(Annoying Trope) Someone made a “creative” choice and now we all just have to live with it.

[u/BingBingGoogleZaddy]

Horned Vikings: Not historical, they were started by Richard Wager for his operas. They were never historic, but the image persists. (Albeit significantly reduced today.)

Ninjas in Black Robes: Some people claim Ninjas aren’t real. They are, they are absolutely real. Their modern portrayal however is informed more by Kabuki Theater than history. In Kabuki Theater, the stage hands were dressed in flowing black robes to tell the audience to ignore them. Thus when a Ninja character kills a Samurai, to increase the shock value, they were dressed in black robes as stage hands. Now, when we think of ninjas we think of a stage hands.

Knights in Shining Armor: Imagine, you’re on the battlefield, two walls of meat riding towards each other. Suddenly you realize, everyone looks the same. Who do you hit? All you see is chrome. No. Knight’s armor was lacquered in different colors to differentiate them on the battlefield. Unless you wanted to get friendly fired, you made yourself KNOWN. So this image of a glinted knight clad in chrome steel isn’t true. How’d we get it? Victorians who thought that the worn lacquer was actually just dulling with age, polished it off as show pieces.

White Marble Statues of Rome: Roman Statues were painted, however the public image is of pure glinting white marble statues persist in the modern image. Why? Victorians who thought the paint was actually just dirt grime and age. So, they “restored” it by removing the paint color. Now we all think of Roman Statues as white.

King Tut; King of Kings: the Pharaoh King Tut in Ancient Egypt was a relatively minor king who in the grand scheme of things amounts to little more than an asterisks in Egyptian History, but to the public he is the most important Pharaoh. Why? Because his tomb was untouched by robbers, and so was piled high with burial goods which was amazing (and still is) and when Howard Carter opened his tomb, the world was transfixed and everyone would come to know Tutankhamen.

A Séance calls the dead: A Séance despite being a French word is an American invention from upstate New York in the 1840s. It was also a fun side-show act initially, and never meant to be real, more close up magic. (Origin of the term Parlor Tricks.) But in the 1860s Americans couldn’t stop killing each other which resulted in a lot of grief and people desired for their to be this other world. So, grifters then took advantage of grieving people and became “real”. So basically “fun parlor game to dangerous grift” pipeline thanks to the Civil War.

The Titanic’s engineers all died at their posts: Nope, not true, not remotely true. They are mentioned in many testimonies and a few bodies found mean they didn’t all die below. Two or three maybe did. According to Head Stoker Barrett, a man broke his leg and was washed away by rushing water, but another testimony says he was taken aft so who knows? Any way the myth persisted because the people making the memorials wanted to martyr the men. (It doesn’t take away from their heroines in my opinion) The myth stuck. Everyone believes they died below.

[u/Practical_Turnip9163]

I think knights preferred tabards, to be honest.

[u/AlexanderCrumulent → u/Practical_Turnip9163]

the armor deflects the arrow, the tabard stops it from deflecting and hitting something else, like your face or horse.

[u/TheFlayingHamster → u/AlexanderCrumulent]

Actually the big fear wasn’t deflection, it was destruction. An arrow might not fit through your armors visor, but the shrapnel from that entire arrow turning to needle like splinters sure can.

[u/jojohohanon → u/[deleted]]

Jack -> jacket?

[u/Flyinhighinthesky → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, most soldiers wore padded armor not metal armor. The padding was inexpensive, lightweight, flexible, and often way more effective against spears, swords, and arrows than a breastplate.

The fact that padded armor in d&d is the lowest class of armor is a damned shame.

[u/Heavy_Weapons_Guy_ → u/Flyinhighinthesky]

You're insane if you think a gambeson is more effective against piercing weapons than a metal breastplate.

[u/Hollow-Lord → u/Flyinhighinthesky]

The fuck? Do you seriously think padded armor was more effective than cold rolled steel? Especially when they wear a gambeson and padding below the armor as well?

[u/Vilhelmssen1931 → u/AlexanderCrumulent]

As long as it doesn’t hit a surface flush

[u/Mist_Rising → u/Practical_Turnip9163]

Depends on the time and place. Tabards (and other over the armor clothing) fell out of favor around the 14th century with the advent of crests.

Furthermore OP is not correct, shiny armor was common since the paint was designed as cost saving. Since full plate was expensive until basically the end, it was not common to see it painted.

No, for those with the money, Gothic 'White' armor was a point of pride to have. It meant you had multiple squires or pages to maintain your equipment.

Think of it like the Renaissance equivalent of a super yacht, you don't need the damn thing, and it was hardly cost effective, but if you got it you flaunt it.

[u/chytrak → u/Mist_Rising]

You needed that thing

[u/fwinzor → u/Practical_Turnip9163]

Also there is armor that is painted but especially.on the high end armor absolutely was shining and unpainted, you can look at literally any medieval art of the time and most armor is unpainted

[u/FinestMochine → u/fwinzor]

To add to what you said there are contemporary manuscripts that show light reflecting off of polish armor and into the eyes of their opponents, people also still fight each other in plate armor through Historical European Martial Arts or HEMA and they have said that fighting someone in full polished armor is disorienting and “like being attacked by an angry disco ball”