Hook Sword

The Hook Sword or sometimes Hookswords, is an exotic Chinese weapon traditionally associated with northern Chinese martial arts, although its use has also been taught by southern schools in more recent times.

History
Sometimes mentioned as a weapon dating back to ancient times, there is no evidence to prove its existence before the late Qing Dynasty, making the hook sword a recent design relative to other weaponry. Hook swords are non-military weapons, as they are not listed in any official documents of the army, but seem to have been rarely used in any case considering the lack of sharpened models srviving and the considerable training required to effectively weild them.

Use
Hook sword routines are taught by northern schools like Northern Shaolin and Mantis style, and by a few southern schools such as Choy Lay Fut. These routines tend to be flashy and emphasize the long and flexible range of a pair of these weapons when linked.

There are five components to the hook sword that are useful in battle:
 * The back, with a blade used like a normal sword.
 * The hook, used to slash, trip opponents, and catch unfriendly weapons.
 * The hilt, whose end may be sharpened to a dagger-like point.
 * The guard, a cresent-shaped piece used for both blocking and slashing
 * And the link. Because hook swords are often wielded in pairs, they can be linked with a short chain that allows the user to swing one sword, causing the extended out as far as six feet.

In Mortal Kombat
Hook swords (also sometimes called Hooks) are the signature weapons of both Kabal and Mavado. The weapons these two use are actually the same pair, as these ancient weapons were a favorite of Kabal's, and have a long history in the Black Dragon criminal organization before the Red Dragon clan's leader Mavado took Kabal's hook swords as a trophy after defeating him between the events of Mortal Kombat Trilogy and Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. Kabal later recovered them shortly before the events of Mortal Kombat: Deception. Both Kabal and Mavado use hook swords in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon; presumably, Mavado acquired a set of his own. Also Mavado's own weapon was featured as an another collectible Relic called "Mavado's Hooks" within the Konquest mode of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon as well.

In Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, after Liu Kang and Kung Lao free Kabal from his cage, he allows them to use his hook swords as a reward for helping him out.

Hook swords can also be seen in the possession of an Outworld warrior in the Mortal Kombat film but are never used in battle. Scorpion's soldiers in Mortal Kombat: Conquest use them as well. Several characters were packaged with hook swords as generic weapons in the Mortal Kombat toyline made by Hasbro.