Deadliest Warrior: Season 2 (hopefully)
One of the best new shows from the Spring 2009 TV season was Deadliest Warrior on Spike.
Wikipedia has a fairly concise summary of the show:
Historical warriors are put against each other to see who can outlast the other. Each episode showcases two warriors in a hypothetical battle to the death. Each warrior is given weapons from the particular group they are associated with. Modern fighters and experts on said weapons present the strengths, and weaknesses of each arsenal, including real tests of the weapons. The data collected is then fed into a computer simulation based on an unreleased commercial game engine developed by Slitherine Strategies to determine the average winner of one thousand battles. After the winner is determined, a mock battle takes place to showcase how each weapon is used in a real battle situation, and to determine which combatant is the “deadliest warrior”.
The show is hosted by Geoff Desmoulin, a biomedical scientist and martial arts expert who collects the data created when testing the weapons, Max Geiger, a video game designer who runs the data through the simulation engine, and Dr. Armand Dorian, an ER doctor who serves as the show’s medical consultant.
There is no real formula to determine who fights against whom. The only rule is that the warriors cannot have met in actual combat. In Season 1, the matchups fell into 3 categories: one-on-one combat between warriors from specific cultures (ex. Spartan vs. Ninja), group-on-group combat (ex. Green Beret vs Spetsnaz), and one-on-one combat between specific historical figures (ex. William Wallace vs Shaka Zulu).
Deadliest Warrior is an exciting, action-packed, and extremely gruesome show. No announcements have been made for a second season, but my fingers are more than crossed!
In my hope for season 2, I decided to put together a list of warriors and warrior cultures that I would like to see if the show returns. I tried not to list any warrior cultures with similarities to those already featured on the show. In no particular order:
Huns under Attila:
In warfare they utilized the bow and javelin. The arrowheads and javelin tips were made from bone. They also fought using iron swords and lassos in close combat. The Hun sword was a long, straight, double-edged sword of early Sassanian style. These swords were hung from a belt using the scabbard-slide method, which kept the weapon vertical. The Huns also employed a smaller short sword or large dagger which was hung horizontally across the belly
The Rajput ethos is martial, in spirit, and fiercely proud and independent, and emphasizes lineage and tradition. Rajput patriotism is legendary, an ideal they embodied with a sometimes fanatical zeal, often choosing death before dishonour. Rajput warriors were often known to fight until the last man.
The Rajput warrior clans venetrated the khanda as a weapon of great prestige…The khanda is a double-edged straight sword. The blade is usually broad and quite heavy, and broadens from the hilt to the tip…The hilt has a small metal spike coming out in the opposite direction which is typical of khanda. Many other straight swords around the world were primarily used for thrusting and stabbing with the tip, whereas the khanda was mainly used to hack or cleave with the edge of the blade.
Mongols under Genghis Khan:
The warrior carried a protective shield of light yet effective leather armor, which was impregnated with a lacquer-like substance in order to make it more impervious to penetration by arrows, swords and knives, and also to protect it against humid weather…Each warrior carried a battle axe, a curved sword known as scimitar; a lance, and two versions of their most famous weapon: The Mongol recurved bow.
The Assyrians took their warfare seriously; in fact they studied war techniques like a science. The Assyrian army was feared for many reasons one including the use of iron in their weapons. Their bowmen were also among the worlds finest. Other weapons used by the infantry wear the spear, the javelin, slings, and swords.
Amazons
I know they are probably mythological, but it would still be cool!
A nation of all-female warriors in Classical and Greek mythology. Hippocrates describes them as: “They have no right breasts…for while they are yet babies their mothers make red-hot a bronze instrument constructed for this very purpose and apply it to the right breast and cauterize it, so that its growth is arrested, and all its strength and bulk are diverted to the right shoulder and right arm.” Herodotus reported that the Sarmatians were descendants of Amazons and Scythians, and that their females observed their ancient maternal customs, “frequently hunting on horseback with their husbands; in war taking the field; and wearing the very same dress as the men”. Moreover, said Herodotus, “No girl shall wed till she has killed a man in battle.”
Now, Spike just needs to tell us they are bringing the show back! If you love Deadliest Warrior as much as I do, contact spike-feedback@spike.com
Anyone else have suggestions?
