Ancient-Warfare Historian Rates 10 More Battle Scenes In Movies And TV | How Real Is It? | Insider

Roel Konijnendijk teaches ancient history at Lincoln College, University of Oxford.
He rates 10 battle scenes in movies and television for realism. He discusses the accuracy of ancient-warfare battle scenes from "The Northman" (2022), starring Alexander Skarsgård; penning enemies in "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" (2022); and swords and buckles in "House of the Dragon" (2022), featuring Matt Smith. He also comments on "The Last Duel" (2021), with Matt Damon and Adam Driver; bolt artillery in "The Wheel of Time" (2021), featuring Rosamund Pike; bow and arrow precision in "Robin Hood" (2010), starring Russell Crowe; and walls of flame in "Barbarians" (2020). Konijnendijk analyzes the chariot tactics displayed in "The Eagle" (2011), starring Channing Tatum; pavises in "Knightfall" (2019); and ditches in "The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc" (1999).
You can find him on Twitter at:
/ roelkonijn
Watch him rate other ancient-warfare scenes here:
Part 1: • Ancient Warfare Expert...
Part 2: • Ancient-Warfare Expert...
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Ancient-Warfare Historian Rates 10 More Battle Scenes In Movies And TV | How Real Is It?

[@Matticusism]

I dug so many ditches in anticipation of this man's return

[@winglessrayven4294]

My ditches bring all the Historians to the yard.

[@chrishamby86]

I'm still digging ditches from the first two videos

[@youngwildcat08]

Yes! WHERE ARE YOUR DITCHES!

[@saltyinternetguy626]

🤣🤣🤣✊

[@kent1146]

I haven't even watched the video yet, and I already know there won't be enough ditches for this man.

[@madsmadstm8227]

"You gotta give points for a good ditch. 5/10." Man I've missed this guy

[@snowbear163]

A 5/10 from this guy is like a blessing from god himself.

[@ligmaballs8385]

If you havin siege problems I feel bad for you son, I got 99 problems but a ditch ain't one! - Roel Konijnendijk

[@stma05]

@@ligmaballs8385 I want that on a shirt lol

[@cullermann2]

@@ligmaballs8385 I wanted to give you a like but you're at 69 right now and it didnt feel right

[@bravesirrobin5839]

the ditch master nederlands trots (-:

[@meredithcarroll6209]

I just love that he keeps his sense of humor despite having to watch so many, many, *many* battle scenes where they didn't dig a simple ditch.

[@arielquelme]

Hollywood rule of cool forbid u to dug ditches How u gonna sell ur film if the antagonist defeated by mere ditches?

[@MrQuankster]

Too much fire. Not enough ditches.

[@o-wolf]

I didn't like that he couldn't seem to grasp how bows and arrows worked or how devastating a weapon the longbow is or just simple physics.. that made me not take much of anything else he said too seriously

[@user-kf7dn5dh1f]

​@o-wolf what issue was there with what he said about bows?

[@Bob-ti3uq]

​@@user-kf7dn5dh1f nothing.

[@smaller_cathedrals]

"He's basically wearing sort of premium-grade plot armor", delivered in absolute dead-pan manner, as if talking about some actual kind of armor. God, I love this man.

[@Samuel034]

Being a well read man as he would be to know the real histories, he likely enjoys a little flair and poetry in his language.

[@dylanpiazza6358]

Legendary lol

[@user-mn9lq8dq1y]

Yeah he could've been a damn military commander back then a lot of great things he mentioned

[@AcHr22]

I had to go back and listen because he said it so casually I wasn’t sure I heard him right 😂

[@MissingScrew27]

i mean its very in character for daemon to have an insane plot armor, he's basically "am a badass : the movie "

[@Bloodark124]

Also dear Insider - he's probably tired of reviewing bad depiction of ancient war battle scenes. Perhaps change it up a little bit and get him to hand pick some of his favourite on screen battle scenes and have him give some in depth and less known truth about ancient battles and tactics so that we can learn more than just building more ditches and let archers shoot at will after order lol.

[@antonnurwald5700]

Seconded

[@godfreyofbouillon966]

Excactly, most of these mistakes are so basic and silly its almost you dont even need a historian of his caliber to point that out. I want to see him showcasing his knowledge a bit more.

[@chrisincamera]

I dont know I like him tearing apart some of these movies.. Perhaps a 1 to 1 ratio of horrendous depictions and ones that get at least some things spot on.

[@blueman1470]

That is his specialty

[@gauravaaditya]

They kind of showed that near the end but we want like a full video of it!

[@hossinania192]

The real love in his eyes when he talks about ditches 🥰😂

[@Omnilatent]

Find someone who loves you as much as this guy loves ditches

[@KY_100]

The dutch love ditches

[@christiaanvandenakker901]

This guy always kills it. He understands why something is done because it looks good on film, but he is still rightfully merciless in scoring.

[@elpoodoo3099]

That’s because he isn’t boomer and actually has a funny sense of humour

[@bobson3014]

I wouldn't say "rightfully merciless" his scores are pretty wild after hearing his reasons.

