This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight.
Not as clumsy or as random as a blaster.
An elegant weapon… for a more civilized age.
It was lost when father chopped off sons hand towards the end of said iconic family face-off.
Canonically, Anakin built the lightsaber himself.
To this he added a collection of switches nabbed from an old calculator.
InEmpire Strikes Back, the calculator buttons were swapped out for some bits from a circuit board.
Instead, Nelson Shin used rotoscoping, a time-consuming animation technique that involves tracing over footage frame by frame.
His otherStar Warsbrainchildren include R2-D2s voice and the peow!
sound of blaster guns.
Theres a key difference in the shaft, though, which is why they arent identical.
For starters its got a gold bit on it.
The individual touches also help the world feel lived-in and individualized.
Again, a replica of Alec Guinness lightsaber was created for Ewan McGregor to use inRevenge of the Sith.
It definitely adds to the mystique of Luke and his lightsaber at this stage of the story.
Incredibly soon, said Federation begin gassing the Jedi under the command of Darth Sidious.
Out come the lightsabers shiny, new, and without that cobbled-together look of Lucas originalStar Wars.
Qui-Gons lightsaber is predominantly black, with silver touches here and there.
Its clearly got rivets in it for better grip.
It has the look of a lightsaber created industrially, as if it mightve come from a factory.
The design phase ofThe Phantom Menacewas on a much larger scale than that ofA New Hope.
Even before Lucas had started the script, his producing partner Rick McCallum was deep in preproduction.
He brought in ILMs art director Doug Chiang, who became the design director for the film.
This isnt the dingy world ofA New Hope, but the glitzier climate that preceded it.
The swanky professionally-crafted-looking lightsabers fit that pitch to a tee.
His Alec Guiness replica wouldnt arrive untilRevenge of the Sith.
John Williams majestic Duel of the Fates score helps add to Maul and his weapons cool-levels, too.
Since then, double-bladed lightsabers have shown up in almost every medium going, including TV and gaming.
SinceEpisode I, though, theyve not appeared on the big screen again.
Itll be interesting to see if they ever pop up in the cinema again.
When the late, great Christopher Lee became the new filmic villain instead, the curved lightsaber idea remained.
His weapon was designed to resemble a rapier handle (including that pointy guard bit).
This new lightsaber style melded marvelously with the overall Dracula-inspired look of Dooku.
Specifically, the curved-hilt lightsaber was introduced inUlic Qel-Droma and the Beast Wars of Onderon.
Again, this was an idea taken directly from the Expanded Universe.
But no one ever talks about that.
Instead, they tend to mention the fact that his blade is pink.
Sadly, Windus arm was chopped off and his lightsaber was never seen again (in the films).
The manifold characters who lost their limbs inStar Warscould have done with keeping a compact spare handy.
Maybe itll catch on inThe Force Awakensand beyond.
Wed love to see this weapon realized on the big screen some day.
The Inquisitor a recurring baddie fromStar Wars: Rebels has a lightsaber that quite possibly tops them all.
It can be single-bladed or double-bladed, it can rotate around ominously, and it even has handguards.
As an aside, if you havent started watchingRebelsyet,you really should.
Ezras hybrid blaster-saber
Theres another fun reinvention withinStar Wars Rebels, too.
Youngster Ezra gradually learns the ways of the Force throughout the series and eventually builds his own lightsaber.
The resultant weapon is a hybrid that reflects its creators nature.
Sometimes, he needs to be a smuggler, so he can use his weapon as a blaster.
But when the time comes, he can press a different button and activate lightsaber mode.
This is the kind of design that feels totally at home in theStar Warsuniverse.
Part blaster, part lightsaber, why did no one ever think of that before?
Once again, the concept first appeared in the pages of Dark Horse Comics.
It was 2004sRepublic#61: Dead Ends comic that introduced this sort of design.
It was used by the Jedi Roblio Darte…
Unlike Kylo Ren, Roblio Darte only had one additional crossguard blade, not two.
Its also worth noting the ragged nature of the beam thats emitting in all three directions from Rens broadsaber.
This doesnt appear to be a perfectly refined lightsaber.
Rather, it looks like scavenged-together imitation thats barely able to contain its power.
Whether or not our speculation is correct, that broadsaber should be a heck of a sight in battle.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Star Warslore is so detailed that this article could stretch on infinitely.
The dual-phase lightsaber with a blade that could extend to double the length also got left out.
And no one should ever forget the Sabercane fromKnights of the Old Republic.
To all these neglected weapons were very sorry to have missed you in our brief history of lightsaber design.
Perhaps well write another article about you one day.
Itll be easier to do if you dont cut off one of our arms first, though…
