Lumiya's lightwhip

"&hellip;Biting metal and stinging light&hellip;"

- Excerpt from the Sith tome which inspired the creation of Lumiya's lightwhip

Lumiya's lightwhip was the personal weapon of choice used in combat by Lumiya, Dark Lady of the Sith. A device of ancient Sith design, Lumiya's lightwhip was crafted after she found instructional tome during her pilgrimage to the world of Ziost which spoke of a scourge that included both tangible extensions and coherent lightsaber energy. The then-Sith apprentice forged the hilt of her lightwhip out of near-indestructible Mandalorian iron and powered it with shards of Kaiburr crystal gifted to her by her Master, the Sith Lord Darth Vader.

Lumiya first revealed her signature weapon during the onset of the Nagai-Tof War against her arch-enemy, Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker, whom she defeated in their initial confrontation on the planet Kinooine. Skywalker later bested the Dark Lady in a rematch on the same battleground after discovering that the combination of a standard lightsaber and its short-bladed version could sufficiently combat the duel nature of her lightwhip. Lumiya continued to wield her trademark flail for nearly the next four decades, eliciting fear with its mere mention, and maiming or killing those who were unfortunate enough to be caught in its tendrils. Her lightwhip was used in combat with many Jedi over the years as well, but none as frequently as against her long-time rival, Luke Skywalker. In 40 ABY, Lumiya employed her lightwhip for a final time against the Jedi Master in a duel on the planet Terephon. Forsaking the advantage of his shoto, Skywalker defeated the Dark Lady of the Sith with only his lightsaber and killed her with a decapitating strike as her lightwhip fell into the chasm below the precipice on which they fought.

Design
"But only some of your whip's tendrils are of energy. Others of them are corporeal, formed of metal, or of hides."

- Den Siva



Dark Lady of the Sith Lumiya's signature accoutrement, the lightwhip, was a Sith weapon that incorporated beams of pliant energy in conjunction with physical matter. Its tubular hilt was forged from nearly indestructible Mandalorian iron, and was powered by Kaiburr crystal. While lightwhips wielded by other individuals only produced single flexible blades of Lightsaber energy, Lumiya's was quite unique; along with several filaments of yellow plasma, the weapon included multiple knouts of studded leather and flexible metal.

Lumiya usually held her whip with the laces coiled when not in use; other times, she wore it around her waist in a manner akin to a belt, or even concealed the whip within one of her mechanical legs. It had an equal number of each of the three extension types and a range of up to five meters, though they could be retracted into the hilt in the midst of combat to effect better control. The lightwhip could also wield any one of the three forms singularly. When the energy portion of her lightwhip was used, it resonated with a snap-hiss similar in sound to that produced by a lightsaber. Its white-hot beams were capable of cleaving body parts, organic or otherwise, and severe wounds could also be inflicted by them even after the device was deactivated.

Advantages
"That combination is what defeated him. His Jedi training had prepared him for an energy weapon, or a solid one. Not one that was both at once."

- Lumiya, explaining the advantages of her whip



The more common lightwhip was already a rare and exotic weapon, and its single, flexible, energy appendage&mdash;while less powerful than a lightsaber&mdash;was an unfamiliar occurrence among traditional lightsaber duelists. Because of this, lightwhip masters usually enjoyed a considerable amount of leverage over their opponents. However, the one-of-a-kind construction of Lumiya's whip afforded her an even greater advantage when fighting against lightsaber-equipped opponents, especially those who had no prior experience in dealing with lightwhips and were thus confused by the dual nature of her exclusive weapon.

The range of the lightwhip's cables allowed Lumiya to attack her enemies from a vantage point of several meters; this made it extremely difficult for them to engage the Dark Lady in close combat and allowed her to maintain control of situations where the weapon's use was required. The whip's tails could be splayed in a vertical attack pattern which allowed Lumiya to strike high, midway, and low simultaneously. Conversely, fanning the whip's tresses out horizontally gave it the appearance of a weaponized cloud; this maneuver prevented opponents from sidestepping to evade the impending assault. Attempting to defend oneself by twirling a lightsaber into a shielding arc was also useless, because the lightwhip's reach extended over and past the length of the blade.

Inadequacies
"Two blades&mdash;one long and one short?''" "''Against the two natures of your weapon."

- Lumiya and Luke Skywalker



Lumiya's lightwhip could be defeated by an opponent skilled in the Jar'Kai dueling style and furnished with both a standard lightsaber and a short-bladed variation called a shoto. Furthermore, while the whip's hilt was forged from an indestructible ore, its extensions were not. The whip's metal and leather thongs could be cut, and the energy beams could also short out violently if sufficient force was applied with a lightsaber. By ensnaring the whip's plasma energy with the longer lightsaber, an individual could use their shoto to shred the whip's metal and leather cords. After eliminating the tangible wires, Lumiya's opponent could then focus on destroying the whip's energy beams.

