Kor, Jadzia Dax and Worf go to the Gamma Quadrant to find the 'Sword of Kahless', the first bat'leth ever created by the legendary Klingon hero Kahless - and they are followed by another group that wants to get the sword as well. So far, a nice idea, and kudos to the designers for an absolutely magnificent "first bat'leth" - no kidding.
What follows though is not that smart though. Apparently the writers wanted the major symbolism of the sword in Klingon culture to be a dangerous thing that generates conflict between any Klingons that get a hand on the sword, and were baffled by the fact that the viewers thought the sword was either carrying a "virus" or had some "magical powers" that caused the whole aggresive behavior. Ok, maybe most viewers don't bother that much to get the underlying message of an episode, but then, what do you expect if you - aka the writers - don't explain things properly (not to mention that the strange behavior is simply illogical even for the brutal Klingon culture)?
If the sword was such a cause of conflict between Klingons, why on Earth (pardon, Qo'onos - the Klingon homeworld) was it just a harmless artifact that caused unity among Klingons before it was stolen by the Hur'q invaders? Sorry to say this, but the writers' idea to make the sword provoke division was pointless and absurd, really. No wonder the viewers came up with a more logical explanation for the strange behavior exhibited by the Klingons touching it - it makes much more sense to see it as carrying a "virus" or some sort of "magical powers" (the Hur'q factor, maybe?) than its mere symbolism causing friction... especially considering that the whole myth about it was that it would lead to unity (not division!) between Klingons. And, of course, the whole idea in this episode had to be eventually discarded (you'll find out how after watching), since it would have solved the Klingon - Federation conflict too easily, and make the Dominion threat less dangerous.
