Warning! Spoilers ahead for Star Wars: Visions episode 1, "The Duel"
In the first episode of Star Wars: Visions, a ronin master faces a Sith Lord who wields the best lightsaber, one so ridiculous it will likely never be featured in the films. However, that doesn't make it any less impressive while being featured in this animated short story. As the Sith uses a unique attachment to make her crimson lightsaber even more deadly in its versatility, the ronin who faces her in the duel should be thankful that the Sith abandoned it after decimating a group of bounty hunters who were completely out of their league.
Coming from Disney in partnership with Kamikaze Douga (the anime studio behind /JoJo's Bizarre Adventure), "The Duel" follows a wandering ronin master and his droid who've been traveling the region and come upon a village just before bandits arrive. Wearing pieces of stormtrooper armor from past battles, the bandits demand taxes from the villagers who hardly have anything left to give. However, before the ronin intervenes and meets their Sith leader in a lightsaber duel, the Sith Lord in question faces a group of bounty hunters the village had hired to protect them.
Upon her arrival in the episode, the Sith Lord activates her incredibly striking (if not somewhat ridiculous) lightsaber. Featuring an attachment that splits the blade several times, the Sith's weapon effectively becomes a deadly umbrella of spinning lightsabers, which she uses to float down to the ground like an evil Mary Poppins before completely decimating the hunters who dared attack her forces. While this new type of lightsaber is inherently a bit silly, seeing it in action in the animated short is impressive, and its creativity underscores the freedom all the anime studios were given when working on these various shorts for Star Wars: Visions thanks to the non-canon nature of the series.
That said, similar lightsabers have been seen in the official Star Wars canon with the double-bladed spinning sabers used by the Imperial Inquisitors in Star Wars Rebels, which allowed them to hover above their prey as well. However, the umbrella lightsaber in Visions doubles down on that concept in a big way, reminiscent of some of the memes made by early critics of Kylo Ren's lightsaber with its unique crossguard. Given the non-canonical space the series is working in, fans can just enjoy the short stories in their entirety, including "The Duel" and its over-the-top Sith lightsaber.
"The Duel" is one of Star Wars: Visions' most dynamic and entertaining episodes, and this new Sith lightsaber is certainly a big part of what makes it so special. Again, while it is inherently ridiculous in nature, that doesn't make it any less incredible as the episode featured some incredibly entertaining action shots. Sadly, the Sith Lord eventually discarded the dynamic umbrella attachment, apparently wanting more of a challenge from the ronin master who squared off with her.
