Daggerare

Daggerare is a term used in fictional and game contexts to describe the study or practice of dagger combat. It denotes a discipline centered on using a dagger in close-quarters fighting and often appears in fantasy literature, role-playing games, and video games. The word is a neologism formed from "dagger" plus the common suffix -are used in various professional or artistic terms; there is no universally standardized codex outside individual works.

Techniques associated with daggerare emphasize speed, precision, and deception in short-range engagements. Core elements include guarded stances, thrusts and slashes, feints to elicit a parry, disarms, and rapid disengagements. Training may cover grip, footwork, timing, and how to exploit an opponent’s openings. In some depictions the dagger is paired with an off-hand item, such as a shield or second blade.

In fiction and games, daggerare characters are often spies, assassins, or duelists. The narrative lens frequently explores themes of stealth, ethical ambiguity, and the tension between lethal force and restraint. In role-playing settings, daggerare may appear as a dedicated class, a weapon style, or a skill tree offering special moves, bonuses to speed or critical strikes, and improved parries.

Etymology and scope: The term daggerare is not recognized as a real-world martial art. It is primarily a stylistic or world-building label in fictional settings. Real-world close-quarters blade traditions include historical dagger techniques and knife fighting taught in various martial arts, which may share some strategic elements but are not identified as daggerare.

See also: Dagger, Knife fighting, Blade fighting, Martial arts, Fantasy fiction, Role-playing games.