History Main / HotBlade

Compare {{Vibroweapon}}, which uses extremely rapid vibrations instead of heat to enhance its cutting power. A more advanced weapon is the LaserBlade, where the blade is ''made'' of PureEnergy instead of just adding (heat) energy to a physical blade. Hot blades are more common in a ScienceFiction setting. Its more {{fantasy}}-oriented counterpart is the FlamingSword; a hot blade retains a touch of PlayingWithFire while requiring less WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief.

* There was rumored to be a practice called "Blood Tempering" or "Blood Quenching" in which a red-hot blade is inserted by stab-wound and/or anally into a slave or prisoner of war, as it would cool the sword at body-temperature. This supposedly made the blades much stronger, and always killed the stab victim in practice. While it may have been attempted in the past, the human body has such a wide variety of liquids and materials, it would invariably create a blade with a poor, uneven temper that shattered easily, not to mention the deformation that would happen as the still malleable blade had to overcome the resistance of flesh. Most references to blood quenching ultimately stem from a satirical 18th century German article.

* There once was a practice called "Blood Tempering," in which a red-hot blade is inserted by stab-wound and/or anally into a slave or prisoner of war, as it would cool the sword at body-temperature. This supposedly made the blades much stronger, and always killed the stab victim in practice. "There was once" is the phrase because no one does it anymore and even in the past it was uncommon. This is because the human body has such a wide variety of liquids and materials, it invariably created a blade with a poor, uneven temper that shattered easily. It was rarely maintained for any length of time in any culture, despite a moderately common myth.

* And of course ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' is full of these. As well as (among others) [[ShockAndAwe lightning]] and [[AnIcePerson cold]] versions. Not restricted to bladed weapons, though...

* In ''TabletopGame/ObsidianAgeOfJudgement'' from Apophis Consortium, one of the expansion books has a gun version of this trope. Normally flamethrowers are the weapons of choice against the undead, unfortunately they come in only one size and don't do that much damage compared to the larger machine guns. So a new weapon was invented, it's a gun with a mechanism that separates the bullet from the casing. It then superheats the bullet until it's almost molten and then the casing with charge is fired. So the super-hot bullet is shot out at high velocity and will rip up standard targets, while also incinerating enemies that are bullet-resistant.
* Many Warhammer swords (at least in the way they are visually depicted), both ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy'' (Archaon) and ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' ('''THE GOD-EMPEROR OF MANKIND'''), even when some flames might flicker depending on the artist, verging into FlamingSword territory.

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[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* In the ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' franchise, the next step down from [[LaserBlade beam sabers]] are heat weapons, the most iconic of which is the [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Zaku II's]] heat hawk. Another well-known example is [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Gundam Sandrock's]] heat shotels, which become [[{{BFS}} ludicrously huge]] in ''[[TheMovie Endless Waltz]]''. Usually they cut with a plasma field--like beam sabers, except projected over a surface instead of into the air. This shows in a scene in the original series where a heat hawk [[LikeCannotCutLike is able to briefly parry the Gundam's ]][[LaserBlade beam saber]]

* In ''{{Anime/Kuromukuro}}'', [[FishOutOfTemporalWater Kennosuke,]] a samurai from the [[UsefulNotes/SengokuPeriod Sengoku Jidai]], has a laser-edged katana that he took from an [[AncientAstronauts ogre.]] Recreated (sans laser) by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q598DP27tGA Man At Arms.]]
* ''Manga/FateKaleidLinerPrismaIllya'': Tanaka can detach her arm and turn it into a red hot sword with incredible destructive power. In fact, it is so hot that Illya cannot pick it up without special protection.
* ''Manga/FairyTail100YearsQuest'': The Coal Miners guild comes equipped with Alchemic Tools, one of which is a [[PowerfulPick pickaxe]] that when used consecutively will have its head heat up to increase its power (and in its regular state it can already smash through rock easily). Unfortunately, its user makes the mistake of swinging it at [[PlayingWithFire Natsu]], where it ''melts'' on contact with his body despite him not even using his flames.

