Elegant Weapons For A More Civilised Age: Every Lightsaber In Star Wars, Ranked

Elegant Weapons For A More Civilised Age: Every Lightsaber In Star Wars, Ranked
Contributor: Zachariah Kelly, Germain Lussier and James Whitbrook
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When you think of Star Wars, you think of lightsabers. Sure, you think of spaceships and the Force and stuff like that too. But, in terms of iconic visuals, few things in science fiction at large, let alone Star Wars, are as iconic as the lightsaber.

And over the years there have been a lot of lightsabers.

Some you know very well. Others you may not. And we decided to rank as many as we could remember. We’ve also decided to add in the lightsabers from Star Wars: Visions, which brought an incredible new level of creativity to the weapon.

Also a note: just by being a lightsaber, a lightsaber is inherently amazing. So even the “bad” ones here are still pretty great. Don’t yell at us. If you think we’ve forgotten a lightsaber, let us know. Obvious spoiler warning for Star Wars stuff.


1. Darth Maul in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

From 1977 until 1998 we all thought lightsabers were one thing. Then, a trailer for a movie was released, a second blade popped out of Darth Maul’s lightsaber, and the weapon was changed forever. That historical reveal helps put this saber at number one on the list, but its sleek, simple, iconic look — and, frankly, the fact that it disappears so quickly, helps as well.

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The saber that changed sabers. Image: Lucasfilm

2. Luke Skywalker in Return of the Jedi

After losing his father’s saber on Bespin, Luke built himself this one. The now Jedi Knight opted for a green blade, the first we’d seen in Star Wars. Its construction is a little wider at the bottom, before getting skinny again and then getting wider at the top. It’s almost as if the saber itself is building up to something special.

3. Kara in Star Wars: Visions

Kara’s lightsaber is incredible, tied to the wielder and their force sensitivity. Depending on the wielder, the blade is able to change its length and shift its colour. When someone who isn’t a full-blown Jedi or Sith wields the blade, the saber becomes a dull hard light. It’s an incredibly creative approach to the weapon.

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Image: Production I. G, Lucasfilm, Disney

4. The Sith Dark Lord’s Umbrella Saber in Star Wars: Visions

It took a while for creativity to come back to Star Wars once The Rise of Skywalker was released, but one of the more creative things came from studio Kamikaze Douga. The Umbrella Saber from The Duel is a powerful multi-bladed lightsaber, incredibly deadly and matching the black and white pallet of the episode well. The episode only indulges in colour through some background elements and the lightsaber hues, which makes The Sith Dark Lord’s presence all the more sinister. It’s also amazing to watch in action.

Gif: Kamikaze Douga, Lucasfilm, Disney
Gif: Kamikaze Douga, Lucasfilm, Disney

5. Darth Vader’s First Lightsaber

Did you know that Darth Vader’s first lightsaber wasn’t the one he used in the original movies? As part of a Sith initiation right seen in Charles Soule and Giuseppe Camuncoli’s Darth Vader comic series, Palpatine tasks Vader with finding a kyber crystal to corrupt from its base colour into the blood-red associated with the Dark Side.

To do that, he needs to hunt down one of the few remaining Jedi and kill them — he does so to a poor survivor of Order 66 named Kirak Infil’a. After the tragic process is complete, Vader keeps Infil’a’s intricate hilt for a while, until it’s destroyed on a mission and he simply replaces it with the iconic hilt seen in the movies. But just look at it. It was stunningly gorgeous.

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Vader’s original, stolen lightsaber hilt. Image: Giuseppe Camuncoli, David Curiel, and Cam Smith, Marvel Comics

6. Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace

Few Jedi were as suave as Qui-Jon Ginn and his lightsaber, with its striking black ridges from top to bottom, really felt that way too. It looks like a lightsaber put on a tuxedo.

7. Count Dooku in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones

Much like Darth Maul’s lightsaber changed our perception of the weapon, so too did Count Dooku’s elegant curved lightsaber. An extended emitter on the end made it look more like a piece of jewellery than a weapon.

8. Karre in Star Wars: Visions

The protagonist of Star Wars: Visions episode The Twins, Karre weilds a blue lightsaber that is enhanced by a powerful kyber crystal, allowing him to extend and retract the blade at will. It makes for an incredible light show. The grip, pommel and hilt of the weapon are also pretty amazing to look at, although the blade steals the show.

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Image: Studio Trigger, Lucasfilm, Disney

9. F’s lightsaber katana in Star Wars: Visions

A yellow lightsaber katana. Need I say anything more? Basic in design from the pommel to the tip, apart from its curved blade and its rectangular hilt, F’s lightsaber does incredible work for the character, demonstrating the ability to kill an enemy without hesitation while also remaining lowkey.

