Darth Vader In Star Wars Goes On Insane Quest For His First Lightsaber
Darth Vader’s lightsaber is one of the most formidable weapons in all of fiction. From the second he ignited the blood-red blade and used it to cut down Obi-Wan Kenobi in A New Hope, Vader’s lightsaber has stood as a symbol of evil unmatched by any other weaponry in cinema history. So it may come as a shock to learn that the iconic laser sword used by Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy was not his first.
Anakin’s first lightsaber after becoming Darth Vader, however, was never shown on screen but was instead introduced in the canon comic series Darth Vader, which launched in 2017.
Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader used three different lightsabers over the course of six Star Wars movies—four if you count the green one he briefly borrowed in Attack of the Clones—more than any other Sith or Jedi in the saga.
Anakin’s first saber was destroyed during the battle of Geonosis, his second retrieved as a grisly trophy by Obi-Wan Kenobi after the Jedi left his former apprentice for dead following a brutal duel on Mustafar. Anakin’s first lightsaber after becoming Darth Vader, however, was never shown on screen but was instead introduced in the canon comic series Darth Vader, which launched in 2017.
(Marvel Comics, 2017)
The Darth Vader comic detailed Vader’s early adventures after becoming a cyborg and donning his infamous black armor. One of the first tasks Emperor Palpatine gives his new Sith apprentice is the procurement of a new lightsaber to replace the one he lost on Mustafar.
Since Sith lightsabers use Kyber crystals stolen from Jedi weapons and then “bled” to give them their distinct red hue, Darth Vader was instructed to steal a new lightsaber rather than build his own.
Vader rebuilt himself using parts from the Jedi Master’s droid and then proceeded to not only murder Kirak Infil’a but drown a whole city just for Siths and giggles.
Vader’s target was surviving Jedi Master Kirak Infil’a, a Jedi living in exile on the river moon of Al’doleem. Infil’a had taken the Barash Vow, a kind of voluntary exile/penance where a Jedi cuts themself off from the rest of the Jedi Oder in hopes of achieving a better relationship with the Force. His voluntary exile meant that he wasn’t targeted during Order 66 and was thus the perfect Jedi for Darth Vader to mug for a new lightsaber.
Unfortunately for Vader, between his inexperience with his clunky new robot parts and Infil’a’s thirst for combat, the Sith Lord was defeated and almost destroyed by the Jedi Master. The one thing about Darth Vader, however, is that his pain and hatred are so strong they can sustain him and keep him alive, even when he’s taken enough damage to kill a normal Sith.
Vader had become so “twisted and evil,” that his endless well of hatred and suffering eventually wore the crystal down, and he was able to bleed it and turn it the traditional Sith-red.
Vader rebuilt himself using parts from the Jedi Master’s droid and then proceeded to not only murder Kirak Infil’a but drown a whole city just for Siths and giggles.
Darth Vader retrieved the now-dead Jedi Master’s curved lightsaber and brought it to Mustafar—a place of deep sadness and hurt for Vader—where he attempted to bleed the saber’s crystal and turn it into a Sith weapon. The lightsaber’s Kyber crystal resisted Darth Vader’s first attempt to turn it red, even going so far as to show the Dark Lord a vision of redemption where Vader kills Palpatine and returns to the light.
Vader had become so “twisted and evil,” that his endless well of hatred and suffering eventually wore the crystal down, and he was able to bleed it and turn it the traditional Sith-red.
Darth Vader used this stolen lightsaber for a brief period until a group of bounty hunters used a portable tractor-beam gun to try and wrestle it from his grasp during a showdown. Vader used his own personal tractor-beam, AKA the Force, to maintain a grip on the saber, but it was eventually pulled apart by the struggle.
The weapon’s Kyber crystal remained in Vader’s possession, and he was able to use it in the construction of a new lightsaber—the Darth Vader lightsaber fans know and love from the original Star Wars trilogy.
