Quote Originally Posted by Zaq View Post
My apologies if this has come up before.

Is there a generally agreed-upon explanation for why the sword is the de facto standard weapon in fantasy and (more interestingly) legend? I know that certainly not every legend has a sword in it, but to my (totally) untrained eye it seems like the number of legends in which swords feature prominently kind of outstrips the prominence of the sword as a historical weapon (compared to, say, polearms or bows). I repeat, there's plenty of exceptions, but it's still a pretty common thing, so far as I know. Is there anything at all that we can reasonably point to as a major contributor to this trend?
My 2 cp - swords have a lot of metal in them, making them expensive. This means that only nobles, professionals and heroes could afford them, once upon a time. So they have a kinda association with the high-ups in fighting.

As for fantasy, I personally think a guy with a sword has slightly more flavour (had, before it became overused), than a guy with what is basically a sharpened gardening tool.