#winged helmets

[petermorwood]

Interesting post about costume here.

This paragraph in particular caught my attention...

What we think of as “peasant garb” is actually the product of a game of telephone that travels back from Romantic Revival art, and many of those (urban) artists got their idea of what rural peasants wore from opera costumes. The costumers working at the opera were not going out to the country side to take notes on what farmers actually wore, nor did they want to. Opera is show biz, you want it to be evocative, but not ordinary. Their costumes would have been based on what urban folks were wearing, with extra little touches like a shepherds crook to make it look “rural”.

... because it was Wagner's Ring Cycle that gave us horned helmets.

They didn't originate with the Vikings. They originated with the 1876 costume designs for a bunch of operas, and those designs by Carl Emil Doepler still exist.

For reference, all the horny characters are mortals.

Those helmets were probably based on archaeological finds, even though all Northern European examples are, AFAIK and depending on context, either religious headgear equivalent to a bishop's mitre, or ceremonial headgear equivalent to a crown.

In addition, every single one predates the Viking Age by a period ranging from a couple of centuries to a couple of millennia so - makes vague handwave gesture - they're more appropriate for the sorta-kinda mythic Migration Era setting of the Ring than any Vik who ever inged..

Doepler's designs also feature WINGED helmets, worn by immortals like Wotan...

... and the Valkyries.

Something else I encountered when looking for pics to illustrate this was that other clichéd armour error, the boob-plate.

Here's dramatic soprano Karin Branzell wearing one...

...while here's heroic tenor Fritz Vogelstrom also wearing one.

He's singing the role of Siegfried but wearing the costume of Brunnhilde, at least that's how it looks to an operatic Philistine like me.

Anyway...

Winged helmets are even more historically dodgy - no archaeological evidence at all - yet are actually more feasible as working combat helmets.

The difference is that horns, being heavy, need sturdy mountings so a horned helmet both provides catch-points for incoming blows and handles for an enemy to grapple, while a winged helmet does neither. The wings, being light, wouldn't need solid fixtures so would just shear off under a weapon or come off in an enemy's hands.

I'm well aware that other times, places and cultures - Indo-Persia, Poland, Japan etc. - had helmets with wings, horns and all sorts of other stuff, but this is about how the popular image of Vikings that headgear came from opera.

And went all over the place... :->

[almondcroissantsandink]

hark! it's the cringefail loser squad from on high

[oldschoolfrp]

Paladin vs deadly alien grass (Jim Roslof, AD&D module S3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks by Gary Gygax, TSR, 1980)

[ramosdeolivaa]

Guys, hear me out.

"Wouldn't you like" stage ver but Hermes is wearing one of those

[sinusoidaldysfunction]

Bombardier. Cool name. Lame character.

[tobuzzu]

Armor! An idea I had was to have most of the helmet rest on the horns and snout rather than the cranial parts to distribute force away from the important bits of the head. I don’t think theres a name for something like this, so I made one up, a suspended helm due to it not touching most of the head! Cool thing is, its a helmet configuration thats unique to dragons, (and goats too, I guess), Humans can’t really wear something like this because we don’t have giant horns or muzzle protrusions sticking out of our heads to rest a helmet on.

It probably makes it way more likely to break the nose bone or horns when the helmets struck, but hey better that than a fractured skull!!!

[wearemercs]

Let's go crush some Skaven ratheads by NNNmengmeng

[fricc-darn]

I can't think of anything to say so have a good day!

[deimcs]

DRAGON AGE: ORIGINS companions + the Grey Warden armor.

[hallowclave]

She para on my humans till I [GRUESOME SOUNDS OF BUG FUELED VIOLENCE]

Redraw of a skitter design I did a little over a year ago, comparison under the read more

And the sketch. As a little treat. Just for you.

[jalo-parker]

Insert hermitgang lyrics here

Hes a feathered dragon! The feathered bits are based on a swallow-tailed kite :] tis the season for them to be around where I live so I've been seeing a whole bunch of them its so cool..

