Darth Sidious' Lightsaber: Palpatine's Sabers in Canon and Legends

The Darth Sidious lightsaber is really two of them. In canon he owns a pair of nearly identical red-bladed sabers with cylindrical hilts finished in electrum, built while he trained under Darth Plagueis [1]. He rarely uses them, since drawing one would give away that he is a Sith Lord [1]. The Palpatine lightsaber appears most clearly in Revenge of the Sith, where he loses one of the two in the window fight with Mace Windu [1]. For why the blade is red, see the red lightsaber page. A film by film list is on every lightsaber by film.

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Last checked: 2026-11-11.

Quick answers

• Number: a pair of nearly identical sabers in canon [1].
• Blade: red, with an adjustable length [1].
• Hilt: straight, cylindrical, about 19 cm, electrum finish [1].
• Materials: phrik body, aurodium emitter, kyber crystal [1].
• Best known use: the Coruscant office duel with Mace Windu and the Senate duel with Yoda [1].
• Fate: one fell out of the office window; the other has no stated fate in canon [1].
• Legends: a different crystal and a longer afterlife as a relic [2].

What the Darth Sidious lightsaber is

Wookieepedia describes the weapons as Sidious’s personal electrum-finish lightsabers, made before 19 BBY [1]. BBY means before the Battle of Yavin, the calendar Star Wars stories use. The official Databank gives the same materials, phrik, aurodium and electrum, and says he carried two as Supreme Chancellor [3]. Both agree that he used them seldom and preferred manipulation to open fighting [1][3].

The canon page says one saber normally sat inside a neuranium sculpture on his desk in the Senate Office Building [1].

The Palpatine lightsaber hilt

The canon page gives the hilt as straight and cylindrical, 19 centimeters long, with a flat aurodium blade emitter, a phrik body and an electrum finish [1]. The crystal is a kyber crystal, described as corrupted [1]. The blade color is red, and its length is adjustable [1]. The Databank lists the same three metals [3].

These are in-universe fan wiki details. The Databank does not state the length, shape or crystal, and I found no on-screen source for them [3]. If you want to see how real hilts are built, the lightsaber hilts guide names the parts, and the kyber crystals page explains the crystal.

Where Emperor Palpatine’s lightsaber appears

The table follows the canon article’s appearance list and covers the main screen and print sources. Wookieepedia’s full list also holds several comics and novels this page does not try to cover [1].

Return of the Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker are not in the appearance list for the sabers [1]. The article says Palpatine never went back for his saber when he returned to life on Exegol, and did not use it against Rey [1]. The Databank lists only Revenge of the Sith and The Clone Wars [3].

The Mandalore duel

In 19 BBY, Sidious travels to Mandalore to deal with his former apprentice Darth Maul and Maul’s brother Savage Opress [1]. He uses both sabers at once, separates the brothers, and kills Opress [1]. Maul, with his double-bladed saber and the Darksaber, lasts longer. Sidious disarms and subdues him with the Force [1]. The Darksaber has its own page: see the Darksaber. Maul’s own weapons are on the Darth Maul lightsaber page.

The duel in Palpatine’s office

Near the end of the Clone Wars, Mace Windu and three other Jedi come to arrest the Chancellor [1]. Palpatine ignites one saber and kills Agen Kolar and Saesee Tiin, then Kit Fisto [1]. He then fights Windu one on one. Windu steers the duel to the window and disarms him with a kick, and the saber drops out of the window into the streets of Coruscant [1].

Windu’s own saber is covered on the Mace Windu lightsaber page, and the Anakin Skywalker lightsaber page covers the apprentice who arrives mid-fight. The canon article notes a continuity blooper in the office duel, where Sidious’s saber is sometimes seen swapped with Skywalker’s [1].

