Why Do the Empire’s Inquisitors Have Spinning Lightsabers?

Darth Vader’s Imperial Inquisitors are some truly terrifying villains in Star Wars, and Star Wars movies and TV shows (and some canon video games) have only increasingly proven that. Shows set during the Dark Times, from Obi-Wan Kenobi to Star Wars Rebels and Star Wars: The Bad Batch, among others, have depicted in great detail just how ruthless these Force-sensitive Jedi killers were. After all, Reva Sevander in Obi-Wan Kenobi was willing to torture little Leia for information and kill little Luke (although she also had a personal vendetta).

In addition to their bloodthirsty natures, Inquisitors have a few key features. In particular, Inquisitors are equipped with double-bladed red lightsabers, which are particularly useful when they face off against a Jedi master and apprentice together, such as in Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord. This makes sense, given that their primary task was eradicating any and all Jedi survivors of Order 66. In addition to the double-bladed design, though, these lightsabers also have a spinning feature—and that, too, has a very specific purpose.

The Imperial Inquisitors’ Lightsabers Spun For A Reason

In addition to just looking cool for Star Wars audiences—although that is also the case—the Inquisitor lightsabers’ spinning function served a very specific purpose. To put it broadly, this feature made Inquisitors much more intimidating and dangerous to their opponents. With the spinning function, the Inquisitors’ weapons were significantly harder to block than the standard lightsaber would be, even for a trained Jedi or Padawan, which is something that was also seen with General Grievous’ multi-lightsaber spinning technique.

Granted, powerful Jedi like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka Tano might not struggle even with a spinning double-bladed lightsaber. However, they are certainly anomalies, particularly given that they each sparred with Darth Maul, an actual Sith when Obi-Wan fought him and a former Sith when Ahsoka took him on (at which point she wasn’t even truly a Jedi). For the average Jedi, though, this type of weapon wasn’t exactly something that they were trained to fight against, making the spinning function more dangerous and the onslaught with such a weapon much more intimidating.

Read Next

Star Wars Is Finally Making Darth Vader’s Inquisitors As Terrifying As They Always Should’ve Been

Inquisitors Needed These Enhancements

In truth, the Inquisitors needed a lightsaber with these enhancements. Many Inquisitors were fierce fighters, and their Force sensitivity obviously added to their threat level. Yet, they were tasked with something quite difficult. Inquisitors weren’t just tracking down and killing any old Jedi; they were specifically taking down Jedi who had survived Order 66. Sure, some Jedi, like Grogu, survived because someone else rescued them, but for the most part, it was no easy feat to survive this massacre, meaning that the Inquisitors had to be prepared to go up against some of the best.

By contrast, the Inquisitors were trained assassins, but they weren’t Sith. Arguably, they weren’t even as skilled as a character like Asajj Ventress, who also wasn’t a true Sith but had been meticulously trained by Count Dooku. They therefore needed an advanced weapon that gave them some sort of leg up on the Jedi, and these spinning double-bladed lightsabers were the answer.

In The End, These Designs Still Weren’t Enough

Ultimately, despite the enhancements of their lightsabers, the Inquisitors still weren’t really a success story of the Empire. They managed to kill some remaining Jedi survivors and other Force sensitive beings, it’s true, but they ended up being very far from completing their mission. Obviously, as some of Star Wars’ biggest stories, including the original trilogy, made clear, the Empire was not successful in eradicating the Jedi and other Force sensitive beings from the galaxy. In fact, that is in large part what ultimately took down the Empire, just as Palpatine had always feared.

Really, this comes down to skill. Putting a spinning double-bladed lightsaber in the hands of Darth Vader would have been a different matter entirely, but the truth is, the Inquisitors just weren’t skilled enough to wield this weapon in a way that made it as deadly as it could have been. Moreover, even Maul – Shadow Lord just showed the weaknesses of the Inquisitors, as Marrok and the Eleventh Brother should have had no issue taking down an injured Maul and had him cornered, yet he pulled rocks down on top of them to get away.

In theory, tasking Force sensitive dark siders who are wielding spinning double-bladed lightsabers with taking down the remaining Jedi sounds like the perfect plan, but in the end, they were consistently no match for fully-trained Jedi (or, apparently, Maul).

What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!