This is because of consoles. Since they developed this game for consoles first the textures and models are low/medium res and have SIGNIFICANTLY less polygons than a true 2011/12 generation game should have, thus the fat and clunky look. Thanks, consoles. Dang I miss the days when games were made for PC THEN ported to lower systems, not the other way around...

The ebony sword is easily my favorite sword design in skyrim. simply because it is a slender, beautiful blade. kind of how i wish the glass swords were instead of fanned at the top.

I'd just like it if the higher tiers of equipment didn't make me look like some stupid death-lord. That includes curved swords. I'd be fine if it was an option, but if I have to use some stupid evil curvy sword if I want to be powerful then that's stupid.

It's not just SOME swords that are curvy, it's the BEST swords.

Atleast in Skyrim they look like real swords. In Oblivion the ebony weapons looked like fancy plastic dull pieces of junk IMHO.

What would be REALLY cool but hard to make and put into a game like this is custom swords, kinda like put on different hilts and blades and stuff, that would be sick but hard to work with

Consoles didn't have any effect on the design of the weapons. There's absolutely no reason to blame console players for "fat" weapons, especially when there are many other games on consoles that have far better textures and equipment meshes than skyrim anyway


I'd pay a little extra for that feature

it would be nice if it came with an expansion or somthing but i dont think it will happen. *in skyrim at least

The Nords are a great sea faring nation that have spread throughout Tamriel. They also make up a good portion of the Empire's legions that are also spread throughout Tamriel. It does not make sense that the guards in Skyrim have never heard of curved swords. I think that this is more of an oversight by Bethesda.

Personally, I think the balance in variety and styles of weapons is just right. I'll try to address some of these concerns succinctly.

1) All high-level swords are curved: At their base level, yes. Because of the magnitude of improvement possible through smithing and smithing gear even without the restoration loop, however, the base damage of a weapon is almost irrelevant. You can turn almost any weapon style into a high-level sword.

2) There are no rare / uncommon 2 handed swords that aren't curved: Nord Hero weapons, which can be made from Ancient Nord weapons at Eorlund's smithy. Skyforge steel, also a step up from regular steel (though cosmetically identical). Silver weapons. Again, through smithing, you can make any of these "high-end."

3) No one knows about curved swords: First, the guards have a lot of flavor text which makes varying levels of sense. The same guard who says "we guards remember what you did and will always be grateful" (a reference to defeating Alduin) or "you saved our very souls" (another Alduin reference) will turn around and say "Maybe I'm the Dragonborn." Second, curved swords are used by Redguards / Alik'r (those warriors from Hammerfell!) orcs (who have several strongholds throughout Skyrim), the Akaviri (admittedly extinct), the Falmer (rare on the surface) and the Dunmer (the designers of this type of ebony weapon, according to the art book), who live side by side with the Nords in almost every city. All the smiths stock them. Bandits use them. Skyrim knows about curved swords. For all we know, the comment from the guards could be typical Nord racism and have more to do with the fact that only Elves and other mer-ish people use curved swords; why are Redguards, men, using curved weapons?

The ebony sword is the weapon all of my dunmer or vampire characters carry. I like to put the absorb health enchantment on it, if the ebony blade was an actual one handed weapon I would be in heaven.

Very nice picture right there! Personally, I prefer the look of daedric, but then again, http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/596972801527802681/85718AFFE381653C9457DA41DC87A9DC010BFC7F/ http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/596972801527803865/AA4F4BB12BC05E5ADB06446B3F26863FAD51D745/

Falmer gear is quite rare, ebony weaponry is very rare (generally, it's a weapon given to lords or very very high ranking soldiers), and ebony/orsimer swords don't curve that much. Redguard scimitars, however, have a very noticeable curve.

Nice cloak! And another good point. Either way, I don't think it's reasonable to assume that Skyrim really wouldn't have access to this particular flavor of ebony weapon, or that it doesn't make sense in the setting. Given the Dunmer presence, the large number of Dunmer exiles who fled Vvardenfell (many of them belonging to the great Houses) and the scarcity of naturally occurring ebony in Skyrim except on High Hrothgar and near the border, I think it's pretty reasonable to assume that a large number of these weapons would be of Dunmer make.

Actually, Skyrim is very Western. Nords are akin to Earth's Nordic cultures, Valhalla and all that. The Empire is clearly an allusion to the Roman Empire. Look at their garb and their names. "Penitus Oculatus" could not look more Latin if they tried. The Forsworn are as lily white as it gets. The non-human races are barely tolerated. Redguards seem to hail from a Middle Eastern setting, which is as close to the far East as it gets in the game, which is to say nowhere near the Orient. Bretons, well, rule Brittania. While Eorlund may have dabbled with Eastern weapons to advance his skill and diversity in his own eyes, it would have been a private exercise, because his customers are not exactly clamoring for Curved. Swords. Most of them don't even know what they are.

On topic, I have this vision of slicing my fingers off if I ever try to use an ebony sword as a stabbing weapon. No hand guard at all makes me nervous. It just seems incomplete.