Dark Warrior Helmet

Mask of The Dark Warrior: Darkened Steel Helmet

A good fantasy helmet should be stylish and full of character, especially when we’re talking about LARPing, Cosplaying, or displaying sets of armor. Armor can speak to the morality of a character and can help you play them effectively.

This helmet is a prime example of such an armor piece. It’s handmade from quality 18 gauge steel, and is available in its polished form, or as a darkened variant. Regardless of the colour, the helmet has an intimidating design, which in turn makes the wearer look the part of a hardened warrior.

The helmet is made up of several segmented plates, all riveted together. While clearly a fantasy helmet, the design resembles that of a historical bascinet. It’s a closed helmet, with a face plate that can be lifted up, if need be.

The two face plates feature large, slanted eye slits and vents, which are both stylish and practical. When you’re wearing a lot of metal armor, circulation is deeply appreciated, especially if you’re moving around a lot at a reenactment or LARP event, or even simply wearing it as a costume.

The top of the helmet is made up of interlocking plates, which create a spined spine. This, along with the frontal view of the helmet, are what give it such an intimidating design. While the Dark Helmet variant would clearly suit a Dark Warrior character, even the polished steel version would cause your opponent to think twice.

The helmet is designed to fit comfortably over padding and chainmail, as it doesn’t contain inner padding or a chin strap.

Henchmen and Lieutenants in Fantasy: The Forces of Darkness

The most iconic dark warriors found in fantasy tend to take on the role of henchmen. Often, although not always, the antagonist’s primary power is more magical in nature, so they leave the dirty work to their right hand men.

Interestingly, this sometimes makes the henchmen (sometimes confusingly referred to as “the dragon”, despite not usually being an actual dragon) more memorable than the main villain. Outside of fantasy, the most famous example has to be Darth Vader from the Star Wars franchise, who made much more of an impression on viewers than Darth Sidious, the actual villain.

In fantasy, we only need to look at J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth and all the stories within. Sauron, the antagonist of the Lord of the Rings, takes more of a background role in the story when compared to his minions.

The Nazgul are the ones who pursue the Hobbits to Rivendell to begin with. From there, the Fellowship face different threats, such as Saruman, the goblins of Moria, and the Balrog. Saruman is the one who sends his forces to Rohan, acting as the most visible antagonist for much of the story, while Gollum also plays a villain.

Even when Sauron’s forces directly threaten the protagonists, they are led by the Witch King, who acts as the primary threat. Arguably, the One Ring has the most direct contact with Frodo and poses the most immediate threat. Sauron himself does very little that the audience can see, beyond directing his minions and being vaguely threatening.

Interestingly, Sauron himself was a henchman at one point. He was the right hand man of Morgoth, a fallen Ainur (godlike beings) who was the main threat during the Silmarillion series. And, while Morgoth was quite active, we do get to see more of Sauron in action than in the Lord of the Rings.

This might seem odd, as surely, you’d want the main antagonist to be the primary threat. After all, they’re the big bad who is causing all this strife, so shouldn’t they be at the forefront?

Well, sometimes, they are. But having another villain be the most visible antagonist can work fantastically. When someone is creating an antagonist, it can be difficult to sell an all powerful and magical villain if that same villain keeps bumping into the scrappy bunch of adventurers and still hasn’t managed to wipe them out.

Imagine if Sauron himself had felt the call of the One Ring and had wandered to the Shire himself to claim his prize. Would Frodo have realistically had a chance? Now, we know that Tolkien had a plausible explanation for Sauron not kicking down Bilbo’s door and ending the series there and then, so we aren’t saying that this should have happened.

But if Frodo had faced Sauron himself and escaped, then Sauron would have been weakened as a threat. But we still want our good guys to face evil and survive. So, the best of both worlds is to have multiple villains. We have our powerful big bad, but we also have his henchmen, who are threatening without being unstoppable.

Tech Specs

The technical specifications of the Dark Warrior Helmet are as follows:

•         Material: 18 gauge steel
•         Colour: Darkened finish or polished steel
•         Circumference: 26 inches