The Complete History of the Skywalker Lightsaber in Star Wars
Of all the lightsabers in Star Wars, the Skywalker saber is by far the most iconic, having been wielded by Anakin Skywalker, his son Luke, and Rey.
With the creation of the lightsaber, the Star Wars saga gave the world the most iconic sci-fi weapon of all time. As the weapon of the Jedi and the Sith, the lightsaber has become one of the most instantly recognizable images from Star Wars’ rich mythology. Of the various lightsabers that appear in the Star Wars movies — including Darth Maul’s double-ended lightsaber — Mace Windu’s distinctive purple-bladed saber and Count Dooku’s saber with its uniquely curved hilt, there is perhaps no iteration of the weapon more instantly recognizable or meaningful to fans than the Skywalker lightsaber. This is the very first lightsaber that was ever activated on-screen, introducing audiences to the legendary weapon for the first time.
Behind the scenes, the Skywalker lightsaber had humble origins. In need of a hilt for Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber that wouldn’t stretch the modest budget of Star Wars (later re-titled Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope), set dresser Roger Christian found an antique Graflex camera flash gun, added some hand grips and the bubble strip from a calculator, and produced the world’s first ever lightsaber hilt. In the galaxy far, far away, however, the weapon was built by Anakin Skywalker at the beginning of the Clone Wars. It would later be passed on to his son, Luke, and Luke’s Jedi protégé, Rey.
Anakin Skywalker was first seen wielding a lightsaber in the second movie of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones. Though similar in design, with its angled emitter, protruding activation switch and long black hand grips, this was a distinct weapon from the one that would later be given to his son, Luke Skywalker, in A New Hope. The lightsaber Anakin used in Attack of the Clones was destroyed partway through that film, when Anakin and Padmé found themselves in the bowels of a Separatist droid factory. The machinery on the factory’s production line sliced Anakin’s first lightsaber in two, leaving the young Jedi Padawan to lament Obi-Wan Kenobi’s inevitable disappointment in him.
After his own lightsaber was destroyed, Anakin borrowed a green lightsaber from one of his fellow Jedi, during Attack of the Clones’ arena battle on Geonosis. This battle erupted into the beginnings of the Clone Wars, setting the stage for three years of galactic conflict and the eventual rise of the Empire. Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith opened during the final days of the Clone Wars and saw Anakin wielding a new lightsaber, built to replace his original weapon. This saber would have been familiar to fans of the original Star Wars trilogy, as it was the one that would eventually be used by Luke Skywalker.
In Star Wars’ old Legends continuity (which predates the new Disney canon), Anakin’s second lightsaber was said to have been designed to accommodate his preference for lightsaber combat Form V, Djem So. This accounted for the use of hand grips, allowing Anakin to maintain a firm hold on the lightsaber, and the more heavily shrouded emitter section. Whether this insight into the design of the Skywalker lightsaber is still considered canon or not is not yet clear. However, Anakin’s second lightsaber certainly appears more technically complex than his first, suggesting he called upon his mechanical prowess to better tailor his weapon to himself when it came time to replace his original lightsaber.
After using this second lightsaber to fight for the Republic throughout the Clone Wars, Anakin continued to wield the weapon after he fell to the dark side and took on the name Darth Vader. During the march on the Jedi Temple, Anakin used this lightsaber to cut down several of his fellow Jedi, including many of the Temple’s younglings. He later used it when he faced his former master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, in a duel on the volcanic planet of Mustafar. Obi-Wan defeated Anakin in this duel, severing his limbs and leaving him to burn near Mustafar’s molten rivers. As he left his old Padawan for dead, Obi-Wan took Anakin’s lightsaber, keeping the weapon with him as he went into hiding on Tatooine.
For a period of time, Obi-Wan Kenobi hid Anakin Skywalker’s old lightsaber, alongside his own, by burying it in the Tatooine desert. Following the rise of the Empire, Obi-Wan and Yoda pinned their hopes for the future of the Jedi and defeat of the Sith on Anakin’s children, Luke and Leia. While he watched over the young Luke Skywalker from afar, Obi-Wan found his faith in the Jedi Order shaken and he kept away from his and his old Padawan’s lightsabers. However, by the time that Luke came of age and Leia called upon Obi-Wan for help in her mission for the Rebel Alliance, the old Jedi Master had rediscovered his faith. He began Luke’s Jedi training by giving him his father’s lightsaber.
