Remember when you'd go to see a war movie and every battle was dotted with giant catapults? All along the battle lines you'd see rocks flying and things smashing from the catapult.

Well, that day has come to an end. Good bye catapult, hello trebuchet!

Trebuchets are much more dramatic than your average catapult. They involve moving parts that swing and fling. Everywhere I look, trebuchets are the go-to battle accessory when it comes to movies. I first noticed them in The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, sending chunks of the Minas Tirith winging back at the Orc attackers. The orcs had a catapult or two, but they just looked sad next to the dynamic action of the trebuchets.

Now I'm seeing previews for Orlando Bloom's new film Kingdom of Heaven, and lo-and-behold, trebuchets are plentiful in several scenes, but not a single catapult.

I find it interesting that I had never heard of these things before and now they seem to be popping up regularly (FYI--my Dad knew all about trebuchets and actually built one with my 14 year-old brother after seeing ROTK. I now know far more about trebuchets than I will ever need to know).

Posted by: Ensie at 02:34 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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