Dual Dao Swords
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Dual Dao Swords or Broadswords are a type of metal weapon commonly used by Zuko. It can be used also as a single-edge sword. It had been seen in the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation.
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[edit] Characteristics
Dao swords are moderately curved and single-edged, though often with few inches of the back edge sharpened as well; the moderate curve allows them to be reasonably effective in the thrust. Hilts are canted, curving in the opposite direction as the blade which improves handling in some forms of cuts and thrusts. Cord is usually wrapped over the wood of the handle. Hilts may also be pierced like those of jian (straight-bladed sword) for the addition of lanyards.
[edit] Use
This swords are first seen and used when Prince Zuko hides behind the mask of the Blue Spirit in the episode "The Blue Spirit". He used the weapon to defend Aang and recue him from Pohuai Stronghold, a Fire Nation fortress in Western Earth Kingdom. He used it also for threatening Aang to escape. Zuko sometimes uses the Dual Dao Swords when he doesn't want people to know that he is a Firebender.
In other episodes, Zuko returns to the Blue Spirit guise and utilizing his swords, an example is Lake Laogai (Episode). In Zuko Alone he used his swords to fight Gow and his gang. He also taught Lee some techniques with this weapon, saying: "Two halves of a single weapon. Don't think of them as separate, because they're not. They're just two different parts of the same whole."
In Ba Sing Se, Zuko used the swords against Jet in the Duel in the Tea Shop. He had to use them in order to hide in the Earth Kingdom as a refugee, concealing his Firebending ability. In The Day of Black Sun, Part 2: The Eclipse, when Zuko confronted his father, Fire Lord Ozai, he wielded his swords as a method of defense, since at that time he could not use Firebending due to the solar eclipse.
In the Earth Kingdom, the Dual Dao Swords had been seen in "The Swamp" when a man approached Iroh and asked him to sing for a gold coin.
[edit] Connection
The earliest dao date from the Shang Dynasty in China's Bronze Age, and are known as zhibei dao (直背刀) - straight backed knives. As the name implies, these were straight-bladed or slightly curved weapons with a single edge. Originally bronze, these would be made of iron or steel by the time of the late Warring States. Originally less common as a military weapon than the jian - the straight, double-edged blade of China - the dao became popular with cavalry during the Han dynasty due to its sturdiness and superiority as a chopping weapon. Soon after dao began to be issued to infantry, beginning the replacement of the jian as a standard-issue weapon.
[edit] Notes
- This weapon is one of the four major Chinese weapons, the Dao is known as "The General of All Weapons." Unlike Sokka's Space Sword, Zuko's swords are like traditional dao--single handed and single edged.
