Red Lightsaber Meaning and Users

Those who used red lightsabers were mainly linked to the Sith and the evil side. Their fundamental concept differed from that of lightsabers used by other Force-sensitives despite their manufacture being comparable.

The Sith were unable to form a mutual relationship with Kyber crystals because the dark side of the Force was associated with hate, fear, and other destructive emotions that interfered with their ability to focus, unlike the Jedi, who followed the light side of the Force. Instead, the Sith carried out a procedure called bleeding, in which they poured their bad feelings—such as anger, hate, fear, and pain—into Kyber crystals via the Force.

As a result of this process, the crystals developed a characteristic red color. A Sith lightsaber could be made from any cyber crystal, though some Sith thought that stealing one from a Jedi lightsaber was the right way to get one.

What Does a Red Lightsaber Mean?

The crimson lightsaber is a symbol of strength and violence, rage, allegiance with the dark side, and disbelief in Jedi values.

Power and Aggression: The red lightsaber personifies the Sith's brutality and quest for supremacy. The Sith's unrelenting quest for dominance is reflected in the color red, which stands for danger and aggression.
Anger: Since the Sith's capacity to control their wrath is linked to the crimson lightsaber, it signifies anger. Through a process known as "bleeding," Sith contaminates their lightsaber crystals by introducing rage and hatred, which causes the crystals to turn red. The Sith's dependence on unbridled, violent emotions to bolster their power is symbolized by the red lightsaber.
Dark Side Alignment: A character's alignment with the Dark Side of the Force is indicated by their red lightsaber. In contrast to the Jedi's disciplined and moral application of the Force, it shows their readiness to employ violence and fear as means to their ends.
Jedi Principles Rejected: The red lightsaber represents disobedience to the Jedi Order and its doctrine. In contrast to the Jedi's ideals of self-control and humility, Sith wielders frequently exhibit characteristics like conceit, impatience, and an unrelenting quest for power.

See our post 17 Lightsaber Color Meanings Explained for additional information on the meanings of lightsaber hues.

Who Has a Red Lightsaber in Star Wars?

Red lightsabers are known to be used by Sith and Dark Side members. Some of the most well-known users are listed below:

Darth Vader (Anakin Skywalker)
Darth Sidious (Sheev Palpatine)
Darth Maul
Count Dooku (Darth Tyranus)
Kylo Ren (Ben Solo)
Asajj Ventress
Qimir (The Stranger)
Darth Plagueis
The Inquisitors

1. Darth Vader (Anakin Skywalker)

Who is Anakin Skywalker?

A Force-sensitive male human named Anakin Skywalker was chosen as the Chosen One to restore harmony to the Force.

Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn found him and taught him under Obi-Wan Kenobi. He was born on Tatooine in 41 BBY. Anakin, also referred to as the "Hero With No Fear," rose to prominence as a Jedi Knight and general during the Clone Wars.

Anakin, who secretly married Padmé Amidala, battled attachments despite his skills. Fearing Padmé's death and being duped by Palpatine, Anakin embraced evil and changed into Darth Vader. In addition to helping to create the Galactic Empire, he oversaw the devastation of the Jedi Order.

For years as Vader, he enforced the Emperor's will until learning of his son Luke's existence. His redemption finally came at the Battle of Endor, when he fulfilled the Chosen One's prophecy by giving his life to save Luke and overthrow the Emperor.

Throughout his existence, Anakin Skywalker wielded 4 lightsabers at the very least.

Anakin built and utilized his first blue lightsaber while still a Padawan student.
He utilized the green lightsaber of a fallen Jedi for a brief moment during the Battle of Geonosis.
All through the Clone Wars, he used his second lightsaber, which had blue blades.
He made a new lightsaber with a red blade out of black metal in the role of Darth Vader.

