Warning: This article accommodates spoilers for Star Wars: The Acolyte Episode 5!
The lightsaber is undoubtedly one of many coolest (albeit sadly nonexistent) weapons in all of popular culture. What’s to not love a couple of laser sword that may reduce via something but simply stow away in your pocket when not in use? Though as we have seen many instances within the Star Wars universe, some Jedi and Sith aren’t content material to stay to the normal lightsaber design. The Acolyte is simply the newest Star Wars challenge to proceed that proud custom.
From double-bladed lightsabers to lightsaber pikes to a lightsaber rifle (?), listed here are the strangest and most noteworthy lightsaber designs within the Star Wars franchise, together with a number of from the traditional Legends continuity.
Lumiya’s Light-Whip
You have to present Marvel Comics credit score for pondering outdoors the field on this one. Long earlier than the times of villains like Darth Maul and Kylo Ren, 1985’s Star Wars #95 featured one of the uncommon lightsaber designs ever conceived. Lumiya, former protege of Darth Vader himself, constructed a whip primarily based on historical Sith designs. Built from a mix of unbreakable Mandalorian iron and lightsaber crystals, this weapon is the one lightsaber that creates a versatile beam. Lumiya almost overwhelmed Luke with this lethal weapon, forcing him to wield two sabers directly to face an opportunity in battle.
The Double-Bladed Lightsaber
The idea of a double-bladed lightsaber was launched previous to The Phantom Menace, however this film introduced that weapon into the mainstream due to Darth Maul. Maul confirmed how lethal this weapon will be in the proper fingers, dominating two highly effective Jedi directly. Similar doubled-bladed sabers have been utilized by characters like Savage Opress and Satele Shan.
The Lightsaber Pike
One of the extra fascinating variations of the double-bladed lightsaber is the lightsaber pike, a weapon utilized by the guards on the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. With an extended hilt and shorter blades, these sabers are designed for use extra like a workers than a standard sword. The hilts additionally fold in half in a switchblade-style design, one which’s began gaining popularity within the Star Wars universe.
Pong Krell’s Sabers
Star Wars: The Clone Wars launched a corrupt Jedi Master named Pong Krell who places his personal spin on the double-bladed lightsaber design. Krell’s saber blades are longer, like Maul’s, however the hilts fold in half, just like the lightsaber pike. Krell can also be the uncommon Jedi able to wielding two double-bladed sabers directly, a feat solely doable due to his unimaginable energy and further arms.
Mace Windu’s Purple Saber
Canonically, there’s just one Jedi cool sufficient to wield a purple-bladed lightsaber. Lightsaber crystals virtually at all times are available in inexperienced, blue or purple varieties, making Mace’s saber fairly the collector’s merchandise. We can not help however marvel what turned of the weapon after Anakin sliced Mace’s arm off in Revenge of the Sith.
Count Dooku’s Saber
Count Dooku was thought to be one of many most interesting swordsmen within the galaxy earlier than defecting to the Sith. His lightsaber hilt includes a distinctive, curved design, permitting for exact motions and strikes. This enhances the fencing-inspired preventing type Dooku has perfected. His protege, Asajj Ventress, wields a pair of comparable sabers, although by no means fairly as skillfully as her grasp.
Darth Sidious’ Sabers
Darth Sidious’s sabers stand out each for his or her decorative design and the truth that the hilts are so brief. That is smart, on condition that Sidious has taken nice pains to hide his Sith powers and retains his sabers hid throughout the folds of his robes.
Ahsoka Tano’s Sabers
When Ahsoka Tano first appeared in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, she wielded a standard inexperienced saber. But because the sequence progressed and Ahsoka turned extra assured in her talents, she switched to the Jar’Kai type of fight, which focuses on twin sabers. Like a samurai, Ahsoka carries a standard-length blade and a shorter blade referred to as a shoto. Star Wars Rebels additional units her aside by making Ahsoka one of many uncommon Jedi to wield white lightsaber blades, with the blades additionally showing within the live-action reveals The Mandalorian and Star Wars: Ahsoka.
Maris Brood’s Sabers
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed launched Maris Brood, a Jedi Padawan who falls to the Dark Side after the loss of life of her grasp, Shaak Ti. Brood’s twin sabers are impressed by tonfa sticks, with a perpendicular hilt design that enable her to carry her sabers at uncommon angles.
