A soldier’s life is a practical one, with gear designed to match. When we imagine warriors, whether modern or ancient, we think of gear designed for function and not form.

But throughout history, symbolism has held a powerful place in our cultures. This is reflected in armor from ages past that portrays otherworldly creatures, folklore, or exaggerated features to make the wearer an object of fear. Sometimes for show, sometimes for survival, these are 10 of the most fantastical pieces of armor ever crafted.

10 Maximilian I’s Frog-Mouth Helmet

Unusual in form and name, the frog-mouth helmet seems to be the most impractical helmet possible. Its lower front plate was curved upward and protruded, which provided its signature look.

With only a narrow slit to see out of, this helmet provided no peripheral vision. It was routinely bolted in place, so there was no ability to move it at the neck. What’s more, the wearer couldn’t see forward unless he was leaning ahead slightly.

Heavy and unwieldy, this helmet would have been a death sentence on most battlefields. But it was used almost exclusively in a different sort of combat, jousting. This was an ancient extreme sport where two mounted horsemen charged at one another with lances. The goal was to dismount the opponent while not being dismounted yourself.

In this environment, the frog-mouth helmet excelled. Its lack of peripheral vision was meaningless because knights jousted in straight charges at their opponents. Also, the helmet’s odd shape helped to repel lance blows instead of absorbing them.

The frog-mouth helmet shown above was used by Maximilian I during a jousting tournament to celebrate his wedding at Innsbruck, Austria, in 1494. A masterful example of the frog-mouth helmet, it was crafted by famous armorers Lorenz and Jorg Helmschmid.

9 Bearded Parade Helmet Of Charles V

Like his grandfather, Maximilian I, Charles V appreciated outstanding armor. From his boyhood on, Charles possessed many beautiful pieces of armor, though most were symbols of his wealth and power and not used in actual combat.

One piece, in particular, stands out: a parade helmet created by famed Italian armorer Filippo Negroli. While allowing the wearer’s head to be completely enclosed, this parade helmet featured golden curly hair and a matching beard. It ensured a good hair day for any discerning Holy Roman Emperor.

The helmet, while stunning, has not survived completely. The opening now present on the upper face of the helmet would have included an additional but now missing plate.

8 Mask Visor In The Form Of A Human Face

For about 30 years between 1510–1540, popular fashion in Germany and Austria included helmet visors sculpted to look like humans, either for frightening or humorous effect. It is hard to say which effect Kolman Helmschmid was going for when he created the helmet pictured above. Perhaps he was trying to outdo the look of his glorious rump armor.

The helmet depicts a mustached man with bug eyes and a smashing nose. Visors like these were used mostly for pre-Lenten festivals and were designed to be exchanged for more traditional visors during the everyday use of the helm.

7 Wings Of The Polish Hussars

The Winged Hussars of Poland were one of the most effective cavalries the world has ever seen. For nearly two centuries, they won battle after battle, often against seemingly impossible odds.

In one such case, 200 hussars successfully defended a city from a force of 30,000 in 1581. Sweden’s King Carl X Gustav said, “If I had some 10,000 of such soldiers, I would expect to easily conquer not only Turkey, but the entire world.”

One of the most fascinating facts about this elite cavalry was that they were, in fact, winged. Dyed eagle, ostrich, or crane feathers were affixed to a decorated wooden batten and then attached to the hussar’s backpack, giving him his signature wing.

There has been much debate over the function of this piece of equipment. Some suggest that it was a noisemaking device to rattle enemy horses not accustomed to the sound. Others believe that it was a protection against lassos used by Asian horsemen.

Still, the most prevailing theory is that it was simply an intimidation tactic. These seemingly invincible horsemen were clad in furs and wings, giving them the air of otherworldly attackers.

6 Face Guard Of King James II

The Royal Coat of Arms was created in 1399 during the reign of King Henry IV. It has been used by the British royal family ever since, although some have used it in more interesting ways than others.

King James II, who was crowned in 1685, had a harquebusier’s armor commissioned that included a breastplate, backplate, long gauntlet, and a pot helmet as the centerpiece of the set. The helmet displayed the Royal Coat of Arms with its standing lion and unicorn immediately in front of King James II’s face.

This set of armor was bulletproof—aside from the holes in its fascinating face guard—and was commissioned for £100.

5 Armor Garniture Of George Clifford

If we know nothing else about George Clifford, we know that he was a man who didn’t mind being noticed. He was appointed as champion for Queen Elizabeth I in 1590, and he incorporated her into his armor as much as possible.

His black suit of steel and gold armor was decorated with the Tudor rose, the fleur-de-lis, and the cipher of his queen (two E’s back to back). Though George Clifford did see battle—most famously perhaps was his capture of a Spanish fort in San Juan, Puerto Rico—this armor was designed for tournament use.

