10 Times Movies Made Us Believe Historical Myths That Were Absolutely Not True

Movies love historical myths, and they love them hard, especially when it makes the scene look bigger, dirtier, or more romantic. But sometimes the “epic” moment is just impossible, the gesture is misunderstood, and the wardrobe is basically fan fiction.

Take that battle scene where the leader delivers a speech to tens of thousands of warriors. In real life, the scale would have swallowed his voice, so generals would have used smaller groups or messengers. Or look at the “knights kissing hands” thing, the hair flowing down like a shampoo ad, and the idea that everyone died by 30. These are the kinds of details that sound right until you picture the actual people and the actual conditions.

Here are 10 movie moments that made history feel dramatic, when the truth was way less cinematic.

1. We’ve all seen the movie where the leader of the warriors gives a speech to the warriors before the battle begins, but that’s not true.

In such a situation, with the presence of tens of thousands of men, how could his voice be heard? Smaller armies had battle speeches of this size; with larger armies, the generals would speak to their men in blocks or send out messages.

But this wouldn’t look as epic on the big screen.

? Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King / New Line Cinema,

2. Knights didn’t go around kissing hands.

The empty hand kiss became particularly popular in some countries until the Victorian era. In fact, there have been mixed reactions to this gesture.

? 20TH CENTURY FOX / Album / East News,

3. It’s likely that you’ve seen movies where ladies in the Victorian or medieval eras have long, flowing hair, but this wasn’t the case in reality.

In reality, women covered their hair, braided it, and wore it up since displaying long hair was viewed as impolite and a sign of immorality and temptation. This was especially true for married women.

Unmarried women and girls were permitted to let their hair hang a little looser, although even in the Victorian era, this was frowned upon.

CAP / RFS / Capital Pictures / East News,

4. Although it was generally believed that people born in the Middle Ages would only survive until their 30s, this was not always the case.

Diseases, a high newborn mortality rate, a lack of modern treatment, the plague, and starvation all contributed to reduced life expectancy. However, this does not imply that you passed away the minute you turned 30.

In fact, assuming you made it through infancy, you could anticipate living to be between 62 and 70 years old, which is a reasonably average age.

? Merlin / BBC

5. Maybe you’ve seen a medieval movie where a commoner was covered in pus and black. It is true that the health situation was not as good as it is now, but Hollywood movies portray it as much worse than it really was.

? Everett Collection / East News,

6. Anyone who has watched Braveheart is aware that the Scots wore kilts. But it took another 300 years before kilts were even invented.

? Capital Pictures / East News

This is similar to the friend who wanted a loan for a business venture, and the real question was whether to say no.

7. We perceive Pocahontas’ protagonist as a mature lady. Pocahontas actually first encountered the colonists and John Smith when she was a young girl, between the ages of 10 and 12.

? Capital Pictures / East News,

8. Spartans actually wore armor.

Due to films like 300, we commonly see Spartans as sporting loincloths and capes. They may have eventually given up their body armor, but that was definitely not the case initially.

Going into battle, a Spartan soldier, or hoplite, wore a large bronze helmet, breastplate, and ankle guards, and carried a round shield made of bronze and wood, a long spear, and a sword. Spartan warriors were also known for their long hair and red cloaks.

? Capital Pictures / East News,

9. Quite frankly, there is no sword in existence that can realistically penetrate plate armor.

If you swing a sword at someone in solid plate armor, the most you’ll do is dent it, and even that will only happen if you happen to be extremely strong and wielding an extremely large sword.

? Touchstone Pictures / Album / East News,

10. Although the first dinosaurs are thought to have emerged some 245 million years ago, dinosaurs with feathers have been dated to only 180 million years ago.

In the 1990s, the first dinosaur fossils with what seem to be feather-like features were discovered. Then came further revelations.

According to certain research published in 2011, all dinosaurs may have possessed feathered coverings on some or all of their bodies, similar to how all mammals have hair, even though not all mammals have hairy coats.

? Depositphotos.com

That battle speech in the first entry is where the movie magic starts, because a crowd that big would have turned the “rally” into background noise.

Right after that, the hand-kissing myth gets its own glow-up, even though the “empty hand” gesture didn’t match what people imagine when they picture medieval knights.

Then the article flips to the Victorian and medieval hair situation, where women were expected to cover and style their hair instead of letting it flow loose like a movie costume.

And just when you think it can’t get stranger, the Braveheart kilts bit reminds you how long myths can survive, even after someone should have checked the timeline.

The narratives do, in fact, lend a certain air of mystique or charm to the undertakings to which they are related. However, all good things must come to an end, and it is now time to recognize that these specific examples of cinematic history are only somewhat more real than that recurrent dream you keep having about the dancing lemon. 

The next time a film swears “this is how it was,” remember how many of these scenes collapse the second you picture real people in real life.

Before you lend a dime, see what happened when someone asked, “Should I decline lending money to my friends business venture?”