Anakin Skywalker's second lightsaber

"Your father wanted you to have this when you were old enough, but your uncle wouldn't allow it. He feared you might follow old Obi-Wan on some damn fool idealistic crusade like your father did." "What is it?" "Your father's lightsaber. This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight. Not as clumsy or random as a blaster. An elegant weapon, for a more civilized age.""

- Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker

Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber was the weapon constructed and carried by Anakin Skywalker up until his defeat on Mustafar. It was later carried by his son Luke Skywalker, daughter-in-law Mara Jade Skywalker, and his grandson Ben Skywalker.

Specifications


Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber was specifically designed to facilitate Skywalker's practice of Form V lightsaber combat. As per Form V weapon specifications, the lightsaber had a solid casing (either as a whole or in multiple sections for maximum protection against power surge deterioration) and a heavily shrouded blade emitter. The beveled emitter was designed to designate separate facets of the blade for either offensive or defensive purposes. The lightsaber hilt included a ridged hand grip, as Djem So required its users to maintain a solid grip on the hilt.

In addition to its Form V specialisation, the lightsaber functioned with a blue lightsaber crystal that Skywalker likely procured from Ilum. It was also either designed or later modified to allow it to operate underwater.

Origins


"This weapon is your life!"

- Obi-Wan Kenobi

Skywalker's first lightsaber, which he built at age 13 in the crystal caves of Ilum, was destroyed in the droid foundries of Geonosis. As he was running through the factory with Padmé Amidala, C-3PO, and R2-D2, his arm was caught in a machine that pinned his arm down. As this was happening, a large razor-sharp blade came down and severed his lightsaber. Anakin was oblivious until he tried to turn it on, when it sputtered and died in his hands.

Skywalker's next weapon was a practically identical saber that the Jedi wielded during the initial months of the Clone Wars.

First Blood
It appears that shortly after attaining knighthood, Skywalker abandoned his second weapon and set about building this new lightsaber. He carried the weapon during the Battle of Rendili, but it didn't taste first blood until he engaged in a lightsaber duel shortly after the battle with Asajj Ventress. After the duel, in which Anakin was victorious, the weapon was wielded by Skywalker for the rest of the Clone Wars.

Handed Over
"Your weapon, please."

- TC-70



Skywalker wielded the weapon during the Battle of Teth, using it in a rematch with Asajj Ventress during the Republic's attempt to rescue the Hutt child, Rotta Desilijic Tiure, in order to curry favor with the younglings parent, Jabba Desilijic Tiure. Escaping the planet alongside his padawan, Ahsoka Tano, with Rotta in tow, they managed to make it to Tatooine, where they were shot down by MagnaGuard piloted starfighters. Once planetside, Skywalker sent Ahsoka to take an alternate route to Jabba's palace while he would serve as a decoy for Dooku, who was personally overseeing the operation. Confronting Dooku in the Dune Sea, Skywalker wielded the weapon against the Count in a rematch, before breaking off from the duel when he learned that Ahsoka and Rotta had been ambushed by Dooku's droids.

Stealing Dooku's speeder bike, he raced across the desert to Jabba's palace and was met by Jabba's interpreter at the entrance. Demanding to know Ahsoka's location, the droid led Anakin into the palace to meet with Jabba, on the condition that Anakin hand over his weapon. Skywalker did so, but when he met with the Hutt crimelord, he learned that Jabba believed Dooku's deception that the Republic had kidnapped his son. In desperation, Anakin reclaimed his lightsaber with the Force and held it to Jabba's throat. Thankfully, before negotiations collapsed completely, Ahsoka Tano arrived with a still living Rotta. Despite his joy at having his son back, Jabba still prepared to execute the two Jedi for percieved slights, only for him to be contacted by Padmé Amidala, who revealed that Dooku had schemed with Jabba's uncle, Ziro Desilijic Tiure, to kidnap his son. Jabba spared the Jedi, and made a treaty with the Republic.

Stolen
During the war, the Republic managed to discover Dooku’s location aboard a freighter. Anakin Skywalker devised a plan to get aboard by allowing himself to be captured, leaving his lightsaber with Obi-Wan while wielding a replacement, allowing it to be destroyed to make his capture more convincing. Kenobi then infiltrated the ship by entering one of the exterior hatched in a spacesuit. Freeing Anakin and returning the lightsaber, the two went after Dooku. However, Dooku managed to flee through an escape hatch built into the floor of his meditation chamber, with Anakin in swift pursuit. Dooku managed to make to the hangar and take off in his ship just before Anakin could catch him, forcing Kenobi and Skywalker to give chase.

