Darth Maul's lightsaber

"Let it be nothing more than what it is; an instrument of murder, and nameless."

- Darth Maul

A double-bladed lightsaber was created by the Sith apprentice Darth Maul.

Origins and specifications
"The single blade has limitations, Master, in both offense and defense. It made sense to me to be able to strike with both ends."

- Darth Maul to Darth Sidious

Darth Maul fabricated his double-bladed lightsaber out of necessity. Sent to the Jentares system to assassinate the reclusive Jedi master, Siolo'urmanka, Maul found himself unable to physically compete with the warrior. Their initial bout ended with Maul being batted across the face with his enemy's staff and then disarmed. Knowing that he couldn't beat his opponent through martial prowess, Maul fell back on his strategic know-how, resolving to surprise his opponent.

Returning to his ship, Maul drew on Sith schematics he had at his disposal, fabricating two separate lightsabers. Welding the weapons together, Maul created his new lightsaber. As Maul's lightsaber was composed of two weapons with connected pommels, they both possessed identical designs. Directly below the beam emitter and projection plate of both weapons was the modulation circuitry and the activator. Next to the activator was a control lock and a small, ridged handgrip. The next control was for blade modulation, with a second set of control locks directly below it. The center of the weapon was the joint between the two lightsabers.

Maul took considerable pride in the fashioning of the crystals for his weapon. Creating a set of four synthetic lightsaber crystals in a compression furnace, he went into deep meditation for four days, using the Force to control and monitor the formation of the crystals.

Unveiling
"A trick?"'' "''No. Simply victory."

- Siolo'urmanka and Darth Maul

Returning to the jungle world, Maul again approached Manka, who stood ready. Lamenting Maul's lack of honor or artistry in favor of pure skill, Manka took up a combat stance and offered Maul one last chance to flee. Maul ignited one of the blades of his weapon. Manka attacked first, charging with his staff. Maul barely managed to sidestep before countering. Seeing no point in waiting, Maul used exactly the same maneuver he used previously, allowing himself to be disarmed. As Maul caught the weapon in his left hand, Manka rushed inside the Sith Lord's guard, with Maul's extended arm and the “pommel” of his lightsaber pinned against the Jedi's own back while he held his staff to Maul's throat.

Declaring Maul beaten, as he could crush Maul's throat long before the Sith Lord could bring his lightsaber around to attack, Manka was caught utterly off-guard when Maul triggered the second blade of his weapon, igniting it through the Jedi's chest. As he died in Maul's arms, Manka asked if the Sith Lord had used some sort of trick. Maul replied that he simply achieved victory.

Darth Sidious was genuinely impressed by Maul's ingenuity, and advised Maul to name the weapon, foreseeing that it would "tell great tales". Maul decided against this, feeling that the weapon was little more than what he was, an instrument of murder.

Silus
At some point in 33 BBY, Sidious pitted Maul against the Force-sensitive Drovian Silus, sending Maul to an unknown planet in the Outer Rim. Silus was a hulking, savage brute using the Force for financial gain by pitting himself against other lesser opponents in a dueling ring. Sidious offered to take Silus on as his new apprentice should he be able to kill Maul. He found the Drovian, and after showing him a holo-message of his master containing Sidious' proposal of replacing Maul with Silus the two began to fight. A nullifier field surrounding the dueling ring prevented use of energy weapons, rendering Maul's lightsaber useless and forcing the pair into fighting using only the Force and unarmed combat tactics. Sidious' proposal of replacing Maul with Silus alarmed and unnerved his apprentice, causing a near-fatal lack of focus that allowed Silus to gain the upper hand.

Calling upon his rage, Maul prevailed in the end, using the Force to overload the field and using his lightsaber to end Silus' life. Darth Sidious then revealed to Maul that the ordeal had only been a test.

Ultimate test
Maul wielded the lightsaber during his ultimate test at the conclusion of his training. Abandoned on an isolated Outer Rim Territories world, he was forced to survive alone while being hunted by hordes of assassin droids. After a months time, Sidious returned and challenged his apprentice to a lightsaber duel.

The weak and famished Maul quickly lost. Sidious then tossed Maul's lightsaber aside and told Maul that he had failed, and revealed that he had been secretly training another apprentice to replace Maul the entire time. Rage and hatred overwhelmed Maul and, in one final act of defiance, he lunged forward and sunk his teeth into his master's hand. As he spat the blood back into his master's face in contempt, Maul realized he was no match for the Dark Lord of the Sith, and when Maul's emotions were finally spent, he prepared himself for death. Sidious struck his lightsaber down on Maul, but without killing him since it had only been a training lightsaber. Sidious then laughed. By wanting to kill his own master, Maul had in fact passed the final test. There had been no other apprentice. Sidious proclaimed him to be Darth Maul, a Dark Lord of the Sith and took him to a new home on Coruscant.