Darth Vader's Red Lightsaber

With the dual-phase function of this Red Lightsaber, the length of the blade could be manually changed while fighting. Two dual-phase focusing crystals, a black power cell chamber, a beveled emitter shroud, a high-output datum power cell, a black-ridged handgrip, and conventional power and length control knobs were all included.

To guarantee the highest blade power and stability, Darth Vader improved and adjusted his lightsaber on a regular basis. The lightsaber was the only item Vader appeared to care about or have any emotional attachment to, according to Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin.

Darth Vader's lightsaber's external appearance changed slightly due to the numerous adjustments he made over the years. However, its design remained heavily influenced by his original Jedi lightsaber. Vader tried a circular emitter shroud, which reminded him of his second weapon from the Jedi.

As a Dark Lord of the Sith, Vader regularly used his lightsaber in conflicts with Jedi and other powerful adversaries, but he also frequently chose to employ the Force against weaker opponents. Vader's lightsaber had the same underwater capabilities as his Jedi lightsaber.

2. Darth Sidious (Sheev Palpatine)

Who is Sheev Palpatine?

Sheev Palpatine, a masculine human who became the Dark Lord of the Sith and ruled the Galactic Empire from 19 BBY to 4 ABY, is also known as Darth Sidious or just the Emperor.

Initially a senator from Naboo, the reclusive Sith Lord kept two identities—Sidious and Palpatine—to further his political aspirations and use deceit to accomplish his objectives.

Up to his death at the Battle of Endor, he established his reign over the galaxy by orchestrating the fall of the Jedi Order and the Galactic Republic during the Clone Wars.

However, thanks to the evil side of the Force, he was able to avoid death and pursue immortality until the Battle of Exegol, when his granddaughter Rey defeated him for good.

Darth Sidious' Red Lightsabers

While Darth Plagueis was his apprentice, Darth Sidious had two red lightsabers made for him. In order to avoid being recognized as a Sith Lord, Sidious, who was a very proficient and deadly fighter, hardly ever utilized his lightsabers. Instead, he trusted his staff to carry out his covert schemes and chose to use his manipulative abilities.

With flat aurodium blade emitters and an electrum finish, Sidious' lightsabers were crafted from practically unbreakable phrik, reflecting his refined taste for the finest things in life. Corrupted kyber crystals were kept in the cores of both lightsabers.

After initially being similar, one of the lightsabers was altered by adding an unidentified black substance. Typically, one of these weapons was hidden inside a uranium sculpture on display on his desk in his Coruscant office at the Senate Office Building.

3. Darth Maul

Who is Darth Maul?

During the Galactic Empire's reign, Maul, a Dathomirian Zabrak male Force user, rose to prominence as a crime lord. As Darth Sidious' apprentice, he was referred to as Darth Maul.

Maul was a formidable fighter who had received Force training and was proficient in lightsaber combat. Despite losing his position as Sidious' apprentice, he continued to be a crafty intellect who constantly planned methods to increase his authority.

Prior to the Invasion of Naboo, when he battled and killed Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, Maul was first made known to the Jedi. However, Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi overcame him and seriously wounded him.

Maul was thought to be dead, yet he lived and came back during the Clone Wars to pursue power and retribution throughout the galaxy.

Darth Maul brandished a double-bladed lightsaber in red. In 32 BBY, it was sliced in half, becoming a weapon with only one blade.

Darth Maul's Red Lightsaber

When Maul was dispatched to the Jentares system to kill the recluse Jedi Master Siolo Ur Manka, he developed his double-bladed lightsaber out of need. After being disarmed and unable to compete with the Jedi physically, Manka's Force-infused staff smacked Maul across the face. Seeing that his skill as a fighter was insufficient to succeed, Maul turned to his strategic abilities and came up with a scheme to surprise his opponent.

Maul went back to his ship and fabricated two lightsabers using Sith schematics, which he then fused to form his new bladed weapon. Each side of Maul's lightsaber had the same construction, with an activator beneath the projection plate and beam emitter and modulator circuits. Next to the activator were a control lock and a small ridged handgrip, then another set of control locks and controls for modulating the blade. They linked the two lightsabers in the middle.

