67
$\begingroup$

As usual I write stuff like any professional fictional writers do, my protagonist worships a deity calling herself "The Expensive One" and she bestowed a flawless full body diamond armor which comes with a sword also made entirely of diamond.

In return, my protagonist must purge the land of the poor: anyone with net worth less than my protagonist has to be sacrificed and have their severed digits offered to the goddess as an atonement for their crime.

When the king heard about this, he decided to launch a manhunt against the protagonist. Both parties will meet-up at a valley to exchange pointers.

My question is would the diamond armor and sword make my protagonist invincible or could he lay waste to the cosplayers and their toys? Assume my protagonist is an Olympic champion with unlimited stamina and doesn't feel hunger or thirst. Please show working to support your answer.

$\endgroup$
5
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 9, 2016 at 12:52
  • $\begingroup$ Does your champion ever sleep? $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 11, 2016 at 12:25
  • $\begingroup$ As the answers point out, the armor and sword would be pitiful for battle, so that's just not a good use for them. However, since he has them, he could use them to attract damsels. Become a lover instead of a fighter. :-) $\endgroup$
    – fixer1234
    Commented Sep 11, 2016 at 21:04
  • $\begingroup$ How well can the protagonist swim? $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 12, 2016 at 16:38
  • $\begingroup$ Given the world type, is it safe to assume there are wonderous metals such as mithril and adamantite? If so, it may be more practical to have had an armour set made of one of these precious metals (maybe even with a coating of diamond to make them sparkly and.... expensive) Point is, it'd be much better for the job of protection... No chance your armour will shatter. $\endgroup$ Commented Feb 28, 2017 at 7:12

26 Answers 26

182
$\begingroup$

No

Ten (or more) knights would grab him by the arms and legs, bind him in iron chains, and then chuck him in a dungeon.

No matter what kind of armor or melee weapon you have, you are still limited to the strength of one human; you will be overpowered almost instantly by a group of people.

$\endgroup$
6
  • 22
    $\begingroup$ I hoped in some answer like: "No. Because reality is not minecraft. You also need a diamond sword!" XD $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 7, 2016 at 17:45
  • 46
    $\begingroup$ Dungeon if he's lucky. The nearest river if he's not. $\endgroup$
    – aroth
    Commented Sep 8, 2016 at 1:04
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Even in minecraft you would get killed by an army of zombie with a diamond armor ... $\endgroup$
    – Asoub
    Commented Sep 8, 2016 at 8:36
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ @Asoub Not if you ain't an idiot and remember you have legs and arms. $\endgroup$
    – Skye
    Commented Sep 8, 2016 at 12:26
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ More realistically the 4 chains would go to 2 or 4 horses (depending how much you pissed off the King) right there and then. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 13, 2016 at 7:11
168
$\begingroup$

There are numerous problems.

  1. Diamonds are brittle

    Hard, but relatively easy to crush, if you happen to hit just right. Armor would be crushed before your hero knows what happened. See Why does diamond have lower tensile strength than Iron? on Physics Stack Exchange.

  2. Diamonds are flammable

    Sure, it takes about 900 degrees Celsius to start diamond fire, but then it's just like coal.

  3. Diamonds are expensive

    For a price of one set of such armor, you can have dozens equipped with nets etc, to catch your diamond without damaging it. Guy inside starts to be irrelevant.

$\endgroup$
20
  • 40
    $\begingroup$ "diamond fire". My mage's next hi-level spell. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 6, 2016 at 12:38
  • 80
    $\begingroup$ I love the last line: "guy inside starts to be irrelevant" $\endgroup$
    – Doktor J
    Commented Sep 6, 2016 at 14:04
  • 16
    $\begingroup$ If you're going to subject a person to such intense heat, I surmise you'd enjoy victory a LOT sooner than the ignition point of his fancy-pants... The cost of the armor is irrelevant, however. Aside from the nuances that the question's author has included, it is an important truth that many innovations start out as a cost-inefficient curiosity. Economizing on a new design is the second step, after you've determined whether it can even produce results. $\endgroup$
    – Eikre
    Commented Sep 6, 2016 at 14:56
  • 6
    $\begingroup$ Diamonds can even break when dropped on concrete, I've seen it happen. Being carbon, they will also react chemically with certain things. I recall this movie they showed way back in school that was a montage of many of the ways diamonds can be destroyed. $\endgroup$
    – nijineko
    Commented Sep 6, 2016 at 15:40
  • 4
    $\begingroup$ @Shufflepants: Well, a sword made of diamonds won't dissolve in water, or attract ants, flies and bees $\endgroup$
    – nzaman
    Commented Sep 6, 2016 at 18:56
72
$\begingroup$

You will be downed with a few nets, fixated with rope and either buried alive, drowned or launched with trebuchet. In short, no, don't try this at home.

