10 swordy secrets

Hello,

Thanks to all the new people who signed up today! Here are 10 things that changed in my mind between the series starting and now:

Harpe and Edge were the original team-up
Originally, Edge the Merblade who was introduced as a child in episode VII, and Harpe the Barbarian Princess who was introduced as a child in episode VIII, were going to be the ones who team up when Harpe was fully-grown into a huge, muscular, Brienne Of Tarth type of character like her parents. The idea was that Edge would be stuck in a bush on the side of the road or something and become Harpe's new weapon.
The story hadn't really solidified at this point.

Harpe and Smith being a couple changed a lot of things
I created episode 20 as a response to the wide and loud criticism that I was going to run out of sword-based jokes imminently. Keep in mind, the series was 3 weeks old at this point. By making Edge's dad, Smith, into Harpe's partner instead, the earlier episode with Edge and the Squid Cultist, episode 16, now takes place far in the future. With Knife's time travel storyline yet to develop, maybe in a different timeline too. The Smith and Harpe joke is transparently a reference to people telling me to stop making daily episodes and focus on quality.

The world was going to be grittier
When I made the Travel Goblin a black-furred, skull-wearing, hooved creature, my original intention was that the entire setting of Swords would be dirtier, gritter and more aligned with dark fantasy things like Berserk, Conan and so on. I think it just naturally changed course as people responded strongly to more wholesome moments like Harpe and her supportive mother, or the soul sword stuck under a bridge.

There is a small retcon in the new Chronological Order on the website
The person consulting The Great Sage Of Flames was always meant to be Knife's wife, Shiv - but you only ever see the back of their head. Recently I have altered it to be Knife; as we see she goes on to consult The Great Safe Of Water as well (and that always happens). It makes more sense this way.

I never intended to have a time-travel arc
The longsword of time was a fun joke, but I was sure in the beginning I wouldn't do time travel. But then I did it anyway. The Darkness Before Time has higher emotional stakes with a human witness there.

Argok's design was up in the air until a special Patreon thank you message
There are references in the Swor'nament background to a three-eyed God, who never eventuated. I'm not sure why I ended up going in the direction I did, but it makes some other things like Travel Goblins skull shape sort of nonsensical. I possibly leaned into the kiwi/plague-doctor motifs because people were responding well to the New Zealand influences in the comic at the time, but I can't quite remember now.

The Blademaster was heading to the Swor'nament
Originally, Xiphos' opponent in the Swor'nament was going to be the Blademaster with the Claymost. I can't quite remember why it became Prince Sheath instead.

The Infinity Sword is gold because it's a Ducktales reference
In the original run of Ducktales, a Golden Goose starts turning everything to gold, and it spreads across the entire world before a last minute reversal.

Harpe was originally going to pursue Silvertongue to Sworabia
Harpe was going to become more muscular and wear a cool cape when she followed Silvertongue to Sworabia, where he was to give the Water Godsword to the Sultan. Ultimately this got changed to Silvertongue working for the 4-Eyed Demon Sword, as the 7 demons were quickly becoming the pillars each story arc would ultimately revolve around. Harpe has now been involved in the story arcs of the 3, 4 and 6 eyed demons.

The Blade Maiden is from a previous art project
So are The Neverwarden, the Iron Judge, Necromancer & Druid and that t-shirt a Troll wears that says "Punk the Ride"