The development of the crystals for his weapon was something Maul was rather proud of. He spent four days in profound concentration using the Force to monitor and control the production of four synthetic lightsaber crystals that he created in a compression furnace.

4. Count Dooku (Darth Tyranus)

Who is Count Dooku?

In the latter years of the Galactic Republic, Count Dooku was a male Serennian human who was Force-sensitive and a Jedi Master.

Shortly after the Battle of Naboo, he lost faith in the Jedi Order and turned to the dark side of the Force, adopting the Dark Lord of the Sith's moniker, Darth Tyranus.

Following his departure from the Jedi Order, he was appointed Head of State of the Confederacy of Independent Systems and Count of Serenno.

As Darth Sidious' second pupil, Dooku was instrumental in his Master's scheme to take over the galaxy by spearheading a pan-galactic secessionist campaign against the Republic and the Jedi Order, both of which he believed to be corrupt.

Dooku immersed himself in the dark side and relentlessly pursued his Master's and his ambitions, not realizing that he was only a piece in Sidious' Grand Plan. His lord ultimately betrayed Dooku by setting him up to be killed by Anakin Skywalker.

Count Dooku's Red Lightsaber

Dooku carried a lightsaber with a curved handle that yielded a red blade when activated by a kyber crystal. As a trainee of the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Sidious, he used this Sith weapon against his adversaries.

During the Clone Wars, which he and his Master planned from both sides, the Sith Lord often used the weapon, which was made especially for lightsaber fighting. Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker defeated Dooku in their final combat on board the spaceship Invisible Hand, taking his lightsaber and using it to kill the Sith Lord by beheading him.

5. Kylo Ren (Ben Solo)

Who is Ben Solo?

The son of Han Solo and Leia Organa, Ben Solo was a sensitive male human who received Jedi training from his uncle, Luke Skywalker, but Snoke, the Supreme Leader of the First Order, enticed him to turn to the evil side of the Force. He adopted the alias Kylo Ren to aim to be as strong as his grandpa, Darth Vader.

Kylo Ren was the head of the Knights of Ren, a First Order warlord, and Rey's adversary during the sequel trilogy. After murdering his father and Snoke, he assumed the position of Supreme Leader.

Ren eventually found what is described as a "Force dyad"—a relationship with Rey. When Rey fainted, he devoted his every remaining life energy to bringing her back to life, helping her defeat the revived Emperor Palpatine, and eventually rejecting the dark side.

Kylo Ren's Red Lightsaber

Ben Solo made his lightsaber in accordance with the Jedi Order's customs while he was a Jedi Padawan training under his uncle, Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, somewhere between 15 and 25 ABY. He was more skilled with a lightsaber than his contemporaries because of his extraordinary talent and innate Force strength.

To build his new Sith lightsaber, Kylo Ren used the lightsaber hilt and kyber crystal he had previously used as Ben Solo. He started by bleeding the crystal with the dark side, giving it a reddish-yellow tinge as it cracked and released a burst of hot energy. Quillon blades were created by adding vents on either side to expel excess heat to manage the hazardous power channeled through the shattered crystal.

The rough design was based on a significant Jedi-Sith battle on Malachor that took place thousands of years ago. Even with these changes, the weapon's strength was hardly contained by the kyber crystal, which made the red blade appear unsteady and flickering. Ren preferred his lightsaber's volatile nature over its amateurish appearance, so he decided not to fix it. The internal workings were partially exposed, making maintenance and adjustments simple.

6. Asajj Ventress

Who is Asajj Ventress?

From Dathomir, Asajj Ventress was a Force-sensitive woman. Throughout her existence, she played various roles, including bounty hunter, Dark Jedi, Jedi Padawan, Night sister, and Confederacy of Independent Systems military leader.

