Star Wars is known for its epic space battles, romances, and its themes of hope, love, and redemption. George Lucas devised it to be a mythology for modern audiences and created a world that enraptured fans for over forty years.
Every Star Wars fan has probably wondered what their lightsaber would look like, or even designed it themselves. But what about the designs already existing in a galaxy far, far away? Below, we examine our favorite lightsabers from both the new canon and the old one.
Grand Inquisitor's Lightsaber
Introduced in Star Wars Rebels, the Inquisitor's lightsabers stand out for its unique hilt, which allows the saber's twin blades to rotate at a rapid speed, giving the Inquisitors an advantage over their enemies.
Tera Sinube's Lightsaber
Tera was an elderly Jedi Investigator introduced in The Clone Wars. He helped Ahsoka find and recover her own stolen lightsaber while giving her helpful advice along the way.
For a large part of the episode, Tera never wields or mentions his own lightsaber, but at the story's climax, we see him, at last, wield it — revealing it's been hidden in plain sight all along: his lightsaber was built into his walking cane.
Darth Maul’s Lightsaber
Up until The Phantom Menace, we'd never seen a double-bladed lightsaber before. While the concept in itself is already awesome, the lightsaber's design helps add to Maul's intimidation factor — and proves to have devastating capabilities, such as Maul using both blades to his advantage to press a fatal attack against Qui-Gon.
Ezra Bridger's First Lightsaber
Ezra's first lightsaber was an original and ingenious creation: it had a blaster built into it that could stun assailants.
Although Ezra eventually loses his lightsaber and has to remake it, we're never going to forget the creative genius behind his first one and iring it's out-of-box design.
Dooku's Lightsaber
Dooku is the gentleman’s villain: he has a certain brand of elegance and sophistication to everything he does, so it's only befitting for his lightsaber to be the same.
Dooku’s lightsaber is unique for its curved hilt, which honestly probably helps give him more control with his actions, and it adds an extra layer of style to Dooku's overall aesthetic.
The Darksaber
Built by Tarre Vizsla, a Mandalorian Jedi, the Darksaber was a legendary weapon, unique in that it resembled a dagger more so than any of the usual lightsabers we've seen before, as well as the black color of the blade.
The Darksaber has become a key symbol for Mandalore based episodes of both Star Wars Rebels and The Clone Wars and is one of the most iconic weapons existing in the current canon.
Temple Guard Lightsaber
Temple Guards were anonymous Jedi who protected the Jedi Temple. They were an intimidating group, their faces rarely seen thanks to the masks they wore.
Most Guards used saberstaffs, a longer variation of the double-bladed lightsaber. Some Guards’ sabers even had a hinged hilt — a design seen in The Rise of Skywalker promotion with Dark Rey wielding a hinged saberstaff.
Ahsoka's White Lightsabers
When Ahsoka was reintroduced in Star Wars Rebels, it'd been some time since we last saw her in The Clone Wars, and that time was represented in her sleek new character design, with her matured personality and lightsabers.
Ahsoka's two lightsabers had flat hilts for a start and were a dazzling white color, noting her lack of association with either the Jedi or Sith. They were special in the sense that the kyber crystals used to make them were originally bled for an Inquisitor's saber. In the Ahsoka novel, Ahsoka cleansed the crystals and build her new sabers as she began a new chapter of her life.
Tenel Ka Djo's Lightsaber
The only Legends character to make this list, Tenel Ka was one of the most interesting characters in Legends Lore: she was a Jedi who didn't rely solely on the Force, and was the daughter of a Hapan prince and a Dathomiri witch. Tenel was caught between her parents’ cultures, often favoring her mother’s due to her dislike of her father's.
At the end of the Young Jedi Knights book “Lightsabers,” Tenel begins the process of building her lightsaber the right way — and combines both of her cultures into the symbol of her Jedi path by using the tooth of a Rancor for her hilt and several gems from her royal crown for the blade.
Kylo Ren’s Lightsaber
Kylo’s lightsaber is as untamed as he is: due to the cracked kyber crystal Kylo used, the blade proved to be unstable and volatile, a mirror to his own furious personality.
It's cross-guard design alludes to the swords knights may use in our world, but thanks to Star Wars Rebels, we also know that it's an ancient design in a galaxy far, far away. Maybe Kylo is a history buff as well as a calligraphy enthusiast.