$\endgroup$
5
  • 11
    $\begingroup$ Full steel plate is seriously difficult to penetrate with dark ages tech, so this was often the way armoured knights were dealt with anyways. $\endgroup$
    – Lord Dust
    Commented Sep 6, 2016 at 16:00
  • 8
    $\begingroup$ "launched with trebuchet." Well, that's rather radical. Maybe the king wants to send a message de the Expensive One, but even then ... $\endgroup$
    – Asoub
    Commented Sep 8, 2016 at 8:38
  • 4
    $\begingroup$ @Asoub "You want us to what, sir?" The fire commander looked around among his underlings, "You heard me." "But..." He brusquely interrupted, "Look, we have this pile of twigs just standing around anyway, don't we? Now put it to work!" $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 8, 2016 at 12:24
  • $\begingroup$ I suspect "launched with trebuchet" is a Simpsons reference. $\endgroup$ Commented Jan 10, 2019 at 16:27
  • $\begingroup$ @CodeswithHammer It was more of Lost or even Euromaidan reference. $\endgroup$
    – alamar
    Commented Jan 11, 2019 at 10:06
70
$\begingroup$

Nope. Diamonds are very hard (10 on the Mohs scale), but this just means that they are very resistant to scratches (which is why they're often used in drill tips for mining). They are very brittle, so they shatter very easily - not a property you want for armour or weapons. If the armour's compromised, the protagonist becomes a lot easier to kill.

In addition, diamonds are still pretty valuable. If word gets around that the protagonist carries weapons and armour made of diamond, that will motivate quite a few people to join in the hunt - paydays like that don't come along very often! We'll be rich, I tell ya - rich!

$\endgroup$
1
  • 12
    $\begingroup$ +1 for the mention of diamond bits. They are not (to the disappointment of everyone coming across them for the first time) large diamonds carved into a bit, but hardened steel with flecks of diamond in them. Just diamond grit, smaller than grains of sand. Larger pieces would just break under the shear forces. $\endgroup$
    – brichins
    Commented Sep 8, 2016 at 22:22
43
$\begingroup$

They could shower him in tar and lit him as a torch. Getting fried in your armour is not a nice way to end your career.

$\endgroup$
4
  • 17
    $\begingroup$ Relevant to this: diamond, unlike most other non-metallic materials, is a good heat conductor. (And at sufficiently high temperatures it can also burn itself, but you'd be dead before reaching those temperatures.) $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 6, 2016 at 21:25
  • 21
    $\begingroup$ @leftaroundabout: not just good, 5x as good as copper! Fun fact: synthetic diamond heat sinks are a real thing, and used for some high power ICs and laser diodes. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 7, 2016 at 0:25
  • 9
    $\begingroup$ While concussive force would be more effective, there's a certain aesthetic value in setting the glittering diamond knight alight. $\endgroup$
    – jorfus
    Commented Sep 8, 2016 at 4:06
  • $\begingroup$ @jorfus I would be afraid I'd not be getting the armor after that. Money wasted. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 11, 2016 at 20:04
32
$\begingroup$

Full-Plate steel armor was already practically impenetrable at the time, and there were still plenty of ways to kill people wearing it. Gaps in the armor are necessary for mobility, simply immobilizing the wearer if absent, and the fact is that diamond armor won't reduce the concussive damage at all, so unless you have the world's best padding under that armor, you're still going to feel the blows of various medieval bludgeoning weapons.

Better to stick with firearms, which did bring about the end of the armored age.

$\endgroup$
2
  • $\begingroup$ Actually not quite true. English longbow and the crossbows did a fine job against armor. $\endgroup$
    – Pat
    Commented Sep 9, 2016 at 19:29
  • $\begingroup$ @Pat Not true either! True full plate steel armor was quite effective, but very rare. history.stackexchange.com/questions/9424/… $\endgroup$
    – Zibbobz
    Commented Sep 9, 2016 at 19:37
28
$\begingroup$

No

Because of the same reason an indestructible car will still crush you to a pulp in a high-speed crash.