A clan of Night sister witches under Mother Talzin's leadership on Dathomir gave birth to her during the latter years of the Galactic Republic.

She had to be given by her clan to the criminal Hal'Sted when she was a newborn, and he brought her to the war-torn planet Rattatak, where she became his slave.

When the Weequay pirates killed Hal'Sted, Jedi Knight Ky Narec, who was stranded on Rattatak and battling the pirates, discovered her and took her in.

She learned about the evil side of the Force from Count Dooku as she matured. In secret, Ventress served as Dooku's pupil, longing to be regarded as a true Sith. She defended the Separatists during the Clone Wars and engaged in combat with Jedi such as Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. To exact revenge, Ventress went back to her Night sister clan after Dooku was told to get rid of her and abandoned her for dead. Finally, she reclaimed her identity as neither a Jedi nor a Sith and rebranded herself as a bounty hunter.

In her lifetime, Asajj Ventress used multiple lightsabers. She utilized the green lightsaber of a Padawan. Her latter service to the Sith Lord Count Dooku involved the employment of two red lightsabers with curved handles, which resembled Dooku's weapon. Following Count Dooku's betrayal, Ventress felt lost and started looking for a new identity and purpose. She acquired a yellow lightsaber from the illegal market during this time.

Asajj Ventress's Red Lightsabers

The red lightsabers that Asajj Ventress was brandishing had curved hilts. You may use these lightsabers separately or combine them to create a unique double-bladed S-shaped saber. A former Dooku Jedi Padawan once owned them. As Dooku's assassin and covert Sith pupil, Ventress allied herself with him and became the Count of Serenno and Head of State of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, whereupon she was given the lightsabers.

Throughout the Clone Wars, Asajj Ventress's lightsabers let her overcome numerous opponents while serving Dooku. She engaged Jedi Master Luminara Unduli in a historic battle that ended in her defeat.

Darth Sidious gave Dooku the command to destroy Ventress during the Battle of Sullust because of her growing strength and skill with her lightsabers. After this betrayal, Ventress kept utilizing the lightsabers, even lending one to Obi-Wan Kenobi in combat with the renegade Sith Lord Maul and Savage Opress.

Barriss Offee later used the lightsabers that she had stolen to accuse her friend Ahsoka Tano of carrying out the Jedi Temple hangar attack. After telling Anakin Skywalker, Ventress made Barriss confess after he attacked her with a lightsaber and coerced her into telling the truth.

After a while, Ventress swapped out her stolen lightsabers for a yellow one she had bought illegally. She was on a mission to kill Count Dooku with Jedi Master Quinlan Vos, and she held this new lightsaber.

7. Qimir (The Stranger)

Who is Qimir?

During the High Republic Era, Qimir was a male Sith who was Force-sensitive and known as "the Stranger" since he claimed to be nameless. After being banished from the Jedi Order, he started as a Padawan under Jedi Master Vernestra Rwoh.

Darth Plagueis taught him as a Sith after he was expelled, and he then began looking for his acolyte. On Brendok, he slew a group of witches before meeting Mae-ho "Mae" Aniseya, whom he trained as an apprentice. He never gave her his name or face during her training, and she only knew him as "the Master."

Mae was given the mission by the Master, who was posing as "Qimir," a former Hutt Clan arms smuggler, to kill a Jedi without a weapon. While surreptitiously keeping tabs on her development, he gave her the insight and tools she needed to vanquish her adversaries.

In order to reconcile with her twin sister, Verosha "Osha" Aniseya, Mae chose to betray the Master and turn herself into the Jedi in 132 BBY after learning that she was still alive. This made the Master come out, and when he went after Mae, the majority of the Jedi investigation team dispatched to Khofar—including the self-exiled Jedi Master Kelnacca—were killed.

Notwithstanding his inability to murder Mae, the Stranger took Osha prisoner and resolved to train her instead. Osha killed Master Sol, her former Jedi teacher, and adopted the dark side of the Force after learning that Sol killed her mother and coven. The Sith offered her training in return for wiping off Mae's memories and letting her live, and she accepted.

