Star Wars: What is the Mandalorian Darksaber?

The Star Wars canon is getting bigger and bigger, thanks to the novels, comic books, animated […]

September 5, 2017, 3:57pm

The Star Wars canon is getting bigger and bigger, thanks to the novels, comic books, animated spinoffs and now standalone movies like Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. One of the most eye-catching and iconic elements that has come out of the expanded canon is definitely the Mandalorian Darksaber – which is to be featured on upcoming episodes of Star Wars Rebels season 3.

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To casual fans, the sudden appearance a fiersome blade that is not quite a lightsaber may inspire any number of questions. To help answer them, here is The Mandalorian Darksaber Explained.

It’s From Jango Fett’s Homeworld

If you’re a Star Wars fan who doesn’t know their bactas from their banthas, then this is the most basic explination we can give.

The Mandalorian Darksaber is from Mandalore, home of Star Wars prequels character Jango Fett – aka the prototype for The Republic’s clone army, and the man Boba Fett was cloned from.

Mandalore is a world of fierce warriors who often serve as galactic bounty hunters and mercenaries. They have historically been foes of the Jedi, and used to even defeat them in battle during days of the Old Republic.

It Was Once a Jedi Weapon

The Darksaber wasn’t an invention of Mandalorian culture – but rather a black-bladed lighsaber, taken from the ancient Jedi during the days of the Old Republic.

The blade was taken from the Jedi temple by Mandalorian warriors of Clan Vizsla, who passed it down their family line as a totem of battle, used to slay Jedi. The exact timing is unrevealed, but we know it’s been in the Vizsla family for generations.

Darth Maul Once Wielded it

The last known Darksaber belonged to Pre Vizsla, head of Mandalore’s Death Watch separatist group during The Clone Wars. When Darth Maul defeated Vizsla in a duel, he kept the Darksaber as a prize, and carried it in battle throughout The Clone Wars. He even took over Mandalore itself for a time, until his own Master – Darth Sidious – came calling and handily defeated him. In a recent episode of Rebels, Sabine took the Darksaber from Maul’s secret home on Dathomir – perhaps unwittingly putting it back in her family’s hands.

The upcoming episode of Star Wars Rebels, “Trials of the Darksaber”, will bring the famed sword back into the spolight, as Sabine Wren’s family history (House Vizsla) is directily tied to the blade.