- "Does yours do that?"
- ―Ezra Bridger and Garazeb Orrelios, to Kanan Jarrus
The Grand Inquisitor's lightsaber was the personal double-bladed spinning lightsaber of the Jedi hunter known as the Grand Inquisitor, similar to those wielded by the other Imperial Inquisitors.
Specifications[]
The hilt of the saber in crescent formation
The weapon featured a ringed emitter which could partially detach from the cylindrical handgrip in the center, allowing the twin blades to rotate rapidly without effort from the wielder.[7] For a Jedi hunter like the Inquisitor, this function likely served as a way to intimidate, or frighten opponents, as well as deflect any form of direct attack. On some occasion this function is known to catch opponents off balance. However, this was also the weapon's primary weakness, as a lightsaber-wielding opponent could simply permanently separate the emitter itself and sever the weapon in half, as was demonstrated by Lord Vader during his first duel with the Inquisitor[8] and Kanan Jarrus during his final duel with the Inquisitor aboard the Sovereign.[4] This is due to the hilt consisting of non-lightsaber resistant alloy or metal. The handgrip could be removed entirely from the ring-shaped emitter, allowing the Force-imbued circlet of metal to be used as a throwing disc.[9]
History[]
The Grand Inquisitor wielding his lightsaber
The Grand Inquisitor wielded his lightsaber against Darth Sidious's new apprentice, the Sith Lord Darth Vader. During their fight, Vader was able to damage the Inquisitor's lightsaber.[8] The Inquisitor repaired the weapon and continued to use his lightsaber in the following years after Order 66 while hunting down surviving Jedi,[10] though at one point he utilized another lightsaber which was broken when he fought against Naq Med.[11]
The Grand Inquisitor wielded his lightsaber in several battles against Kanan Jarrus and Ezra Bridger. It was also used to execute Imperial officers Cumberlayne Aresko and Myles Grint both at once on Moff Tarkin's orders, after their repeated incompetence in capturing the rebels.[12] In a final battle against the Inquisitor, after his rescue, Jarrus split the Inquisitor's weapon in two, causing the pieces to fall down a shaft. The two halves were then destroyed in an explosion when they fell into the Sovereign's reactor, followed shortly by the Inquisitor himself.[4]
Behind the scenes[]
- "[I] mean, the first time somebody handed me my lightsaber, I nearly fainted. You're just like, this is my lightsaber and we've never had this lightsaber in the Star Wars universe before. And I was getting to play this guy that's never been in the live-action Star Wars, so there was a lot of firsts for me."
- ―Rupert Friend
Concept art of the Grand Inquisitor's lightsaber
The spinning lightsaber was an unused concept for the video game The Force Unleashed.[14]
In the Obi-Wan Kenobi television series, the lightsaber was used by Rupert Friend, the actor who played the Grand Inquisitor.[13] In an early meeting attended by Dave Filoni and propmaster Brad Elliott, they discussed how to translate the animated Inquisitor lightsabers into realistic props. Filoni advised the propmaster to imagine the live-action came first, and the animated material was an exaggerated version of that. This allowed Elliott to keep the form factor of the props established in animation and to bring them in line with props made for human hands.[15]
The prop making team did a substantial amount of research to make sure the lightsaber matched its appearance in Star Wars Rebels.[16] The lightsaber was shifted to accommodate Friend's hands. Elliott and his team were careful to minimize the more fragile looking parts of the animated designs and they made sure that the size of the rings and handles would fit their intended character.[15] Friend nearly fainted from amazement when he was handed his lightsaber. The actor enjoyed going through lightsaber training with the stunt guys who are master swordsmen and masters of several forms of martial arts.[13]
Appearances[]
Non-canon appearances[]
LEGO STAR WARS: Celebrate the Season — "Obi-Wan vs Inquisitors"- LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (DLC)
- LEGO STAR WARS: Celebrate the Season — "LEGO Star Wars - 25 Years"
Sources[]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ Star Wars Rebels: The Visual Guide
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Ultimate Star Wars
- ↑ Star Wars: Galactic Atlas
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2
Star Wars Rebels — "Fire Across the Galaxy"
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.9 Star Wars Rebels — "Rise of the Old Masters"
- ↑ Star Wars: The Secrets of the Jedi states that Double-bladed lightsabers, including those used by Imperial Inquisitors contain two kyber crystals.
- ↑ The Inquisitor's Lightsaber Skills In First STAR WARS REBEL Clip on ComicBookMovie.com (archived from the original on July 29, 2014)
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Darth Vader (2017) 6
- ↑ Character Key: Inquisitor on ACME Archives Direct website (archived from the original on June 22, 2019)
- ↑ Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition
- ↑ Force Collector
- ↑ Star Wars Rebels — "Call to Action"
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Obi-Wan Kenobi's Grand Inquisitor speaks! by Ross, Dalton on Entertainment Weekly (May 19, 2022) (archived from the original on May 19, 2022)
- ↑ SDCC 2014: STAR WARS REBELS Panel on Newsarama (July 24, 2014) (archived from the original on August 14, 2019)
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Inside the Lucasfilm Archive: Weapons of the Inquisitorius from the Obi-Wan Kenobi Limited Series on StarWars.com (backup link)
- ↑ This Week! in Star Wars Obi-Wan Kenobi Dark Side Props, Emmy Nominations, and More! on the official Star Wars YouTube channel (backup link) (Posted on StarWars.com)