[purpleangiie]

So, I was thinking about Dick Grayson, specifically Dick Grayson's head... when he was 7 he climbed up the stairs in the circus tend to get to the trapeze but slipped and fell down [Nightwing #114] A very funny way to get your first concussion, right? Of course, many more followed over the years (that's what happens when you become Robin!) Then, in his early 20s he was shot in the head — not as fun as a concussion. Now, that alone would be enough to ban him from any dangerous sport or activity for the rest of his life, but of course, Dick Grayson is Dick Grayson, who also happens to be Nightwing. So he kept doing his usual stuff, leaping from high buildings, doing acrobatics, punching — and getting punched — every damn night... all with just his domino mask covering his face (I mean, he got a damn head injury, you would think he would be wearing some kind of head protections, right? Wrong, because that would at least partially cover his amazing curls, and to Dick Grayson that would be equal to commit war crimes, so it's out of question) And of course he keeps getting hit in the head and getting concussions. Which leads us to our scenario:

It's a usual night out patrolling, and Dick and Tim are fighting some crooks. Nothing too big, until one of them hits Dick in the head (for the nth time!) It's a good one, but not hard enough to knock out a Batkid. Except, Dick Grayson's head is slightly more fragile than his brothers’, and the punch hits the point where he was previously shot. He gasps, and everything goes black for a moment. Dick Grayson falls, head spinning violently, his vision blurring as colors and sounds fade together. He hears Tim's distant voice calling him, to which he promptly replies with an unsteady "I'm fine", except of course he's not fine. He holds himself against the wall, his face crunched in a pained grimace, trying to stand up because Tim needs him and no way he gets knocked out so easily. But Tim shouts back, punching another guy in the face, "Stay there! Don't move!" followed by some swearing because dammit, Dick!

When the bad guys are fixed, Tim rushes to Dick, who is still miraculously awake.

"Jeez, you're bleeding."

"Am I? I didn’t realize it."

"Yeah..." Tim holds two fingers up. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

Dick smirks. "I'd say three, but there’s four of you now, so maybe a couple more?"

There's a moment of silence. Tim sighs. He opens the comms.

"Red Robin here, I'm taking Nightwing back in. He's injured. It'd only be dangerous for him to keep patrolling."

Bruce's steady voice croaks in their ears. "Copy, Red Robin. What happened?"

And Dick, leaning against his brother as they reach the batmobile, darts a pleading look at him. It's almost working, until Tim speaks again over the comms: "He got hit in the head."

And all the Bats know what that means. A chorus of sighs raises:

"Again?!"

"You never learn, hm?"

"Is he unconscious? Do you need backup?"

"You're incorrigible!"

"Please, just take my helmet next time. I'd paint it blue if you want, but take it! — I have an entire stock at home, anyway."

And Dick, stumbling with his eyes half-closed and one of the worst migraine of his life, just smiles sheepishly. "Sorry!" he manages to crack over the comms as Tim rolls his eyes next to him.

[oldschoolfrp]

"Tregardis the Thunderor" (Ken Simpson, Pegasus magazine #3, Judges Guild, August 1981)

[riacte]

Got excited for my Superhero False + Civilian Ren AU and I had to draw something for it ^^

Ren, a civilian in charge of a pie shop, keeps on getting kidnapped by supervillains for some reason. Since Ren can’t flirt his way out of trouble, the superhero Symmetry makes it her personal mission to save him every time. Ren doesn’t know why she’s so insistent, but he’s flattered.

Meanwhile, Ren’s childhood and highschool frenemy False pops up after years of mysteriously disappearing. They awkwardly reconnect, but why does she look distant every time he gushes about Symmetry saving him?

(Or: nostalgia, a stubborn pretence that lasts twenty years, and the consequences of knowing someone a little too well.)

I’m just winging it tbh, these aren’t like canon designs or whatever. Symmetry’s suit is based on her HC9 base and it ended up looking like the bi flag but it’s okay, I’m bi <3

[chiliger]

Maybe don’t diss someone with literal reflective beskar in their feathers.

Idea based off @yukipri ‘s Winged Clones AU: Take Flight, Brothers All

I read that the clones could use their wings to blind enemies if angled with light correctly, and then this happened. The first page is literally what happens in Ch. 3 in the fic, I just thought it would be funny if Cody “accidentally” got back at Skywalker while on a conveniently sunny planet.

[clownery-and-fuckery]

Do you guys think the batch(ESPECIALLY Tech, Hunter and Crosshair) would be super expressive under their helmets?

Thinking about that time Tech was all "I'm impressed" or the way Hunter watched the Marauder almost get shot down or Crosshair saying "you weren't loyal to me"

With their helmets on, imagine what their faces were like?? With their helmet off its probably easier to just mask all emotion even with their brothers sometimes- but when the helmets are on? All bets are off.

Hunter's probably put on his helmet to cry without disruption.

Crosshair keeps it on as long as physically possible because furrowing his brows like he does 24/7 probably gives him a headache. Tech forgets his eyes are visible sometimes and they can see his eyes curve as he smiles

It gives rise to really emotional scenes like that one where Rex is crying and Ahsoka just calmly takes his helmet off because she knows. She knows and it kills her. I love love love emotional walls being broken and vulnerability like that I need more