However, the ships flown by both parties were damaged and they crash landed on Vanqor. As the Jedi hunted for Dooku, the Count ambushed them in a cave, telekinetically causing a cave-in. With the Jedi trapped, Dooku stole Anakin’s lightsaber and returned to his ship. There he encountered a group of space pirates led by Hondo Ohnaka. The pirates agreed to give Dooku passage to the nearest planet, Florrum. However, en route, Anakin’s lightsaber was quietly pick-pocketed from the Count, along with Dooku’s own. The Count was taken hostage, and the two lightsabers were kept by Ohnaka as trophies.



Ohnaka proceeded to ransom Dooku to the Republic, and Kenobi and Skywalker were sent to confirm whether it was actually Dooku. However, Ohnaka then double-crossed the two and captured them as well, planning to squeeze more money out of the Republic. However, after several attempts, the Jedi and Dooku managed to escape, reclaiming their respective weapons. Kenobi and Skywalker initially used Ohnaka as a living-shield, but when Dooku fled, they let him go, wanting no unnecessary hostilities from the pirates. However, they also warned Ohnaka that Dooku wouldn’t be so forgiving.

Executioner


"Your swords, please. We don't want to make a mess of things in front of the Chancellor."

- Dooku

Anakin Skywalker wielded the weapon during the Battle of Coruscant, cutting down numberous battle-droids with the weapon. Eventually he wielded the weapon during his final battle against Dooku aboard the Invisible Hand. Giving into his rage, Skywalker viciously used the weapon to beat back Dooku and slice off both the Count's hands. Holding his lightsaber alongside Dooku's own at the Sith Lord's neck, Anakin executed the Count at Palpatine's behest.

Immediately afterwards, Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi were caught in a ray shield trap and were brought before General Grievous. The lightsaber briefly became part of Grievous' collection, with the General planning to execute him with it. However, thanks to careful timing with Kenobi and R2-D2, they broke free and Skywalker quickly reclaimed the weapon, destroying one of Grievous' IG-100 MagnaGuards before cutting down most of the droids on the cruisers bridge.

Weapon of a Sith
"What have I done?"

- Anakin Skywalker immediately after aiding Palpatine.

Later, following the duel between Mace Windu and Darth Sidious, Skywalker used the weapon to remove Windu's right hand, ensuring the Jedi Master's death, and his own fall to the dark side of the Force. Anakin Skywalker was rechristened Darth Vader. As Vader, Skywalker continued to carry his Jedi weapon, likely because he lacked sufficient time to construct a new Sith lightsaber, though later Tionne Solusar theorized that he continued to wield the blue-bladed weapon to avoid alerting his eventual victims of his recent conversion.



Darth Vader carried the weapon during the march on the Jedi Temple, brutally cutting down hundreds of Jedi with the saber, with notables including the Temple swordmaster; Cin Drallig; after a brief duel. The weapon again saw use when Vader brought it with him to Mustafar and viciously executed the Separatist council. Its last usage in Vader's hands was in the Sith Lords battle with his former Jedi master; Obi-Wan Kenobi. Vader wielded the saber aggressively, but was ultimately cut down by Kenobi due to his own recklessness. While Vader managed to survive, the lightsaber was taken by Kenobi to Tatooine.

Gift of a Jedi
The lightsaber remained in Obi-Wan Kenobi's possession for the following nineteen years, until Kenobi was presented with the opportunity to give it to Anakin Skywalkers son, Luke. After rescuing Luke from a Tusken Raider attack, Kenobi presented the younger Skywalker with his father's lightsaber and explained (from a certain point of view, at least) its previous owner's history.

Luke Skywalker's early training with the weapon consisted of Form I velocities onboard the Millennium Falcon. Luke advanced remarkably fast, able to effectively deflect blaster bolts after only one brief session.

Battle Against the Maker


After Kenobi's death at the hands of Vader, the weapon's former owner, Luke continued to wield it throughout his early Jedi career. Without Kenobi present to train him, Luke was forced to improvise and self-teach, resulting in an instinctive though highly skilled practise of Form V lightsaber combat Luke was forced to demonstrate this skill against Darth Vader, though not before his sister; Leia Organa; took up the weapon and stood against Vader while Luke was incapacitated. Despite her valiant efforts, Leia was only briefly able to hold her own against Vader, being brought down by several light though brutal slashes.

At that moment, Luke was able to free himself, and he stood against Darth Vader. However, despite his own skill with the weapon, it was not enough to stand against the lightsaber's former owner, and Luke was forced to rely on the spiritual assistance of Obi-Wan Kenobi to take Vader. Ultimately, however, Vader's defeat in that duel was due to his own blunder rather than Luke's skill with the Sith Lord's former weapon.

