WhenStar Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sithcame out, finally seeing Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) in a lightsaber duel was one of themost exciting thingsabout it. He had never been shown fighting onscreen before, and some people (like yours truly) were beginning to think he justwasn’t the dueling type; it’s okay, not everyone has to be. But not only did he fight, but he defeated four Jedi Masters, includingMace Windu(Samuel L. Jackson), and later held his own against Yoda (Frank Oz) himself, all wielding his twin red-bladed lightsabers. As it turns out, however,red wasn’t initially Palpatine’s lightsaber color — it was blue. And not just any blue-bladed lightsaber, either.
Palpatine Was Initially Supposed To Wield Anakin’s Lightsaber Against Mace Windu
Palpatine’s duel against Mace Windu is one of the best moments inRevenge of the Sith, revealing a lot about a character who has always managed to hide his evil facade of Darth Sidious. His gold-adorned lightsaber hilt, for example, is extremely fitting for Sidious, as is the fact that he has another one just like it, whichhe uses to fight Yodaafter losing the first hilt against Windu. Originally, though,he was supposed to wield Anakin Skywalker’s(Hayden Christensen)blue-bladed lightsaber against Windu.
Although the specifics of how that would happen were never clarified,behind-the-scenes footageshows thatAnakin was supposed to witness the whole duel, with Palpatine wielding the Chosen One’s lightsaber against Windu. Whether Anakin lends Palpatine his saber or Palpatine simply takes it is not clear, but this version of the fight was considered byGeorge Lucasfor the final cut of the film. So much so, back in 2005, there were evenPalpatine action figuresthat came with Anakin’s blue-bladed lightsaber instead of his own red-bladed one, and some of themcan still be foundfloating around the internet.
The big issue with this version of the duel, however, is that Anakin being present would ultimately betray his own character arc inRevenge of the Sith, so it’s probably for the best that it was the red-bladed saber that made it to the final cut. Witnessing Palpatine violently cut downmultiple Jedi Masterswould surely have impacted his fall to the Dark Side, whereas,in the final version, he doesn’t even see Palpatine wielding a lightsaber at all, giving the impression that the Chancellor really was the Jedi’s victim.
Palpatine’s Red-Bladed Lightsaber Gave Us Some of the Best Moments in Canon
While Anakin’s lightsaber is the ultimateStar Warslightsaber, Palpatine’s twin sabers have become iconic in their own right since their debut inRevenge of the Sith.The sophistication of the hilts' design is a great counterpoint to Sidious' aggressiveness and violence when fighting, and the fact that he hastwo identical sabershas even been incorporated into canon in insightful ways, explaining, for example, that Sidious has always had those two twin sabers, and that he did not, in fact, recover the one he lost in his duel against Mace Windu.
InStar Wars: The Clone Wars, the Season 5 episode “The Lawless” features anepic lightsaber fightbetween Darth Sidious (Tim Curry) and his former apprentice, Maul (Sam Witwer), who fights beside his younger brother,Savage Opress(Clancy Brown).Sidious wields both of his lightsabers in this fight, making for one of the best action sequences in all ofStar Wars. Having a numerical advantage against Sidious doesn’t benefit Maul and Opress at all, as the Sith Master makes quick work of the two Dathomiri brothers, ultimately forcing Maul to confront the reality that he has been left for dead by his old master.
InRevenge of the Sith, Palpatine wielding Anakin’s blue lightsaber could have prevented some of the initial confusion regarding how many lightsabers the Sith Lord has, but,on the other hand, we wouldn’t have such an incredible fighting scene as the one inThe Clone Warsto explain it. Once again, it was probably for the best that Lucas had Palpatine wield the red-bladed lightsaber against Mace Windu.
Palpatine Fights Luke With a Blue-Bladed Lightsaber in Legends
Curiously,Revenge of the Sithisn’t the first time in Star Wars lore that Palpatine fights using a blue lightsaber. In the greatDark Empirecomics, published in the early 1990s, Palpatine is resurrected on the planet Byss and immediatelybegins his planto retake the galaxy. He even manages to lure Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) to the Dark Side, although that’s later revealed as being Luke’s plan all along to destroy Palpatine and the Empire from within.The two of them do get to duke it out, and Palpatine uses a blue-bladed lightsaber, which looks particularly cool in those comics.
In other Legends works, like the novelDark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader, it’s explained that Palpatine doesn’t often fight using lightsabers becausehe believes that the Sith have outgrown the use of such weapons entirely, but use them to humiliate the Jedi anyway. This event tracks withwhat he believesregarding the Sith Order as a whole, including that secular guidelines like theRule of Twohave become obsolete. But that’s in Legends; in the new canon, he never had any other weapon besides his twin red-bladed lightsabers.
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