One of Qimir's weapons was a red lightsaber that could be split into two distinct lightsabers, one of which was a shot.

Qimir's Red Lightsaber

Details regarding the Sith Master's lightsaber are still lacking in the Star Wars canon. The only source of knowledge regarding Qimir's lightsaber is The Acolyte television series. However, we are aware of the fundamentals. The lightsaber hilt of the Sith Master, also called Qimir or The Stranger, was made with a detachable handgrip. This piece can be split to create a lightsaber the size of a dagger. This characteristic enables the Sith Master to change his fighting strategy, surprising his adversaries unexpectedly.

How does that operate, then? We can make educated guesses about how the Sith Master's weapon functions even in the absence of blueprints because of basic lightsaber lore. A cyber crystal, a focusing lens, an emitter, and a power cell are necessary for all lightsabers. Thus, there are two complete sets of these parts in the Sith Master's saber: one for the main hilt and one for the mini-hilt. This explains why the second saber is more miniature because its modest power cell might not be enough to produce a full-sized blade.

8. Darth Plagueis

Who is Darth Plague?

"The Stranger" and Darth Sidious were both trained by Darth Plagueis, a male Dark Lord of the Sith who used Force and was a Muun. Plagueis was well-known for his unquenchable desire for immortality and his conviction that scientific research held the key to eternal life. He spent his entire life studying bioengineering with his trainee, Darth Sidious and carried out ground-breaking experiments to create life itself by modifying midi-chlorines.

Plagueis continuously studied the Force and accumulated a remarkable amount of knowledge. But his quest for dominance finally brought him to ruin. In a cruel turn of events that followed the Sith's Rule of Two, Plagueis was betrayed and killed before he knew it by his pupil.

Anakin Skywalker, a Jedi Knight, would eventually be seduced to the evil side of the Force by Sidious, who used the story of Plagueis' death to describe his fallen Master. In the novel, Sidious used the term "Darth Plagueis the Wise," which alluded to the Sith Lord's extensive knowledge and skills.

Sidious continued to cheat death itself by applying his Master's instructions even after he had passed away. But the apprentice-master cycle would go on, as Sidious was ultimately and irrevocably defeated by his granddaughter, Rey.

Darth plagueis's Red Lightsaber

During his apprenticeship with Darth Tenebrous, Darth Plagueis crafted the red lightsaber that he used in combat.

Plagueis kept the lightsaber after killing his Master on Bal'demnic in 67 BBY, even while he prepared Palpatine to be his apprentice.

In response to being outwitted by Teem and his Master, Palpatine used Plagueis' lightsaber to murder Pax Teem. He noticed that the weapon was made for a wider grip; thus, he had to use both hands to utilize it properly.

9. The Inquisitors

Who are the Inquisitors?

Dark side experts known as inquisitors work for the Galactic Empire and are specially trained to find and kill Jedi survivors once Order 66 is carried out.

These people, who Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader lead, are highly skilled in battle and have a strong command of the Force.

As a reflection of their position and function within the Inquisitorius, the group to which they belong, each Inquisitor usually has a unique title, such as the Fifth Brother or the Second Sister. Eliminating any surviving Jedi and squelching any challenges to the Empire's hegemony are their principal goals.

The Inquisitor lightsaber

This particular type of lightsaber was called the Inquisitor. It could be used with one or two blades, and when both blades were engaged, it could spin in a circle.

The Grand Inquisitor, Barriss Offee, the Second Sister, the Third Sister, the Fourth Sister, the Fifth Brother, the Sixth Brother, the Seventh Sister, the Eighth Brother, the Ninth Sister, the Thirteenth Sister, Tualon Yaluna, Marrok, a masked Inquisitor, Jerserra, and her Imperial Master were among the notable operators of this model.