[@harvestcanada]

The irony with what you say, is that trenches are one of the most ancient snd most used forms of earth work defence even into the 21st century. The irony is that fury had accurate ways in which the German infantry defended themselves against American tanks in WW 2. In medieval movie hardly a ditch dug 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@borna1231]

If anyone´s interested, he is a regular contributor to the AskHistorians subreddit! I´ve been following him for years and the quality and depth of his answers is never less than astounding. If anyone wants A LOT more from where this came from, head over there!

[@jessguinn]

Yayyyy this makes me so happy

[@borna1231]

@@Alganoob His username is Iphikrates! Sorry, I totally forgot to mention that.

[@jaojao1768]

@@jordanparks99 u/Iphikrates

[@crapparc]

I like Roel but I hate AskHistorians. It's an elitist clique that doesn't have room for different opinions or unorthodox questions.

[@Hell_O7]

​​@@crapparc I've seen some answers that debate each other and questions that I'd consider to be unorthodox Example: "why do people in medieval art look so bored when killed?" "When Lee surrendered his army to Grant at Appomattox, Grant allowed Lee's army of about 28,000 to disband and go home. How did 28,000 men from different towns leave a single area and where did they go?" * "unorthodox questions" is a vague term anyway. Not saying all deleted questions must've been justly deleted, just that saying they're deleted just because they're unorthodox sounds weird.

[@RoboCharged]

Someone needs to make a medieval movie with this guy as the historical consultant, would be epic!

[@richardarcher7177]

Unfortunately they probably wouldn't listen to him - just as most movie makers for the past century and a bit tended not to listen.

[@danceswithdirt7197]

There would be many ditches.

[@deezboyeed6764]

They do, they hire many of them. (One of my professors worked on AC valhallia) the creators just want the cool bits then turn it up to 11

[@elite9potato467]

Right

[@steveo9683]

Also boring...

[@Reqwulf]

"They are doing everything they can do to lose this battle". I love it 😆

[@junezhang6267]

"You goatta give points for a good ditch." I never thought I could hear such a quote one day and here I am. This guy is just so funny, plz bring him back more!

[@Ishkur23]

I love this guy. Every time I watch an ancient battle scene in a movie now I'm like "where's the ditch? Why didn't they dig a ditch?"

[@michaelt.5672]

As you should. As we ALL should.

[@Gabryal77]

Watched "13th Warrior" last night with my wife and got unnaturally happy at them digging a ditch

[@kilua69]

Me too, after watching this video. I started to question many things and started not to be interested in medieval war-themed films, because many of the scenes didn't make sense.

[@grace.stewartt4224]

😂😂😂

[@user-kf7dn5dh1f]

​@@Gabryal77yeab but only one ditch and the rampart was poor considering they are on a small hill.

[@davidjustice6287]

I'm so happy that this guy is back, and that he got to evaluate a movie with a ditch in it

[@kcrazy611]

Yeah me too

[@gordonnorthpieganiii548]

I’m so happy he evaluated the realness of a fictional world with dragons ❤

[@Johnysimus]

I almost cried when they showed him a movie with a ditch. He gave it good marks, just because it had a ditch in it!

[@Yora21]

I first got interested in medieval warfare when I was thinking "How would medieval soldiers have run face first into walls of spears? How do you defend yourself when there's more enemy soldiers fighting right behind your back? I don't think anyone would agree to fight in the first row when getting killed is absolutely guaranteed..." 20 years later I agree with this guy: Almost every ancient and medieval battle scene deserves a 2 or a 3 at the most.

[@misanthropicservitorofmars2116]

The most distressing thing is the millions of people who get their historical knowledge from Hollywood action movies.

[@TheNorthernWall]

I could watch an endless series of this man explaining and going in-depth on this sort of thing. It's super interesting! Hopefully he's back soon.

[@soul-om4id]

I love this historian. He is absolutely savage to these "historical" movies. I love the brutal honesty that he brings. Keep bringing him back to rate movies.

[@alexandersvensson9642]

To be fair, House of the Dragon, Lord of the Rings or Wheel of Time aren’t really claiming to be historical.

[@nathangraham8162]

Producers: "So... you hate them all. Is there any battle scene you actually like?"

[@stageblood9935]

@@alexandersvensson9642 and the northman (while it has a lot of good historical knowledge) is full of fantasy elements from viking sagas

[@olsiontoska9520]

You can watch skanderbeg movie 1959 if you want to see haw a real battle is fighting

[@p_serdiuk]

@@alexandersvensson9642 Yes but the internal logic and physics of these worlds is broadly the same as our world.

[@OtterThunder]

I feel like Roel Konijnendijk is the only History Academic(Professional Nerd) I'd be happy to be corned by at a party and forced to learn about history.

[@jack_of_hats]

You should look up Tobias Capwell! Very much scratches the Roel itch. I'd love to be cornered at a party with the curator of arms and armor at the Wallace Collection

[@patrickleonard4187]

Tobias, Roel, and the dude with the huge mustache make a 3-way video. That doesn't sound right. You know what I mean.

