Fantastic Race Weapon Affinity

There's a widespread tendency in fiction for certain races to use certain weapons. This is especially common in fantasy works but can show up in any setting where multiple invented species or cultures exist.

Certain fictional races have particularly strong associations that usually remain consistent across different works. Basic examples include, but are not limited to:

• Dwarves: Usually, dwarves are depicted as fighting with axes and hammers, usually highly decorated and masterfully crafted ones, and very little else. In more modern fantasy they are also associated with firearms as well, as a result of being commonly depicted as more technologically advanced than other cultures.
• Elves: Elves are associated with bows, often being master archers, and with elegant and stylish weapons such as sabers. Dark elves maintain most of these associations but may replace some for more sinister or pragmatic versions such as crossbows or scimitars.
• Humans: Humans are more varied, usually because speculative fiction tends to portray humans as the most diverse and generic race in a setting, but will tend to gravitate towards whatever is considered the "default", usually meaning swords in the medieval European style. Humans are the second race commonly associated with firearms (which may be the other big reason why humans tend to be the dominant races of the world).
• Orcs and other Barbarian Races: Orcs, human barbarians, and other primitive and hostile races are often seen using axes, generally much cruder and more imposing ones than the kinds used by dwarves. Especially primitive races almost always use big, wooden or stone clubs — Hollywood cavemen and Frazetta Men are rarely seen wielding anything else.
• Mermen and other Aquatic Races: Mermen are almost always associated with tridents as a nod to Poseidon. In more downplayed forms they will use spears as a nod to spear fishing.
• Angels and other Holy Races: Angels alternate between sword and shield combo or bows, although fueled with holy energy that makes them superior or more effective against darkness beings.
• Demons and other Evil Races: The traditional associated weapon of demons is the pitchfork or maybe evil-looking blades, but in several cases, they often don't need one, since their monstrous forms already give them enough natural weaponry to use and abuse.

Works don't always give a specific reason for why this occurs, but certain justifications tend to crop up. This may be a result of a culture that makes repeated use of certain tools adapting them for use in war. Alternatively, a given species may prefer to use weapons that capitalize on their strengths — for instance, very physically strong species may favor the use of clubs, axes, or other weapons that do most of their damage through the force of the swing. A group's mindset and approach to war may also factor into things — an aggressive and honor-obsessed Proud Warrior Race will likely embrace melee weaponry while consciously eschewing the ranged kind, while a more cowardly or pragmatic group may specialize in using weapons meant to be used at a distance or from cover. It may also be a part of a system of symbolism that the race believes in — their god or high leader likes spears, so they use spears.

Of note is that this sort of specialization will typically create significant tactical weaknesses — for instance, a group that almost always uses bows will be great from range but in serious trouble if the enemy closes into melee range, while one that favors a melee weapon will have the opposite problem. This may be resolved by explaining that the race, culture, or species in question has developed tactics to ensure that martial encounters happen on their preferred terms, or by presenting it as reasoning that its specialized approach to combat is effective enough that they don't need to worry about the gaps. This aspect, however, may also be consciously intended to serve as a deliberate tactical weakness to keep clashes between different groups uneven and dynamic.

Compare Weapon Specialization and Weapon-Based Characterization. Contrast Weapon of X-Slaying, where weapons may do extra damage to specific races. Individuals who avert this and use weapons not typically associated with their race may be an example of Square Race, Round Class.

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Examples:

Comics Books

• Wonder Woman (1942): Atlanteans typically use tridents and bidents. They're mostly Apparently Human Merfolk as the fish-tailed merfolk she interacts with most commonly are her friends who live just off of Paradise Island.

Fan Works

• Dungeon Keeper Ami: In "Out-of-Dungeon Experiences", it's said that the traditional elven weapon is bow and arrows. The dark elves have replaced these with crossbows.

