8 Star Wars Questions That Always Confused You

6. What Powered The Darksaber?

Star Wars Darksaber Bo-Katan
Lucasfilm

Since its canonical introduction in the 2008 Clone Wars series, fans have found themselves captivated by the Mandalorian Darksaber.

Created by the first ever Mandalorian Jedi, Tarre Vizsla, eons ago, the Darksaber came to be an object of power on Mandalore, where whoever wielded it could lay claim to being the planet's rightful ruler. The Darksaber differs in a great many ways to other lightsabers, boasting a black core and a distinct shimmering noise as opposed to the low drum of more traditional laser swords. It also has a unique hilt, more angular and less cylindrical than most other lightsabers.

Apart from the exposition provided in shows like The Clone Wars and The Mandalorian, not much is really known about the Darksaber's creation, or what makes it so different to those other lightsabers apart from the fact it's powered by a rare black kyber crystal. This is an interesting detail, given how kyber crystals are typically colourless until they make their connection to a given Jedi, which is when they take on their distinctive blue, green, or sometimes purple hue.

Yellow, orange and white lightsabers have also been recorded (the latter of which Ahsoka created by purifying the crystals in a pair of red sabers), but so far the exact origins of the Darksaber, and more specifically the reasons why it's so unique, remain elusive.

In this post: 
Star Wars
 
First Posted On: 
Content Producer/Presenter

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.