[@HiveFleetUlfang1]

Marc Morris? The Holland brothers? Dan Snow or Dan Jones?

[@porksterbob]

Check out Bret devereaux. His blog is this... But 100 times more

[@szabolcskis9812]

As a history uni student that's very sad to hear, there are lots of knowledgable historians who are also entertaining.

[@extrasystole]

ditch guy must be the most famous Insider expert absolutely love it

[@wordsisnukes]

Roel is solid because he explains why these battle scenes are pointless and inaccurate based on historical fact. It's refreshing to watch this. Also, filmmakers, please take note of all this. I wish I could enjoy a good medieval or ancient battle scene that prioritizes realism over jarring camera movement and edits.

[@grischnach2556]

I agree, even more so because all that action is already nerve raking even if it is realistic. I just don't see the point in making unrealistic.

[@ahumanother]

I love the realism of this man. I feel intimidated like he's going to roast my movie and I'm not even a director.

[@Ludendorf01]

As a former high school history teacher, the fact that he validates the one historical movie I use in my classes to depict battles, "Alexander", made me happy.

[@misanthropicservitorofmars2116]

That battle against Persia was solid af.

[@stephenbranley91]

I haven't seen any of the films/programmes mentioned, but I would still watch this guy every day if he kept analysing battle scenes. He's so interesting to watch and listen to

[@aleo8539]

Best guest ever! Both funny and educational. I hope to see him in many more videos. Sad to learn that the archers don't get the "hoooold" and "on my command" order in every battle 😂

[@valeryastarkshield8278]

1:05 in my head I just heard him continuing that line saying "and you can just throw rocks. They cost you nothing, they take no preparation and you just throw them at people and they get hurt. It's great! "

[@antonnurwald5700]

Kudos for getting the quote exactly right

[@chengkuoklee5734]

Well, rocks are byproduct of ditch digging. The dirt dug out can be piled into dirt fence, creating extra obstacles to the besiegers.

[@tkh846]

This guy is great. Always a joy to watch videos with him.

[@Dullfang2]

oh snap, i searched for this guy just to rewatch the previous videos and theyve uploaded a NEW one?? heck yes. Legend

[@AndorranStairway]

I’d like this guy to be a technical advisor on a film with battle scenes. It’ll be interesting to watch since the majority of the world has no idea ancient warfare actually looked like

[@ZoogaZig]

Please let him do more. He is my favorite. Find more scenes. Make new movies and shows. I don't care, just make it happen.

[@leoh3616]

Yes.

[@Kaospattern]

+12!

[@borna1231]

He is a regular contributor to the AskHistorians subreddit so you can check his stuff over there if you want. Every answer he gives is absolutely brilliant.

[@capitalcitygiant]

​@@borna1231His username is Iphikrates if anyone is wondering

[@borna1231]

@@capitalcitygiant Ah yes, I forgot to mention that!

[@b.elzebub9252]

This guy is great. He's the perfect blend of savage Dutch directness, gilded with a nice veneer of English respectability. The perfect storm of sarcasm and wit.

[@Moose92411]

I would be terrified to submit a paper or a project to him. I’d be reading vicious sarcasm even in his kindest comments 😂

[@OkasPL]

Honestly, I would watch him talk about anything.

[@bastadimasta]

This guy is awful. He doesn't know anything about actual hand-to-hand combat. He assumes that he know but he doesn't. His historical knowledge is also flawed. For instance, he's wrong about the introduction of guns and cannons. He's just a big smiling negativity.

[@Tarquin2718]

Roel Konijnendijk really is my hero, when it comes to professional reviews with simple logic at the forefront ❤

[@neflarionshadowflame2050]

I'd love to see his take on the siege battle in The 13th Warrior. They even dug a ditch prior to it, made a whole big deal about it.

[@antonnurwald5700]

I think my favorite quote from this one is: "you just block off that ramp and watch them starve to death or go home". Edit: on second thought "he's basically wearing top-grade plot-armor" is a strong contender too.

[@chuckhoyle1211]

People from olden times were not morons and they, usually, did not want to die. If you had the superior positioning, why in the world would abandon it to fight a "more even" battle? You never want to fight a "fair" fight. You want to leverage every advantage you have to make the enemy surrender so your men can go home and be productive. As the great movie Paton once said: No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. You won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.

[@koen845]

They built the most simple wall they could get, for about a week, and then, I guess, did crossword puzzles?!?!

[@antonnurwald5700]

@@koen845 yeah that one is great too. The man is a quote machine.

[@marcusreading3783]

@@chuckhoyle1211 The only time you should 'fight fair' is in a duel or a competition. Honour has no place in war after all.

[@chuckhoyle1211]

@@marcusreading3783 I mostly agree. There is a place for acting honorably in war such as treatment of prisoners, not killing medics, etc... However, "fairness" has no place. You want to neutralize the enemy with as little risk to your troops as possible. You don't want to give the enemy a chance.