* When Wolverine is brought back to life in the beginning of the [[ComicBook/MarvelAFreshStart Marvel: A Fresh Start]] launch, he's given the NewSuperpower of superheating his claws, at the expense of diminishing his healing factor and tapping into his berserker side. At the end of ''ComicBook/ReturnOfWolverine'', when Wolverine locks away his berserker side, it also disables the superheating claws.

[[folder:Fanfiction]]

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]

* The Warpsword of Khaine from ''Literature/MalusDarkblade'' is said to feel like it just came out of the forge, and it burns whatever it hits.
* In ''Literature/CodexAlera'' many of the High Lords combine fire and metalcrafting to heat their swords, because a bleeding wound can be watercrafted better easily enough, but a cauterized wound is unhealable. Since this causes their swords to shine brightly, they also use them to send signals and challenges that can be seen across the chaos of a battle.
* In Clay and Susan Griffith's ''Vampire Empire'' series, it is TwentyMinutesInTheFuture and remnants of a steampunk British Empire barely escaped a vampire apocalypse. Among the weapons used by humans against the vampires is the Fahrenheit Blade. These are blade weapons, including khukris, that have a special sheathe which will coat the steel blade in volatile chemicals. This heats the blade to extremely high temperatures and are more devastating against the heat-sensitive vampires than regular swords.

* Many Warhammer swords (at least in the way they are visually depicted), both ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy'' (Archaon) and ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' ('''THE GOD-EMPEROR OF MANKIND'''), even when some flames might flicker depending on the artist, verging into FlamingSword territory.
%%* ''TabletopGame/MutantChronicles.''

* And of course ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' is full of these. As well as (among others) [[ShockAndAwe lightning]] and [[AnIcePerson cold]] versions. Not restricted to bladed weapons, though...
* ''1001 Science Fiction Weapons'' for D20, by Plain Brown Wrapper Games, also has a section on superheated blades. Various blades are used, including a [[SinisterScythe scythe]]; though unlike the supercooled weapons available in the book, the superheated scythe is not useful for non-combat reaping of wheat as the crop is set on fire. It is stated that if you see one of these hanging on the wall, you're probably dealing with a villain.
* In ''Obsidian - Age of Judgement'' from Apophis Consortium, one of the expansion books has a gun version of this trope. Normally flamethrowers are the weapons of choice against the undead, unfortunately they come in only one size and don't do that much damage compared to the larger machine guns. So a new weapon was invented, it's a gun with a mechanism that separates the bullet from the casing. It then superheats the bullet until it's almost molten and then the casing with charge is fired. So the super-hot bullet is shot out at high velocity and will rip up standard targets, while also incinerating enemies that are bullet-resistant.

* ''VideoGame/TheHenryStickminCollection'' has a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]] in ''Completing the Mission'' on the Valiant Hero path. Charles tells Henry to press a button on his helment to dispense a superheated knife to cut into the Toppats' space station hull, but it drifts away before he can grab it, leading to a FAIL.

* In ''Film/RebelMoon'', Nemesis wields two heated blades, one on each arm.

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'' [[ShockAndAwe Enel]] does a variation by using his electric powers to turn his trident into molten metal in order to burn [[RubberMan Luffy]], who's immune to direct attack by Enel's lightning. He also uses it to quickly reshape said trident(it was originally just a golden staff).

* Keyleth attempts this in one episode of ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'', using Vax's daggers as the focus. Unfortunately, due to a misunderstanding about the effects of the Heat Metal spell and an aversion of ConvectionSchmonvection, the extra damage is done to ''[[NiceJobBreakingItHero Vax]]''.

** Captain Yamamoto's Bankai Seems to be this, along with a fullbody flame armor. Both of which are ''as hot as the sun''.

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/TheDragonPrince https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_wtwep83.png]] [[caption-width:350: Like a hot knife through enchanted assassin bindings.]] ]]