Black Sun
After a brief training bout with several of his Duelist Elite droids, Maul was dispatched by Darth Sidious to destroy the leadership of the crime syndicate, Black Sun, as the organizations influence was enough to give Sidious pause. Maul carved his way through the nine Vigos and confronted and killed the bodyguard Sinya and the Dathomiri Nightsister Mighella. Sinya, he beheaded, despite her skilled usage of her twin Guard shotos. Mighella wielded a Darksword against him, and was ultimately disarmed. Maul resisted her subsequent blast of Force lightning and cut her in two.

Longing for victory over Jedi, Maul finally got his wish when he pursued the Neimoidian Hath Monchar. While he successfully killed Monchar, the Neimiodian managed to sell sensitive information regarding the existence of Darth Sidious to information broker Lorn Pavan. Pursuing Pavan, Maul accidentally brought a pair of Jedi upon him, the disturbance in the Force his actions caused alerting them. Things erupted into a speeder chase, Maul chasing the Jedi and Pavan on the Bloodfin. One of the Jedi, Anoon Bondara, sought to turn the tables, leaping off their speeder at Maul. The two crashed on a nearby platform, beginning a fast paced duel. Bondara ultimately ended the contest by ramming his lightsaber into the power core of Maul's bike, destroying it. Maul survived, and continued pursuing Pavan. Before he could capture him, however, Bondara's Padawan, Darsha Assant, attacked him. Unable to defeat the Sith Lord, she ended the contest as her master did, and detonated several explosive barrels. While Maul did catch up with Pavan, slicing off his hand, Pavan escaped. However, while he did reach his goal, he only brought his information back to the original mastermind; Palpatine/Darth Sidious.

Naboo Crisis usage
During the Naboo Crisis, Maul was sent to Tatooine to retrieve the escaped Queen Amidala. Arriving planetside, he dispatched his probe droids to ascertain their location before attacking.

As Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn returned to their ship from Mos Espa with Anakin Skywalker in tow, Maul attacked. Charging Jinn with his speederbike, Maul leapt off and quickly attacked. Igniting only a single blade of his weapon, Maul quickly pressed the attack, rapidly gaining ground on Jinn. He likely would have defeated the Jedi master then and there had his apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi, not resolved to rescue him.

Kenobi had the Queen's pilot guide the ship over towards the duel, allowing Jinn to leap aboard and escape. Maul was left fuming on the desert floor.

While Queen Amidala pleaded her case before the Senate, Palpatine's manipulations ensured that the Senate took no action. Believing that she had no other option, she returned to Naboo to lead an insurgency against the Trade Federation occupation. Maul was dispatched to Naboo to combat the Jedi.

As the Battle of Naboo raged, and the insurgency stormed the palace, aided by the Jedi, Maul revealed himself. Blocking the rebels path to the throne room from the hangar, he brandished his lightsaber. Holding it before himself as though offering it for inspection, Maul ignited both ends. Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi ignited their blades and attacked.

While the insurgents took an alternate route, Maul's duel with the Jedi tore through the hangar. Holding off his dual adversaries, Maul guided the fight towards one of the hangar exits, entering the adjacent Theed Generator Complex. As the battle raged on the narrow catwalks above the reactor floor hundreds of meters below, Maul came to realize that he could not overcome his opponents while they were together.

Resolving to separate them, Maul leapt onto one of the overhead catwalks. Engaging the Jedi above, Maul kicked Kenobi aside. Kenobi was knocked off the catwalk and fell two levels down, landing on one of the lower platforms. Qui-Gon Jinn retaliated with a backhand swipe that in turn knocked Maul off the catwalk to a lower level. Leaping after Maul, Jinn brought his blade to the prone Sith Lord's throat, hoping to end the contest quickly. Maul kicked Jinn in the thigh and quickly regained his feet. Jinn was quick to take the initiative, driving Maul back with a resolute offense. Maul was forced to give ground, retreating into the laser gated security hall leading to one of the cooling pits as Jinn pressed the attack, with Kenobi in staunch pursuit. Their battle was brought to a brief end when the laser gates cycled on, trapping each combatant in a separate cell. Maul tested the walls with his lightsaber blade, and finding them impenetrable, extinguished the weapon.

