Lightsabers are an all-important asset in George Lucas’ fictional world of Star Wars. They are a weapon used predominantly by Force users, be their Jedi or the Sith, but there are some variations that have been used by other characters. The fact that they are mostly used by Force users is explained by fact that they are actually very hard to control for people who don’t have a strong connection to the Force. They are not heavy or anything, but total control over a lightsaber requires a lot of skill, which is why “regular” characters usually avoid them, although there have been instances in the Expanded Universe where non-Force users used a lightsaber in combat. In today’s article, we are going to talk about a very specific lightsaber – the black lightsaber, also known as a Darksaber, as you are going to find out whether the Darksaber is the most powerful lightsaber in existence.
Despite its notorious reputation, the Darksaber isn’t really more powerful than any other lightsaber in general. There are some tweaks that can make a lightsaber more powerful (although it’s rarely noticeable), but they don’t seem to apply to the Darksaber.
Today’s article is going to be all about the Darksaber, a well known type of black lightsaber used by the Mandalorians. You’re going to find out just how powerful a Darksaber really is, as well as whether it uses a standard kyber crystal and whether it has any special powers compared to other lightsabers. Enjoy!
Is the Darksaber the most powerful lightsaber?
The history of the Darksaber within the Star Wars lore is a truly fascinating one. The lightsaber, although an uncommon weapon in general, is a very common weapon among Force users. And while we have seen a lot of different colors over the years, one – the black one – still stands out among the other colors. The reason for that is that the black lightsaber, also called a Darksaber, is a unique weapon – there is only one such lightsaber in the whole universe.
The Darksaber is shaped like a traditional sword and it’s somewhat shorter than an actual lightsaber; still, it is without a doubt a subtype of lightsaber. The Darksaber is associated with Tarre Vizsla, the first (and only) Mandalorian Jedi, who created the Darksaber as a one-of-a-kind weapon.
The weapon represented the Mandalorians’ fight against the Jedi and was a very powerful tool in battle; it also represented the emotions of the Mandalorians (something the Jedi avoided) and their murderous rivalry with the Jedi. At one point, the Darksaber was taken by the Jedi and kept under lock, until it was stolen by the Mandalorians and returned to the descendants of Tarre Vizsla. The owner of the Darksaber also claims the title of the ruler of the Mandalorians and the only way to legitimately claim ownership over it is to defeat the former owner in combat (i.e., kill them).
In that aspect, the Darksaber has a long and notorious history behind it, but there doesn’t seem to be anything to suggest that it is stronger than any other type of lightsaber. It was made using the same technology and is used in the same way.
So, why do people think it’s that powerful? Well, it’s due to its notoriety and the fact that is a unique, one-of-a-kind object in the franchise. Still, being unique doesn’t make a weapon more powerful, it just makes it… unique. A lightsaber can be tweaked using several methods (it can be made waterproof, have a longer battery, a less stable crystal, it can be a dual blade-type, etc.), but none of these methods can actually be applied to the Darksaber, which means that – despite all the notoriety surrounding it – it is as powerful as any other lightsaber that has not bee tweaked.
Does the Darksaber have special powers?
Well, deducing from everything we know about the Darksaber and its origins, we can clearly state that the Darksaber doesn’t really have any special powers compared to other lightsabers. What it does have is a history, a long-lasting history of fighting, blood and murder, but that’s about it when it comes to the saber itself.
What does make this lightsaber special, though, is its shape and its color. It’s shaped like a traditional sword, which we have already said, which makes it different than any other lightsaber in the known canon. It is also the only known lightsaber in the whole universe that is black in color. If you want to know more about lightsaber colors, you can check out our earlier article.
Does the Darksaber use a kyber crystal?
The kyber crystal is an essential part of every lightsaber, so it’s really hard to imagine that the Darksaber, however unique it might be, functions without a kyber crystal. Why? Simply because it does not. The Darksaber, just like any other lightsaber, uses a kyber crystal, with the only difference being that it is of a different color than other, more common kyber crystals.
There is, though, a lot of mystery surrounding the Darksaber’s origins. The simplest explanation is the one which states that Lucas just opted for a black lightsaber because he wanted to and that is the most correct one, despite being an out-of-universe explanation. The problem with this explanation is that it isn’t really corroborated by any material from the franchise itself, which is why the stories had to explain how a black lightsaber was created.
The most common explanation is that we’re simply dealing with a synthetic kyber crystal that was created using some special techniques by Tarre Vizsla. Since we know that kyber crystals are sentient objects, it probably took some complex Force manipulation for Vizsla to turn a kyber crystal black. We know that the color embodies the suffering of the Mandalorian people, so these emotions probably played a part in its creation. Whatever the reason might be, the Darksaber remains a unique weapon whose origins still have to be properly explained and we are looking forward to finding out what they are.
And that’s it for today. We hope you had fun reading this and that we helped solve this dilemma for you. See you next time and don’t forget to follow us!
