orly?
Fine
The reality is that the whole back-scabbard thing is a rediculous hollywood invention for the most part. However there have been SOME cases where large blades were slung across the warrior's back out of necessity rather than ease of use or comfort.
"Back scabbards were never used in European, Near East, or Indian military cultures, and depictions of such are a modern invention and have enjoyed great popularity in fiction and fantasy, to the point that they are widely believed to be a Medieval invention.[citation needed] A well-known example of this is the back scabbard depicted in the movie Braveheart. There is some limited data from woodcuts and textual fragments that Mongol light horse archers and some Chinese soldiers wore a slung baldric over the shoulder, allowing longer blades to be strapped across the back.
However in "The Ancient Celts" by Barry Cunliffe, on page 94 of that book, Mr. Cunliffe writes,"All these pieces of equipment [shields, spears, swords, mail armour], mentioned in the texts, are reflected in the archaeological record and in the surviving iconography, though it is sometimes possible to detect regional variations. Among the Parisii of Yorkshire, for example, the sword was sometimes worn across the back and therefore had to be drawn over the shoulder from behind the head."
Just as one reference.
In modern days we've figured out many easy ways of both wearing large weapons on your back comfortably while being able to draw them, mostly in response to the silly hollywood/anime fad of back-scabbards. It's still silly, however this is a game and it's "stylish" rather than wearing the blade at your hip where it would have really been held.
1.2 meters = 3.93700787 feet
A sword of that size could, was and can be sheathed upon the hip because the sword is angled when in the scabbard instead of pointing straight down. Most scabbards were leather as well meaning that once unsheathed it wouldn't be rigid and prohibit movement. Alot of sword sheathing techniques for larger swords didn't even involve a full scabbard on the hip, but rather a partial scabbard "loop" that would hold the sword at the proper angle and position until drawn.
TLDR
Yes, on the back is retarded. However those weapons could have been held on the hip just fine. As another point in reality most 1h'd swords would have been worn on the right hip and drawn with the right arm so as not to make yourself vunerable by exposing yourself when moving your shield out of the way in order to draw the sword as you would have had to do with it worn on the left hip.
Half-scabbard
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