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Tags: deadliest warrior, spike, tv, warrior cultures
July 14th, 2009 at 8:44 am
The show was pretty cool. By the mid-season, I was fast forwarding alot towards the end simulation. I would like to see:
Conquistidor vs French cavalier swordsman maybe Wild west Cowboy vs Prussian Soldier of WW1, minutemen of 1812 vs Turks. I also think all the winners from the first season fight another rd. Ninja vs Apache and so on..
July 22nd, 2009 at 5:45 pm
amazons vs huns
August 4th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
I agree with cowboys, musketeers, and minuteman, but what about a more modern day warrior like SWAT vs the modern day international assasin.
September 1st, 2009 at 11:01 pm
From the more historically orientated ‘Old World’ DW is entertaining if X Box come to life is what is expected! Poor recreations by Americans with their mostly mis-chosen weapons backed by a video gamer demonstrated in no way accurate combat or weapon use. Pig carcasses cannot fight back. Combat results based on biased bickering between ‘ancestors’ of Vikings and Los Angeles Ninjas? Where were the Mike Loades; competent historical researchers and world recognised experts?DW is good US TV escapist entertainment – nothing historically accurate nor educational.
October 25th, 2009 at 6:04 am
there is a mistake that is not a pic of a rajput that is a sikh warrior and the khanda is also the cross or star of david for the sikhs and sikhs are also more deadly warriors than rajputs
February 9th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
Though info about Rajput is correct but the pic is wrong…..Khanda is an Indian sword developed by Rajputs….they are among the deadliest warriors in world and certainly deadlier than Sikhs
March 9th, 2010 at 11:22 pm
The Rajputs are by far one of the deadliest martial races. the sikhs would not have a chance. rajputs trace there origins past the days of king porus. sikh were taught the shaster vidya ( knowledge of weapons) by two Rajput princes. the rajputs used all 68 weapons and they breed the finest war horses.
March 30th, 2010 at 9:43 pm
The pic in question is of a man named Banda Singh Bahadur whose race was that of a Rajput who converted to Sikhism – most warriors of mettle amongst Sikhs were Rajputs (Baaj Singh, Bachittar Singh etc.) – The Hindu Rajput kings also helped many sikh gurus out in wars and donated lands for their temples.
March 31st, 2010 at 1:10 am
@ Neel – The pic is right that is a Rajput (Banda Singh) of the Minhas tribe of rajputs and he had converted to the religion of sikhism.
April 1st, 2010 at 3:28 am
Being Assyrian I’m glad to see that you had them as a serious pick. We all know the power and pride they brought in war and holds true in our hearts today….
April 21st, 2010 at 5:58 am
From looking at historical facts of Sikh Wars between Mughals and Hill Raja’s, the Sikhs fought with lesser numbers and caused more havoc than rajputs did to mughals..theres no doubt that the sikhs became a stronger force than their rajput brotherhood.
April 23rd, 2010 at 2:15 pm
you cant say the sikhs became a stronger force. If that was to be the case you would have seen sikh rule stretching into parts of india other than punjab. Rajputs have streched far and wide all across india and other parts. this must be due to there skill in war.
April 23rd, 2010 at 2:31 pm
if it wasnt for hindu rajputs the sikhs would probably be farmers. not knowing how to hold a sword. the sikhs must have learnt the art of combat from somewhere. yes the RAJPUTS. thats historical fact. i respect the sikhs but they should no that.
khamma ghani Rana hukum your vids are the best
April 29th, 2010 at 7:48 am
Rajputs have been Kings since 7th AD,ruling India from Delhi(dhaulika).Rajput kingdom at one point stretched all the way from India to Afganistan.Sikhs were not even around then.Sikhs arose from hindus and mainly rajputs.Look up Prithviraj Chauhan on google and for a peek at rajput weapons http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKttqCWyEmA
May 4th, 2010 at 2:08 am
Sikhs are Brave warriors, some of the finest the world has ever seen, fought in lesser numbers and caused twice as much damage than the enemy, didn’t give a fuck bout dying ( true warriors )
May 17th, 2010 at 4:05 pm
well .. rajputs are good , sikhs are better because sikhs stood against injustice , so it gave sikhs a run for fighting for land , and freedom . Well rajput sucks balls with mughals and married there daughters to mughals . we did not we fought died with pride thats why we are called singhs (lions) . Banda singh bahadur was a tantric (Not a rajput) before he accepted his holiness sri guru gobind singh ji maharaj as his guru . hmm ok another reason why sikhs are better because we did not have a caste system so men felt the free to join khalsa and become pure . Good example Sultan -e- quam baba deep singh http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baba_Deep_Singh . BTW porus was jatt not rajput , hmm what else oh yeah hitler said once that if i have the sikhs i can rule the world . sikhs and gorkhas are the best warriors of india . Rajputs are good too but very divided . thank you so the deadliest warrior are sikhs .