It was also possible for an individual wielding a single lightsaber to overcome Lumiya's lightwhip by exhibiting superior combat skill against the Dark Lady. On one occasion, patience, cunning, and capitalization on Lumiya's mistakes allowed an opponent to avoid the whip and come within striking range of its owner. Using speed to eliminate the whip's ability to gather sufficient swinging momentum and brute force to hammer at its master's defenses was also an effective offensive combination.

Inception
"You know what I can do with this."

- Lumiya threatens Faron Tolis with her whip

Before completing her training as the apprentice of then-Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader, Lumiya was tasked with the creation of her own Jedi weapon. She embarked on a sojourn to the Sith world of Ziost, where she uncovered an ancient relic that spoke of a weapon which included both lightsaber energy and corporeal matter. It was upon this foundation that Lumiya crafted her lightwhip. The weapon first saw action against a Belderone native named Flint, whom Lumiya defeated in a duel on the planet Vjun. Later that year, the Dark Lady allied herself with the war-faring Nagai species in the midst of their invasion of the the galaxy. While meeting with her attaché Den Siva, Lumiya intercepted a team of Alliance of Free Planets scouts who were sent on a reconnaissance mission to the uninhabited world of Kinooine. Nineteen members of the team of twenty were killed by Lumiya's whip, and the sole survivor, Faron Tolis, was repeatedly tortured with it as well. When Alliance commander Luke Skywalker arrived in search of Tolis' team, his two companions, Kiro and Dani, were brutally attacked by a lightwhip-wielding Lumiya. Skywalker attempted to avenge the assault on his friends by dueling Lumiya but was trounced because of his inexperience with facing an opponent who utilized a weapon of both substantial and intangible ends. The weakness of her whip was soon discovered by Skywalker, who made use of a shoto along with his regular lightsaber in his rematch with Lumiya. He destroyed much of it with his two blades before finally defeating her, much to her surprise.



Following the end of the Nagai-Tof War, Lumiya undertook a mission on behalf of the remnants of the communications research space station Epsilon Nine. After successfully reinstating the traitorous inhabitant's commitment to the Empire, Lumiya used her whip to bisect a giant New Republic sigil which served as a symbol of the station staff's short-lived freedom. Soon afterward, she used her lightwhip in a duel against rogue Emperor's Hand Mara Jade, which ended in a stalemate. Lumiya went underground after her confrontation with Jade, but the memory of her infamous weapon was far from gone.

Renewed threat
"So I think it's time to break out my shoto."

- Luke Skywalker, preparing to face Lumiya and her whip

One of the lessons taught to the students of Luke Skywalker's New Jedi Order was the legend of the abominable cyborg Lumiya and her peculiar choice of equipment. In 40 ABY, Lumiya returned to harass Skywalker and his Jedi. She lured his nephew Jacen Solo and another Jedi Knight, Nelani Dinn, to her asteroid habitat near Bimmiel, where she briefly utilized her whip in a duel with Dinn. The Jedi girl had never encountered such a weapon before and was thrashed several times with it by Lumiya. During the onset of the Second Galactic Civil War, the Dark Lady traveled through the underlevels of the galactic capital of Coruscant, and killed several of the transient inhabitants with her whip before making her way to the Well of the World Brain to meet with Solo&mdash;now her Sith apprentice. She later encountered and dueled Jedi Master Tresina Lobi on Coruscant in the Senate District's Fellowship Plaza. Fanning the whip's tendrils kept Lobi at bay temporarily, but a combination of acrobatic maneuvers and distractions allowed the Chev Jedi to close the distance between and her and Lumiya before severed the Sith's cybernetic weapon arm. Being ambidextrous, Lumiya continued to wield her lightwhip with her intact arm, and used it to eventually shear off both of Lobi's legs at the knee. The Jedi Master was killed immediately afterward by Lumiya's accomplice, the Twi'lek darksider Alema Rar.

Lumiya later encountered her longtime rival Luke Skywalker at the Roqoo Depot, and the Jedi Grand Masster was prepared to counteract her whip's dual nature with both his lightsaber and shoto.

Behind the scenes
Alongside its owner, Lumiya's lightwhip is featured in the Legacy of the Force set of Star Wars Miniatures.

Appearances

 * Star Wars 95: No Zeltrons
 * Star Wars 96: Duel With a Dark Lady
 * Betrayal
 * Bloodlines
 * Tempest
 * Exile
 * Sacrifice
 * Sacrifice