4 The Gifted Horned Helmet Of Henry VIII

This iron helmet was one part of an entire suit of armor originally gifted to King Henry VIII by Maximilian I in 1514. Today, only the helmet survives. However, its freakish horned appearance has caused much confusion over the years.

Originally, it was thought to have belonged to Henry VIII’s court jester. This makes sense as the helmet depicts the fool, a popular character in court pageants, complete with wrinkles, dripping nose, and stubble. Scholarly debate over the nature of this gift still rages, and we’re all left to wonder what the rest of the set may have looked like.

3 Lion’s-Head Sallet

We don’t know who made this helmet or who wore it, but we do know what inspired it. The Nemean lion’s demise was the first of Hercules’s recorded exploits. Though no weapon could penetrate the lion’s hide, Hercules strangled the legendary animal to death and then wore the beast’s skin as a mantle.

Naturally, anyone would be keen to channel this story, which was often seen in Renaissance art as a symbol of strength, courage, and perseverance. So this helmet was crafted to imitate the mythological hero’s victory. The underlying helmet was plain. But the top layer is a gold-and-copper lion, sure to inspire friends and frighten enemies in equal measure.

2 The Many Kawari Kabutos

A kawari kabuto (“strange helmet”) was a popular style of helmet used by high-ranking samurai between 1467–1603. These personalized helmets frequently depicted demons or fierce animals and were used to distinguish generals from their lower-ranking inferiors.

Though a staple of the ancient Japanese warrior for centuries, the kabutos have outlived their military usefulness. Now they survive in traditional Japanese wisdom and everyday sayings.

One such saying is: “Tighten your kabuto after winning.” This warns not to rest too soon after a victory. “Take off the kabuto” is a saying that means to surrender or suffer defeat.

1 Bamen

If a samurai would cover himself in terrifying representations of folklore and nature, he would naturally want the same for his horse. The bamen (“horse mask”) and bagai (“horse armor”) were used by samurai after the 17th century.

The armor was crafted from many small tiles of leather and gold that were sewn into cloth. The mask was made from boiled leather that was then shaped into the likeness of a horse or dragons, complete with horns, scales, and fiery red nostrils. The entire battle-ready horse and rider conveyed the owner’s prestige and power.

Armor and shields. Protective combat gear has come a long way from chainmail, plating, and Roman shields. But let’s go beyond Kevlar and bulletproof glass to discover some of the most remarkable technologies and products, from graphene and liquid armor to anti-bullet foam. Then we go to the pages of history to check up on armor options you perhaps didn’t think of, like cotton and wooden armor. These are some of the most brilliantly bizarre types of armor ever conceived of for military combat.

8. CMF Foam

Imagine an exceptionally light layering of metallic foam being able to stop bullets. Except it doesn’t just stop them, it destroys them. Enter the bizarre world of CMF foam. This material, named in short for Composite Metal Foam, actually pulverized armor-piercing bullets in North Carolina State University tests, completed at the Aviation Development Directorate – Eustis at Fort Eustis by the Engineering Test Team.

Intended as a lighter weight, yet incredibly effective, new form of vehicle armor, CMF foam consist of hollow spheres of stainless steel or titanium within a metallic matrix of steel, aluminum, titanium, or comparable alloys. With tests of steel-steel CMF, where the matrix and spheres were both steel, .50 caliber ball rounds and .50 caliber armor piercing rounds were tested. CMF proved remarkably effective, absorbing 72-75% of the ball round kinetic energy and 68-78% of that of the armor-piercing rounds. Vehicles with armor made of CMF will have the same ability to stop rounds as those with regular steel armoring, but the same level of protection will cost only half as much in weight penalty.

7. Graphene

While in its relative infancy, graphene anti-ballistic technology shows incredible promise. This carbon-based nanotechnology creates products mere nanometers thick even when multiple sheets are stacked together, so a whole lot of graphene would be just a millimeter thick. Yet when the ability of graphene to stop bullets was tested, the substance showed twice the potential of Kevlar and 10 times the effectiveness of steel plating.

Testing conducted by Rice University and the University of Massachusetts pioneered the real-life testing of graphene, rather than the simulated or extrapolated. Usually, a lot of graphene research is simulated or theoretical or extrapolated. Testers shot miniature golden bullets towards graphene sheets before measuring the levels of deformation post-impact. The bullet was created by blasting a gold filament with a laser beam, which created a bullet that travelled at 3,000 feet per second, which is two times the speed of a high-powered rifle’s bullet. The sheets tested were between 10 and 100 nanometers in thickness.

