Palpatine's lightsabers

Palpatine's lightsaber was a Sith blade created by the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Sidious.

Specifications


Being a patron of the arts, Darth Sidious designed an elegant weapon with a high level of craftsmanship, clearly influenced by the Sith Lord's love of antiquity. The body of the lightsaber was fashioned from nigh-indestructible phrik alloy while the flat emitter was composed of aurodium. The whole of the weapon possessed a refined and elegant electrum finish. The weapon utilized a synth-crystal as the focusing crystal.

Palpatine himself felt that the Sith had outgrown the use of lightsabers, and only continued carrying them to mock the Jedi. He ultimately viewed his own lightsaber as little more than an affectation, and rarely wielded it in combat.

Creation and early usage
Darth Sidious created his lightsaber during his apprenticeship, and used this weapon throughout his Sith training under Darth Plagueis. Sidious continued to use his lightsaber during the training of his own Sith apprentice Darth Maul, and at some point used the weapon against him in a lightsaber duel, however, the power was turned down, and Maul was in no real danger.

Final usage


Sometime after this duel, Palpatine concealed his lightsaber within a neuranium statue of Sistros, having the piece fabricated around his lightsaber. The weapon remained concealed within the statue for at least two decades, waiting until Palpatine needed it.

The time came at the end of the Clone Wars, when Palpatine revealed to the Jedi that he was the Sith Lord. As Mace Windu and his Jedi entourage rushed to the Senate Office Building to confront him, Palpatine retrieved his lightsaber in advance, so as not to be unarmed when they arrived. He retrieved ittelekinetically by igniting it within the statue and seizing it once it burned its way out.

Hiding the weapon within his sleeve, Palpatine awaited the Jedi. After a quick dialogue for the benefit of an audio recording device hidden in his office, Palpatine brandished the weapon. With a cry more animal than human, the Sith Lord leapt at the Jedi, cutting down Agen Kolar and Saesee Tiin, leaving both of them dead without blocking as much as one of his strikes. The Nautolan Kit Fisto managed to survive for mere seconds before it was a duel only between Palpatine and Windu.

Gaining the early advantage, Palpatine gained ground on Windu. However, Windu's Vaapad technique allowed him to counter the Sith Lord's rage-fuelled frenzy. The Jedi guided the battle towards the bay window of Palpatine's office and out onto the wind-blown ledge outside. The precarious position of the battle prompted Palpatine to channel some of his power into a Force-grip on the permacrete, marginally decreasing his speed.

Windu briskly disarmed the Sith Lord with a surgically precise kick to the face, throwing Palpatine off-balance and causing the Sith Lord to drop his lightsaber as he flailed for purchase. The lightsaber fell out the window into the bottomless streets and alleyways of Coruscant below.

Holdout weapon


Being ever cautious, Sidious had constructed a backup lightsaber. This weapon was largely identical to his first lightsaber, save that it was constructed of an unknown black alloy rather than the electrum and phrik finish of his original weapon.

Like his first weapon, Palpatine concealed this lightsaber up his sleeve. When the Jedi Grandmaster Yoda confronted him in the aftermath of Order 66, Palpatine brandished the weapon. During their lightsaber duel, they proved to be largely evenly matched, motivating Palpatine to abandon lightsaber combat and attack Yoda telekinetically. Leaping onto one of the delegation pods in the Senate arena, Palpatine overwhelmed the Jedi Master and forced him into retreat.

Later uses
Palpatine carried the lightsaber for a great deal of his life afterwards, though he only rarely wielded it in combat, as his position as Galactic Emperor made battles with other Force-users few and far between, and he preferred to rely on his raw ability with the Force in any case.

When his apprentice Darth Vader went about constructing his own lightsaber, Palpatine provided his elegant weapon as a model, as well as the synth-crystal that powered Vader's weapon. Vader regarded Palpatine's lightsaber as little more than an antique, and while respectful of its high level of craftmanship, he preferred a weapon with more ballast. Vader's resulting weapon was little more than an enlarged version of his first Jedi lightsaber, machined out of a black alloy.

Stolen


When Galen Marek confronted him and Vader with the intention of rescuing the recently captured Rebel leaders, Palpatine sat back and allowed Vader to confront the Force-adept. When Marek bested the cyborg Vader, Palpatine began appealling to him to slay Vader and replace him as his apprentice. As Marek mulled over the idea, the Jedi Rahm Kota, one of the captured Rebel leaders, sprang into action. Telekinetically seizing Palpatine's lightsaber from the Sith Lord's very sleeve, Kota killed the guards holding him and leapt at Palpatine.

Palpatine brought Kota down with a blast of Force lightning. However, Kota's actions prompted Marek to attack him rather than Vader, and after a lengthy battle, during which Palpatine fought unarmed, Marek brought down the Dark Lord.

Jedi Trophies
After his resurrection on Byss in the aftermath of his death during the Battle of Endor, Palpatine took to wielding various trophy lightsabers taken from slain Jedi. The primary reason for this is that his Sith lightsaber was likely destroyed along with his body during his first death, assuming he had it with him at the time.

Palpatine possessed at least four such trophies, storing three of them on a weapon rack in his Cloning Laboratory, and keeping one secured to the bottom of his bedside table in his chambers.



The lightsaber kept in his bed chambers was stolen by Leia Organa Solo during her captivity on Byss, along with the Tedryn Holocron. He took up one of the lightsabers in the laboratory, wielding it against Luke Skywalker and managing to defeat the Jedi with it. He carried this lightsaber with him until his next death during the Battle of Pinnacle Base, where it was destroyed along with current body.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Episode I Journal: Darth Maul
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
 * Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
 * The Force Unleashed novel
 * The Force Unleashed video game