I’m really confused by the propagating notion that barbs somehow don’t cause additional damage when pulled out of the victim. That’s literally why arrows were barbed. Arrows don’t need to remain embedded in their targets to wound or kill – once the arrow’s in there the damage has been done. Removing arrows (as has been pointed out already) actually results in opening the wound and accelerating blood loss assuming the wound is not sufficiently treated.
The barb allows the arrow to remain embedded easier, which also makes removal more difficult (which ties up additional manpower as now more people have to be pulled aside to treat the casualty, reducing the combat effectiveness of the enemy, etc. etc.) because the arrow has to be cut out and removed through specific techniques, as opposed to just pulling out a flat-edged dagger.
Why is that? Why can’t we just pull the arrow out because the barbs are sticking it in the wound?
If the arrow is pulled out it’ll cause additional injury. It is impossible to remove a barbed blade/arrowhead without doing further damage to the victim’s tissue precisely because the barbs will catch on flesh and pull/cut it. If the barbs were to face the “wrong way” (and by definition, no longer be barbs), the curvature of the backward-barbs would allow the weapon to slide out of the victim with relatively little extra harm done. The “barbs” would fail to catch on any flesh because they’re facing the wrong way.
All this stated, as others have previously pointed out, the real-world practicality of a barbed broadsword is not necessary in the context of BIONICLE. All that really matters is that we get a sword that’s got barbs – true barbs that face backward.
If we wanted to get slightly pedantic, a broadsword should be single-handed in keeping with the European basket-hilted broadsword (which was considered “broad” in comparison to the very thin rapiers that were fashionable during that same period) and the Chinese dao, also sometimes called a broadsword. It can possess either a dual edge or single edge as the European broadswords were double-edged while the dao were single-edged – based on the barb comment, dual-edged sounds more preferable.
Do I agree with this pedantry? No, and I do not think the above requirements are necessary. As people have already pointed out, BIONICLE played fast and loose with weapon names. Metus wielded an “axe,” for crying out loud. There are other examples that specifically pertain to swords:
- Lhikan’s Fire Greatswords. A greatsword is historically an oversized, two-handed sword. Lhikan’s swords are oversized, alright, but he dual wields them. I personally excuse this because Toa are so much stronger than humans that they can wield much heavier weapons without issue, but the fact remains that Lhikan’s swords don’t even begin to resemble real greatswords, which were two-handed and two-edged.
- Lewa’s Air Katana. Katana are defined as curved swords with a thin blade that possesses a single edge, held in two hands. Once again, Lewa swings around two of them at the same time. The bladed portion of the Air Katana is admittedly thin, but the vents on the back edge make it a very wide weapon.
- Lewa’s Air Saber. A saber is a one-handed sword possessing a guard and a curved blade (although straight-edged variations existed by the 20th century). While a guard isn’t easy to make in BIONICLE, Lewa’s saber nonetheless has a diminutive guard, and the curvature of the blade barely meets a saber’s requirements. Despite bearing spikes on the back end and a serrated edge, it might just be the only sword in this group that can arguably qualify as a saber.
BIONICLE has never really cared too deeply whether a broadsword looks like a real broadsword. However, the adjective “barbed” tells us very specifically what attributes the weapon has. Other Toa Tools signify this with terms such as “Laser Axe,” “Energized Ice Sword,” “Fire Sword,” “Rotating Fire Blades.” Even if the sword doesn’t look like a sword, the barbs will at least attempt to look like barbs.