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Image: Kinema Citrus, Lucasfilm, Disney

10. The Grand Inquisitor in Star Wars Rebels

This was the Swiss Army knife of lightsabers. It can be used as a traditional, one bladed saber. You can ignite the other side and use it as a two-bladed saber. You can make those two blades spin and, when spinning, you could use it not only to inflict damage or block blasters, but float, if needed. What a saber.

11. Lop from Star Wars: Visions

Animated in a way that lightsaber blades are rarely drawn, Lop’s lightsaber beams out a beautiful green hue marked by a white beam in the middle. The grip, pommel and hilt are also adorned with beautiful characteristics that match the character.

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Image: Geno Studio, Lucasfilm, Disney

12. General Grievous in Star Wars 

General Grievous’ lightsabers are basic in style, but they’re iconic for their story. Grievous doesn’t use his own lightsabers and instead uses those from Jedi he has slain. He spins them in a really cool way too.

lightsaber.
SPIN. Image: Disney

13. Darth Vader in Star Wars

You know how they say a coat of paint can make anything look new? That’s what Darth Vader’s saber is. It’s basically just Anakin’s old saber with black highlights but hot damn does it look that much more intimidating and impressive.

14. Am from Star Wars: Visions

The Twins in the episode The Twins were terrific characters, bringing a sibling twist to the forces of good and evil within the Star Wars universe. Originally, Am’s blades are long with well-detailed grips, however once enhanced by a large kyber crystal, lightsaber tentacles are sprouted from the blades. It makes for terrific action and really goes to show the rage of the dark side.

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Image: Studio Trigger, Lucasfilm, Disney

15. Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars

The lightsaber Obi-Wan Kenobi had in his days as a Jedi Master looks very much like the one Luke Skywalker built for himself when he attained the same rank. So, it’s very cool with that same anticipatory feel, but Obi-Wan’s just feels a little less involved.

16. The Elite Praetorian Guards from Star Wars

Snoke’s bodyguards from The Last Jedi made for worthy opponents to Rey and Kylo Ren, armed with a range of lightsaber-like weapons. Their fight scene from the eighth movie remains one of the best in the saga.

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Lots of red. Image: Disney

17. The Inquisitor from Star Wars: Visions

Alright alright, so Star Wars answered the question “Would glowing swords be cool?” in 1977. In 2021, Star Wars: Visions answered the question “What if the grip and pommel glowed too, would that be cool?” Yes. Yes it would be cool. It looks advanced in a way that Star Wars rarely delves into, almost referential to The First Civilisation from the Assassin’s Creed franchise. It lacks the jagged design of other Sith lightsabers, instead thinking outside of the box by glowing in places the saber has never glowed before.

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Image: Science SARU, Lucasfilm, Disney

18. Asajj Ventress in The Clone Wars

Like her master, Dooku, Ventress had a penchant for fancy curved lightsaber hilts. Unlike Dooku, Ventress went one step further and had a pair of curved hilts. As if that wasn’t enough, even though she mostly dual-wielded them, Ventress could actually combine her weapons into a double-bladed lightsaber, made far more swanky than most other double sabers we’ve seen in Star Wars by the curved hilts. Needlessly extra? Sure. Very cool? Absolutely. That’s Asajj Ventress for you!

Image: Disney

19. The Ronin’s sheathe lightsaber, Star Wars: Visions

The first episode of Star Wars: Visions (The Duel) saw The Ronin’s sheathe lightsaber come into play and boy was it an incredible weapon. Long bladed with no flare to its design, this lightsaber is elegant without being extra.

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Image: Kamikaze Douga, Lucasfilm, Disney

20. The Cursed Sabers of Darth Atrius

An ancient Sith Lord actually left unseen in Star Wars — but we see their lightsabers and their fearsome effect in Marvel’s Star Wars Annual #4, by Cullen Bunn, Ario Anindito, Roland Boschi and Marc Laming. Similar in design to the crossguard lightsaber built by Kylo Ren (itself based on lightsaber designs from the Old Republic era), what made Atrius’ twin sabers really stand out was the fact they were… err, cursed?

Atrius’ Sith hate was so powerful, it imbued his weapons with Dark Side energy that, even thousands of years after his death, could dominate anyone who came in contact with the blades and send them into a violent rage, feeding the weapon’s power. Not even Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader could resist!

21. The Darksaber

This weapon might not look like a lightsaber as we know it, but it was: the blade was made by Mandalorian Tarre Vizsla, the first of his species to be inducted into the Jedi Order. Looking more like a traditional sword than most lightsabers — even with its crackling, black energy blade — Vizsla’s family eventually liberated the weapon from the Jedi Order after Tarre’s death, passing it down through generations as a symbol of leadership. The weapon also appeared in The Mandalorian, wielded by Moff Gideon.

22. Jay’s Micsaber, Star Wars: Visions

A creative approach that converts the lightsaber from a weapon to a microphone, Jay’s Micsaber from Tatooine Rhapsody doesn’t harm a fly. Instead, it’s all about singing a song.

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Image: Studio Colorido, Lucasfilm, Disney

23. Jocasta Nu’s Lightsaber Rifle

Most Jedi don’t really care for blasters — but that didn’t stop this particularly bonkers use of a lightsaber from existing as it did in Charles Soule and Giuseppe Camuncoli’s Darth Vader comic. A special weapon secreted away in a secluded part of the Jedi Archives by none other than former librarian Jocasta Nu, the rifle was actually more of an accessory: you loaded a lightsaber into its frame, and it then turned the kyber energy into powerful blaster bolts. It only took a few rounds before the lightsaber was melted into slag, however, so… incredibly impractical, but very cool. And very silly.

24. The Elder’s short lightsaber katanas in Star Wars: Visions

The Elder’s medium-length katana-like lightsabers in Star Wars: Visions episode The Elder carry a lot of weight for the character, while also being dangerous and deadly tools. The pommels and grips are decorated with wraps and trinkets, with excess kyber energy spewing out of the hilt of the blade. These are the weapons of a seasoned master.

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Image: Studio Trigger, Lucasfilm, Disney

25. Ahsoka Tano in Star Wars Rebels

By the time of Rebels, Ahsoka has cast aside her former Jedi title, and in the years since leaving the order, actually replaced her lightsabers with a pair of much fancier blades.

Intricately designed compared to her original set — with delicately curved hilts and an influence of real-world Japanese design to go with her “roaming ronin” status — what really made them stand out was their pure white blades. Uncoloured kyber crystals were extremely rare, but Ahsoka made hers by purifying two kyber crystals that had been previously corrupted by an Imperial Inquisitor, changing them from blood red to pure white.

26. Kylo Ren in Star Wars: The Force Awakens

With the Jedi and Sith all but gone, young Ben Solo took it upon himself to construct a very unique lightsaber. And, without much formal direction, the result was an almost incomplete, mean-looking piece of weaponry with two short hilt blades to help the main one.

27. Tsubaki’s sheathed lightsaber in Star Wars: Visions

A basic design makes up Tsubaki’s lightsaber: The blue blade and the grey grip, along with a sheathe. This is it — that’s all that is needed. We love a minimalist.

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Image: Science SARU, Lucasfilm, Disney

28. Darth Maul in Star Wars Rebels

By the time of Rebels, Maul’s original lightsaber was long destroyed (even after it was lopped in half by Obi-Wan Kenobi in Phantom Menace). Befitting his crafty, outcast state, the saber he replaces it with — and is even briefly glimpsed in his Solo cameo — is battered and scrappy, just like the Sith survivor himself. Featuring what looks like carved scrap from the spinning lightsaber hilts of Imperial Inquisitors, Maul’s second saber could also be disguised as a cane, as he used it while deceiving Ezra Bridger when they first encountered each other on Malachor.

29. Pong Krell in The Clone Wars

This four-armed, Clone-hating arsehole of a Jedi (spoilers: he ended up being a secret traitor working with the Separatists!) wielded two double-bladed lightsabers, thanks to his extra limbs. What made them stand out next to Darth Maul’s however, was that Krell’s actually had a nifty, foldable function for when he wasn’t using them. Points for practicality, even if he loses those points for being a massive jerk overall.

30. Rey’s yellow lightsaber

The first yellow lightsaber to be shown in the live-action movies, although with only a few seconds of screentime, Rey’s lightsaber signifies the end of the journey, unique in colour and fascinating in construction.

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Rey’s yellow lightsaber. Image: Disney

31. The Jedi Temple Guard’s Lightsaber Pike

An ornate order of elite Jedi Guards needs an ornate lightsaber to stand out, and they got it with the Lightsaber Pike. A weapon that could be utilised as essentially a spear-like weapon with a lightsaber on one end, the Lightsaber Pike’s elongated hilt was actually another variation on the double-bladed lightsaber — if push came to shove, a Temple Guard could ignite the other blade in the pike’s bottom half.

32. Tajin in Star Wars: Visions

Tajin’s blade is perfect for a master. Imposing, green-hued and slightly off the path in terms of standard lightsaber hilt conventions, Tajin’s weapon is memorable yet simple. Then again, when I first saw it, I mistook it for a rolled-up newspaper.

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Image: Studio Trigger, Lucasfilm, Disney

33. Young Obi-Wan in the Prequels and Clone Wars.

Obi-Wan had two lightsabers before the one we saw in A New Hope. They are not exactly the same but look similar enough that we’re going to bundle them up as well. The sabers each look very much inspired by the sleek, tuxedo saber of his master, Qui-Gon, but with wide, ball on the end. And the ball brings the whole thing down.

34. Anakin/Luke/Rey in Star Wars

The first saber we saw in Star Wars also happens to be the most significant, as its one of the few still prominent in the film series. And yet, as crucial as this saber is, and because it’s the one that made us all fall in love with lightsabers, it’s just been overshadowed in style in the years since. It’s just rather simple. Sleek, but vanilla.

35. T0-B1 in Star Wars: Visions

A young droid named T0-B1 is the owner of this blade, this lightsaber is an extension of its owner, with the essential kyber crystal hidden inside of him his entire life. It’s a well-constructed blade to match a heartwarming coming-of-age story.

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Image: Science SARU, Lucasfilm, Disney

36. Ahsoka Tano in The Clone Wars

Ahsoka’s original lightsaber set — one standard, one “shoto” style, shortened to be utilised with her dual-wielding style — as seen in the Clone Wars animated series are much like the young Jedi herself: practical, stylish, and more than capable of slicing through battle droid after battle droid. They’re simple, as befitting a padawan’s first weapons, but Ahsoka makes great use of them on the front lines of the Clone Wars.

37. Tera Sinube’s Lightsaber Cane

A Jedi must always have a lightsaber, even as they grow older. So Tera Sinube, a crusty old Jedi who specialised in detective work with the Coruscant Security Forces, decided to make his lightsaber infinitely more practical by turning it into a cane too. Sinube’s blade is hidden inside the hilt of his eccentrically designed walking stick, which means he can disguise that he’s armed and ready to fight — even in his advanced age — at any time.

38. Masago’s lightsaber machete in Star Wars: Visions

A creative approach to the lightsaber without branching too far from the core concept, Masago’s lightsaber in Star Wars: Visions is a machete saber.  Masago’s lightsaber is less about being deadly and more about Masago herself being an imposing threat, which it definitely gives the impression of.

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Image: Science SARU, Production I.G, Studio Trigger, Lucasfilm, Disney

39. Yoda in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones

If the Anakin/Rey saber, was half the size, it would be Yoda’s saber. And it has the same issue. It’s cool, but just so average, especially when all these other Jedi who aren’t as powerful as Yoda have ones that are so much more intricate.

40. Ezra Bridger in Star Wars Rebels

Ezra Bridger’s saber suffers because it doesn’t have its own identity. At first, it doubled as a blaster which is cool but made it look like a staple gun. And by the time he ditched that for just the saber, it looked more like a screwdriver than a sword.

41. Kanan Jarrus in Star Wars Rebels

Is that a satellite dish on your hip or are you just happy to see us, Kanan? It was more practical for the character — he had to hide the fact that he was a Jedi — but, detaching in the middle makes it feel more like a toy and less like a lightsaber.

42. Padawan Dan in Star Wars: Visions

Enhanced by a beautiful blue blade, Padawan Dan’s lightsaber from Star Wars: Visions episode The Elder does the job of a lightsaber all too well, offering an honestly boring hilt reminiscent of Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon Jinn’s blades. We’re moved by this lightsaber, but it’s a bit derivative.

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Image: Studio Trigger, Lucasfilm, Disney

43. Mace Windu in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones

Actor Samuel L. Jackson famously picked his own lightsaber when making Star Wars and, we think, he choose… poorly. Windu’s saber is too bright and gaudy and the purple blade simply doesn’t make sense for the character. Windu personifies the idea of the Jedi sticking to order over everything which ultimately leads to their demise. And yet, he’s the only one at this point with a purple saber?

44. Evil Rey’s double-ended lightsaber

Although it looks cool and has two modes of use, this lightsaber was largely only included in The Rise of Skywalker to shock people into watching the film, originally revealed in a trailer and then appearing in a vision sequence in the film. Yeah, it’s cool, but one of its modes of use is really impractical and it really only exists as filler. It’s a jumpscare lightsaber.

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Evil Rey’s lightsaber. Image: Disney

45. Darth Sidious in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

Do we need to say it? You’re going to make us say it? Are you sure? Fine. It looks like a dildo.

And there you have it. We’re done.

Every Star Wars TV show, film and short is available to stream on Disney+.

This article has been updated since its original publication.