Is there a historical comparison for using scythes from horseback like the Dothraki do? It seems odd that a nomadic people would have assumed the use of the scythe as a weapon given that scythes were made for farming. Which makes me wonder if GRRM was literal in describing Arakhs as scythes, or if he meant to describe it just as a curved blade.
GRRM doesn’t describe the Arakh as a scythe, he describes it as “half-sword, half-scythe,” which is an in-character (in this case, Daenerys) way to describe the shape of the weapon. Given Daenerys’s relative unfamiliarity with weapons at that point in the story and the straight-blade cruciform pattern being the common weapon of the Westerosi (which her tutor Viserys would be most familiar with), it’s not surprising that she uses “half-scythe” to describe the blade, she’s attempting to compare it with something she does know.
Depictions in licensed art products usually depict it as a blade with a radical curve at its end, or as a simple curved blade, matching several sword designs common to the Turkic steppe people. In the show, the depiction appears more literal, with a blade shaped like an Egyptian khopesh.
Thanks for the question, Anon.
SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King
