Yeah, I doubt the sword will deflect plasma bolts. The bolts from a Plasma Pistol or Plasma Rifle aren't ballistic, but projected by a magnetic containment field generated by the weapon. A plasma rifle isn't going to 'reflect' that containment field.

: I've also seen people who thought it was made of
: hardlight instead of plasma, though. I suppose it's the same argument
: behind "why do lightsabers not pass through each other" - I
: could rattle off a bunch of scientific ideas or fanon assumptions, but in
: the end it's just because it's cooler that way.

Why do lightsabers reflect blaster shots? Why do they cut through anything but another lightsaber? They just do. That's all there is to it. George Lucas wanted kickass swordfights in Star Wars like the ones in the serials he saw as a kid, and the best way to do that is to make lightsabers operate on the same principles as theatrical swordfighting.

It's not the only way to choreograph a swordfight, especially in print. Well, is it alright if I bring up K. J. Parker again? Because I'm going to bring her up. She's written swordfights before, and she's enough of a Renaissance fan that she knows what she's talking about. Her characters don't just swing and parry and search for weak spots, they talk themselves through strategy, footwork, and timing. There was one character that got into a fight and realized from the get-go that there was no way he was going to win this fight, because the other guy was using a sort of footwork that gave him better avenues of attack.

And then Parker applied these rules of swordfighting to diplomacy and war. It was awesome.

So, what if energy blades can't parry? What if they pass straight through each other, perhaps momentarily disrupting each other? That would make sword duels short and brutal for the survivor. A Sangheili is either a scarily competent swordfighter, or they don't survive more than one duel. Fights are all about feints, evasions and displacement.

It would take a writer who really knows swordfights to make this work, but then again Halo's never had a good swordfight scene. Time for that to change.