[@magr7424]

If I were a studio boss and plan to make a very good historical battle movie, first thing I would do is hiring this expert..Best guest in this channel by far.. I love this man

[@evieni1465]

You'd end up with an unwatchable movie.

[@magr7424]

@@evieni1465 was "Master and Commander" unwatchable for you? They had very good historical and scientific advice in this production .. I and millions more really liked that movie

[@RosstheBoss6666]

@@magr7424 I love that movie but it wasn't exactly the box office hit that the studio wanted and it never got a sequel. It barely made its budget back in the box office.

[@magr7424]

@@RosstheBoss6666 yes, that's true, women in particular refused to go to the cinema in this movie. However, I read that the post box - office sales on the DVD market were very successful

[@evieni1465]

@@magr7424 I'm pretty sure the movie has it's own share of fibbings, anachronisms and inaccuracies.

[@TheRaffiniert]

So much fun watching this guy give his professional explanations. It's time for a third video!

[@blinco1539]

This has got to be my favorite experts that you’ve got for this series keep bringing him back!

[@user-zf4qv4mu3p]

This guy is classic! Love his videos. And most everything he tells you is just basic common sense. Hope he does more! "Where's your ditch?!?"

[@cieslik7564]

Are you ditching me son? ;)

[@kaelthunderhoof5619]

Rock is good.

[@Raz0rking]

Also, helmets, armour and the lack of polearms in almost every movie.

[@MrMuel1205]

"Most everything" means more than 50%, insofar as it means anything ("most [of] everything"). I think you mean "almost everything", as in approaching everything. I see this strange construction quite often. Is it a North American colloquialism?

[@coldlakealta4043]

my ex-wife ditched me

[@iiTyrull]

I want this expert to do a video on battles he actually likes and are a good historical depiction.

[@leoh3616]

I like that at the end of the video he referenced his favourite depiction of ancient warfare :)

[@tigransafaryan6619]

I think there are a few, if any...

[@SPLuvr]

That'll probably be a way shorter video 😔

[@PacMonster0]

The problem is historical accuracy and what makes good cinema are often at odds with one another. First off, most historical battles happened over the span of *days* (or several weeks to months in the case of sieges) not the minutes they seem to take in cinema. But few movie goers want to see a time lapse of a battle, they just need to know the "juicy" bits. The other thing about historical battles is they actually were relatively rare. Skirmishes were far more common. People in antiquity weren't idiots despite what modern cinema often would suggest. Nobody wanted to fight a losing battle. So warfare was all about getting favorable positioning. That's why skirmishes were far more common as they were much smaller conflicts all geared toward gaining favorable positioning. But again, that level of setup, and care toward human life isn't very "filmable", so movies/tv opt for grandiose large battles with large forces colliding. Another real history fact that movies often don't depict, is "routs" weren't like one army annihilating another army. Losing like 3% of your army was often considered a rout and would lead to a retreat or a surrender. Typically more people would end up dying in the actual retreat or from the winning army slaughtering the surrendered side, taking the richest people hostage to ransom back to their nation (a very common form of making money in Medieval warfare). But again, that level of brutality isn't really cinema friendly because there isn't really a "story" there.

[@LWT1331]

@@PacMonster0 You could easily make a battle last for several days or even a month without losing momentum or flair. Movies are allowed to jump in time for this specific reason.

[@Jack958]

I love that this Channel is giving these experts a platform, love these videos

[@whatsupman26]

They could have shown more of the ONE scene that he actually liked.

[@ashleyneku5432]

He reviewed it pretty extensively in his first video with Insider. Rehashing it would be pointless. Edit: First in this series of "Ancient Warfare Expert Rates Battle Scenes," not sure it was his first ever.

[@Kurlach]

I’m amazed he likes anything. He seems pretty stroppy tbh.

[@l0singzanity1]

​@@KurlachStroppy? He's just objectively criticising movies if they're historical, not whether they're bad or good movies, and in case your living under a rock, most historical movies (especially military ones) aren't accurate. Doesn't necessarily mean they're bad movies tho.

[@Matt-go7ss]

I could listen to this guy all day. He's great

[@MASmeinezeit]

I like this one because I saw couple of other "Expert rates movie scenes"-videos and they sometimes go "Oh no, that is not the way it happens... Rate 8/10." What?! I like that he actually uses the scale and yes... most of the time movie scenes aren't realistic. No surprise. So they only reach 2-5 out of 10. But that way you can distinguish between reality and what was made up to look good in a movie. 10/10 for this expert.

[@justinlast2lastharder749]

I like the ones that break it into two ratings 2/10 for realism, but 10/10 for entertainment value for example.

[@ulrichwurzer3962]

I've seen an expert rate Braveheart 8 out of 10 for historical accuracy!!!!!

[@rainstand2772]

I have waited months for this and it did not disappoint 🖤

[@Silberwolf01]

Please more videos with this guy! I could watch hours with him explaining battles :)

[@antoniousai1989]

He's one of the best history speakers I've heard, and I've followed some podcasts that had him as a guest. I like him because he explains why certain things aren't accurate from a point of view of convenience and simplicity, for what was possible at the time. He was present in a podcast where he spoke about the preparation and military life in Ancient Greece, which is his specific field of study. It was impressive, especially with the explanation of the etymology of every greek term related to soldier life, equipment, and social organization.

[@timmerk7363]

Was it the Visualizing War Podcast? If not, what was it? I really enjoyed everything from him, so I would love to get more.

[@prelan1340]

that sounds awesome, may I ask what's the name of the podcast?

[@iPyroNigma]

do let us know the podcast name pls

[@isthatrubble]

was the podcast you're remembering in english? all I can find of him on spotify is the askhistorians pod and a bunch of dutch language podcasts, which I regrettably don't speak

[@antoniousai1989]

@@timmerk7363 "Stick them with the pointy end: amateurism in Greek warfare" the channel is "Faculty of Classics, University of Oxford". There's also one on Askhistorians about the battle of Thermopylae

[@RyanJames1995]

This is the best Christmas gift I ever could have received. So happy this guy is back.

[@LordFred69]

This is the best Christmas gift you could ever get? Sheesh man....

[@jamesmayle3787]

The Bible is truth. The key to understanding that is in combining personally reading the Bible with putting the teachings Jesus Christ gave us into action in your own life. Start with forgiveness, parents are easiest, they’ve loved you. That’s a very important step in understanding all this. You have to work though your inner drama and forgive. Also, make sure you at least read three books of the Bible, Genesis Mathew and one you chose yourself. Jesus Christ is the way truth and life,

[@august7134]

I watched this video like a thousand times already. We need more of him .

[@qiidian1760]

Finally I see a good reason for so many low quality shows from Netflix and others. It's so we can have more material for this absolute legend to review.

[@malint5452]

I would actually not mind a weekly installment of Insider with Dr. Roel. There are SO MANY movies and series to critique on and I will never tire of this magnificient man.

[@paulheinrichdietrich9518]

Well, he does acknowledge that the Battle of Gaugamela at Alexander (2004) is the most accurate battle depiction in cinema that he knows of (still 9/10).

[@berndeklerk]

Tbf only the Greek sides is accuratly portrayed. The Persians are depicted as these headless chickens just rushing into the phalanxes

[@paulheinrichdietrich9518]

@@berndeklerk The director takes a few liberties for the sake of cinematic effect, especially in that scene in which the Persian infantry and the Macedonian phalanx clash. Elsewhere Persian heavy infantry, light infantry and cavalry are quite accurate in terms of equipment and tactics, and the order of battle is reasonably accurate throughout.

[@ak9989]

Kudos

[@ak9989]

Lol it says ancient

[@Krystal109]

Yea, II think he downgraded it because of the stereotypical "look" of Persians that they did.

[@robertzio]

I've been waiting for this, my friend

[@princeire7486]

I remember being in middle school and seeing Robin Hood in theaters and bursting out laughing when the D-Day invasion boats landed the French army.

[@ScarlettM]

Bring him back for more movies! I like a historian who is not afraid to give out "1" and "2" for lousy attention to history. Wish he would talk about Game of Thrones, 8x3 battle.

[@ElSweDenMW3]

He did it the last time he was featured

[@ScarlettM]

@@ElSweDenMW3 Do you have a link, by any chance? Thanks!

[@dallassukerkin6878]

@@ScarlettM They included a couple of links in the video description - one of those might be it

[@barisisler716]

@@ScarlettM You can find them in the Insider channel. Just click on Insider and go to videos. He has 2 more there.

[@jamesmayle3787]

The Bible is truth. The key to understanding that is in combining personally reading the Bible with putting the teachings Jesus Christ gave us into action in your own life. Start with forgiveness, parents are easiest, they’ve loved you. That’s a very important step in understanding all this. You have to work though your inner drama and forgive. Also, make sure you at least read three books of the Bible, Genesis Mathew and one you chose yourself. Jesus Christ is the way truth and life

[@thetonesstir]

Yes it’s the “where’s your ditch” guy! Him and the “wood floats” guy are the best

[@matt1104]

Good to see this guy back, knows his stuff and is entertaining. Would be good to get him back on again, if you do then please get him to look at some of the clips from Dragon Blade (2015), would be interesting to hear his thoughts on the mix of western and asian battle styles shown in it.

[@jarodm3401]

your guys video quality is so amazing now! keep with these cameras

[@gabrielbogari7063]

Imagine being a general in the Middle Ages and thinking "Oh boy, I hope Roel finds this battle realistic!". I'd be so nervous.

[@jadefire2817]

WWRD "What Would Roel Do?" would be a real thing!

[@cruisinguy6024]

I hope this guy reads the comments so he can see just how many of us deeply appreciate and enjoy his work

[@DrRoelKonijnendijk]

[@jamesmayle3787]

The Bible is truth. The key to understanding that is in combining personally reading the Bible with putting the teachings Jesus Christ gave us into action in your own life. Start with forgiveness, parents are easiest, they’ve loved you. That’s a very important step in understanding all this. You have to work though your inner drama and forgive. Also, make sure you at least read three books of the Bible, Genesis Mathew and one you chose yourself. Jesus Christ is the way truth and life,

[@ningning1196]

i missed HIM!!! THANKS FOR BRINGING HIM BACK!!

[@tcmeeks3181]

Please take your time covering this show and enjoy the holidays. we all understand and will be waiting eagerly for the videos once life starts again after the holidays

[@nickmiller344]

I'm always low key hoping this guy returns for videos. By far the best expert to listen to about any of these "expert rates their field" in my opinion. Others preach...this guy knows how to teach. Massive difference.

[@jamesmayle3787]

The Bible is truth. The key to understanding that is in combining personally reading the Bible with putting the teachings Jesus Christ gave us into action in your own life. Start with forgiveness, parents are easiest, they’ve loved you. That’s a very important step in understanding all this. You have to work though your inner drama and forgive. Also, make sure you at least read three books of the Bible, Genesis Mathew and one you chose yourself. Jesus Christ is the way truth and life,

[@danielskalk7797]

Hail satan!

[@raoullaskin9083]

I really like this professor. He makes no-nonsense, funny and intelligent observations. Also, I love how he validates many points I keep making about medieval movies.... they are more often made by people who seem clueless about medieval warfare.

[@jamesmayle3787]

The Bible is truth. The key to understanding that is in combining personally reading the Bible with putting the teachings Jesus Christ gave us into action in your own life. Start with forgiveness, parents are easiest, they’ve loved you. That’s a very important step in understanding all this. You have to work though your inner drama and forgive. Also, make sure you at least read three books of the Bible, Genesis Mathew and one you chose yourself. Jesus Christ is the way truth and life

[@jliller]

I suppose most movies featuring medieval warfare are made by and for people whose knowledge of medieval history is limited to other Hollywood movies and renaissance festivals.

[@kthemaster1999]

@@jamesmayle3787 and they say homosexuality is forced down our throats

[@mikev1294]

0:25 I'm so glad you pointed this out. Seems like every movie or show, that requires a beach landing or invasion, will include a Higgins boat.

[@unpampered]

Roel's ratings are even more brutal than the most brutal of ancient battles.

[@remylewis8721]

The real shame about the wheel of time scene in Fal Dara is in the books it’s incredibly different, it’s not even a siege. But the castle/city is extremely well fortified and everything in it is designed to withstand a siege because like he said they’ve been defending this place from trolloc raids for thousands of years, Robert Jordan did his research.

[@MichaelAlthauser]

Fal Dara is incredibly well defended. But the actual battle in the book happens at Tarwin's Gap, which I assume is because there were simply so many tens of thousands of Trollocs pouring out of the Blight that the Borderlands HAD to meet them there, rather than just letting them rampage across the land unchecked. ...either way, the show did the entire scenario a huge injustice, and the ending of season 1 was awful

[@remylewis8721]

@@MichaelAlthauser yeah like I said, it wasn’t a siege. Yes they did ride out to meet them because of the numbers of trollocs amassing but no one who rode out expected to return. They were buying time for the rest of sheinar to evacuate south and west. However, they didn’t just leave the castle or city unattended, there were still defenders there they just weren’t the elite forces they were older seasoned warriors who couldn’t keep up on the march or more inexperienced younger soldiers who would have been a liability. I agree with you they truly dropped the ball at the end S1 even though overall it wasn’t ~great~ with all the unnecessary changes. But yeah having the girls out front channeling instead of everyone going to the eye and egwene somehow reviving the dead, not having rand even battle any of the forsaken let alone show up to save the day, all absolutely terrible decisions.

[@PatrickDaviswimiwamwamwazzle]

I normally don't watch adaptions mainly because of the liberties they take to dumb down scenes. Everything I've heard of the show just makes me want to stay further away and just keep to the books.

[@jeremyschwed3212]

Unfortunately due to covid they didn't have any of the stunt actors for the battle scene, and had to come up with some kind of last minute cgi solution. Still felt dumb to make the wall that bad, but I'm hoping future seasons will be better.

[@IAmEki]

Also as far as I can remember, Tarwin's Gap would have been well within human controlled territory before Malkier fell just some decades ago. That would still be enough time to build a proper fortification, but it's not thousands of years

[@lewismatthewraines7355]

I have built so many ditches around my house because of this man. Fantastic historian and great sense of humour.

[@fionasabre]

You can't have enough ditches...go dig some more

[@nampham162]

@@fionasabre If you finished one, dig another!

[@papadoc331]

Dig. More.

[@sister_bertrille911]

Don't forget your palisade!

[@NoName-uo1qz]

Awesome videos and i love the spirit of funny sarcasm you are adding to your comments

[@st.jimmy0244]

I'll never get tired of watching this guy...he's the best!

[@StewDaJew]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE keep bringing this guy back he’s amazing

[@nerd26373]

These historians certainly have a lot of great insights to share. The level of knowledge they have is impeccable. War scenes in shows and films have a tendency to be slightly inaccurate with some historical details.

[@MarcSob22]

no just talk nonsense based on his believes nothing real!

[@Pablosko611]

These historians def. have some knowledge when it comes to history

[@alastorcorvus]

"slightly inaccurate", the understatement of the year.

[@alastorcorvus]

@@MarcSob22 lmao, he has studied actual warfare for more than two decades, he's basing his critiques on facts and experience, not beliefs.

[@Thickcurves]

Slightly? Try massively wrong.

[@EchoesDaBear]

Besides the name, I can tell this guy is a Dutchman just by his straight forward and very blunt way of explaining things (all tinged with a wry sense of humour! Especially "I'll give it 2/10 for getting the date right"!) - and I love it!! I would continue to watch a series with this guy. His insight is excellent. He should be an automatic consultant on ALL proposed battle scenes! Cheers - keep this guy Insider!

[@Aimes604]

I love this guy haha. He’s probably a really good teacher. The ditch thing is so funny. I’m probably going to be yelling “where’s the ditch!” Every time I watch a movie with a battle scene in it lol.

[@suchnothing]

He's very entertaining, but I think if he graded an undergrad paper I wrote it would probably make me cry 😅 I'd love to have him as a supervisor for a masters thesis though.

[@MatthieuDeW]

If you ever ask dr. Konijnendijk to rate more movies, make sure he rates the Siege of Zbarazh from a 1990s Polish movie called Ogniem i Mieczem. It features ditches, the attackers trying to bridge them while under heavy fire, palisades, siege towers covered in wet hides, formations and a proper cavalry charge. He'd love it.

[@teresasch3734]

Please tweet him! Sounds like his cup of tea

[@Tazza19931]

"I don't know what they did? They built the most simple wall they could, for about a week, and then did crossword puzzles?" Absolutely love it.

[@misaelvillalba8671]

Finally someone that actually says it. In fact, the same can be said about the whole show, they just worked for a week and then did nothing else, absolutely worthless.

[@kokowheeli6053]

Has he seen The Great Wall?

[@Tazza19931]

@@misaelvillalba8671 I'm a big fan of the books and then, upon seeing the reception the show got, I decided to give it a miss. I assume that I'm not missing much and I shouldn't bother with it? Haha.

[@jimcannibal4911]

@@kokowheeli6053 Have you seen the great wall? How can you compare that with the great wall?

[@kokowheeli6053]

@@jimcannibal4911 because I was thinking the exact same thing watching TGW as he did watching TWoT. Would love to see his reaction to it.

[@miau05]

i love Roel ... could watch an episode with him every day ..

[@TrailsTrailsTrails]

Can we just pay this man good money to do a weekly show already!?

[@zacharychaira808]

The comment about the top down view regarding a battle plan being a modern idea was very interesting. That makes sense that they would simply survey the actual battlefield from a high point rather than sketching it out in the sand or on a map/table.

[@AudieHolland]

I wonder if they made miniature models of the battlefield instead?

[@zacharychaira808]

Just my guess, but that's likely more materials that they didn't have on hand during those times 🤔. And it still means the warriors/soldiers would have to think about the plans abstractly.

[@Prometheus4096]

I think it is much deeper than that. The entire concept of a map with accurate dimensions was completely alien to then. There is a youtube video about this by someone, which shows some of the really deformed maps they had. They had maps written from the perspective of someone walking from A to B, following landmarks. Maps of areas with several cities are like literal metro lines. Cities would wrap around coastlines, rivers and roads. Even the highly educated people making these maps never considered actual bird's eye top down maps.

[@AudieHolland]

@@Prometheus4096 I disagree. Pictures showing deformed dimensions in Medieval art were mostly becaues of 'rules.' Religious aesthetics, who knows? Anyway, during the Egyptian Golden Age, 2D artwork also looked rather unnatural. But when comparing 3D busts to 2D paintings of the same period, the 3D artwork was perfect in its proportions. And there are cave paintings in Europe that show very naturalistic looking animals. So perhaps the more deformed and symbolic looking animal paintings were used for performing religious ceremonies, asking for a good hunt while the natural paintings were just pretty pictures of animals without deeper meaning.

[@Prometheus4096]

@@AudieHolland Dude, we are talking about maps. Not sure at all why you bring up the earliest human drawings or the Egyptians very stylized wall decorations.

[@RaNc0R]

“ if your ditches weren’t able to stop the invading army then you haven’t dug enough ditches “ - this guy probably

[@p_serdiuk]

Also true of trenches

[@matthewcarroll2533]

You summed up pre-WW2 military doctrine in one simple sentence, bravo! lol

[@orokito]

This is the best! waiting for part 4

[@kiltlvr]

I would love to have him as a professor. He makes history come alive.

[@muh.andianto]

I like how simple common sense he uses to explain what's wrong with the movies. His ditch is one thing that's stuck in my mind since then.

[@Frejjan]

"Premium-grade plot armor" 😂

[@boreos3499]

This guy is one of my favorite of your guests (and those other channels).

[@dylanliu4089]

i want more of this guy. knowledgeable and hilarious.

[@teresasch3734]

Hoping for part 4 with this awesome dude!

[@bloodyshothvacr]

Dig many ditches and hope for the best

[@amsuther]

Return of the ditch...

[@Thomas-ib8fe]

You gotta give points for a good ditch!

[@TattooedTabletop]

THE LEGEND RETURNS! Seriously hope you guys filmed a second one that you'll release in a week for this dude, because he is just the best!

[@bushibayushi]

Love this man, such great insight

[@stefanmds4684]

I love this man. I wish I could listen to his lectures. So captivating.

[@timmerk7363]

"You gotta give points for a good ditch."

[@nicklindberg90]

Amen!

[@NoseNuggets]

Roel "Where is your ditch" Konijnendijk, we love this guy. More Roel!

[@jamesmayle3787]

The Bible is truth. The key to understanding that is in combining personally reading the Bible with putting the teachings Jesus Christ gave us into action in your own life. Start with forgiveness, parents are easiest, they’ve loved you. That’s a very important step in understanding all this. You have to work though your inner drama and forgive. Also, make sure you at least read three books of the Bible, Genesis Mathew and one you chose yourself. Jesus Christ is the way truth and life,

[@godfreyofbouillon966]

@@jamesmayle3787 OK I will use it when I lack toilet paper but until then this is about history not your lack of wits

[@AndiGe_]

4 months already! You need to do another video with this guy!

[@jonathanbosman1568]

My favourite reviewer, his sense of humor and accuracy is awesome. Ditches and walls many ditches and walls

[@yhanemorales2591]

Yay! He's back !!! I hope he doesn't get disappointed again if there's no ditch 😁

[@godfreyofbouillon966]

But there was one! it's like Christmas coming early!

[@craigkdillon]

Btw -- your criticism of a beach landing scene for using WW2 landing craft was spot on. The only thing you missed is that the landing craft would have been accompanied by battleship shore bombardment, and air ground attacks.

[@TenOfTwenty]

You forgot to mention the medieval paratroopers.

[@ashleytaylor7621]

Air ground attacks???

[@SauloPMB]

Whenever I see this guy in the thumbnail, I just feel sorry for the upcoming movies without ditches

[@quocbinhhoang7538]

Roel earned you a sub, Insider!

[@JosephTorres-zb7io]

Fun fact. Watching this guys videos started me thinking ‘Roel’ is a cool name, and now I’m having a son I’m naming Roel.

[@claudiusmarcellus1347]

You guys should have showed him the opening battle scene in HBO's Rome. Arguably one of the most faithful adaptations of Roman infantry warfare ever

[@skullslace2426]

This comment has been under the other two videos with him already, I don't understand why they won't do it.

[@klassikerreview4170]

If I remember correctly, someoner asked him about it on Twitter and he said sth like that it had the right idea in mind but critisized it for being too smooth and coordinated on the roman side while the gauls are potryed to uncoordinated. Something along those lines.

[@TheAlexey78]

This guy is just awesome I wish I could take one of his classes

[@deepgaming1360]

I don't know how 18 min passed so quickly..Great Guy!! Plz keep doing these videos with him

[@SuperTballs69]

What really bugs me about filmmakers is that they don't know that you don't have to change real life to make it cooler. As he said at the end, the battle of Gaugamela in Alexander is an incredible scene, and they didn't have to fancy it up with any nonsense. They just showed what happened and it works because - TURNS OUT - history is pretty sick as it is. Most people aren't smart enough to know fact from fiction, and they accept what they see at face value. That's how all these insane stereotypes about human history keep getting passed on as truth, and over time, absolute nonsense becomes held as basic fact. Super disappointing and I think it has pretty serious ramifications for how we view our own cultural history as well as others, which in turn affects how we treat one another today....Anyone interested in un-learning fake history should listen to the Our Fake History podcast. I guarantee your mind will be blown.

[@User-54631]

I disagree, character development in real life takes place over long periods of time, over many events, if any change happens at all. I didn’t go acting/being 21 to acting/being 31 in 2 hours. Anybody who says their decision making is the same at 20 then at 40 is either lying or has emotional/psychological developmental issues.

[@matthewcarroll2533]

@@User-54631 ...What? Everything you said sounds completely irrelevant to what the OP said, lol. In any case, learning and obtaining more knowledge is the essence of our entire existence, whether your actively learning or subconsciously so. Better to be a seeker then and gain wisdom BEYOND your actual age/experience.

[@l4nd3r]

Movies are limited either by time, budget or a combination of both, sometimes a filmaker has to compromise accuracy for the story/pacing of what they want to tell. Then you have to add that realistic battles are usually pretty boring affairs

[@JHulse29]

@@l4nd3r right? In real life there are no "extras." So there are formations and rigid training/order , combat isn't wild swinging weapons at each other or having two crazed mobs just crash into each other. No one is trying to die lol

[@Kintabl]

@@l4nd3r LOL! You say battles are boring. In how many battles were you?