The Truth About The Peacemaker Sword From Wynonna Earp
If you have ever tuned in to an episode of Wynonna Earp and wondered how a Colt single action revolver with an extra-long barrel can slay demons, you're not alone. According to pop culture, you normally need either holy water or a double-barreled shotgun to do the trick, but in the show, the titular Wynonna Earp uses great-great-grandpappy Wyatt Earp's gun, Peacemaker. However, sometimes Peacemaker is the name of a sword in the show, not a gun.
This isn't a case of Wynonna Earp's writers forgetting established rules (although that has happened on several occasions). The Peacemaker gun and Peacemaker sword are one and the same. But, depending on how far you are into the show, some pressing questions might weigh on you. If you want to know whether the Peacemaker sword was melted down to forge the Peacemaker gun or how the sword was created in the first place, saddle up.
It originally kept the peace in the Garden of Eden
Peacemaker has numerous ingrained abilities, such as banishing demons and burning any that try to wield the weapon against its owner (or anyone else for that matter). The weapon also doubles as an alarm clock when humans are hypnotized into a deep sleep. All of this anti-demon gimmickry sounds like it belongs in an angel's tool belt, which is exactly what Peacemaker is.
According to Wynonna Earp's lore, Peacemaker was originally a flaming sword wielded by angels to guard the Garden of Eden. It remained in that form until the angels Julian and Juan Carlo handed Wyatt Earp the weapon, so he could defend Eden. Afterward, Peacemaker adopted its firearm form, quite possibly literally.
Wyatt Earp didn't melt the sword down and turn it into a gun. Instead, it just became one. Show creator Emily Andras has teased that Peacemaker's bevy of abilities — and its occasional disregard for its own rules — might be due to a level of sentience (via The TV Junkies). She didn't explicitly state how sentient the weapon is, if at all. Yet, she implied Peacemaker at least has some empathic abilities and can detect ideas such as wielder intent, which would explain why it turned back into a sword when Bulshar got his greasy hands on it.
Unless Wynonna Earp Season 5 is greenlighted, we might never know the answer.