The human body is not very good at accelerating/decelerating quickly, or absorbing impact. If the Knights decide to repeatedly stampede you with cavalry, you will die. If they decide to dance around you while attacking you with maces, you will still die. The diamond armor may not even suffer a scratch, but it won't absorb the impact for you either.

If they decide to rope you with steel chains, you can't do much either. Even with a diamond sword, it takes a lot of time and effort to sever a steel chain. And I don't think the sword will do much good if you are being dragged behind a galloping horse. All they have to do is drag you to a cliff and throw you off. You will die a glorious death in a diamond armor!

Not to mention that hardness and strength are very different properties, as Philip Rowlands points out in his answer.

$\endgroup$
3
  • 8
    $\begingroup$ This is also the main reason why an Iron Man suit is not feasible. $\endgroup$
    – TylerH
    Commented Sep 7, 2016 at 15:07
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ A glorious and glittering death! $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 8, 2016 at 3:52
  • 8
    $\begingroup$ Just picture throwing an egg in a steel box down the stairs $\endgroup$
    – NibblyPig
    Commented Sep 8, 2016 at 13:23
17
$\begingroup$

Diamonds are hard, but due to the way the atoms are laid out, they have several cleavage planes. So while it won't scratch easily, you can fracture or shatter it.

From The Diamond cut by Edward J Epstein (http://www.edwardjayepstein.com/diamond/chap11.htm)

"Until the late fifteenth century, diamond cutting had been a primitive business. Diamonds were first "cleaved" by placing a chisel at the stone's weakest point of molecular cohesion and striking it with a mallet. If the precise point was located on the diamond's structure, the adhesion would be so weak that the diamond could be separated with a fingernail. If pressure was applied to the wrong point, or in the wrong direction, the diamond would shatter. "

So whacking on it with swords or maces isn't going to do it much good.

$\endgroup$
1
  • $\begingroup$ Breaking the diamond armour with bare fingernails would be a nice twist. $\endgroup$
    – celtschk
    Commented Sep 10, 2016 at 10:50
14
$\begingroup$

Diamonds are hard, but they're brittle. Diamond armor would be very hard to scratch, yes, but even a humble gemcutter knows how to get around that. The sword is especially problematic: it would probably break the first time it hit something made of metal or stone (someone else's armor or sword, perhaps).

There are a couple of tactics I can think of to handle something like this:

  1. Smash the armor. A couple of knights with warhammers should make short work of a suit of diamond plate. Even an archer could do it, though they'd need an extremely lucky shot.
  2. Tackle the knight. A good set of full plate can protect you from swords or even arrows, but no amount of armor will do you any good against a linebacker. Diamond armor would be lighter than steel for the same thickness, so you'd have somewhat better mobility than a knight in conventional armor, and that might let you dodge the first few attempts, but by sheer numbers someone would get you. Once you're immobilized, the fight is over: you may still be alive, but you've lost.
  3. Kill it with fire. Diamond conducts heat very well: better, in fact, than most metals. This is not an advantage against a blob of burning pitch or boiling oil. Other answers have talked about diamond's flammability, but really, the protagonist would be dead long before the armor caught fire.
$\endgroup$
1
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ Yep... This is why it would be hilarious to watch someone try use diamond as armor. It's such a stupid idea in reality ^.^ $\endgroup$
    – Durakken
    Commented Sep 8, 2016 at 10:35
9
$\begingroup$

Assuming that your diamond war-kit behaves like modern science would suggest it behaves, this clearly won't work. But, this is clearly also a fantasy story, where the protagonist is given magic diamond armor by the gods. If you want them to win, go for it. The Greek heroes have done far more with far less.

What I'm really concerned about is the background to this question. Your protagonist was given magic, probably priceless magical armor by a god, and told to kill anyone with less net worth. Given how much magical, invulnerability granting armor is worth, I think you've just made a character who is magically bound to kill the entire world, barring anyone who gets magical equipment from their god.

I don't want to tell you how to write your character, I just think you may be asking the wrong question. Whether he wins or loses is kinda up to you (he's wearing magic armor, he can live or die however you want him to), but I think what's more interesting is how he's going to deal with being ordered to kill Everyone.