Desperation and Depravation
Shortly before the Battle of Hoth, Skywalker used the weapon to escape from a wampa, and it was used shortly thereafter by Han Solo to slice open a dead tauntaun to keep the severely injured young Jedi alive. During the battle itself, Skywalker used the weapon to cut open a hatch on the bottom of an Imperial walker prior to throwing in a grenade to destroy the enemy vehicle. He then carried and used it during his training under Yoda on Dagobah, wielding the lightsaber during his duel with a vision of Darth Vader.



"Impressive. Most impressive."

- Darth Vader commenting on Luke's skill with the weapon.

Shortly after this, Luke carried the weapon with him to the Cloud City on Bespin in a bid to rescue his friends from Darth Vader. Engaging the Sith Lord in a lightsaber duel, Luke demonstrated his vastly increased skill with the weapon, impressing its former wielder. Ultimately, however, Luke was brought down by Vader, having his lightsaber hand fall into the depths of the city, the weapon with it.

The Emperor's trophy (3 - 9 ABY)


The lightsaber, still clutched by Skywalker's hand, had become lodged in one of Cloud City's lower air shafts and eventually was recovered by a maintenance drone. The drone deposited the hand and the lightsaber in Smelting Core D. There, it was discovered by Groggin, the Smelting Core's supervisor.

Groggin had no use for the hand and decided to have it incinerated while he would keep the lightsaber, which he planned to melt down. However, the arrival of Darth Vader in the smelting facility prevented Groggin from taking such action. After a round of aggressive negotiations, Vader left the facility with the hand and the lightsaber in his possession. Though he had other plans for the hand and the lightsaber in mind, Vader was compelled by Emperor Palpatine to bring the two items to the Mount Tantiss storehouse on Wayland. There, Palpatine made Vader turn Skywalker's hand and lightsaber over to him.



Six years later, the mad Jedi clone Joruus C'baoth ordered that a clone of Skywalker be produced from the limb, and armed with Anakin's old weapon. When Skywalker arrived, leading a New Republic strike team to destroy the cloning tanks of Wayland, he was forced to fight the clone, which was being controlled by C'baoth. It was ultimately killed by Mara Jade, who then used Anakin Skywalker's old saber to kill C'baoth himself. Upon the team's return to Coruscant, Skywalker presented her with the weapon as a gift.

Carried by Mara Jade (9 - 40 ABY)
Mara Jade owned the weapon until her death at the hands of her alienated nephew Jacen Solo, though she would often use another violet lightsaber. Most notably, she used the blue blade on Nirauan during the Caamas Document Crisis, on Chiss Ascendancy/Jedi/Empire of the Hand-joint mission to recover the Outbound Flight , during the Yuuzhan Vong War and also during the Second Corellian Insurrection.

Dream of the saber (c. 40 ABY)
Jacen Solo dreamed of a vision, that his mother, Leia Organa Solo used this lightsaber against him because he was thinking of sacrificing them by shooting down the Millennium Falcon when his mother and father were onboard.

The lost lightsaber (c. 40 ABY)
During the time around the Second Corellian Crisis, the lightsaber seemed to have been taken from the possession of Skywalker survivors and ended up in the hands of a Dark Jedi.

Anakin Skywalker's grandson, Ben Skywalker managed to track down the lightsaber, still in the possession of the Dark Jedi. The Dark Jedi was preparing to imbue the weapon with the power of the dark side, but Ben took it from him before he was able to do so. Though it is not known what happened in the ensuing battle, it can be assumed that Ben slew the Dark Jedi as well as the other dark-siders who were present and took his grandfather's weapon as his own.

After the death of his wife, Luke Skywalker retired the weapon, where it remained in the Jedi Temple.

Behind the scenes
The Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber was machined to a near Graflex camera side-attach flash from references of the Original Trilogy.

Mara Jade Skywalker is depicted with the lightsaber on the cover of Sacrifice.

Current Location
The Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber and Luke's Hand are currently on display as part of the "Out of this World: Extraordinary Costumes from Film and Television" in the Science Fiction Museum & Hall of Fame in Seattle WA.

The Luke Skywalker's lightsaber prop traveled to space with shuttle Discovery in October 2007.

The prop for Luke Skywalker's lightsaber was auctioned on December 11 of 2008 for $240 000.

Non-canon appearances

 * Junkheap Hero
 * The Lost Lightsaber
 * Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga