

“Just so. Now we will begin the dance. Remember, child, this is not the iron dance of Westeros we are learning, the knight’s dance, hacking and hammering, no. This is the bravo’s dance, the water dance, swift and sudden. All men are made of water, do you know this? When you pierce them, the water leaks out and they die.” He took a step backward, raised his own wooden blade. “Now you will try to strike me.”

Which is a direct reference to the myth of heavy and unweildy longsword.

Whether George Martin himself believes the myth or merely made Syrio misinformed, is anybody's guess.

Also, no, knight in full plate with a longsword is not certainly much less agile than someone with a rapier and no armor. He will be somewhat less agile... if the level of training is equal... but neither longsword nor armor are so heavy that they will significantly limit agility.

Main issue with full suit of plate is actually overheating and tiring out sooner due to added weight and insulation (and possibly restricted breathing depending on the helmet).

> But a knight in full plate with a longsword is certainly much less agile than someone with a rapier and no armour.

No, that's not really true either.

Absolutely, see for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-bnM5SuQkI

Henry VIII (in his younger, athletic days) could leap into the saddle in full armour without using the stirrups, and was very proud of it.

I wonder if this misconception comes from jousting armour, which could be about twice as heavy as battle armour, combined with out-of-shape knights.

A knight in plate was carrying a similar amount to a fully laden modern soldier (about 60lbs). On the plus side, the armour's weight is more evenly distributed (a modern soldier has most of it on their back). On the minus side, the knights legs are more encumbered, which makes walking harder and running a lot harder.

A knight actually beats a soldier (who is carrying a similar weight and 10 years his junior) across an obstacle course in this short film 'Obstacle Run in Armour': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAzI1UvlQqw

My working weight for weighted pull-ups right now is more than a full set of plate weighed.

Related, the new edition of Pathfinder ditched weight in lbs and picked up a system of encumberance called bulk, I think, better represents real objects a bit more than just plain weight

> even those where you can carry 111 spears in your backpack.

That's what magic items like the Efficient Quiver are for. :-)

Ah, Runequest! Happy memories.

And how does ammo add up. Cartridge weight of 7.62×39mm is about 16 grams, one magazine is 30 rounds. Meaning more than half a kilo per each. Or with 3-4 magazines 2 kilos.

I suspect that the huge 2 handed swords favoured by the Landsknecht, were intended to intimidate people into not laughing at their clothing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landsknecht

Early Middle Ages were probably a point in history where Europeans were at their highest level in terms of overall health and quality of life.

Antiquity and Renaissance were both overcrowded, urbanized, with bad living conditions and worse food.

The old prison favorite of a lock in a a sock can very easily be fatal & probably weights 1/4 to 1/2 of a pound. I once reforged a ball peen hammer into a 1 handed warhammer. It was either a 12 or 16 ounce head, so quite light, really too light to get full power. It was shocking how much adding 6 inches to the handle increased the power. The spike end would easily do 1.5 to 2 inches through plate steel(maybe 3/16 or 1/8 inch) & even the sharp(90 degree) corners of the hammer head would pierce that plate if the strike wasn't flush and peel it back can opener style a half inch. It really takes very little mass to break bone provided you can get good speed, a relatively hard small impact point, and no armor/padding in the way. Skulls, hands, forearms, and shins are very vulnerable.

Well, a sling can whip a small stone hard enough to do serious damage. Otherwise, look into the cosh / blackjack / billy club style clubs. Light enough to swing at a high speed, small enough to hide under loose clothing, with just enough weight at the end to cause deep impact trauma.

Anything too light means that the force is dispersed in soft tissue, leaving surface bruises. That added inertia of some extra weight at the end causes the energy of the swing to transfer deeper to bone.

I doubt you'll get a scientifically derived number of any certainty, but I'd hazard a guess at two pounds or so at a minimum, and that would need some careful aim to be debilitating.