Sword of Kahless The Sword of Kahless was the first " bat ' leth " ever forged . It was designed and created by Kahless the Unforgettable and was dated to the 9th century AD . According to Klingon mythology , Kahless created the sword by dropping a lock of his hair into a river of lava from Kri ' stak ' s summit , and then cooling the burning lock in the Lake of Lusor and forging it into a blade . ( ) Brandishing his newly - forged Sword , Kahless slew the hated tyrant Molor , conquered the Fek ' Ihri , and created the first Empire . Kahless later used the Sword to skin the serpent of Xol , to harvest his father ' s field , and to carve a statue of his beloved , the Lady Lukara . After Kahless ' death , the Sword became a revered object among the Klingon people . The Sword was wrapped in a special cloth , the Shroud of the Sword , that was also a revered object . However , both the Sword and the Shroud were stolen about five hundred years later by the Hur ' q , during their invasion and plundering of Qo ' noS . Following the theft of the Sword , numerous fake Shrouds were " discovered " over the years . A Vulcan expedition found the true Shroud among the remains of a Hur ' q outpost in the Gamma Quadrant in 2372 . Using the data provided by the Vulcans , " Dahar " master Kor launched a quest to find the Sword itself . He , along with Jadzia Dax and Worf , discovered the Sword in the same Hur ' q outpost . However , the enormous symbolism of the Sword became a matter of contention between Worf and Kor , as well as the target of theft by Toral , son of Duras . After realizing that the Sword would only serve to divide the Klingon Empire further rather than reunite it ( as the legends foretold ) , Dax , Worf , and Kor set it adrift in interstellar space . ( ) Appendices . Background information . Concept . The Sword of Kahless was based on the Holy Grail . ( " Captains ' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages " , p . 110 ) Richard Danus was provided the concept of the Sword of Kahless as the genesis of the installment bearing the same name . " " They had an idea for the sword of Kahless [ to be featured in the story ] , " " he remembered . " " From that premise it was relatively easy to reach a conclusion that the missing sword will be a quest , a search for the sword . " " ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 28 , No . 4 / 5 , p . 39 ) Hans Beimler , who wrote the episode ' s teleplay , stated , " " The ' McGuffin , ' if you will , stayed the same : we were always pursuing the Maltese Falcon – or , in this case , the Sword of Kahless . The big decision that was made in the story break session was not to make it so much of a quest , but to get to the bat ' telh and see the effect it has on them . " " ( ) The fictional item became vital to the installment , Ira Steven Behr commenting , " " If the audience isn ' t made to understand the spiritual importance of that weapon , then we have no episode . " " ( " " , p . 291 ) When the Sword of Kahless is introduced in the episode ' s script , the teleplay describes it as " old , rusty , primitive " but " magnificent . " The writers considered the possibility that the sword might hold some sort of mystical or chemical power over those who touched it . However , they wanted the sword ' s effect to be internal , not external , and didn ' t want to draw responsibility away from the characters , such as by making an external influence the real culprit . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 28 , No . 4 / 5 , pp . 39 - 40 ) Hence , Hans Beimler chose not to imbue the sword with miraculous powers , despite the Holy Grail having generated centuries of tales of virtually supernatural power . " " The idea is that the sword itself doesn ' t have any magic , " " he clarified . " " It ' s the " concept " of the sword that has the power [ . . . ] The minute anyone starts talking about the sword it starts infecting them , so Worf gets caught up from the very beginning [ of the narrative ] . " " ( " " , p . 290 ) The writers also knew they wanted the sword to eventually be discarded by the characters originally seeking it . " " We knew in order to sell that , we had to show that this was indeed the Holy Grail for these guys , " " said René Echevarria . " " If their religion in the largest sense is one of battle , victory , personal glory and power and you ' ve got this in your hands , then it starts to eat away at you and you start to talk about your destiny . " " ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 28 , No . 4 / 5 , p . 40 ) Worf actor Michael Dorn proposed finding , after the Sword of Kahless is beamed into space at the end of the episode sharing its name , that the " real " Sword of Kahless was secretly being kept by Worf and that he had taken it back to his quarters . René Echevarria was critical of Dorn ' s suggestion , noting , " " This Holy Grail is just too dangerous for the Klingons now ; put it to destiny and maybe someday their people will be ready to do it honor . " " ( " Captains ' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages " , p . 110 ) Physical design . Because Klingon " bat ' leth " s had been established for numerous years , Kahless ' sword obviously needed to look special . Countless concept drawings of the artifact were illustrated , one such image sketched by John Eaves and dated September 1995 . The sword ' s design was refined by Visual Effects Producer Dan Curry , who took only some of the elements from Eaves ' renderings and added a triangular midpoint to the weapon . ( " " , pp . 291 & 289 ) Curry remarked , " " The Sword of Kahless was like a baroque version of a " bat ' leth " , where it had different surfaces [ so ] that it would be easier to grapple , and the central disembowelment fringe . " " ( audio commentary , TNG Season 3 Blu - ray ) The concept artwork was supplied by the DS9 art department to Joe Longo . Starting with the illustrations , he ordered a new " bat ' leth " constructed of hardened aluminum , featuring a leather - wrapped handle . Next , the prop was given to freelance sculptor Dragon Dronet . He etched designs into the blade using a handheld dental bit . The producers wanted the aluminum to look old and quite similar to ; Dronet chose to make the patterns seem like a mix of Damascus steel and a topographical map , wanting to make it look as if the blade showed mountains as viewed from above . He then wrote Klingon names down the side of the blade . ( " " , pp . 291 - 292 ) Dragon Dronet took part in the creation of not only the Sword of Kahless prop itself , but also a stand for the item . In fact , he designed the stand from scratch and built it himself . " " I made the stand out of one - inch - thick Plexiglas , " " explained Dronet , " " and engraved the pattern into it . " " He lastly spray - painted the stand , making it appear metallic , and carved its legs to make them look like the feet of targ s , a finishing touch he thought was funny . ( " " , p . 292 ) Reception and trivia . Ira Steven Behr approved of how the Sword of Kahless is depicted in the episode of the same name . " " I did [ . . . ] think the whole idea of the sword – the whole " Treasure of Sierra Madre " thing – was really nice , " " he reminisced . ( " Captains ' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages " , p . 110 ) There was a great deal of online chat about the Sword of Kahless . " " I noticed a lot of discussion on the Net about it , " " stated Hans Beimler , " " and it was interesting that people assumed that there was a virus or something that infected them when they touched the sword . " " ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 28 , No . 4 / 5 , p . 40 ) The writing staff was disappointed to discover that some viewers couldn ' t accept the notion that the sword had no external powers . René Echevarria expressed his opinion of the Internet conversations ; " " A lot of fan reaction was that there must be a tech explanation , that the sword was omitting something . I was astonished . " " ( " " , p . 290 ) The only other " bat ' leth " ever seen that almost exactly follows the appearance of the Sword of Kahless ( with the extra center tine ) was given to B ' Elanna Torres by Captain Kohlar in . Apocrypha . In the PC game " " , Worf retrieved the sword from interstellar space in order to unite the empire against the forces of Toral . In J . G . Hertzler ' s " The Left Hand of Destiny " novels , Ezri Dax retrieves the sword on behalf of Chancellor Martok , to quell an attempted " coup " . In the PC game " Star Trek Online " , Emperor gives KDF players a replica of the Sword of Kahless after recovering the original .