May 20th, 2010 at 1:55 am
The Sikhs are by far a better fighting force. If it wasnt for the Sikhs the Mughals would have conquered all of India. Where were the Rajputs when thosaunds of hindus were being converted to islam? It was the Sikh shock troops who sent fear down Mughal spines. Banda Bahadur might have been a rajput but in the end he was a Sikh of the Khalsa who dont believe in caste. Sikhs are a martial race and could destroy any army on the face of the earth. No one until this day has taken over Afghanistan other then the Sikh armies of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Rajputs dont even have as much experiance fighting as Sikhs. If the Mughals defeated the Rajputs hwo come the Sikhs destroyed their empire within days? its common sense come on
May 20th, 2010 at 11:18 am
why are sikh people so Ignorant. Your faith has been around for what 500 years! Kshratiya Warriors have been fighting in battle since the Mahabharat 5000 years ago. You talk of caste system but then say Porus was a jatt! Porus was a descendant of the Yadava army. Rajputs were in the Afghan area way before the kalsa was created. rajputs have been using SINGH as a title since the 5th century.please get facts correct before, then talk about common sense!
May 20th, 2010 at 11:29 am
Mughals saw the Rajputs as brothers, they were the 2 martial races. sikhs are jatt farmers who like to twist the past to make it seem favourable towards them. they learnt there fighting skill from the rajputs and claim it is there own. understand your role in society was to harvest crops. Your lucky the mughals didnt wipe you lot out completely.
May 20th, 2010 at 1:41 pm
Well well well what have we here?
Sikh jatts claiming to be warriors hahaha what is the world coming to, the mughals fucked your wives daughters and kids, they ate your children let alone chopped of sikh heads and then selling them!!
For every head chopped sikh head they would get around 50pounds, an alive sikh was probably washing the penis of the mughal horses.
sikhs are finished they are confused their religion is a mix of hinduism and islam.
the fact is sikhs are pussies.
There is a reason why sikhs are not on the show and rajputs are.
Rajputs have history and are true warriors. whats deadly about sikhs apart from their smell?
@ harrysingh
you idiot, silly sikh.
There needs to be a new rule in life – NO SIKHS ALLOWED.
May 24th, 2010 at 1:16 am
@akbar
the sikh religion isn’t a mix of no religion, its a whole new religion. sikhs saved these rajput’s wives and daugheters from being raped by muslims. these rajputs couldn’t even save their own women.
sikhs fought off all the mughals and saved india. if it wasn’t for them, india would’ve been all converted into islam. i dont know if you’re a muslim or a hindu but whatever you are u need to get ur facts straight. one sikh can kill 100s of muslims/rajputs. sikh warriors are going to be on the show just watch.
May 25th, 2010 at 1:12 am
Its a whole new religion!! that my point. what the hell is a new religion.Where were your sikh people in operation blue star. hindus were shaving your hair off. you sikhs had to borrow your wives cloths and pretend to be women,thats the act of cowards,not very deadly. this is all facts im stating.sikhs did not get rid of all the Mughals. they are many Mughals still alive today! they are beasts and would rip a sikh into shreds with there bare hands. if all the Rajputs and Mughals in the world got together and pissed once they could fill up enough area to drown the whole sikh faith. if the sikh were warriors then they would have featured in the show allready!!!!!
