Different fighting styles dictate different guard styles. Note the difference in european swords and Chinese. Personally I find the lines of a Chinese sword guard more appealing than a European.
Certainly many guards are from strict convention like and tradition the Moro kris and the barong.
How the handle fits is important also. I just bought a kris from a seller who knows nothing about them. He has a few for sale and he told me that some are very comfortable to hold, but one of those I bought from him was very uncomfortable. That one had the handle on backwards.
Here is a guy who never held a kris before and yet he knows that many are comfortable and one is not. He did not understand why it was uncomfortable. But this tells me that on some swords there is only one comfortable way to hold it and that was how it was designed.
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