WARNING: This article contains SPOILERS for the Darth Vader comic series
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The origin story of Darth Vader's red lightsaber has finally been told. The creation of the Sith blade is explained in the pages of the Star Wars comics from Marvel (and novels, TV shows, and films) to establish a new canon. Beginning with the story of Darth Vader, and how his final step in becoming a Sith Apprentice was actually his iconic weapon.
Just moments after Vader awakens in his helmeted, artificial form in Darth Vader #1, Emperor Palpatine asks his apprentice to produce a lightsaber. Not the one used by Anakin Skywalker - that's now held by Obi-wan Kenobi, still years away from being ed to Luke. The Emperor is referring to the lightsaber of Darth Vader. As the pair look out on Coruscant (and the public destruction of every Jedi lightsaber) Darth Vader realizes his first mission.
The lightsaber of a Sith must be TAKEN.
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Darth Vader Kills a Lost Jedi For His Lightsaber
Obviously this requirement poses a bit of a problem, since the Sith Lords have just finished executing Order 66 and slaughtering every known Jedi across the galaxy. So in finding one to defeat in combat, and thereby claim their lightsaber as his own, Darth Vader has some digging to do. In the process, revealing yet another new detail added to the Jedi mythology: the Jedi librarian Jocasta Nu survived the Purge as well).
Heading to a distant river moon, Vader finds one of the few Jedi left in the galaxy: a champion fighter named Kirak Infil'a. And once Kirak Infil'a realizes the truth - that this monstrous figure of the Dark Side has wiped out the Jedi Order - he invites him to open combat. The initial fight is short, with Kirak besting Vader's artificial limbs, tossing him to his death, and immediately planning to found a new Jedi Order.
But this is Darth Vader we're talking about. After reassembling his robotic body, Vader unleashes his rage not upon the Jedi, but the innocent civilians of a nearby city. Kirak Infil'a is distracted, defeated, and dispatched along with countless innocent lives. Bearing the lightsaber of Kirak Infil'a - the first canonical lightsaber of the reborn Darth Vader - the Apprentice receives his next challenge.
Darth Vader Returns To Mustafar
The kyber crystals of the Star Wars Universe have taken the spotlight under Disney's watch, becoming major plot points in Rogue One, Star Wars: Rebels, and more. But for longtime fans who know how Sith lightsaber got their red color in the old, Legends continuity... things have changed. Previously, the Star Wars canon explained that only Jedi use the naturally formed kyber crystals to power their lightsabers. And while red crystals do occur in nature, the fact that Jedi used and controlled the biggest kyber crystal sites means they are off-limits to the Sith.
Instead, they create synthetic crystals - another example of the Jedi submitting to the mysteries of the universe, while the Sith exercise control. When they are forged, Sith make their crystals red as a tribute to the "bloodshine blades" of their ancient ancestors.
But that was the OLD story. The new canon gives a new reason. A much, much darker reason...
Darth Vader 'Bleeds' The Kyber Crystal Red
As mentioned above, the Emperor claims that a newly-appointed Sith must claim their lightsaber from a defeated Jedi. Once they have it, they must the Star Wars novel Ahsoka, but the Darth Vader comics actually show it in action.
As Vader tries to break the crystal to his will, he learns that kyber crystals fight back. With a blast of its strange Force power, Anakin comes to his senses in horror, returns to the Emperor, defeats him, and then seeks out Obi-wan on Tatooine to apologize... until it is all revealed to be an illusion of the crystal, making one last effort to call Vader back to the Light. He resists, and as images of Pe, Obi-wan, and other key moments from Anakin's life flash through him in pain, Vader succeeds. It is only when he returns to the Emperor on Coruscant and ignites his red lightsaber that Darth Vader has become a true Sith Lord.
Darth Vader's First Sith Lightsaber is Destroyed
The defeat of Kirak Infil'a and the bleeding of his lightsaber's kyber crystal gives Vader a weapon, but he's still without THE weapon that fans know and love. Surprisingly, the transformation isn't made over time, or even after a memorable Jedi defeat. It's a matter of necessity, when the least imposing enemies of Darth Vader deal an uncharacteristic blow - shattering his lightsaber into shrapnel.
Shortly after claiming his lightsaber - and Jedi recruits with his Inquisitors. Heading to a reported Jedi sighting, Vader walks straight into a bounty hunter's trap. The trap is sprung when one of the mercenaries snatches his lightsaber from his belt with a tractor rifle (capable of issuing a powerful pull). It's a serious new weapon, too, since the combined strength of both Vader and the tractor rifle destroy the lightsaber.
Vader eventually succeeds in chasing down the bounty hunters and extracts the information behind the ambush, but it still leaves him with the problem of his missing lightsaber. A problem he solves on the trip back to Coruscant.
Darth Vader Finally Builds His Famous Lightsaber
Fans get to see the final stages of Vader constructing his most iconic lightsaber in Issue #12 of the Darth Vader comic series. While absentmindedly directing his ship's computer to find out who tried to ambush him, Vader completes his new saber. Gone are the delicate chrome lines of Kirak's blade, replaced by the same signature details that Anakin built into his first Jedi lightsaber.
The ridges at the base of the saber, the large, angled emitter shroud are all seen in Episode III - now recreated with a stronger emphasis on dark black materials and metal to match his new Sith body. When presenting the rebuilt blade to his master, Darth Sidious, the Emperor notes that Infil'a's hilt "did not suit" Vader's own fighting style or spirit.
Most will agree that the replacement - destined to be carried until it's lost in Return of the Jedi - most definitely does.
