Why Palpatine Felt Lightsabers Were 'Beneath' The Sith

Most people immediately envisage the iconic red lightsaber when you think of the Sith. We have seen them from the start with Darth Vader in A New Hope, Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace, and Count Dooku in Attack of the Clones. There is even a glimpse of one in The Rise of Skywalker with Dark Side Rey. On the other hand, Palpatine is only seen using a lightsaber in combat once in the all the movies, in Revenge of the Sith.

In the movies, any other combat involving Palpatine has him using Force Lightning only (As seen in Return of the Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker). Similarly, Master Yoda is seldom seen wielding a lightsaber. So why do we see Palpatine use the lightsaber so little? Is there a fundamental reason for this? Considering the two most powerful Force-sensitives in Star Wars rarely use lightsabers indicates their strong ability to use the Force for defense or attack. Looking back at Yoda and Dooku's duel on Geonosis, their Force abilities were so evenly matched that they had no choice but to use their sabers to break the tie.

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Despite not often seeing Palpatine use a lightsaber, he was highly skilled in lightsaber combat and was considered one of the greatest duelists. He mastered all seven forms of lightsaber combat. Although we only see him wielding a single blade in the movies, he was adept at using two lightsabers simultaneously. Palpatine engaged in lightsaber combat in the canon novel Lords of the Sith, in The Clone Wars animated series, and in the comic Darth Maul - Son of Dathomir.

In the Legends novel Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader, Palpatine revealed his belief that the Sith had outgrown the need for lightsabers and that he only used them to humiliate the Jedi. The lightsaber was, of course, a concept created by the Jedi, which the Sith then took on and corrupted by using the dark side on the Kyber crystals in a process called “bleeding” to make them turn red.

Throughout the Skywalker Saga, canon, and Legends materials, Palpatine was a master manipulator of people. His ability to control and influence people as a pawn in his master plan was a far more valuable and powerful weapon than the ability to wild a lightsaber in melee combat. His manipulation of people and situations was far-reaching and had a massive impact on his ability to achieve his goals.

The final reason that I would consider the obvious one for Palpatine not seeing the need for lightsabers is tied to the dark side itself. Palpatine was not shy in bragging about the immense power of the dark side of the Force. It is clear that Palpatine is one of the most powerful Sith ever, and his study and manipulation of the dark side has been going on for years. So it is no surprise that he prefers to manifest Force Lightning through the dark side when in combat, giving him a weapon that has good range and causes excruciating pain on his foe to devastating effect.

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Written By KT Glitz

Source(s): Screen Rant, Wookiepedia

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