When people think of Death Star copycats from the “Star Wars” universe, Starkiller Base is likely the first and only one to spring to mind. The First Order transforms the plant Ilum into a gigantic weapon capable of wiping out entire planetary systems in a single blast, making it something of a super Death Star. Going to the non-canon “Star Wars” Legends continuity, though, we see one that, interestingly, resembles a lightsaber more so than its canon predecessor.
Introduced in Kevin J. Anderson’s 1995 novel “Darksaber,” the Darksaber (no, not the Mandalorian one) is a superweapon created by crime lord Durga the Hutt and designed by Bevel Lemelisk years after the Battle of Endor and the fall of the Empire. It’s based on the original Imperial plans for the Death Star, only without a whole bunch of elements. Basically, it’s just the firing chamber of the Death Star, which, in its cylindrical durasteel form, very much resembles a giant lightsaber hilt, hence the name. Still, it retains the Death Star’s firing ability instead of emitting a sustained blade like a lightsaber would.
Like the Death Stars and so many lightsabers throughout the “Star Wars” saga, the Darksaber is eventually destroyed. So ends the story of the closest thing fans have ever seen to a Death Star lightsaber and what deserves to be regarded among the dumbest things from the “Star Wars” Expanded Universe.
