Iron Armaments

Looking back at some of the beautiful weapons and armour that may have influenced Rise of Iron.

On September 20th Bungie are releasing the last expansion for Destiny. Harking back to the older, knightly days of it’s lore, Rise of Iron depicts the story of what happened to the Iron Lords.

In the lore of Destiny these were brave warriors who dedicated themselves to defending humanity and who, it seems, may have sacrificed themselves for the greater good.

In their honour Lord Saladin, the last surviving Iron Lord, runs The Iron Banner every month which pits players against each other to become the best they can, rewarding those who make progress with the opportunity to purchase Iron Banner themed armour and weapons.

An example of the Iron Banner armour set (by James Yavorsky)

All in the detail

The Iron Banner armour sets are some of the most ornate and detailed pieces in Destiny and seem to be made of dark metals and leather, embossed with wolf and tree motifs.

In short these are the most medieval armaments in Destiny and they look set to be expanded upon in September.

The new Rise of Iron armour sets continue the medieval style from Iron Banner (by Alan Lee).

I’ve always loved the art direction of Destiny and flicking though the Art of Destiny it’s clear that the game has always looked to the past as well as the future for inspiration.

Destiny has always blended clean, futuristic technology with older, medieval style elements. The more they merge the more it seems to create it’s own, rich style.

For anyone whose a fan of Destiny I can’t think of anything better then looking at some old armaments to see some of the inspiration that Bungie may have taken for the game.

A look to the past

In London, England, there is a wide range of museums and galleries most of which are free. The British Museum has a selection of weapons and armour across it’s various collections but of particular interest is The Wallace Collection.

Tucked away behind Bond Street in central London, The Wallace Collection has one of the finest groups of weapons and armour in Europe ranging from the 15th to 19th century.

The collection is housed in a historic mansion and went on permanent public view in 1900 on condition that no object should ever leave the collection.

The collection compromises nearly two and a half thousand objects and is widely recognised as being one of the largest, finest and most important in the United Kingdom and Europe. There’s no entrance fee and you can see all of it in a morning or afternoon.

It showcases some truly stunning craftsmanship on a wide assortment of knives, swords, axes, pistols, rifles, shotguns and armour, all displayed in large glass cabinets where you can see every screw, rivet and panel.

The top armour detail is from Lucio Marliani (1538–1607) Milan, Italy.

It’s hard to take any good photos in there with the reflection of the cases, but I was able to take some close up shots of some armour pieces and shields.

Hopefully this gets across the amount of detail that’s on each piece in the collection.

Full length (lower resolution) photos can be seen on their site.

I highly recommend a visit for anyone as equally hyped as I am for Rise of Iron.

Elsewhere

If anyone else has any good recommendations for museums near to them with similar collections, please do let me know and I’ll add them here.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is currently running an Arms and Armour from the Islamic World exhibition at their fifth avenue site.

The Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien in Vienna also has a large Collection of Arms and Armour.