Star Wars: The History Of The Lightsaber

As with so many cool inventions, the lightsaber did not always exist in the form that it is known for today. It is likely that there were various weapons, relatively primitive in design, that inspired the eventual development of the lightsaber, but these precursors remain largely clouded in mystery due to spotty historical records with the Jedi and Sith archives.

One of the earliest lightsabers was a weapon known as the forcesaber. The forcesaber was created and utilized by the Rakata thousands of years before the Republic. These weapons were constructed by the Force Hounds—Rakatan hunters in tune with the Force—and powered by a special crystal. They came in a variety of colors.

Forcesabers were crafted in multiple designs, some of them closely resembling the later versions lightsaber. What limited the influence of the forcesaber, though, was its association with the dark side. That meant members of the Je’daii Order (forebears of the Jedi) could not use the weapon without potentially becoming corrupted. But it’s clear that the basic idea of the forcesaber was attractive to the Je’daii Order.

The earliest lightsabers that can properly be called as such were designed by the Jedi, but were eventually taken up by the Sith and the Dark Jedi as well. Like later lightsabers, these weapons used a focusing crystal in the hilt to generate the blade. Unlike later lightsabers, they were reliant on a bulky external power pack, which was connected to the hilt with a cable. This naturally made the lightsabers somewhat unwieldy. These weapons saw action in the Hundred-Year Darkness and other conflicts during the Old Republic Era.

The Sith made technological improvements that gave rise to lightsaber designs that did not require a power pack. Wielders of the lightsaber now had much greater freedom of movement during battle. The new and improved Sith lightsaber first appeared during the Great Hyperspace War, and the design was soon adopted by the Jedi. Ever since then, the design of the lightsaber has changed a little over time but the main design and slim fit of the blade has stayed the same.