The Senate duel with Yoda

Sidious uses his remaining saber against Yoda in the Senate Building [1]. He hurls Senate pods at Yoda and Force lightning follows. Yoda redirects it, which sends both men over the edge of a pod [1]. Sidious holds on, Yoda falls to the Senate floor and flees [1]. This is the last time the saber is used in the films.

What happened to Sidious’s lightsabers

In canon, one saber is lost from the office window [1]. The other is last seen in stories set after the film, where he spars with Vader and tells him that a Sith lightsaber is a symbol of the dark side’s power [1]. The Wookieepedia text states that the fate of that remaining saber is unknown [1]. That is a fan wiki statement from a page marked partly out of date, so a later story could change it.

Why Palpatine rarely used it

The Databank and the canon article agree on the reason. A Sith in hiding could not be seen with a lightsaber, and Palpatine preferred to act through servants [1][3]. The canon page gives Palpatine’s own view in a later story: the true weapon is the dark side, not the blade [1]. See the Darth Vader lightsaber page for the apprentice who, in canon, was taught that lesson with a sparring match.

Canon and Legends

Wookieepedia keeps two articles for the saber, one per continuity [1][2]. Legends is the older, non-canon universe.

In Legends, Sidious builds his first saber during his training, with a synthetic crystal, and hides it in a neuranium statue of Sistros [2]. He later makes a backup saber, which he uses against Yoda after the first falls from the window [2]. The Legends page says Palpatine gave Vader his saber as a model for Vader’s third-saber design, and that the weapon survived until the time of Darth Krayt’s One Sith, who treated it as a sacred relic [2]. It also says that in 2 BBY the Jedi Rahm Kota seizes it in a fight with Galen Marek [2].

A separate Legends article covers a blue-bladed saber that Palpatine used against Luke Skywalker when he was resurrected on Byss, and it is not his own weapon [2].

The film prop and replicas

Propstore sold a hero-style prop hilt for Sidious in 2022 from Revenge of the Sith. It was never built to hold a blade and finished in black and gold to resemble electrum [5]. The lot notes say it is darker than the final film version, probably an option that was not used, and comes with a design sheet dated 2003 [5]. That is one auction listing, not a full account of how the prop was made.

Retailers sell Sidious-inspired sabers. One store category page lists three models, with no specifications, and the page says the store is not associated with Disney or Lucasfilm [6]. If you are comparing replicas, the lightsaber replica guide covers licensed collectibles.

The handbook entry and what is unverified

The handbook card (handbook/sabers/darth-sidious-red.md) says red, single, canon, and first appearance Revenge of the Sith in 2005, and notes that no source was opened [4]. The wiki confirms the first appearance and the red color, but says the weapon is a pair, which the card does not say [1][4]. The card describes a plain hilt with two twisted grooves, which I could not confirm in any source I opened, so treat it as a placeholder [4]. Its note that the saber’s appearance in The Rise of Skywalker was not checked holds: the wiki lists no appearance there [1][4].

Sources

1. Wookieepedia, Darth Sidious’ lightsabers (canon), https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Darth_Sidious%27_lightsabers (read through the public API, accessed 2026-11-11)
2. Wookieepedia, Darth Sidious’ lightsabers (Legends), https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Darth_Sidious%27_lightsabers/Legends (accessed 2026-11-11)
3. Star Wars Databank, Palpatine’s lightsaber, https://www.starwars.com/databank/palpatines-lightsaber (accessed 2026-11-11)
4. Handbook card handbook/sabers/darth-sidious-red.md (marked not verified in its header)
5. Propstore, Lot 375 Darth Sidious hero-style lightsaber hilt, https://propstore.com/product/star-wars-revenge-of-the-sith-2005/lot-375-darth-sidious-ian-mcdiarmid-alternate-finish-hero-style-lightsaber-with-printed-concept-design (accessed 2026-11-11)
6. Ultrasabers, Darth Sidious lightsabers category page, https://ultrasabers.com/?p=2807156 (accessed 2026-11-11)