Darth Sidious' lightsabers

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"Before I was confined to this imperfect form, I possessed a pair of exquisite lightsabers, constructed from the rare metals phrik and aurodium."

―Darth Sidious^[7]

Darth Sidious' lightsabers were the pair of nearly identical personal electrum-finish lightsabers of Darth Sidious, built during his apprenticeship under Darth Plagueis. Although a skilled and deadly combatant, Sidious rarely used his weapons—only doing so when absolutely necessary—as he would have been immediately identified as a Sith Lord. Instead, he preferred to exercise his powers of manipulation and used servants to carry out his hidden agenda.

Specifications[]

DarthSidious-TLC — Sidious was as deadly with one of his lightsabers as he was with both.

Darth Sidious had discerning tastes^[2] for the finer enjoyments of life,^[8] which was reflected in his lightsabers. They were constructed from nearly indestructible phrik with a flat aurodium blade emitter, and all finished with electrum.^[2] Both weapons utilized a corrupted kyber crystal at their cores.^[5]

While both were originally identical,^[6] one of them was later retrofitted with an unknown black material.^[1]

One of the weapons was normally hidden inside a neuranium sculpture that was displayed on the desk of his office within the Senate Office Building on Coruscant.^[2]

History[]

Creation[]

Darth Sidious' weapons were constructed by Sidious during his apprenticeship under Darth Plagueis.^[2]

Clone Wars[]

Mandalore[]

In 19 BBY,^[3] Darth Sidious carried both of these lightsabers when he secretly traveled to Mandalore to confront Darth Maul and his brother and apprentice Savage Opress. He wielded both weapons in the ensuing duel, separating the pair and effortlessly dispatching and killing Opress. Maul, using two lightsabers of his own, proved a much tougher opponent and held his own for a while longer. Sidious disarmed Maul and subdued him with a combination of telekinesis and Force lightning.^[6]

Second Battle of Dathomir[]

Maul-confronts-Sidious-and-Grievous — Sidious using one of his lightsabers on Dathomir

Sidious later wielded one of his lightsabers during the Second Battle of Dathomir, and used it to fight Mother Talzin in combat. Ultimately, Talzin was defeated with the help of General Grievous and Sidious' apprentice, Count Dooku.^[9]

Rise to Power[]

Duel in Palpatine's office[]

VERY NASTY — Sidious brandishes one of his lightsabers against the Jedi

Near the end of the Clone Wars, Sidious fought against Jedi Masters Mace Windu, Kit Fisto, Saesee Tiin, and Agen Kolar using one of the lightsabers. He slew Kolar and Tiin easily, killed Fisto shortly afterward, but had an extended confrontation with Windu. The Jedi guided the battle towards the bay window of the Sith Lord's office and out onto the wind-blown ledge outside. Windu disarmed the Sith Lord with a surgically precise kick to the face, throwing Sidious off-balance and causing the Sith Lord to drop his lightsaber as he flailed for purchase. The lightsaber fell out the window into the seemingly bottomless streets and alleyways of Coruscant below just before Skywalker arrived.^[1] Consequently, Sidious was forced to use only his other remaining lightsaber from there on out.^[10]

Showdown in the Senate Building[]

Clash of Titans — Sidious duels Yoda using his remaining lightsaber.

After Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda realized what had happened, Yoda went to face the Emperor personally at the Senate Building, while Kenobi headed off to kill Darth Vader. Yoda surprised Sidious, who told him that his arrogance blinded him and that his apprentice would be more powerful than both of them. Yoda answered Sidious that his faith in Vader was a mistake along with his faith in the dark side. Yoda then dueled Sidious, who used his remaining lightsaber to face the Jedi Master. The duel brought them to the Galactic Senate Chamber, the heart of the Senate. Sidious hurled Senate pods at Yoda, and the effort to avoid them exhausted the Jedi Master. Sidious then blasted Yoda with Force lightning, but with the last of his strength, the Jedi Master repelled it enough to send both himself and Sidious over the pod's edge. Sidious was able to hold on to a senate pod, while Yoda fell to the Senate floor, leaving only his cloak. With Bail Organa's help, Yoda fled the Senate Building and would go into exile.^[1]

