A Vorfemme knife was a special type of knife worn by female Vor nobles on Barrayar. During the Time of Isolation, a Vorfemme knife was used for self-defense; carrying such a knife made a Vor woman better armed than a peasant, but less so than a Vor lord, who generally wore a pair of swords. Suggestions in text existed that Vor lords feared their wives getting the drop on them; a number of Vor ladies have been seen over the course of the saga who made such a fear seem reasonable.