Wookieepedia:Featured article queue/Week 52, 2012/0

The lanvarok was a combination two-handed polearm weapon and projectile launcher that released sharp, poison-coated discs guided by the power of the dark side. Initially purposed as a hunting tool, the massive lanvarok was the primary combat weapon of the Massassi warriors of the Sith species, both melee and ranged, and also the device brandished by Sith Lords during ceremonies. The original lanvarok was inspired by the natural left-handed disposition of all members of the Sith species, a distinction that was also maintained in the weapon's alternate forearm-mounted, combat-exclusive projectile dispenser design. A right-handed version was later developed by Sith Lords of Human descent.

Prevalent during the ancient Sith Empire, use of lanvaroks was confined to the borders of Sith space until they were exposed to the galaxy by the Massassi who fought on behalf of the Dark Lord Naga Sadow during the Great Hyperspace War. Lanvaroks were brought to the jungle moon of Yavin 4 by the warriors who joined Sadow in exile, and remained the foremost weapon of the Massassi for more than a thousand years. A variant of the lanvarok was later developed as a forearm-mounted gauntlet. Both versions were especially uncommon in the galaxy at large after the extinction of the Sith race, although an occasional lanvarok was found among the collections of antique dealers, the cargoes of smugglers, or the arsenals of assassins. Those Massassi warriors who served aboard the Sith dreadnaught Harbinger that was propelled five thousand years forward in time brought lanvaroks with them into the modern era.