$\endgroup$
1
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ that might be a nice twist - evil sorceress orders minion to slay poor people and says "This means anyone worth less than you". she then gives him a fabulous suit of armor that makes his net worth more than hers. Minion slays sorceress; minion takes throne; minion becomes just and loved ruler forever after. $\endgroup$
    – Steve Ives
    Commented Sep 12, 2016 at 14:18
8
$\begingroup$

Well... not as such. But...

There are a few things about this scenario that jump out at me.

In the real world, suiting up in diamond armor would be a stupid idea. As pointed out by the numerous other commentators, diamond, while very hard, is not exactly durable; mundane diamond armor would shatter easily, making it quite probably worse than useless. However... we are talking about something granted to your protagonist by a god here; you could easily set it up as, say, magically forged, perhaps giving it properties similar to 'mithril' from The Lord of The Rings, for example. I admit that personally, if this really is a god of wealth, I'd be more inclined to imagine something like a pure platinum armor set encrusted with precious gems (platinum is probably not great armor material either, but the real armor in this scenario is the god's magic, not the mundane matter it swims through.)

I haven't checked out which of these options (diamond vs. platinum) would be more valuable in our world, I admit -- but value isn't something intrinsic to the valuable thing; it only ever exists in the context of a society, a culture, an economy. Diamonds are expensive because they're rare, and because enough human beings place a sufficiently high value on them to drive up the demand (partly also because they're rare and, of course, shiny) -- not because they are diamond. In your world, maybe the economy works differently than our modern one (though I'll take it as a given that gems, precious metals, etc., are still valuable.) Which segues nicely into another point...

As a god of wealthy people, it would be incredibly counter-productive to try and kill off the poor. Why? Well, without the lower classes to take care of the "mundane" work for them, the rich would be forced into manual labor themselves. If you know something about history, you'll know that before mechanization -- before the invention of such marvels of technological cleverness and infrastructure as the washing machine and industrial-scale farming -- everything that needed to be done had to be done by hand. The only reason the rich and well-off can be rich and well-off, as we commonly understand it, is that there are whole strata of people below them doing things like the manual labor of farming (without which there would be nothing to eat) and building (without which there would be no shelter), weaving, tailoring, cooking, mucking out stables... the list goes on. As a god who wants to preserve and increase wealth in such a world, I'd probably be more interested in suppressing rebellion and making sure the lower classes don't get any ideas in their heads, speaking for myself.

That doesn't mean that The Expensive One won't do what the premise states! It just means that I think their/her/its motivations are probably rather different than it might seem at first glance: systematically savaging the poor and working people will create a great deal of economic instability and (if you can keep it up) might quite conceivably cause the society to collapse.

Getting back to the point of this question, finally... I don't think that simple armor (whether mundane/relatively ineffective/impossible diamond or something that's effectively mithril) and a weapon will guarantee you victory over the King's forces all by themselves. Even without supernatural aid of their own (they have the whole resources of the kingdom, which may quite possibly include mages or the priests of other gods) they probably could, if you tried to take them on head-to-head, eventually trap you (with, say, weighted nets), chain you somehow or other and seal you in a deep crypt to live out the rest of your lifespan in darkness (see: 'doesn't feel hunger or thirst.') They have numerical superiority, after all, and taking them on in an open area where you can be surrounded ... might not be the best idea, especially if all you have is relatively mundane weapons, armor, and superhuman durability.

But that doesn't necessarily mean all is lost: As a canny protagonist who wants to keep causing economic chaos, pleasing her god or maybe just sacrificing the fingers of the unfortunate, I feel like I'd try a few other approaches...

First off, I'd probably try to evade the army or lure them into a trap of some sort: perhaps draw them into a narrow, twisting canyon or even a tunnel system where I can attack from the shadows and pick them off one by one, or at least two or three at a time. One big advantage shows up here: they'll get tired, scared, thirsty, and so on, and I won't.

If this wasn't feasible, I might want to become a sniper: find good vantage points from above the enemy force and fire down onto them, preferrably causing as much chaos as possible with each shot and moving off quickly to avoid being targeted in return -- improvised explosives, fire, or maybe even some kind of cursed payload would probably be good ideas here.

Finally, assuming I've done a good job slaying and sacrificing peasants and such in the past, I could always pray for assistance from the god I follow. I have no idea what The Expensive One would be able to or willing to do, of course -- if it would even do anything...

$\endgroup$
6
$\begingroup$

No. The armor has a critical weakness - the arrogant protagonist inside, who can easily be brought down by his own hubris. No battalion needed, just one poor person who has access to a shovel and a blanket.

Instructions for the poor person:

Step 1 - Dig a pit, optionally fill it with water, cover it with a blanket, and put a thin layer of dirt, mulch, leaves, twigs on top to disguise it.

Step 2 - Stand on the other side of pit from Sir Snob and get his attention so that he charges toward you with his sword, falling into the pit.

Step 3 - Profit. After he drowns, or dies of dehydration (which he didn't even know would happen because he couldn't sense thirst), recover the diamond armor and sell it. Now you're a rich person and can more than afford to replace your blanket.

$\endgroup$
3
$\begingroup$

Being inside diamond armor when something like this happens is going to hurt. And the diamond, if it shatters will become very sharp shards cuting into you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30lGrarz3MQ

There are very few things that can not be turned against someone with a little thought.

$\endgroup$
3
$\begingroup$

Well, there are plenty of other answers that explain why your notion of diamond armour and weaponry is flawed. However, there is one way to use a full suite of diamond armour to kill a lot of people - sell the armour, and hire a lot of assassins (or common thugs, really...)

Ignoring the physics involved, don't forget how many stories have been written about how ridiculous the whole concept of an invincible warrior is. There's all those fun solutions like "crush him in his armour," "bind him in chains," "throw him into the sea" and many, many others. Unless that suit of diamond armour is also a self-contained power-armour that can amplify the wearers strength without limit, it's rather worthless as armour - physical or not.

I wouldn't worry about looters too much. "Full suit of diamond armour" sounds like the kind of thing no one would ever believe even if they were seeing it with their own eyes :D

$\endgroup$
1
  • $\begingroup$ Remember the assassins are going to, at least initially, have less net worth than the protagonist. I don't think a job interview would go well if the potential employer is trying to sacrifice the potential employee, who is an assassin. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 10, 2016 at 1:11
2
$\begingroup$

Diamonds, while hard, are very brittle. One really sturdy hit with a warhammer would probably leave your hero unarmored, even if each piece was a single crystal.

$\endgroup$
2
$\begingroup$

Basically, No. Despite the strength of diamond as a material, a correct strike will split it straight. Also, due to Diamond's tetrahedron structure, it will basically 'not like' its sword shape. Also, sharpening it would be a nightmare, considering how strong it is. The thing that gives a sword its advantage is sharpness, not its strength as much. Iron is easily sharpened, perfect for swords. Also consider how brittle diamond is. Diamond is a non metal, meaning it is easily shattered/snapped.

As for the armour, it would be crazily heavy. Chainmail is used because it is light, and in conditions were iron is used, they are sheets to decrease weight. Diamond cannot be a sheet as it is brittle and a small smack will snap it or shatter it.

In conclusion, your best bet is to sell it, get a hoard of money and buy an army. Or hang them on your wall.

$\endgroup$
1
$\begingroup$

Definitely a huge NO.

Diamonds are HARD - that is does not exchange with Tensile strength - so you have expensive (and shiny) scratch-resistant armor but crushing/bludgeoning can and will break it - so mauls/battleaxes/clubs/dudes with rocks beating on him with destroy the armor.

You figure all the joints will be exposed, so a spear or arrow to your armpits, knees, neck, eyes - still meat inside that armor

Nets, pitfalls, legbreakers, snares, and other less-than-traditional trapping methods will be fine - fight smarter, not harder, I'd tag and bag the protagonist and buy some wenches with his diamond cuirass - thanks for the loot, bro!

Diamonds are still carbon, it will burn, some a nice defilade position filled with pitch can take care of him.

$\endgroup$
1
$\begingroup$

Consider how efficient simple burning is. Diamonds are carbon, and they burn easy like coal.

It shouldn't be too difficult to get some liquid splashed onto the armor, and set it to flame - splash lots of oil and shoot flaming arrows.

$\endgroup$
1
  • 7
    $\begingroup$ Coal doesn't burn that easily. The reason you can easily ignite charcoal is that it's very porous, which means it doesn't conduct heat away too quickly but lets oxygen access a large surface area, where it can react and produce more heat. But you wouldn't have much fun trying to ignite high-purity anthracite on your barbecue, and diamond is more difficult yet because it conducts heat away from hot spots very quickly. Furthermore, non-porous materials don't soak up lighters like oil, so you'd need more viscous tar which itself isn't that easy to ignite. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 6, 2016 at 21:36
1
$\begingroup$

Here's my thought: If a goddess, mind you a Goddess, has granted you a full body diamond armor, would she, a god, not know the weakness of a diamond armor and sword.

The armor is flawless, meaning it has no flaws. The diamond would have be a complete seamless diamond, with no points to crack and shatter.

The armor may be full diamond, but did it say how it was full diamond? How do you know if the goddess has put some super shock resistant substance beneath all that diamond?

And about the weight, heavier things make you use more strength to move them, thus making you tired quicker. But this guy, this guy has unlimited stamina! He can move in the armor forever if he wants to!

And he was an Olympic champion. He could have been any Olympic champion, wrestling, weightlifting, acrobatics, swimming, ANYTHING! There are many of the martial arts that he could have been an expert on.

The sword, too, must have been made flawless, right? Meaning that it could take a whole lot more to break it.

In the end, the hero himself doesn't do the attacks, time does.

Since he has unlimited stamina, doesn't feel hunger and thirst, he could play defensively. He can just keep dodging and block enemy attacks again and again and again. The enemy however, after 3 days and nights of battling a monster like the hero, would be tired and hungry. They would either give up or die of over exhaustion.

Anyway, you people have too less faith in the almighty "Expensive One".

$\endgroup$
4
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ just a note that diamond is lighter than iron but yes, the unlimited stamina thing plays a big part. he could just go without the armour and accomplish a lot more $\endgroup$
    – Sarfaraaz
    Commented Sep 7, 2016 at 7:13
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ How does infinite stamina protect you from 2000 men with nets and maces surrounding you in a field? $\endgroup$
    – pipe
    Commented Sep 8, 2016 at 7:27
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Sorry, the diamond armor wearer will still be tackled, mobbed, knocked over by a horse, or dogpiled and it's over. They would then be placed into a pot of boiling oil and the armor removed from their corpse to be mounted in the king's feast hall as a trophy. $\endgroup$
    – JBiggs
    Commented Sep 8, 2016 at 14:39
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ You are making a major assumption about the general benevolence & trustworthiness of deities, which a quick review of theology suggests is not supported by the available evidence :-) $\endgroup$
    – jamesqf
    Commented Sep 8, 2016 at 17:37
1
$\begingroup$

No.

Let me put this in another perspective that most people have heard: It will be like bringing a very expensive and fancy knife to a gun fight.

You will be shot. You will probably die. Your cool knife will be sold on eBay.

In your scenario, the opposing army would notice your valuable armor and team up on you -- overpowering you. The diamonds will be split up and sold to the highest bidder.

$\endgroup$
0
$\begingroup$

Even worse, and something the other answers didn't mention, is that it's impossible to shape diamond into the items you're looking for. The crystal lattice simply won't allow for it.
So the suit of armour AND the weapon are theoretical impossibilities, at least if you make the assumption they're each made out of a single crystal.
If they're made of many crystals, bonded together in some way, things get worse as now you have a multitude of bonds between crystals that are weak spots in your armour and failure points in your weapon quite apart from the brittleness of the diamond itself.
And then there are the required joints between the armour pieces, the gaps between them, that allow the wearer to actually move in the armour. Medieval fighting techniques for dealing with people wearing plate armour (which this would be a ludicrous variant on) often included ways to dislodge armour plates by driving items under them and prying them loose, or sticking a something pointy in between plates to cause wounds under them. Both techniques would work with a suit of armour made out of diamond as well.

Of course in a fantasy universe maybe something else is meant by the term "diamond", maybe some white semi-translucent metallic compound that is extremely hard and expensive.
In that case it might be forged into swords and armour plating in a more normal fashion (rather than gluing bits together) but you'd still have the gaps between the plates that can be used to cause wounds or get plates off and then wound the wearer.

$\endgroup$
3
  • $\begingroup$ We can lab-grow crystals in pretty much any shape we want. At least silicone. Why would it be impossible for diamond? $\endgroup$
    – Mołot
    Commented Sep 14, 2016 at 8:50
  • $\begingroup$ @Molot you can't grow any form. You can grow forms that match the crystal lattice. And under the conditions needed to grow diamond, good luck trying to force it into a specific shape. $\endgroup$
    – jwenting
    Commented Sep 14, 2016 at 11:07
  • $\begingroup$ How does a cylinder shape match crystal lattice of silicone? $\endgroup$
    – Mołot
    Commented Sep 14, 2016 at 11:17
0
$\begingroup$

In short, No. Diamonds are much heavier than iron so they (even if they were Olympic champions) would be at a disadvantage. Diamonds can also be broken by an iron sword as it scratches. Constant scratches would wear it away to being useless. I use another example (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond#Hardness) and they were looking at whether diamond could be used as a bulletproof material. They compared it to kevlar. While good at pistol bullets kevlar is useless against rifles. Theoretically, If you could deal with the weight it would be indestructible but the atomic structure means is would shatter after two shots.

To conclude, You could have the character use it in a final fight scene but it can only take a few hits. In reality a couple of sword strikes or a signal hard hammer hit would destroy it you could make it have a few hits. Potentially have a climax in the final fight where it breaks and they have to fight without it?

-Joshua

$\endgroup$
5
  • 9
    $\begingroup$ I'm fairly sure that (after a quick look through Wikipedia) iron and steel are about twice as dense as diamond, so diamond armour of the same size would weigh considerably less than iron or steel armour. Diamond is also known to be extremely scratch resistant, although yes, once scratched it could break relatively easily. To be fair, I believe that you're right when you say that it could easily be broken with a hammer $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 6, 2016 at 19:25
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks, glad to see you agree! Diamonds would be scratched easily with a sword made of iron causing a weakness though! $\endgroup$
    – Joshua_BG
    Commented Sep 6, 2016 at 19:27
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ I'd disagree that it could easily be scratched by an iron sword, never mind that a medieval iron sword would be even weaker than a modern one. For once, it might be a valid tactic to 'end him rightly' as diamond doesn't scratch easily, but could break with a reasonable impact (such as your hammer). Having said that, medieval swordfighting does have a lot of impacts (and so does cause a lot of damage to the swords), so I'm saying that it won't scratch, but will break/shatter $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 6, 2016 at 19:36
  • $\begingroup$ found this website with the cubic weight of things. diamond is lighter than iron. cubic meter of iron is 5150KG and cubic meter of diamond is 3514KG. This site. You could say: "Diamond armour that would be effective as armour would be very heavy, thick and large" $\endgroup$
    – Sarfaraaz
    Commented Sep 7, 2016 at 7:09
  • $\begingroup$ If I can make a comment that's more about the literary side rather than the world-building-- This premise (a goddess of wealth gives her champion orders which would require him to kill everyone, and gives him a fabulous but useless sword and armor) sounds like the setup for a cool ironic fable. (It also reminds me of a fable by Rabbi Nakhman of Bratslav, which included a country where the rich eat the poor.) $\endgroup$
    – user24353
    Commented Sep 10, 2016 at 7:12
0
$\begingroup$

1)Diamond is very hard but can also shatter from a direct therefore a bad move to wear it as protection. 2) Never wear full diamond battledress in direct sunlight as heat transference and magnification will cause rapid resemblance to an over done burger 3) Killing off all peasants will make getting cheap labour to work the fields, do the housework, make profit for their betters and tug a forelock nigh on impossible.

Point 3 is the vital flaw in this protagonist and all right minded capitalist/overlords/kings/Knights and general ascendant strivers will move heaven and earth to kill her off asap

Moriarty

$\endgroup$
0
$\begingroup$

Diamonds are vulnerable to fire and to smashing action, so the diamond armor is mighty only through its lightness and opponents blinding capabilities. Moreover, if the hero does not have access to flying/levitation capabilities and is not able to have incredible acceleration for 10 seconds skill and enhanced situational awareness skill, he might still be put in some kind of tangle net and put in a cage or dungeon where he can perish because of hunger.

$\endgroup$
2
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Is there anything that wasn't said already? $\endgroup$
    – Mołot
    Commented Sep 14, 2016 at 8:47
  • $\begingroup$ A deity would look stupid to only give its hero a full body armor and a sword, without super-powers like flying, super-speed. Combined with opponents blinding capabilities of the armor, the flying would allow the hero to escape encirclement by a vastly superior enemy. $\endgroup$
    – razvanone
    Commented Sep 19, 2016 at 14:30
0
$\begingroup$

As pointed out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KuH0-994Hk

Diamond Armor would shatter too easily, be way too heavy, and would give your protagonist has a higher net worth than anyone on the planet.

