I'm guessing from appearances she's rather twiggy.

I believe a legal hunting bow is 60pounds minimum draw, so 120 pound has serious death potential. Never though of the upper body thing. Make sense though. The odd DnD character I have might need some revamping. Curse you societal impressions!

TvTropes says the meta behind it is that it keeps graceful female characters out of the carnage of a melee.

In reality, people of either gender who aren't conditioned for battle just shouldn't be fighting in one. Unless there are firearms available. :p

I'd have to agree with that, Suzerain. If you're battle hardened enough to survive brutal fights, it's pretty hard to look delicate anymore.

Well, let's be charitable here. It's not like female warriors are commonly depicted as having the proper musculature, even when they do fight in close-quarters. In some settings at least, it's equal-opportunity silliness (like... DnD, say) but then you have the settings where the men are muscled behemoths and the women are waif-fu battlemasters (like a of JRPG settings.)

It's rare to see a character like Brienne of Tarth, but, then, G.R.R.M. prides himself on realism.

Game makers tend to go for the "appearance" thing which probably explains most of the looks and outfits of people. I remember one of the Forgotten Realms books though, with a suit of women's armor with a hole to show cleavage, which was enchanted to completely block any hits made there :p

Where the armour stops before it actually covers the bulk of the heart? That kind of visuals? :p

Women don't *usually* develop as much muscle as men (we're tougher instead ;)) so it makes sense they wouldn't look as physically strong seeing as that's not our thing, but yeah. Big, six foot long, foot and a half wide sword plus 24 inche waist and 10 inch diameter arms equals something not right.

You're on a roll tonight. :D

And, I have to wonder, why bother having a specific enchanted armor for that particular purpose, when the Glamered enchantment exists? It's so much more flexible, besides. Maybe so... tactile... sensation... isn't impaired? I do not understand such things.

Sigh. Would you believe I actually messed that sentence up three times? And yet my fiction seems to be going alright. No hurry on that I guess.

I don't remember the specifics of WHY the armor was like that. I only remember how it worked.

I have noticed that women can be a lighter looking build and still be just as strong, or at least, use the strength in similar ways. -shrugs- If it all comes down to looks it's a silly comparison to make anyways.

...I get the feeling I'm missing out on a videogame-conceptart-character-outfit related discussion. >.>

I think it started from complaining about longbows and the types of people USUALLY portrayed as using them?

Bare thighs anyone? In the winter? Oh but this fur coat will be fine! No wind anywhere to possibly blow it open or move it in any way as to explose bare skin to frosbite.

Anyone else not partiual to hugging pointed armour? I don't imagine it being the most comfortable thing to drape on.

Well, 90% of armor depicted in fiction is flat-out ridiculous anyway, so that's hardly surprising.

I mean, seriously, how many people here even know what a rondel is, let alone have seen one in a film or game?

Umm you might have got me on that one, though I think I already looked it up and promptly forgot again. I konw I used to know it. :)

Right, for those of you playing at home, rondels are steel discs on plate armor located at the elbows and the armpits. They look really stupid, which is why, I imagine, they are shown very often, but armor without them, even if it's otherwise-complete full plate, is rather obviously vulnerable.

Ah, right. Those little concave shieldy looking things (that occasionally come with a spike). Gotta keep those swords from cutting your arm off at the pit.