The Darksaber
The Darksaber is likely one of the oldest recognized lightsaber weapons within the Star Wars universe. Its archaic design leads to a flat, angled blade that glows black and makes a particular hum. This blade has an extended historical past with the soldiers of Mandalore. Its creator, Tarre Vizsla, was the primary Mandalorian inducted into the Jedi Order, and it is since been utilized by Mandalorians like Pre Vizsla and Sabine Wren. The Darksaber additionally reveals up in The Mandalorian’s Season 1 finale and performed a key function in subsequent seasons.
Darth Malgus’ Saber
Ancient Sith Lord Darth Malgus has one of many few lightsabers that may in all probability kill a person even when it is deactivated. The prime of the hilt options two blade-like protrusions that make it appear as if Malgus carries an ax on the battlefield.
Darth Chratis’ Saber
Another highly effective Sith Lord of the Old Republic period, Darth Chratis is notable for carrying a steel workers than can collapse in half and emit a lightsaber blade. The unusually lengthy hilt offers Chratis additional attain in battle.
Darth Bane’s Lightsaber Pike
While the weapon the Jedi Temple Guards wield is known as a lightsaber pike, The Clone Wars virtually launched a weapon much more according to a standard pike. This idea artwork reveals the weapon supposed for use by Darth Bane within the Season 6 episode “Sacrifice.” It’s mainly an extended workers that emits a broad, tapered blade. But whereas Bane himself did seem in that episode, his weapon by no means made the reduce.
The Grand Inquisitor’s Saber
Star Wars Rebels launched the Inquistorius, an order of Dark Jedi charged with serving to Vader wipe out the final of the Jedi. Each of those villains is supplied with a multi-purpose lightsaber. The hilt resembles nothing if not an id disc from Tron, although it will probably additionally fold in half in order that it appears just like the hilt of a cutlass. These sabers can be utilized in both single or double-bladed mode. These weapons can even double as, nicely, personal helicopters.
Kylo Ren’s Saber
Kylo Ren wields an uncommon crossguard saber that displays his personal unstable nature. The crystal powering his saber is cracked, requiring ports on both aspect of the hilt to vent the surplus warmth and plasma. The benefit is that Kylo’s saber has two additional blades (or quillons) that he usually makes use of to his benefit in battle.
The Lightsaber Rifle
Jedi librarian Jocasta Nu could not appear able to going toe-to-toe with Darth Vader and his Inquisitors, however she’s a surprisingly scrappy fighter when the necessity arises. Jocasta leveled the enjoying discipline by attaching her peculiar blue lightsaber to a specifically designed rifle. That rifle makes use of the lightsaber as gasoline for its extremely damaging blasts. Unfortunately, the rifle can solely hearth so many photographs earlier than the lightsaber burns itself out.
Rey’s Switchblade Saber
In The Rise of Skywalker, Rey has a imaginative and prescient of herself wielding this lethal double-bladed lightsaber. This particular weapon folds in half like Pong Krell and the Jedi Temple Guards’ weapons, however the twist is that it will probably nonetheless be used as a twin-bladed weapon even folded. Now that it has been proven within the movies (albeit as a imaginative and prescient), it is solely a matter of time earlier than we see somebody wielding the same blade for actual.
Vernestra Rwoh’s Light-Whip
While Lumiya has but to make the leap from the traditional Legends timeline to Disney’s official Star Wars universe, the lightsaber whip has been canonized due to the High Republic initiative. A younger Vernestra Rwoh wields one among these weapons within the books, whereas a a lot older model of the character seems (alongside together with her saber) in The Acolyte.
Qimir’s Modular Lightsaber
The Acolyte introduces Qimir/The Stranger, a Jedi-hating villain with a number of tips up his nonexistent sleeves. In addition to carrying a helmet and gauntlet manufactured from the lightsaber-shorting substance referred to as cortosis, Qimir wields a purple saber with a removable secondary hilt. This permits Qimir to battle with a normal saber and a shorter shoto, much like Ahsoka Tano.
For extra on The Acolyte, try our evaluate of the primary 4 episodes, then learn how the present continues crucial theme of The Last Jedi and be taught why The Acolyte has us questioning who the true villain is.
Jesse is a mild-mannered author for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your mental thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