Kenobi began patching his wounds with strips of cloth torn from his robe; Jinn knelt down in meditation; and Maul paced his cell like a caged animal. When the walls cycled open again, Jinn surged to his feet and again pressed the attack, driving Maul back to the rim of the cooling pit. However, Jinn's momentum finally played out, leaving him vulnerable, and Kenobi was still separated by the last laser gate. In the confined space of the narrow pit rim, Jinn was unable to adequately counter-attack, so Maul drove him back with a focused offense. Kenobi was forced to watch as Maul bucked Jinn in the face with his saberstaff hilt, before whirling and shoving his lightsaber into Jinn's gut.

Maul's defeat
Maul turned to Kenobi, waiting for the wall to cycle open. The two reignited their lightsabers seconds before it opened, and then Kenobi charged out in a fury. Falling on Maul in a rage-fueled frenzy, Kenobi actually caught the experienced Sith Lord off guard, rapidly gaining ground. Using an elaborate feint to trick Maul into bringing his lightsaber in to a horizontal position, Kenobi slashed the weapon in half with a swift undercut.

Knocked to the ground by Kenobi's follow-up kick, Maul quickly discarded the nonfunctional, lesser half of the weapon. Regaining his feet, Maul retreated with a series of leaping twirls, putting distance between the two to regain his composure. Wielding his single blade, Maul turned and countered with a sequence of swift strikes, following up with a kick to Kenobi's face. Deflecting Kenobi's counter and leaping over a strike at his legs, Maul again pressed the attack. After another brief series of chops and blocks, Kenobi performed a rapid overhand, locking blades with Maul. Maul broke the lock, shoving aside Kenobi's blade before blasting him in the face with a Force push. Kenobi was thrown off his feet and fell into the pit, grabbing hold of an inactive input nozzle.

Darth Maul loomed above, triumphant. Kicking the Jedi's lightsaber into the pit, and hacking at the rim with his single blade to shower Kenobi with sparks in an attempt to dislodge him. However, Maul lowered his guard, believing he had won, and giving Kenobi an opening. Kenobi threw himself up and out of the pit, summoning Qui-Gon Jinn's fallen lightsaber. Flipping above and over Maul, Kenobi cut the Sith Lord in half at the waist, eliciting a shocked and pained flinch from Darth Maul. Extinguishing his lightsaber, Maul fell back, tumbling down the pit with a muted yell.

Maul's return
Somehow, the functioning half of the lightsaber ended up in the possession of Savage Opress, Maul's long lost brother. Opress was sent on a quest by Talzin of the Nightsisters to find Maul for training in the dark side. Maul, however, spent the last eleven years in exile on Lotho Minor, reduced to a maddened state.

After Maul was brought to and mended by Talzin, Opress returned the lightsaber to him. Maul then plotted a trap to bring Obi-Wan Kenobi to them by means of Maul killing innocents.

Obi-Wan ventured to Raydonia where he was met by Maul and soon ambushed by both brothers. Obi-Wan is soon rendered unconscious by Opress, captured by the two and brought aboard their stolen vessel.

Obi-Wan awoke and was soon tortured by the brothers until he was discovered by Asajj Ventress and freed. The two were then engaged by the brother in lightsaber combat and were soon outmatched. Under Obi-Wan's leadership, they escaped, with Maul advising Savage to have patience.

Behind the scenes
Hasbro has released a Force FX lightsaber based on Darth Maul's damaged lightsaber. Included with the lightsaber is an adapter so that the collector may combine a second battle damaged lightsaber to create the full weapon. The lightsaber is programmed with digitally recorded sounds from the movie including the power-up, idle hum, clash, and power-down. It also features power-up and power-down light effects.

Non-canon appearances
In the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed video game, if the player chooses the dark side ending, Starkiller can be seen with half of Darth Maul's lightsaber included on his belt at the end of the game.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Darth Plagueis
 * Star Wars: The Wrath of Darth Maul
 * Nameless
 * Jedi Council: Acts of War
 * Darth Maul: Saboteur
 * Star Wars: Darth Maul
 * Marked
 * Episode I Adventures 3: The Fury of Darth Maul
 * Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace/novel/comic/game/junior novel
 * Darth Maul's Revenge
 * Star Wars: Episode I Obi-Wan's Adventures
 * Episode I: Obi-Wan Kenobi
 * Star Wars: Obi-Wan
 * Star Wars Episode I Journal: Darth Maul
 * Star Wars Episode I: Jedi Power Battles
 * Star Wars: Invasion of Theed Adventure Game
 * Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
 * Star Wars: Republic: The Devaronian Version
 * Jedi Quest 1
 * Resurrection
 * Phantom Menaces
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The Sith Hunters
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The Sith Hunters

Non-canonical appearances

 * LEGO Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
 * LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars
 * LEGO Star Wars: Darth Maul's Mission
 * Old Wounds
 * Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
 * Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures (video game)
 * ''Star Wars: Battlefront II