While protecting Luke from the dark truth about his father, Obi-Wan initially told him that it had been Anakin’s wish that his son inherit his old lightsaber. Luke received the lightsaber from Obi-Wan in A New Hope, though he made little use of it in that movie. After initially accepting the lightsaber from Obi-Wan on Tatooine, Luke was only seen using it once more, while practicing with a training remote aboard the Millennium Falcon. The lightsaber came to symbolize Luke’s connection to his father and the beginnings of his Jedi journey, but it wasn’t until Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back that Luke would use the Skywalker lightsaber in combat.
Following the death of Obi-Wan Kenobi by the blade of Darth Vader in A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back saw Luke seeking out Master Yoda to continue his Jedi training. At the start of the movie, the Skywalker lightsaber saw some action on the ice planet of Hoth, where it was used by Luke against a Wampa and an Imperial AT-AT. It was also briefly used by Han Solo in an ad hoc survival strategy involving the warm innards of a Tauntaun. Once Luke found Yoda on the planet Dagobah, he used his lightsaber to confront a vision of Darth Vader as part of his Jedi training.
Luke’s training with Yoda was disrupted when he received a vision of Han and Leia in danger in Cloud City. Rushing to their aid, against Yoda’s and Obi-Wan’s warnings, Luke found himself face-to-face with the real Darth Vader. An intense lightsaber battle ensued, culminating in the Sith Lord severing Luke’s hand, sending it and the lightsaber plummeting into the depths of Cloud City. Vader also then revealed that he was Luke’s father, severing Luke’s connection to his heroic image of his father in the same moment that he was separated from his father’s weapon. The Skywalker lightsaber would remain lost for decades to come, until Luke was eventually reunited with it by a young woman named Rey.
After losing his first saber in Cloud City, Luke Skywalker built a new green lightsaber. His father’s weapon, however, was not lost for good. As seen in Marvel’s Star Wars comics, in the smelting pits of Cloud City, an Ugnaught worker discovered Luke’s lost lightsaber. What happened to it immediately after being found has not yet been revealed, but eventually it ended up in the possession of the pirate queen, Maz Kanata, on the planet Takodana. Maz kept the lightsaber locked away in a chest in the bowels of Takodana Castle, where it called to the scavenger Rey through the Force in Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens.
When she found the Skywalker lightsaber, Rey received a terrifying vision that initially scared her away from the lightsaber. While she refused to wield it, ex-Stormtrooper Finn took up the weapon, using it to fight off First Order forces on Takodana and later using it in lightsaber combat against Kylo Ren. However, when Kylo bested Finn and disarmed him, Rey reached out with the Force and called the Skywalker lightsaber to her own hand. From that moment on, the saber became her own, despite her efforts to return it to Luke Skywalker.
Following her confrontation with Kylo Ren, Rey set out to find Luke when the droids BB-8 and R2-D2 were able to combine data to pinpoint Luke’s location on the planet of Ahch-To. Here, Rey found the aged Jedi Master and offered him his old lightsaber. However, Luke had lost faith in the Jedi and simply threw the weapon away after taking it from Rey. Undeterred, Rey took up the weapon once more and vowed to continue the fight against the dark side even if Luke would not. In her subsequent rematch with Kylo Ren, the Skywalker lightsaber was torn in half, seemingly destroyed. However, it reappeared when Luke, inspired by a final meeting with Yoda, projected an image of himself through the Force, wielding his father’s lightsaber once again to face Kylo Ren.
The real Skywalker lightsaber was not quite lost, either. Rey welded the hilt back together, healing the crystal using ancient Jedi techniques. Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker saw her wielding the repaired saber, which she shared with Ben Solo after his return to the light, having surrendered the mantle of Kylo Ren. Ultimately, Rey used the Skywalker lightsaber alongside Leia Organa’s lightsaber to defeat a revived Darth Sidious, preventing the return of the Sith. She later constructed her own yellow-bladed saber and took the Skywalker twins’ lightsabers to Tatooine, burying them by Luke’s old homestead. The Skywalker lightsaber that passed from Anakin to Luke to Rey now rests forever on the planet where the Skywalkers’ story began.
