What The Black Lightsaber In Star Wars Means
Lightsabers are, without question, one of the coolest weapons in all of fiction. Seriously, what's more awesome than swords made out of lasers? (We know they're not technically made of lasers, but you get the idea.)
As rad as lightsabers are, though, not all are created equal. For instance, the Sith use red lightsabers, which they create by pouring their hatred and the energy of the dark side of the Force into their blade's kyber crystals in a process known as "bleeding" the crystal. Jedi favor green and blue sabers, while certain characters have wielded purple, orange, yellow, and white lightsabers. Some lightsabers are far more uncommon and mysterious, like the elusive black lightsaber. But what does the black lightsaber in Star Wars mean? Let's discuss.
Black is one of the rarest of lightsaber colors, which makes sense since it's a lightsaber and black is a color achieved by the absence of light. Despite this conundrum, there has been a black lightsaber in the history of Star Wars canon — though just one — and it's admittedly pretty amazing.
Unlike most lightsabers, this weapon has a name: the Darksaber. Another odd thing about it is that it looks considerably different than other lightsabers. Rather than having a straight, cylindrical blade of light, the Darksaber is curved like a traditional sword. It also glows somewhat unevenly compared to other lightsabers in more traditional colors, and is considerably shorter than a normal saber. All of these oddities can be explained by, well, the Darksaber's odd history, which dates back over a thousand years to the days of the Old Republic.
The history of the Darksaber
The Darksaber was created by a Mandalorian. No, not that Mandalorian. The Mandalorian named Tarre Vizsla forged the black lightsaber over a thousand years ago, as told in the Star Wars Rebels episode "Trials of the Darksaber." Vizsla was the first Mandalorian Jedi, and he created the unique lightsaber to use himself. As to why he made it black? Well, that's a question that's never really been answered. But that doesn't mean the Darksaber doesn't hold a special significance.
Following Vizsla's passing, the Jedi Order kept the Darksaber in one of their temples for many generations. Eventually, descendants of Vizsla broke into the temple and reclaimed the Darksaber, subsequently using it to unite all of Mandalore. Through its use in this manner, the Darksaber became a symbol for the Mandalorian people. Seeing the Darksaber should, in theory, cause Mandalorians to swell with planetary pride.
But the Mandalorians weren't able to hold onto the Darksaber forever. Ultimately, the unorthodox blade made it into the hands of Darth Maul, who used it for a time in tandem with his red lightsaber. Interestingly enough, Maul didn't bleed the Darksaber to make it red like other Sith blades. Maybe he thought the black was pretty cool for a bad guy, too.
After Maul, the blade ended up with a Mandalorian weapons expert named Sabine Wren. And after she trained with the weapon for a while, she gifted it to fellow Mandalorian Bo-Katan Kryze, who used its powerful symbolism to unite Mandalore once again.
How many lightsaber colors are there?
Lightsabers come in a bunch of different colors, and these colors are usually created by the bond forged between the saber's owner and the weapon's kyber crystal. Some colors are common, while others are just as rare as the Darksaber. First, we'll go over the ones you know. We already mentioned red, which are wielded by the Sith who have bled their kyber crystals. Those are bad. Along with the red lightsabers, the other most common colors of lightsaber are blue and green. These are used by most Jedi, such as the blue lightsabers wielded by Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin (and later Luke) Skywalker, and the green ones used by Luke Skywalker and Yoda.
There's only one purple lightsaber known to have existed, making it just as rare as the black one. The Jedi Mace Windu swung the violet-colored saber, and while it may seem like it carries special significance (and kind of did in the now-defunct Expanded Universe), it really only exists because actor Samuel L. Jackson specifically asked George Lucas for it.
There are also a few yellow lightsabers, which are used only by the masked and largely anonymous Jedi Temple Guards, giving them a distinct look. The Jedi Ahsoka Tano uses white lightsabers, a color which she achieved by purifying the red crystals of Sith lightsabers.
Several other colors existed in the old Expanded Universe, and some of them — magenta, indigo, cyan, and orange — have been reintroduced to the canon with the new video game Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order... but black is still the coolest lightsaber color.