May 25th, 2010 at 5:19 pm
@ singh ur a pussy jus to prove you point u are manupulating history on this site. mughals where forcing rajputs to covert and to save ur land rajputs where fighting the mughals but when cud not overpower them u married ur daughter to gain a political edge, typical for a coward to do..rajputs paid taxes to the mughals so that they are not raided, another example of cowardice… rajputs have been ancient warriors, tru, but u were no match for the mughals..in short u r pussies u hid in ur palaces and paid of the mughals to stay away. if u were such great warriors why did the kashmiri pandits (high priest of the hindu faith in India,kinda like vatican priests) run to the gurus for help.Why did they no go to a rajput king?
and about sikh force not conqering other parts of india,, because that movement was a religious movement not a movement to enforce power or rule. the reason why the sikh conquered kyber pass( afghanisatan) because that was a easily infiltration route for any invading army. so so called ’singh’ you shud get ur facts.
May 25th, 2010 at 7:28 pm
the sikhs are cocks who were the biggest pussies on earth. they stole all there knowlege of arms from the rajputs. i wonder what guru gobind was thinking, hmmm lets steel the title singh from the rajputs, so sikhs stop getting taken for idiots! any cock can be sikh, but to be rajput you have to be born one..
May 26th, 2010 at 5:27 am
The above shows why the Mughals and later the British were successful. If these different groups had stood together, history might have been very different. Won’t you ever learn?
May 26th, 2010 at 11:40 pm
@ raju’s dad.
This entire discussion is supposed to be based on the warriors, the military. When you talk about sikhism the religion, you cross many lines. and at your last sentence, I’d say that the beauty and what makes sikhism special is that no one is better than another. There is no prehistoric ignorance in our religion ( no offense to whichever religion you are from)but this is the 21st century and the values you are taught in an enlightened “western” family are very similar to the values I would have been taught 500 years ago. I don’t know much about the battles that the Sikhs, the Mughals, and the Rajput fought in but I know one thing and you can say all the shit the want to about it. We fought for our religion. Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji enlightened us with peace (which is not being what you call pussy) And then when turmoil became evident Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji enlightened us once again, this time to become warriors of peace.
You can say all you want and whatever you like but if you want to talk about one religion being better than another, you should consider going back a few centuries.
May 28th, 2010 at 1:55 pm
Ummmm – I watched the show and it was sikhs who did all the demos….? What does that tell you guys…comment please…
Chardi Khala
May 28th, 2010 at 3:58 pm
@ Raju’s Dad, you proved my point in ur last post mate!..’rajputs are pusssies’..yes sikhs took the name singh(because u dont deserve it) we took ur weapons( coz sikh use them better than rajputs) and ur people..(there was a massive conversion frm rajput to sikhs)..ask ur self these questions why are rajputs fighting a sikh cause? and ur dumb brain will hopefully comprehend. ask ur self why we could not even protect our women and had to go to the Sikh gurus for help? where we such cowards? the ans is obvious raju’s dad. Rajputs have a good history of bravery but there comming generations cud not hold that bravery when the mughals invaded india. they had the biggest army, the biggest empire and rule with money and weapons..then how come rajput raja cud not hold a good resistence and protect their country and people..this is my question? and a guerilla force is formed in the jungles of india (Sikhs)few hundred men who very a more effective resistence to the mughal tyrnny. Lets talk on records and not false egotisms. so to ur statement i want to say it is easy to be a rajput sit on a expensive thrones, gamble ur daughters with ur oppressors for LAND. but it is hard to stand for the common man who the rajputs completely ignored and form a fighting force who fights ‘for the people’ which terrorised the invading army. Rajus dad maybe u shud think about that! Reaseach on the battle of chamkur, battle with Ahmed Shah Abdali,check out Banda singh Bahadurs campaign, reasearch on these few battles fought by the sikh and u will see the kind of warriors u are talking about!
May 30th, 2010 at 6:14 pm
I was a bit upset with sikhs calling them selfs rajputs on the show. They may well be Rajputs but i think they were just acting. Sikhs are good warriors and so are rajputs. im glad the Roman got beaten.Apart from the Kandha and katar they should have used better weopons. Rajputs of punjab were cowards but the a few from rajasthan and other areas were lethal.
June 2nd, 2010 at 3:10 pm
i respect everybody, and you cant change history, rajputs were amazing warriors, and so were mughals and sikhs were aswell.
i think mughals were the most ruthless, rajputs were the most skilled and sikhs were the bravest.
i mean to say, in todays day and age were on the front line because were brave, and rajputs a royal so you cannot take anything away from anyone, we fight for our rajputs today the way they did in the time before our religion!