EDIT

Problems with diamond

  • Diamond is hard, but brittle, hit it with a hammer in the right way and it will shatter.

  • Diamond is not malleable, so forming plates out of it would be difficult

  • Diamond is expensive (though that is mainly due to diamond companies telling people diamonds are expensive)

Diamond varies greatly in price per carat depending on cut, color, and clarity. Either way though, google unit calculations says that one pound is well over 2000 carats, so even at 1000 dollars per carat (note: as far as I can tell low quality diamonds start at 1000) that would total to over 2,000,000 per pound. A typical suit of armor weighs somewhere around 50 pounds, so that's a 100,000,000 dollar suit of armor, just from the materials.

Note that this price is for armor made from cloudy, colorless, diamonds, if you want the armor to be sparkly or of a specific color then it would potentially cost much more.

$\endgroup$
5
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ This looks a little to much like a "link-only answer". $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 9, 2016 at 0:19
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ I think it pretty concisely answers the question. All the relevant data from the link is copied in -- diamond armor no worky. $\endgroup$
    – SRM
    Commented Feb 26, 2017 at 20:12
  • $\begingroup$ @SRM It is concise and in this case you are write that this answer is valid as the most important information is copied in. But I think it is still good to point out to a new user that there is such a thing as a "link-only" answer. @ Silent Drew: Normally the answers on this site aim to be a little more elaborate. An answer like this might under different circumstances be regarded as a "link-only"-answer, which is normally bad as a link might get out-of-date. Just a little informer to keep this in mind in the future. $\endgroup$
    – Secespitus
    Commented Feb 26, 2017 at 21:16
  • $\begingroup$ @secespitus You're correct. My statement was because I t showed up in the "please delete this bad answer" queue. I was explaining to whomever requested that why I wasn't deleting it. $\endgroup$
    – SRM
    Commented Feb 27, 2017 at 3:18
  • $\begingroup$ I added more details. $\endgroup$ Commented Feb 27, 2017 at 21:44
0
$\begingroup$

First, why does the "Expensive One" want her champion to kill those poorer than he is? Doesn't make any sense, as many others pointed out. However, there is a potential explanation: NOTHING is of more worth than souls!

The goddess is simply too distant from human society to realize there are better ways to obtain souls, and if the champion explains the issues here, she will likely change his mission to getting her the souls of an ENTIRE KINGDOM! (Champion, go big or go home!)

However, the champion still gets the "diamond" armor and sword. Why? Because magic, that's why. The diamonds are actually shards of the goddess's divine energies, which fit together seamlessly to make impressive armor:

  1. The angles of the crystals are set in such a way that they take advantage of natural magic currents that form around the armor, deflecting most attacks.

  2. Each "diamond" is made out of multiple triangle-shaped Ether formations, and since the triangle is supposedly the strongest shape in existence, the unique combination of these many triangles makes the armor nigh invincible. A reversed version of this effect makes the sword more powerful by channeling magical currents in such a way as to speed up and strengthen his strikes.

  3. The diamonds represent the worth of the goddess's worshippers to her, conveying what she values about them (charisma for a preacher, wealth, zealousness, and devotion for everyone else) to the champion, including what she values about the champion (physical fitness, reliability, and so on). This makes him superhuman.

  4. The light that enters and is reflected from the depths of the "diamonds" conveys the bright (positive) side of the champion and the goddess he serves. This means that to almost everyone (excluding mages with powerful enough defenses, or those who have never seen him), this man can do no wrong. He's all that and a bag of chips, a paragon of excellence, an example to our nation, etc cetera. The same goes for the goddess, who wants everyone to become their best selves. Wealth just happens to be part of that, and who doesn't want wealth?

The genius of this is that once the king and his party shows up, 4 will allow the Champion to pretty easily secure the princess's hand in marriage. "But then there goes my plot," you might say. Ah, but then you can use these plot pointers:

  1. The tension that results from the champion taking advantage of 4, testing the boundaries or wearing down the enchantment through his self-centered (and decadent) behavior
  2. The goddess having a crisis of self as she begins considering the worth of character over material wealth (ie. spiritual over fiscal prosperity) and changing her entire way of thinking/life
  3. The champion shows up to report to the goddess (or the goddess checks in on him) and 4 backfires on the goddess by making her fall in love with him. I feel this would be a great plot twist if used correctly.

Hope this helps!

$\endgroup$

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .