Since the very beginning of the Discerner Project, the controversial question has repeatedly been asked: "Was Discerner the inspiration for the Excalibur film sword?"

During the project for Discerner's recreation, much in the way of interesting conversation and speculation has been spawned, not the least of which is the ongoing mystery as to whether or not Discerner might have been the inspiration for the film sword. The similarities between the two swords are striking, down to even the smallest details.

The swords for the film were made by Wilkinson Sword, Ltd. of England. Randal Graham, who knows many of the craftsmen there, contacted them and asked if they knew who designed the sword. Though they do recall making the swords, no one there recalls who designed the sword, but they believe that the design came from the film production staff.

Jody Samson spoke to Terry English, the armourer from the film, who said that he does not recall where the design came from, but most likely it was based on an illustration or photograph from a book.

Was there a book published at some time in the past that might contain a photo or drawing of the Discerner painting? Is Discerner the original inspiration?

If you watch the film closely (DVDs have been a great boon for this), it is readily apparent that there were at least two, if not four, slightly different prop swords made for the film.

The first sword to appear, as it rises from the water in the hand of The Lady of the Lake, is a basically straight bladed (Oakeshott Type XI) sword - however, unlike a typical Type XI, the fuller in this sword tapers, even though the blade does not.

In the second scene in which the Excalibur appears, where Uther brandishes the sword and exchanges oaths with Cornwall, the second version of the sword appears. This sword has the same characteristic swell at the base of the blade as Discerner. This same sword also appears to be the one used in the scene where Uther thrusts it into the stone; when Arthur comes to Leondegrance's aid at Cameliard; where Arthur breaks the sword during the duel with Lancelot; as well as possibly elsewhere in the film.

This sword appears in the scene where Arthur finds Guinevere and Lancelot sleeping together in the woods. This may also be either #1 or #2.

A sword that may indeed be a third version (or it may be sword #2) is thrown into the lake at the end of the film by Perceval. This sword also has the characteristic swell at the base of the blade, but the thickness of the guard and pommel do not appear to be as pronounced.

Even given these variations, there are more similarities than differences between Excalibur and Discerner.
Using elements of the Discerner design and some image editing magic, we have been able to construct a composite comparison of the two swords after close analysis of the film sword images seen in paused DVD stills.

For these comparisons we used screen shots of the "hero" version of the sword, referred to above as
Excalibur #2

Overall design of each sword is virtually the same.

Similar overall length, both in length and proportions: The blades on both swords are exactly 3 1/3 "hilt fittings" long (hilt fittings meaning the length of guard, grip & pommel). General design of the blade and fuller on both swords is the same with the exception of blade base width and fuller base exaggeration.

Gold-colored guard and pommel.

The guard on each sword is 7 1/2" long.

Shape of the guard is exactly the same except for thickness. Both are a square-cross section double-swelled cruciform guard.

The pommel of each sword is 2.5" diameter.

The grip length (including ferrules) is 6 3/4" on each sword.

The shape of the grip & ferrules is exactly the same from a front view.

The ferrule depths on each sword are 5/16".

Silver colored wire wrap.

Similar "stepped" concentric circle around the diamond pattern.

The diamond inset on each sword is 1.5" diameter.

The diamond pattern in the center of the pommel has the same number of crossing lines (7) to form the diamonds.

Similar fuller - wider at the base and narrowing toward the point (following the changes in blade profile).


After heavy "Excalibur" analysis, there are only seven real differences that we can actually see between the two swords:

The blade base at guard on Excalibur seems to be ever so slightly thinner than on Discerner --approximately 3/16" thinner in width as far as we can determine.

The fuller of Excalibur at blade base is somewhat more exaggerated than on Discerner ... Excalibur's fuller base takes up a whopping 1/3rd of its blade base and the fuller terminus almost touches the guard but not quite.

The grip wrapping on Excalibur is different than that on Discerner. It is a single pair of twisted, small gauge wire.

The guard on Discerner is 3/4" thick at the tips whereas Excalibur's guard looks to be a full 15/16", making it considerably thicker than Discerner's.

The raised ring around the diamond inset on each sword is a little different. Discerner's rises gracefully in a nice swoop up to a flattened ring surface to frame the inset ... Excalibur's raised ring is more like taking a 1/8" thick metal ring and sawing it in side-cross-section, then laying the ring onto the pommel disk and placing the inset inside of it (except on "Excalibur #2" which seems to have a graceful upward swoop that matches with Discerner's).

The diamond insert seems flatter - less domed than on our interpretation from the Discerner tracing.

With the exception of the fact that Excalibur has a similar grip side-profile-curve like Discerner's, Excalibur's grip base at the guard appears more flattened, whereas Discerner's grip base at the guard has a broad graceful oval contour.

Of course, Excalibur was a film sword prop, never intended to be a functional sword, and the blades were made of aluminum.

Usually, 5/16" aluminum is used as a minimum thickness for stage blades, allowing for the deeper (and thus more exaggerated) fuller.

The thickness of the guard and pommel, too thick to properly balance the sword for actual use, were either exaggerated for a stronger "presence" on film, or, even more likely, were the simple result of a production artist's interpretation from a two-dimensional image.

Many of the same interpretations are made in commercial reproductions of historical swords, when they are designed from a front view photograph of a museum original - without side views and measurements, the pommels and guards often appear thicker than they actually are and are often mistakenly reproduced in that manner.

But was the Discerner painting the inspiration for the film sword? Could someone from the film design group have seen the original painting (current whereabouts unknown), or a photograph of the painting in a book somewhere, and used that as the basis for the design?

It would certainly make sense that someone researching a possible design for Excalibur might happen upon the painting - and with its colorful Celtic history it would seem to be the perfect archetypal sword design. We thought you might enjoy these Discerner/Excalibur comparisons.

Because of these striking similarities, we are reminded of the comparisons between Morgan Robertson's Titan in the 1899 epic novel "Futility" ... in which his ship was in almost every respect (and the circumstances of its sinking) frighteningly similar to the White Star Line's Titanic fourteen years later in 1912.

Could this also have been just a monumental coincidence? The sheer number of almost exact matches in characteristics make that seem unlikely, but stranger things have happened.

Unless we hear from the production designer/art director for the film, we may never know for sure.