ikakalaka - Tumblr blog

[ikakalaka]

hi

it, once again, has been a bit since i've written for this blog. i've not had any submissions since i last posted, although i may try to put a few new personal discoveries on this account.

that aside, i did want to make a few corrections and/or give a few updates on some of the primary information that this blog relied on.

i'll clear the simple one up first: i had been somewhat mistaken in describing the sword as a "congolese" sword. while it could potentially be considered one since it can denote as just being from the congo basin, it's a bit too broad, and spread between both the republic of the congo and democratic republic of the congo. more often, it is accurately described as a sword of the Mongo people, most likely during the existence of the Kingdom of Lunda. it has been disputed where these swords originate from, and it's not unlikely that many different kingdoms, tribes, and such produced and used the sword (or some variant) themselves if adjacent. from now on, i'll more accurately identify it as a Mongo sword, and if broadly, central african.

next, in turn with mentioning that the above seemed to be a potentially recent development, it appears that a lot of the frankly small pool of primary information about the actual ikakalaka itself has changed, some between now and the last post on this blog, even. one of the sources of information i referenced was from the Worcester Art Museum, which, apparently had a display of one. however, i've since been unable to find this source again, and either it was removed or just incorrectly attributed to them. (something that pains me even more was the name -- i never considered it was Worcester, a town i lived not far from when i created the blog, and there was a chance i could have literally gone to see if it was really there myself.)

other sources are small if not dubious. the wikipedia page has been cited for multiple issues, and it cites two sources: a Smithsonian entry which only mentions it once, by name, in a small paragraph. the second is a relatively recent blog post, which does have more extensive information. but currently having just one real source isn't ideal. there's even mixed messages about what the sword is actually named, although some have said that "ikakalaka" is the correct name, while "konda sword" or just "konda" was a name only applied from outside sources. still, "konda sword" still appears often as a name for the ikakalaka.

anyways, if i do happen to make more progress on this research again and i find a few more appearances to submit, i'll start writing up for it here. thanks to anyone who's stuck around this long to be reading this!

[ikakalaka]

The sword of the day is the ikakalaka.

Also known as the konda, this sword originates in the Congo. Usually made to be one-handed weapons, and surprisingly light ones at that, the weight distribution made it an extremely effective slashing weapon. Like many types of sword, this one came to be seen as a symbol of status among the Mongo people who created it, and there are ornate ceremonial examples of the blade as well as more utilitarian ones.

[ikakalaka]

hi

it's been a bit, sorry. the submissions dried up and i got a bit distracted with other things. i will admit, however, one of the main reasons the blog halted was because one of my few opportunities to find a solid lead never came to fruition, making most of the background investigation i was doing on this blog to stop. i went to reach out to a former developer of one of the games mentioned on this blog before and just didn't get a response, and i didn't wanna pester them over it. there were other avenues i had considered, but i didn't really know if i would get better results so i mostly moved on. if another opportunity presents itself, i'll go after it! but for now, it'll be a bit quiet unless i get other submissions.

on a somewhat unrelated note, i had two drafts on here -- one post about the Spaceworld 2000 demo that ended up turning into a rabbit hole of information, and one i had half-written about a common submission i got here, which i'll just cover in brief for now; Siegfried from Soul Calibur.

this one i should honestly probably submit, but i'd avoided it mostly due to the fact that his sword is more likely a German executioner longsword; a sword that tends to get conflated with the ikakalaka due to their similar purposes;

visibly, they're pretty different, since the germanic executioner swords are larger, have a large crossguard, and namely no fanned-out tip. but i think a lot of designers of videogames or other media don't know about the ikakalaka, and thus their only frame of knowledge for swords without an obvious singular point tend to be interpreted as being a germanic executioner sword. it wouldn't even be far fetched to say that they likely even consulted sword experts who made the same mistake, simply because the ikakalaka (especially before resources like the internet) was that obscure to them. it happens often for many industries!

i was also considering mentioning the khanda sword but i didn't wanna muddy the pool/dissuade too many people from submitting. just know that it's why i haven't accepted most Genshin Impact submissions, because they're moreso based on the khanda -- a sword mostly seen from the Indian subcontinent that can sometimes be seen in religious and cultural symbolism in south and southeast asia.

that is all! thanks!

[ikakalaka]

"Beacon of the Reed Sea"

Genshin Impact, 2020 (2023)

[ikakalaka]

"The Masterwork"

Fortnite, 2017 (2023)

[ikakalaka]

Berserker's sword

DNF Duel, 2022

[ikakalaka]

"Gilt Glaive Pickaxe"

Fortnite, 2017 (2023)

[ikakalaka]

Alexandria's sword

Xenoblade Chronicles 3, 2022

[ikakalaka]

"Walthari"

Granblue Fantasy, 2014

[ikakalaka]

"Skofnung"

Granblue Fantasy, 2014

[ikakalaka]

"Last Sahrivar"

Granblue Fantasy, 2014

[ikakalaka]

"Lohengrin"

Granblue Fantasy, 2014

[ikakalaka]

"Monosword"

Rimworld, 2013 (2020)

[ikakalaka]

putting another addendum on this but just a screencap of something i mentioned on discord about it after finding many from FFXIV -- essentially a condensed version of what i'd said about Elderborn's version, being very obviously referenced but somehow very avoidant in naming it

for context, the Final Fantasy series has featured the ikakalaka in many of their games, in many forms, even since the 90's as far as i've been able to tell (the first examples i've seen of them pre-2000)

one is even pretty prominent on the title artwork for Final Fantasy XI Online:

"Scaevan Magitek Katzbalger"

Final Fantasy XIV, 2013

[ikakalaka]

originally, this weapon was extremely difficult to find images of. however, as of 33 minutes ago (since making this post), Hopoo Games announced Risk Of Rain Returns, which premiered with an animation that features Providence's ikakalaka with extreme prominence

while not ingame footage, it is official and will do a lot better than the sprites from the original game!

Providence's sword

Risk Of Rain, 2013

[ikakalaka]

"Redbeast's Edge"

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, 2019

[ikakalaka]

"Enma's Fang"

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, 2009