Age of the Empire[]

Death threat[]

Shortly after his new apprentice was reconstructed as a cyborg, Sidious informed Vader that his wife died. In rage Vader threw the Emperor against the wall, but Sidious manage to convince Vader to let him go. After Vader did so, Sidious shocked his apprentice with bolts of Force lightning. Sidious then ignited his lightsaber and threatened that if Vader touched him with the Force again, he would finish what Obi-Wan could not.^[11]

Vader's vision[]

After Vader tracked down and killed a Jedi and took his lightsaber, claiming the kyber crystal. Sidious sent Vader to Mustafar to a Sith cave so he could corrupt the kyber crystal with his pain and anger in order to make it "bleed." Inside the cave, Vader's first attempt resulted in him experiencing an intense light side Force visions that urged him to return to the light side. He experienced a vision where he reassembled the lightsaber and returned to the Emperor on Coruscant with the green lightsaber. Realizing that Vader has not embraced the dark side, Sidious attacked his apprentice but Vader managed to kill the Emperor in the vision.^[12]

Training Darth Vader[]

Sidious Lesson Ligthsaber — Sidious used his spare lightsaber to teach Vader a lesson.

Later after Vader bled the Jedi lightsaber, Sidious sought to teach him a lesson with a sparring duel on the Works. Igniting his remaining lightsaber, Sidious charges at Vader and quickly overwhelming his apprentice, Sidious told the defeated Vader that lightsabers were not the real tool of the Sith but rather the dark side of the Force was. After attacking Vader with pieces of wreckage that he lifted with the Force, Sidious made it clear that the lightsaber was nothing more than a symbol for the true power that anyone who stood against the dark side would face.^[13]

Fighting on Ryloth[]

Darth Sidious would once again use his lightsaber and fought alongside Vader against a swarm of lyleks on the planet Ryloth. During his fight at Ryloth he used his lightsaber to deflect every single blaster shot aimed at him.^[14]

Destroying Crimson Dawn[]

HiddenEmpire4-No-survivors — Darth Sidious, Darth Vader, and their forces boarded the Amaxine Station to destroy Crimson Dawn once and for all.

Soon before the Battle at Amaxine Station, Darth Sidious used his lightsaber to once again spar with his apprentice while conversing about Qi'ra and her plans to destroy the Sith. Not long after, Sidious and Vader arrived at the Amaxine Station aboard the Executor and the Sith took a shuttle down to it. Once landed, Sidious and Vader each ignited their weapons to use to finally put an end to Crimson Dawn, with Sidious decreeing there were to be no survivors left in their wake.^[15]

Fighting their way into the station with their lightsabers, Sidious and Vader led their escort of death troopers and Emperor's Royal Guards. To Sidious, the moment was a rare opportunity to take a direct hand against his enemies, much to his enjoyment. In the end, Crimson Dawn's plans would be crushed with the destruction of the Fermata Cage. Sidious's rule over the galaxy would instead be brought down by the Rebel Alliance with the Battle of Endor,^[16] where Vader returned to the light side and sacrificed himself to destroy his master in order to save his son, Luke Skywalker. Without its Emperor,^[17] the Empire would struggle along for the following year until the Battle of Jakku^[18] in 5 ABY.^[19]

Behind the scenes[]

"That Darth Sidious fights with two lightsabers is evident in Episode III -- he has two lightsabers in Revenge of the Sith, though he never has an opportunity to wield them simultaneously since he loses one in his fight with Mace Windu before dueling Yoda."

―The Lawless Trivia Gallery in StarWars.com^[10]

Darth Sidious' lightsabers first appeared in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, Episode III Revenge of the Sith, first used under his public persona of Palpatine, Supreme Chancellor of the Senate. As a blooper, Sidious' black lightsaber can sometimes be seen interchanged with the Skywalker lightsaber in the duel scene in Palpatine's office.^[1] It would be revealed that Sidious wields two lightsabers in "The Lawless", an episode of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series.^[6] These weapons continued to appear in Star Wars canon through other media, including The Clone Wars Legacy and a few comic books. Darth Sidious's lightsabers were first identified in Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition.^[5]