Hard light glaive

The hard light glaive is a double-bladed Covenant melee weapon that utilizes reverse-engineered hard light technology. The San'Shyuum Prelate known as Dhas Bhasvod notably used one of these glaives during the Second Ark Conflict in 2559.

Although broadly similar in principle, hard light glaives should not be confused with the hard light staves employed by Forerunner armigers.

Background
Created by the Covenant using reverse-engineered Forerunner hard light technology, at least one hard light glaive was provided to Dhas Bhasvod, a Prelate with an intense loyalty to the Prophet of Truth. The Prelate led the Covenant forces instructed to remain aboard the Anodyne Spirit when it arrived at Installation 00 in late 2552. When the conflict between the Banished and the erupted on the installation in 2559, the Covenant loyalists soon made themselves known. As this conflict continued to rage, Bhasvod would carry his hard light glaive into battle.

When Bhasvod led a force to investigate a Eklon'Dal Workshop Lich that crashed onto the installation on October 12, 2559, he brought his glaive with him. Upon landing at the crash site, he encountered Dokab Castor and his Keepers of the One Freedom. Bhasvod used the glaive to subdue and decapitate a jumpy Keeper Jiralhanae, and then threatened the dokab with it before the Intrepid Eye took control of the weapon. She used its hard light emitters to project two images of an Oracle, appealing to the Covenant and Keeper's shared religion to get them to join forces and activate the Halo Array.

Intrepid Eye would remain in the glaive, appearing to Bhasvod and Castor on a number of occasions until the group reached Epsilon Clarion. After tricking the facility's submonitor to allow her to transfer her code into its systems, Intrepid Eye left the glaive. Bhasvod used the weapon to injure a Spartan-III who was attempting to stop the activation and rescue her captured teammate. Meanwhile, Castor realized that his relgion was a lie. His Sangheili companion, Inslaan 'Gadogai, retrieved the hard light glaive, using its haft to propel Bhasvod into the pit beneath the control room. Shortly after this, those present escaped Epsilon Clarion as a barrage of EMP Magnetic Accelerator Cannon shots from the Spirit of Fire destroyed the facility. After Castor and 'Gadogai fled the area, they tossed the glaive into a pool of molten stone, ensuring that Intrepid Eye was dead.

Design
Similar in design to an energy lance, the hard light glaive consists of a meter-long haft with hard light emitters on each side. Both blue hard light blades can be activated and deactivated individually, and can automatically deactivate briefly to avoid coming into contact with the ground and other inert surfaces. The blades are powerful enough to decapitate a Jiralhanae with a single strike.

The glaive's subsystems include two emitter nozzles, a hard light projector, a modulator, and a power calibrator—the latter three all reverse-engineered from Forerunner technology. It also incorporates a photonic memory cell. While designed to produce two long hard light blades, the dual emitters are capable of producing complex shapes if so directed.

List of appearances

 * Halo: Divine Wind