- “I didn't know Mandalorians developed a type of lightsaber."
"We didn't. This was one of a kind.” - ―Kanan Jarrus and Fenn Rau[src]
The Darksaber was an ancient one-of-a-kind black-bladed lightsaber that appears in the Star Wars universe. The weapon's hilt was made of a lightsaber-proof metal called Beskar.
Usage[]
The Darksaber is a unique black-bladed lightsaber which is the only one of its kind. Its blade is flattened and comes to a point like a traditional sword, rather than the rounded, conical blades of more standard lightsabers. Millennia old, the Darksaber has become a symbol for the unity of the people of Mandalore in addition to its practical use as a weapon.
History[]
According to legend, the Darksaber was created over a thousand years ago by Tarre Vizsla, the first Mandalorian ever inducted into the Jedi Order. After his passing, the weapon was kept in the Coruscant Jedi Temple until members of House Vizsla stole the saber during the fall of the Old Republic thousands of years before. From generation to generation, the Darksaber was passed down by the ancestors of Pre Vizsla, who held onto the weapon even after the pacifist ideals of the New Mandalorians replaced the warrior ways of Mandalore. The Darksaber stood as a symbol of Mandalorian leadership; an item of power, unity, and authority.
The last known Mandalorian to own the weapon was Pre Vizsla, a descendant of Tarre Vizsla and the leader of Death Watch during the Clone Wars until he was killed by Maul, the former Sith apprentice of Darth Sidious. He claimed the Darksaber as his own and with it leadership over Death Watch. Even after his loss of control over Mandalore, the weapon would remain in Maul's possession for many years after the Galactic Empire came to power, and would eventually come into the ownership of Sabine Wren, a member of the Rebellion and a member of House Vizsla. Fenn Rau believed that Sabine might be the only one capable of uniting the Mandalorians under her banner to oppose the Empire.
Sabine wielded the Darksaber until she met Bo-Katan Kryze, the former regent of Mandalore and sister to the late Duchess Satine Kryze. Realizing that Bo-Katan was the true ruler of Mandalore and the one person who could unite the various houses and clans of Mandalore against the Empire, Sabine passed the Darksaber to Bo-Katan and pledged loyalty with the rest of Clan Wren to House Kryze.
Near the end of the Galactic Civil War, the Empire launched a massive attack on Mandalore, known as the Great Purge. This led to the destruction of Mandalore's capital Sundari and the deaths of most Mandalorians. Moff Gideon met with Bo-Katan after the initial attack, with the agreement that he would cease fire if she surrendered the Darksaber to him. He went back on his word and bombed the rest of the planet anyway. This forced the few survivors to hide in sects throughout the galaxy. After the Empire's fall, Gideon would fake his death, all while secretly amassing power again.
After his failed attack on Nevarro to kidnap Grogu, Gideon attacked the child's adoptive father Din Djarin in his TIE fighter. Djarin instead climbed onto the ship and set an explosive that caused it to crash. Gideon survived the crash and cut himself out of the wreckage with the Darksaber.
Bo-Katan continued to look for the Darksaber and eventually recruited Djarin to help her steal a Gozanti cruiser to help her retake Mandalore. She questioned the cruiser's captain, asking him where Gideon and the saber were, but the captain electrocuted himself to death to avoid Gideon's wrath.
After Gideon finally succeeded in kidnapping Grogu, he mockingly showed the Darksaber to the child. Djarin, along with allies Fennec Shand, Cara Dune, and Boba Fett, recruited Kryze and her partner Koska Reeves to help them retake Grogu and defeat Gideon. After the group (minus Fett, who acted as a diversion) took the bridge of the ship, Djarin confronted Gideon and took Grogu back. Gideon then attempted to kill him with the Darksaber, but Djarin countered with his beskar spear, as beskar can resist lightsabers. Djarin eventually managed to defeat Gideon and took possession of the Darksaber.
Bringing Gideon to the bridge, Djarin attempted to offer the saber to Bo-Katan. However, Gideon explained that the rightful owner was whoever defeated the previous owner. Din attempted to forfeit, but Gideon again insisted that the saber's story, not the weapon itself, was what held power. As a result, Djarin was now the rightful owner of the Darksaber.
Din went back to bounty hunting, using the Darksaber as his main weapon. He proved to be sufficient yet unskilled with the blade, accidentally cutting his leg open with it. Upon rejoining the Armorer and Paz Vizsla, the only two survivors of his old clan, Din explained how he won it from Moff Gideon. After he mentioned Bo-Katan, the Armorer explained that there was a curse on the Darksaber where giving it to someone who did not win it would lead to disaster. The curse came true: Bo was given the saber by Sabine without winning it, and the Empire eventually devastated Mandalore in the Great Purge.
Paz Vizsla declared that the Darksaber was rightfully his because his ancestor forged it, and in turn challenged Din for the weapon. After an even match, Din came out on top but spared Paz's life. To break up the fight, the Armorer had both warriors recite the creed to never remove their helmets. However, Din revealed that he had in fact removed his helmet in public multiple times, leading Paz and the Armorer to denounce Djarin as a heretic and banish him from the tribe.
Following his banishment, Din continued to have the Darksaber with him, but did not use it that often. When traveling on Mandalore, Din used the Darksaber to fight three Alamites who attacked him. After he was kidnapped by a Spider Tank, Bo-Katan, who was alerted of Din's predicament by Grogu, used the Darksaber to fight off the Spider Tank and kill it, in order to rescue Din before giving the saber back to him.
Having no desire to wield the blade, Din found a loophole in order to return the Darksaber to Bo-Katan. He reasoned that she had killed the spider tank that had defeated (and thus won the saber from) him. This meant she was now its rightful owner once again.
Eventually, she would use it in battle on Mandalore when she and the other Mandalorians from both clans encounter Moff Gideon and his Imperial forces on the planet, the former of whom is trying to finish his cloning project using the planet's resources. She ultimataly engages Gideon with it in battle, during which Gideon, after being denied one time too many from claiming it back from her, crushes it while it's in her hand, preventing her or anyone else from wielding it.
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