The lightsaber is a weapon synonimous with both the Jedi, and the Sith. But the original Sith, hailing from the days of Naga Sadow, Marko Ragnos and Ludo Kresh would have been appalled by such an association. For these ancient Sith, the lightsaber was a trinket, an inferior weapon that did not come close to the various kinds of formidable Sith War Blade. Sith warriors, such as Naga Sadow, boldly led charges into the fray of intense battles, their trusted metal swords by their sides, even in an era dominated by lightsabers, blasters and starships. In this holocron, we detail why these ancient Sith hated the lightsaber, why these sith weapons were suprior to the lightsaber, and delve into some of the unique and bloody weapons the Sith of ancient times employed.
But before we begin, we send our regards to our subscriber Big Motch for suggesting this intriguing topic. Those of you who have their topic chosen for a video will be entered into our VF Saber Dooku saber giveaway. So be sure to comment any lore questions you may have down below. Now let us begin.
By the time of Darth Baane’s Rule of Two, most Sith embraced the lightsaber, though an undercurrent of disdain for the Jedi’s revered weapon never truely disappeared. Indeed, a Millennia later, Darth Sidious would boldly claim that the Sith had evolved beyond the need for lightsabers, asserting that his use of one was merely to deride the Jedi, for he had ascended to a level of power where such a weapon was superfluous.
A similar view was held by many ancient Sith. Through the use of Sith magic long forgotten, many of the ancients reached levels of power beyond the comprehension of even Palpatine. As we recently detailed in the complete star wars legends series, Naga Sadow and Exar Kun used dark magic to rip the core out of Stars, reaching a level of power that could obliterate many Star Systems. However, despite their great power, the Sith still revered melee weapons, just not lightsabers.
Indeed, as opined by Kreia in Knights of the Old Republic, she believed that if a Sith or Jedi of the Old Republic Era were to face a truly ancient Sith Lord in combat, they would learn that they are as children playing with toys compared to the prowess of the old masters.
This speaks volumes about how talented these ancient sith reallywere with a blade. Kreia was no idiot, and was well versed in both Sith and Jedi history. Furthermore, she was at various points in time the master of some of the most infamous force weilder in all of galactic history, including Revan, Darth Sion, and Darth Nihilus. Furthermore, Kreia was alive at the time of Exar Kun, a sith who was never beaten in lightsaber combat. Thus, for Kreia to describe these famous lightsaber weilders as children compared to the anciets highlights just how skilled they really were.
So if these Sith were true masters of the blade, why wield eeminlgy primitive swords over a lightsaber, a weapon of intense plasma. Well as we shall discuss, it is a little more complicated.
When the dark Jedi led by Adjunta Pall first stepped foot on Korriban and subdud the dark side inclined Sith species to their will, the lightsaber was rather primitive. Known as a proto-saber, these weapons recquired a large battery pack and a cable. The Sith scorned this weapon, rightly believing its inflexibility led to weakness.
The other issue sith had was that most lightsaber crystals were inclined towards the light. Before the discovery of how to mass produce synthetic crystals, Sith would have had a lot of trouble creating a lot of proro-sabers that connected them to the dark side.
However, over the centuries both the Jedi and Sith independently refined the proto-saber, creating the modern lightsaber we are familiar with. The sith also developed great forges of dark side power, allowing them to create many thousands of lightsaber crystals for their armies if they so desired. Some Sith such as the infamous Tulak Horde embraced the lightsaber, using it to become one of the most famed lightsaber duellists of all time. Be sure to subscribe with the notifications on for a future video about him. But although Tulak Horde and others embraced this new lightsaber, others saw it as a downgrade to a tradtuional sword.
At first this seems non-sensical. Afterall, how could a metal blade withstand the heat of a plasma beam nearing the temperature of a Star? Like many things in Sith lore, the answer was the dark side.
For tens of thousands of years, Metal swords had been a staple since the pre-hyperspace era, enduring through the ages. The ancient Jedi were pioneers in the creation of metal blades, which they infused with the Force through alchemical processes. However, they were not alone in this craft. Across the galaxy, the Sith Purebloods were mastering the art of imbuing swords with the dark essence of the Force itself.
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