10 Best Lightsabers In Star Wars History

3. Darth Maul's Double-Bladed Lightsaber

Star Wars Darth Maul
Lucasfilm

Say what you will about The Phantom Menace, but it did have its good moments. It introduced us all to Ewan McGregor's version of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Liam Neeson's stoic Qui-Gon and of course, the Sith Apprentice known as Darth Maul.

Maul, voiced by Peter Serafinowicz in Episode I and brought to life by Ray Park visually, was an instant hit when he burst onto the scene in 1999. What might seem like a novelty now certainly wasn't at the time of the film's release, so when his staff popped into two in that final confrontation fans all went ballistic. The reaction was all positive though, and the double-bladed hilt has gone on to be brandished by a number of Jedi and Sith in the wake of Episode I's release, to varying degrees of success.

Of all the double-pronged lightsabers to have featured in the canon however, Maul's is still undoubtedly the best. The apprentice broke hearts everywhere when he killed Qui-Gon with it in the duel on Theed, and while it would be lost forever on account of Obi-Wan's frenetic duelling skills during that same battle, Maul's weapon still managed to retain a sense of notoriety, double-bladed or not.

To create one of the most iconic moments in the saga in a film that most people hold with the highest contempt is no small feat, but - then again - neither is killing a Jedi.

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WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.