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Image sources: Fiore de Liberi, Meyer, Gladiatoria, and other places I'm forgetting off the top of my head rn.

More info:
Half-sword, in 14th- to 16th-century fencing with longswords, refers to the technique of gripping the central part of the sword blade with the left hand in order to execute more forceful thrusts against armoured and unarmoured opponents. The term is a translation of the original German Halbschwert. The technique was also referred to as mit dem kurzen Schwert, "with the shortened sword" in German.
Half-sword is used for leverage advantage when wrestling with the sword, as well as for delivering a more accurate and powerful thrust. Both of these are critical when fighting in plate armour because a slice or a cleaving blow from a sword is virtually useless against iron or steel plate. Most medieval treatises show armoured combat as consisting primarily of fighting at the half-sword; the best options against an armoured man being a strong thrust into less-protected areas such as the armpits or throat or, even better, the same against a man who has already been cast to the ground.

Some weapons may have been modified specifically for this purpose, sporting what is called a ricasso. Some longswords had a short ricasso, usually too close to the cross and hilt of the blade for practical use in half-swording except as a point of extra leverage in a thrust. The ricasso on larger swords, such as the two-handed sword, provided a longer area more fitting for gripping during half-swording. Filippo Vadi suggests that a sword be sharp only at the tip. It has been suggested that some swords were left unsharpened in a part of the sword a hand's breadth wide about halfway down the blade in order to facilitate this technique.

In Italian and English, "half sword" refers to a crossing of the sword in the middle of the blade, and by extension the relatively close range at which this takes place.

Also known as "icepick" grip, this means holding the grip of a dagger, a sword, a katana or whatever so that the business end points the direction opposite to the thumb, in contrast to the usual point-up or "saber" grip.

There are advantages with this style of wielding a knife, namely that it facilitates certain grappling maneuvers (you can use the blade as a hook to assist in maneuvering the enemy, or to inflict damage during a grapple), defensive maneuvers (you can lay the blade against your forearm and let that take the blow of a heavier weapon instead of your wrist), allows for more powerful downwards and inwards strikes, allows for extreme angles of attack at extremely close range, and has sometimes been viewed as more intuitive (and thus easier to learn and apply) than the regular grip. That said, the wielder's reach is reduced compared to a forward grip, and it makes direct thrusts from below more difficult. Both point up and point down have their uses, and one may quickly switch between grips.
The reasons for using a reverse grip vary, depending on the character and work. The grip might be a tactical choice to facilitate blocking, grappling, slicing, downward stabbing motions or any combination thereof. It might be used in conjunction with Dual Wielding to provide a more diverse range of strikes. It might be the most convenient grip to use on a weapon that is drawn quickly. It might be used to indicate that the user is a hardened or experienced killer. Of course, it also simply looks cool.

The use of a sword in reverse grip takes the cool factor one step further, making for an exotic display of slicing in a figure of eight with a swimming motion of the arm and wrist. It can also be combined with spinning or dual wielding; a character with two swords can hold either one or both of them in reverse grip. Perhaps this is supposed to be the secret technique unknown to all those chumps who swing their sword the usual way. In reality this is Cool, but Inefficient. Biomechanical limitations as well as the different nature of how swords are used in fighting cause the reverse sword gripper to lose reach, cutting power, ability to parry or exert leverage in the bind, and ability to protect the sword hand. Admittedly there are useful historical techniques that involve reversing one's grip on the sword, but these are more situational and limited in application than what you tend to see in movies.

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