Films — Live-Action

• Star Wars:
  • Wookies are known for their bowcasters, essentially Ray Guns shaped like crossbows. The Force Awakens shows that they pack a punch compared to the blasters most other people use.
  • Mandalorians have their armor, made from blaster-resistant beskar steel and customized to the wearer, usually with enough integral weaponry to fill an armory such as poison darts, whipcords, flamethrowers, and missile launchers. This is particularly emphasized with the covert in The Mandalorian who never remove their helmets in the presence of outsiders, and whose Armorer acts as a sort of spiritual leader.
  • Tusken raiders have gaderffii sticks with both bladed and blunt ends. They also use slugthrower rifles, but so do the moisture farmers on Tatooine.
  • The Lasat honor guard wielded bo-rifles that could act as a blaster rifle or a double-ended electrostaff depending on configuration. ISB agent Kallus claimed one after defeating one of the honor guard in single combat during the razing of Lasan.

Literature

• Discworld:
  • Dwarves traditionally use axes. In-universe, this is because they're miners who traditionally used dual-purpose picks (a pick on one side for prospecting and an axe on the other in case someone disputes your claim) and they're important to the point that Vimes (a textbook Knight in Sour Armour) feels guilty about asking a group of them to leave them outside his office after some dwarves had just tried to kill his family. The traditional bodyguards for religious figures also wield flamethrowers, derived from mining equipment intended to clear away flammable gas. Averted by the dwarf Casanunda, who deliberately consciously acts the opposite of the stereotypical dwarf by being a dashing Lovable Rogue who fights with a Royal Rapier rather than an axe.
  • Trolls have big wooden clubs as their cultural weapon (although Detritus, a member of the watch, uses a ballista).
  • Werewolves normally just attack in their wolf form (Angua is mentioned as reluctantly accepting a dagger in a Lock-and-Load Montage).
  • Humans mostly seem to use swords.
• Dragonlance: Kenders use their Hoopaks (think of a pointy staff with a slingshot on the top), Minotaurs are proud of using weapons like katars and shatangs (a type of one-handed spear), and Nerakian warriors (evil humans) prefers scimitars.
• Harry Potter: Centaurs are very good at using bows.
• His Dark Materials: Witches are often very proficient in archery.
• Redwall: Averted for the most part, as every species will use whatever weapon they can get their hands on, but some show up more often than others.
  • Otters use slings and javelins, as they're ranged weapons guaranteed to work when wet.
  • Salamandastron hares use sabres (as befitting their Officer and a Gentleman image), slings, and javelins.
  • Squirrels tend to favor ranged weapons like bows and slings, making good use of their ability to climb and hide in trees.

Live-Action TV

• Star Trek:
  • Ferengi mainly uses plasma whips.
  • Klingons are proficient with multiple kinds of bladed weapons, but they're mainly seen wielding the batl'eth, a kind of crescent-shaped, pronged blade held from a hilt placed in the middle of its outer curve.
  • Romulans use "disruptors", which are a kind of Ray Gun like the phaser, but unlike phasers they always kill and their blast is green.
  • Vulcans prefer the lirpa as a weapon during ceremonial combat. It's a staff with a fan-shaped blade on one end and a hefty counter-weight on the other, good for slashing or bludgeoning enemies.