6. Polish Liquid Armor

Yes, you read it right. Polish researchers are developing bullet-resistant garb based on a liquid that hardens upon impact, protecting the wearers. Incredible? Yes. Practical? Perhaps surprisingly, also yes. Scientists at the Moratex Institute of Security Technology in Poland have been testing liquid body armor that is worn in pouches distributed throughout bullet resistant vests.

If any of the pouches making up the vest are hit, the wearer is guarded from the force of the impact as vest packet material coagulates into what is essentially a marvelous bullet glue trap. Researchers say the material can stop projectiles as fast as 900 meters per second, with potential for other applications, including sports gear, high-tech car bumpers, and barriers.

5. Silk Skin Armor

GMO goats have proven to be a more practical source of silk than spiders themselves. Mutant goats with spider silk proteins in their milk provide a source of extractable silk. Utah State University researcher Randy Lewis, a molecular biologist, worked with this team to isolate spider silk genetic information relating to protein and merge it into goat DNA through splicing and placing the embryo in a goat, which allows female goats that produce milk with isolatable material to be produced.

The fibers offer the potential to create a variety of materials that would resist bullet penetration. Next, a Dutch bio-artist came up with a method of growing genetically modified skin that would stop a bullet. Tests showed that spider silk fabric with skin grown over it was not pierced by a bullet upon testing, as it absorbed the bullet’s energy without breaking. Strange? Yes. Promising? Definitely.

4. Cotton Armor

We wear cotton clothing almost every day and prize it for its softness. Yet Ancient Aztec, Inca, and Tlaxcalan warriors remarkably harnessed cotton for its specialized use as a viable form of armor. Cotton armor, called Ichcahuipilli in Nahuatl, reflected the pre-Columbian focus on using material of a textile origin for an incredible range of purposes. Boats were made from reeds, bridges from woven plant fibers, and armor from cotton.

The armor consisted of cotton placed in between cloth and leather layering, meticulously stitched to form vests and entire body suits of a quilted form. The density was high, with thickness of over 1.5 inches. The Spanish had their breastplates of steel, but this traditional armor that was essentially fancy cloth could deflect a spear or arrow nearly as effectively as the steel alternative. More practical than steel due to its lightness, the technology was even co-opted by Conquistadors.

3. Bomb Suits

While riot shields and Kevlar vests border on the cliched, lesser known is that brilliant piece of defensive engineering, the bomb suit. Modern Explosive Ordinance Disposal suits not only withstand shrapnel fragments that fly out from an explosion but are also crafted to dissipate the deadly shockwaves produced by any explosive blast.

Bombs dropped by the Luftwaffe in Britain posed the public threat of unexploded weapon encounters and delayed detonation, which in turn led to significant advancements in bomb suit development. But it was not until the 1990s that sufficient improvements were made in countering blast wave injuries, as bomb suits were mostly protecting against fragments of bomb material and other shrapnel, yet still allowing potentially fatal wave-related injuries, such as blast lung, in many cases.

2. Tlingit Wooden Armor

Alaska is heavily wooded in many areas and it is a little-known fact that some of the people native to Alaska made remarkable suits of armor that used wood as a key part of that armor’s construction. Roman armor may be famous but Tlingit armor was impressive in its own right, with a helmet carved of wood and a collar fashioned from the same, kept in place by leather strands held by the warrior’s teeth. The vest consisted of either leather or wooden slats that were fastened with sinew, offering protection against arrows and other sharp implements like spears.

The Tlingit warriors required this protection in a variety of battles stemming from intertribal warfare relating to matters of slavery, plunder, or vengeance. Firearms brought in by European settlers played havoc with the armor, however, causing it to be ineffective and to fall out of use. In a fascinating cultural interplay, Tlingit armor has included Chinese coins, which are empty in the center and thus could be sewed onto it. The coins were obtained through trade with Boston sea merchants who bought sea otter pelts from the Tlingit.

1. Coconut Armor

You might have thought you have imagined every use for coconuts. Coconut milk, coconut chips, and so on. But what about that fiber that coats the hard shelled, tasty coconut? Coconut fiber has many uses, ranging from rope to floor mats, but it’s suitability as an island-invented form of armor might be a big surprise. In the Republic of Kiribati, an island group nation in the Pacific island region of Micronesia, part of Oceania, coconut armor defines the history of local warfare. 

One remarkable specimen in the Pitts River Museum collection includes a full suit of coconut fiber protective garb with a helmet portion derived from a porcupine fish. This type of armor is considered to be the most advanced armor developed in Oceania’s history, reflecting both remarkable ingenuity in the face of resource scarcity and close alliances with the defenses and offensive measures utilized by wildlife and plants. The plentiful coconut fibers offer ample material for weaving, where other materials are hard to find, while the sharp teeth of sharks combined with coconut wood to create accompanying weaponry.