


It has a ring of truth to it, but not for the Middle Ages, or indeed any point in the pre-modern period. Is this trope accurate? Yes and no, it turns out. Historically speaking, the Battle of Loudoun Hill was fought on a narrow front, surrounded by marshland, so we might give this a bit of a pass. Now, there was a road earlier in the scene, but it was not this wide. The end of the final battle (a mash-up of the battles of Loudoun Hill and Bannockburn). The basic visual shorthand also shows up in movies, such as after the big final battle in Netflix’s Outlaw King or in the big battle in S1E1 of The Last Kingdom. You can see battlefields like this most frequently in video-games, like the Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (in Velen) or Dragon Age: Origins (at Ostergar) or Dragon Age: Inquisition (the Exalted Plains) or in TES V: Skyrim (especially in the siege outside of Whiterun). If this ground is normally this marshy, why would an army try to fight here?Īlso: why has no one bothered to try to take all of these expensive weapons and armor? That is valuable stuff.Īlso a good example of the “random bits of broken wooden stuff” method of depicting battlefields.

Many objects will either still be inexplicably on fire (despite the rain implied by all the mud) or be smoking from some previous fire. The bodies on the field, typically still in full kit, are scattered around more or less evenly, or sometimes in little clumped groupings (if they haven’t been gathered for burial).

Note that there is nothing here to siege except for *other* networks of field fortifications. Field Fortifications in the Exalted Plains from Dragon Age: Inquisition. Frequently, these obstructions are attached to larger networks of trenches, braced with wood (which may also be on fire). Some – or all – of these will be on fire. We are often shown make-shift wooden obstacles – little palisades, stakes, abatis – scattered around, more or less at random, unless they are part of a large, elaborate system of field fortifications. It seems to have always rained just the night before, but more to the point, something has killed all of the grass, trees, and shrubs. The ground is invariably muddy and soaked. Popular media has a particular image for the post-battle battlefield that shows up in film, TV and video-games in the aftermath of a medieval or ancient (or comparable fantasy) battle. Obvious content warning, since this post is going to talk about (and show pictures of) some very ugly things. Today we’re going to talk about what a pre-modern battlefield might look like after the battle is over.