Tabletop Games

• Dungeons & Dragons: Most races are associated with the traditional use of certain weapons, and usually receive a racial bonus to their use to represent their familiarity with them.
  • In general, every deity has a favored weapon that their clerics and other followers prefer to use, and there's a preponderance of Ethnic Gods in most settings.
  • Dwarves are typically associated with hammers and axes. In the 1E Monster Manual, for instance, 45% of NPC dwarves are armed with axes, and several illustrations in the 1E Player's Handbook show dwarves with axes.
  • Elves favor the use of bows, longswords, and rapiers. Drow change the proficiencies to rapier, shortsword, and hand crossbow.
• Godforsaken: Dwarves most often use axes, hammers, and crossbows. Elves favor short blades and powerful bows. Halflings prefer weapons useable from range, such as slings and small bows, or knives for hit-and-run strikes.
• Pathfinder: Non-human races get free proficiencies with weapons associated with their race, such as elves automatically knowing how to use longbows and long swords (technically martial weapons that need specialized warrior training). Additionally, there are exotic weapons with racial monikers in their names, such as the "elven curved blade" or the "orc double axe": specified races are automatically proficient with them if they have a martial class, while all others have to take entire feats to learn how to use them.
• Warhammer 40,000:
  • The chainsword is the iconic weapon of the Ecclesiarchy and is wielded by most members of its Church Militant. Space Marines wield slightly shorter versions.
  • Flak armor and lasguns are the hallmarks of the Imperial Guard, along with really, really big tanks. Lots of 'em.
  • Bolters are reserved for Space Marines, as a normal human would get a hernia just lifting it and break both arms firing it.
  • The Grey Knights use psychic-force halberds and arm-mounted storm bolters (the latter are normally seen only on Terminators).
  • Similarly, Ripper shotguns are specially designed to be used as clubs and are entrusted to the moronic but incredibly resilient ogryns.
  • Orks use just about any weapon they can loot (and have their own industrial-looking version of a chainaxe), but their basic choppa is a big chunk of sharp metal with a handle, usually in the form of a crude cleaver or axe.
  • Chainaxes, usually dual-wielded, are very common sights among Berserkers of Khorne and other Chaos lunatics.
  • The Tau are the only faction to use plasma weapons as their equipment for their standard troops, while their Kroot allies use long rifles that double as quarterstaves.
  • Necron infantry is armed with Gauss rifles that flay the target alive molecule by molecule. Their leaders tend to carry huge polearms of some description, one part weapon and one part Staff of Authority, with warscythes one of their most iconic.
• Warhammer Fantasy Battle:
  • The Empire, which is more a confederation of a number of national states who share a common history and language, has a cultural predilection towards halberds and muskets; multiple army books, as well as some RPG publications (including the second edition's corebook), directly state that these are the two most common primary weapons among the soldiery. Both of these are appropriate representations of the Empire itself: the halberd because it's a multi-purpose formation weapon (representing the Empire's Jack of All Trades nature and emphasis on combined arms and teamwork), and the musket because it represents their use of technology and ingenuity to counter foes who rely more on brute strength. Hammers, while rarely used in battle, are also both a national and religious symbol, being the favoured weapon of their Founder-cum-Emperor-cum-God Sigmar (it's also a favoured weapon of Ulric, the second most worshiped deity in the Empire and Sigmar's own patron in his mortal life) and subsequently his Warrior Priests.
  • The Southern Realms, especially Tilea, are the only countries to make widespread use of the pike, with pikes squares, crossbowmen, and duelists comprising the backbone of their "Dogs of War" armies. It's a wonder why because the pike is objectively far more effective than the spears favored by most other factions' infantry, and had entirely overtaken shorter spears in the historical era Warhammer's human factions draw from.
  • The knights of Bretonnia have a strong cultural preference for lances — they can and do use swords, but consider the lance to be the true weapon of a knight.
  • The Dwarfs strongly favor the use of ornate axes, and most of their infantry wields either one- or two-handed variants, but great two-handed hammers are also widespread.
  • As a whole, the Elves tend to favor the use of spears — ranks of spearmen defended by great tower shields form the backbone of the armies of all three elven races. They are also proficient archers and boast a number of strong ranged units, although the Dark Elves use crossbows instead of the traditional bows favored their High and Wood kin.
  • Among the Lizardmen, the powerful Saurus soldiers typically wield bone- or stone-based, fang-lined weapons similar to Aztec macuahuitl. The smaller, scrappier Skinks, a caste of workers and overseers occasionally drafted as scouts and skirmishers, instead fight with javelins and blowpipes.
  • The Ogres favor the use of Primitive Clubs and Ironfists, a type of weapon resembling a monstrous iron knuckle with a single large spike.
  • The Orcs, aggressive brutes with little patience for forms of battle more complicated than violent melee brawls, tend to favor simple but powerful axes, either metallic ones in the case of the more comparatively advanced tribes or stone ones among the Savage Orcs.
  • Norscans and the Warriors of Chaos in general tend to favour battleaxes of often daemonic provenance, with the most powerful examples containing the essence of powerful daemons capable of unimaginable destruction. Those who worship Khorne, a god of unfathomable bloodlust and martial prowess, are the most likely to wield the most potent examples.

Video Games

• In Avernum, several non-human races have distinctive weapons: Slithzerikai have large two-bladed spears as their ethnic weapon, Nephilim and Nephar rely on bows and shortswords, Vanhatai use the flambart-like waveblades and the shuriken-like razordisks. Other examples include the Giants (stone clubs and well-crafted boulders) and Troglodites (bronze falchions and spears).
• Battle for Wesnoth:
  • Elves are strongly associated with bows. Their Fighter and Scout lines use bow in addition to sword while the dedicated archer line are better with their bows compared to non-elves counterparts, both in-lore and in-gameplay, especially if they have the elves-only "dextrous" trait that gives them extra ranged damage.
  • Although their units have a variety of weapons from spear to thunderstick, the main meat of dwarves' side is the Dwarvish Fighter line, which only uses axe and hammer before adding a hatchet at their highest level. Axe is also used by the Scout and Ulfserker line.
  • Trolls are associated with simple blunt weapons, be it their fists, club, or hammer, fitting them being a rather crude race.
  • Mermen has three main unit lines with different weapons each, but the one most likely to be seen, Merman Fighter, uses a trident like typical fictional mermen.
• Dragalia Lost: Bows and daggers appear to be the most favored weapons among Sylvan as a majority of playable Sylvan wield either one of them (some of them are even capable of both). Even Ciella, the evil Sylvan member of Agito, wields a bow.
• Drakensang: Dwarves are associated with axes and hammers (they count as the same weapon type in-game) but also spears and crossbows. Curiously enough, the Goblins use distinctive axes most of the time. The Elves' unique weapons are bows, daggers, and spears, while the guardians of Tie'Shanna have khopesh-like swords and elegant glaives.
• The Elder Scrolls:
  • Elves (Mer), Dwarves (Dwemer), and Orcs (Orsimer) have entire tiers of weapons and armor associated with their races. Orcish weapons are made of orichalcum, elven weapons are made of moonstone, and dwarven weapons are made from so-called "dwarven alloy".
  • Orcs are proud of their blacksmithing skills, and rarely ever use anything other than their own forged Orcish weapons and armor.
  • The Dwemer were famed for being the most technologically advanced race on Tamriel and perfected the use of steam-powered Golems as weapons, something no other race has been able to do. It is said that they altered the laws of nature and physics to ensure that their creations would last. Their race mysteriously vanished thousands of years prior to the games taking place, yet their weapons and armor still possess the quality of the day they were crafted.
  • Races from the continent of Akavir, particularly the Tsaesci, are associated with katanas, as a result of their homeland being the "Asia" to Tamriel's "Europe".
  • The Khajiit, a race of Cat Folk, will fight with weapons, but also produce some of the finest Bare Fisted Monks in Tamriel, as their claws give them an edge over the over races when fighting bare-handed. They have many forms of Fantastic Fighting Styles as a result.
  • Redguards, a Fantasy Counterpart Culture to Arabs and North African Moors with Samurai elements, are noted for their use of scimitars.
  • Nords have axes as a major element of their culture. If a Nord sends you an axe, it means they have business to discuss with you.
  • Bosmer (Wood Elves) favor the bow and are said to be the finest archers in all of Tamriel.
  • Dunmer (Dark Elves) possess an entire array of fantasy crafting materials owing to their unusual homeland of Morrowind. Insect chitin, molded bone, volcanic glass (just as sharp and light as in real life but without the brittleness), and ebony (differing from the real-life wood) are all used to craft weapons and armor.
• Fallout: New Vegas: The White Legs tribe in Honest Hearts adopted the .45 Auto submachine gun as their signature weapon, after a courier named Ulysses helped them uncover a stockpile of the weapons from an abandoned armory at Spanish Fork. They refer to them as "storm-drums" due to the noise they make when fired.
• Halo: While human soldiers are Jacks Of All Trades, the various enemy factions have noticeable weapon preferences.
  • Grunts, the Cannon Fodder class of the Covenant, carry short-range one-handed weapons like the plasma pistol and needler, which are weak one-on-one but carry more power in groups. Being Slave Mooks, they are typically restricted from more proficient weapons but sometimes are armed with powerful fuel rod cannons. Additionally, Heretic Grunts always wield Needlers to distinguish them from Covenant Grunts.
  • Jackals, a mercenary Covenant species who are only in it for the profit, wield long-distance weapons like carbines and sniper rifles, but will use one-handed weapons with the aid of a protective energy shield.
  • Hunters, the lumbering Bosses in Mooks' Clothing, always wield powerful and slow fuel rod cannons. In Halo 5, however, their cannons are upgraded to also fire rapid weak barrages.
  • Elites, the high-caste warriors of the Covenant, wield elegant and deadly weapons like plasma rifles and energy swords. However, Heretic Elites almost exclusively wield carbines.
  • Brutes, the savage warriors competing with Elites for the same caste, wield crude gas-powered rifles similar to human ones if not for all the blades and spikes, and trade refined swords for crushing hammers.
  • The Prophets, the leader class of the Covenant, equip powerful fuel rod cannons on their thrones, rarely carrying weapons themselves except for the especially paranoid Prophets of Regret and Truth.
  • Drones, even more cannon fodder than Grunts, merely wield plasma pistols and needlers, firing in swarms.
  • The scientific and pacifist Engineer class do not use any weapons at all, but against their will, they were forced to wear suicide bomb vests.
  • Promethean support classes like Crawlers and Watchers typically wield weak inaccurate weapons like the Boltshot and Suppressors, but a few rare Crawlers carry deadly sniper rifles.
  • Promethean Soldiers tend to favor long-distance weapons like light rifles and sniper rifles but will switch to Suppressors if fought at close range.
  • Promethean Knights averted this trope in Halo 4, being capable of wielding all weapons except the Boltshot, but in Halo 5 they switch to only wielding shotguns and Incineration Cannons.
  • This is averted by the Flood who, being space zombies, use any weapons scavenged from the corpses they've infested.
• Heroes of Might and Magic VI: Dark Elves favor the chakram as their ranged weapon of choice, as the bows used by their surface-dwelling cousins are impractical in the caverns where they dwell.
• The Legend of Spyro: The cheetahs specialize in archery — with a few exceptions, such as Prowlus' shortsword, they almost exclusively use bows in combat.
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: While all races have all or most types of weapons available to them (and thus the player), they all display strong affinities towards specific types, which are typically represented by being the ones most often seen used by NPCs of that race, by appearing in two tiers of increasing quality in the race's associated weapons archetype, and by being the type used by the race's champion. Even the Mooks have specialized preferences in weaponry.
  • The Hylians, being essentially stand-ins for medieval Europeans, gravitate the most towards using one-handed broadswords alongside shields.
  • The Sheikah, whose culture is based on medieval Japan with a particular focus on Ninja elements, use single-edged katana-like swords and bows designed for sniping distant foes. The description of the Edge of Duality, a double-edged Sheikah-made longsword, specifically notes that it was designed to be used by Hylian knights used to their own weapons and unpracticed at using the single-edged kind the Sheikah favor.
  • The Gerudo, a desert-dwelling human race with a heavy "Arabian Nights" Days aesthetic, use ornate scimitars and shields, with the occasional weighted spear thrown into the mix. Notably, these spears strongly resembled tridents, as a callback to the most famous member of their race, Ganondorf, traditionally fighting with a trident himself.
  • The Zora favor elegant polearms like spears and tridents which have significantly less water resistance than a sword or axe (and their swords have intertwining helixes to allow water to pass through) and are all made of silver, which is a non-rusting metal. They also avoid any Shock and Awe magic weapons because of their inherent weakness to them.
  • The only type of weapon that the Gorons have are giant metal clubs that can be used for mining as well as for smashing enemies into oblivion. While they lack cutting edges, they instead capitalize on the Gorons' immense physical strength (they easily wield those one-handed, you cannot). They also make spear-like mining tools, but don't seem to consider those "weapons".
  • The Rito Bird People are culturally very fond of bows, and are very skilled archers; notably, their native bows are the only ones in the game (outside of the Ancient Bows made using Lost Technology) to use stabilizers, horizontal rods present in modern compound bows to increase accuracy, and consequently have better range than most other bows. In addition, all their weapons are deliberately made as light as possible in order not to hinder aerial combat. They don't use any weapon that handles like a two-handed sword.
  • Bokoblins usually favor wooden clubs and shields, occasionally reinforced with bones. Sometimes they throw simple bows to the mix and occasionally scavenge Hylian weapons. Their larger Moblin relatives instead favor either immense two-handed clubs or crude spears, both made by roughly carving tree branches into shape.
  • Lizalfos, swift and agile Lizard Folk, prefer weapons usable from range. They mostly wield curved throwing knives, either simple one-bladed versions or stronger kinds with multiple forks, that fly back like boomerangs when thrown, but are also proficient archers and often use long, barbed spears as well.
  • The only exception to this pattern are the Lynels, who excel at a variety of weapons like swords, spears, clubs, and bows, often using multiple in one battle and building them with higher craftsmanship for maximum deadliness.
• Within the world of Majesty, Elves use bows, Dwraves use hammers. Barbarians, followers of the god Krolm, dual-wield a club and a primitive axe.
• Minecraft:
  • All skeletons use bows, and in fact lack a melee attack of any kind, and drop them when killed.
  • Drowned, which are underwater zombies, use tridents that they throw at the player. Killing them is the only way of obtaining these weapons in Survival mode.
  • Pillagers, who are essentially evil villagers, use crossbows. Like skeletons, they lack any kind of melee attack and drop their crossbows when killed.
• Space Empires: The Drushocka have a particular fondness for energy-depleting weapons. Apparently their homeworld is prone to intense lightning and plasma storms, which inspires their scientists with the desire to create weapons that manipulate energy in its purest forms.

Webcomics

• The Order of the Stick:
  • Soberly downplayed and discussed when the elf wizard Vaarsuvius runs out of spell slots in the middle of a battle and is left useless. The RPG Mechanics of the setting give elves proficiency in bows but, as Vaarsuvius notes, there's a significant difference between being proficient with a weapon and being good with it.
  • In a parody, the sociopathic halfling Belkar exploits halflings' well-known proficiency with slings to terrorize people with a pebble.
    Human: He's a halfling. With a PEBBLE ... Do you know how many bonuses he could have with a thrown rock?
    Lizardfolk: I heard a halfling once poked out both of a guy's eyes with the same sling stone!
    Kobold: I knew a guy whose cousin was hit by a rock thrown by a halfling. Three months later, he was eaten by a tiger!
• Table Titans: Discussed. Ny'lia dislikes the Elven Archer archetype but agrees to play one in the fourth season, since their party is down a ranged fighter, and her elven race gives her proficiency in archery.

Web Original

• Things Mr. Welch Is No Longer Allowed to Do in an RPG: Played for Laughs in some entries, mostly stating that a given race or culture does not, in fact, have a racial proficiency in some absurd or highly specific weapon.
  • Entry #151 specifies that halflings do not have a racial proficiency with the flamethrower.
  • Entry #890 specifies that dwarves do not get roto-rooters as racial weapons.
  • Entry #1008 specifies that Texans do not get revolvers as a racial weapon proficiency.

Web Videos

• Shadiversity: A series of videos dissects and deconstructs this trope, asking if the stereotypical weapons make sense based on current understanding of historical European martial arts and biomechanics. A bow, for example, is fundamentally a spring. The further it is drawn, the more the arrow is accelerated and the more force the bow exerts. The heavier the draw weight of the bow, the faster the arrow leaves the string. Medieval war archers were shooting at units, not trying to pick off individuals. The best Medieval war archers, the English, started training as youths and spent years getting strong enough to draw bows that had draw weights in excess of 100 pounds. Based on this, the stereotypical fantasy orc, being stronger and bigger than a human, should be a terrifying war archer, and orc archers would outrange their human counterparts while doing more damage and being more effective against armor.

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