History Main / GlassWeapon

* In all installments of ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' since ''Morrowind'', there's an entire class of ''very'' strong weapons made of glass, including swords, war-axes, bows, and ''maces'', as well as glass armor. They can be created by combining refined moonstone and refined malachite... though admittedly they aren't exactly ''glass'', per se. While the game refers to them as glass, they're actually malachite (not to be confused real [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malachite malachite]])-- a fictional metal-like volcanic mineral most commonly found in the Red Mountain region of Morrowind, but veins of it are also located under Skyrim.

* In the ''Literature/EighthDoctorAdventures'' novel ''Demontage'' an assassin is disguised as a wine-glass salesman, and his ScaramangaSpecial(comprising two knives, a single shot gun and a set of lockpicks) is therefore made of glass.

* In the ''Literature/EighthDoctorAdventures'' novel ''Demontage'' an assassin is disguised as a wine-glass salesman, and his IKEAWeaponry (comprising two knives, a single shot gun and a set of lockpicks) is therefore made of glass.

* In Creator/LarryNiven's short story "[[Literature/TheMagicGoesAway What Good Is a Glass Dagger?]]", it turns out that a glass dagger has one significant advantage: it can be [[spoiler: hidden in water]].

* The ''Literature/EighthDoctorAdventures'' novel ''Demontage'' an assassin is disguised as a wine-glass salesman, and his IKEAWeaponry (comprising two knives, a single shot gun and a set of lockpicks) is therefore made of glass.

* Blackwood in ''Film/SherlockHolmes'' attempts to stab Watson with a BladeBelowTheShoulder made of glass in the opening scene of the movie.

* The ''Franchise/{{Ultima}}'' series had glass swords from ''VideoGame/UltimaV'' onward: one-hit-one-kill weapons for practically every enemy in the games that shatter beyond repair upon a single use.

[[TruthInTelevision This isn't quite as improbable as it initially seems]]: before metalworking was invented, glass was one of the most popular materials to make weapons with sharp edges out of, along with flint. Even today glass knives are used in ''incredibly'' precise operations, since glass' edges don't degrade as quickly as metal's do, and it can be sharpened so much that it can create real-life examples of {{Absurdly Sharp Blade}}.

However, that doesn't get around the immistakable fact that glass is incredibly brittle; while making it into a dangerous slicing weapon is just barely viable, anything like a sword or even a knife that's meant to be able to stab instead of slice would just end up with your weapon breaking mid-battle and you left holding a piece of broken glass.

GrievousBottleyHarm is an improvised version, where a glass bottle is used as a weapon. Contrast SoftGlass, where glass is much ''less'' injurious than it should be, and compare CrystalWeapon for another type of material unrealistically used for weaponry. Also not to be confused with GlassCannon, which is a term for anything with high offensive power but very little defense (although, it is named for what would be an example).

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'': ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemAkaneia Mystery of the Emblem]]'', its remake ''New Mystery of the Emblem'', and ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' have a subset of weapons made of out glass. They break after three uses and they're as strong as the fairly powerful Silver weapons, but don't require a high weapon rank to use. ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' also has Glass

* In ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemAkaneia Fire Emblem: Shin Monshou no Nazo]]'', there are glass staves, swords, lances, axes, and bows that break after three uses. They're as strong as the fairly powerful silver weapons, but don't require the weapon rank to use them that silver weapons do.

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In fiction, we all know that [[ImprobableWeaponUser anything can be a weapon.]] What's also true is that a weapon can be made of any''thing'', including glass, something known more for its fragility than anything else.

Admittedly, this isn't quite as improbable as it initially seems: before metalworking was invented, glass was one of the most popular materials to make weapons with sharp edges out of, along with flint. Even today glass knives are used in ''incredibly'' precise operations, since glass' edges don't degrade as quickly as metal's do, and it can be sharpened so much that it can create real-life examples of {{Absurdly Sharp Blade}}.

* In ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemAkaneia Fire Emblem: Shin Monshou no Nazo]]'', there are glass staffs, swords, lances, axes, and bows that break after three uses. They're as strong as silver weapons (i.e., mediocre), but don't require the weapon rank to use them that silver weapons do.

GrievousBottleyHarm is an improvised version, where a glass bottle is used as a weapon. Contrast SoftGlass, where glass is much ''less'' injurious than it should be. Also not to be confused with GlassCannon, which is a term for anything with high offensive power but very little defense (although, it is named for what would be an example).

* In one of the ''Literature/{{Bony}}'' detective novels by Arthur Upfield, the victims are killed with coloured glass daggers that were once used as props in a magic act to which characters are connected.

* In ''The Stepsister Scheme'' by Jim C. Hines, Danielle's glass sword contains her mother's soul.

* In 'VideoGame/RuneScape'', an obsidian sword, knife, and mace are found and used to unlock a door in one of the quests. They aren't, however, used to fight.

An advantage that is sometimes claimed for glass weapons is that they can be hidden by immersing them in water. This would not work as well in real life, as water and glass have an index of refraction of 1.33 and 1.5 respectively. Corn syrup would be a bet refractive match, but also kind of messy.

GrievousBottleyHarm is an improvised version, where you break a drinking glass and use it to fight. Contrast SoftGlass, where glass is much ''less'' injurious than it should be. Also not to be confused with GlassCannon, which is a term for anything with high offensive power but very little defense.

* In ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemAkaneia Fire Emblem: Shin Monshou no Nazo]]'', there are glass staffs, swords, lances, axes, and bows that break after three uses. They're as strong as silver weapons (i.e., medicore), but don't require the weapon rank to use them that silver weapons do.