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Two lightsabers were created to serve as the weapons of Starkiller, a clone of the Sith Lord Darth Vader's secret apprentice. The lightsabers were given to the clone by the Dark Lord during his training on the planet Kamino, and were used during his escape attempt immediately after Vader deemed Starkiller to be another failure in a long line of imperfect clones.
Specifications
Starkiller's dual weapons were constructed for the purpose of training Galen Marek's clone in lightsaber combat.[1] They were part of a second series of lightsabers that Darth Vader bestowed to the clones who progressed far through their trials.[4] As such, these lightsabers each contained a synthetic crystal which enabled them to produce a red blade.[1] Their design was a modified version of the first set of lightsabers,[2] much of which were used by the clones who were deemed as failures early in their training.[5] Like their counterpart weapons, Starkiller's lightsabers were both based on a transparent hilt which displayed the blade's energy fluctuating within. The hilts featured a set of black plates; the activator a simple red button located on a silver ring around the hilt, approximately halfway along its length. The emitters featured a slanted, wrap-around guard that was aesthetically similar to emitter shrouds, rather than the standard emitters on the first stock design.[2]
As with his clone precursors, Starkiller was programmed with the knowledge and skills of his genetic template via memory flashes. As such, he inherited the original Starkiller's preference for the Shien-style reversed grip, as well as the Ataru and Niman fighting styles. These combat forms ultimately enabled the clone to master the Jar'Kai technique, of which Starkiller found both strengths and weaknesses in. On the one hand, he acknowledged that the use of dual-lightsabers increased his overall abilities as a combatant, and on the other, Jar'Kai diminished the strength of his attacks since it prevented him from wielding a lightsaber with both hands.[1]
History
The dual-lightsabers of the renegade Starkiller clone.
After progressing far through a series of trials, Starkiller received his red-bladed lightsabers from his Master and creator, the Sith Lord Darth Vader,[1] in 1 BBY.[3] One of many clones created and tested to replace the Dark Lord's original apprentice, Galen Marek, Starkiller's first task with his new weapons was to destroy a group of training droids disguised as Rebel troopers. Sparing no feelings for the Rebel Alliance that Starkiller's progenitor helped to forge, the clone destroyed the faux-troopers with practiced ease, only to find himself incapable of bringing his lightsabers down on a holodroid that took on the form of Captain Juno Eclipse. The failed training session, combined with the resurfaced memories of the Human woman whom Marek fell in love with, caused Starkiller to turn against his creator by escaping from Kamino, taking his lightsabers with him in the process.[1]
While traveling throughout the galaxy in an attempt to locate Eclipse, Starkiller had numerous occasions to use his dual-lightsabers in combat. On Cato Neimoidia, the clone killed scores of stormtroopers and various other types of Imperial soldiers in Tarko-se, shortly before using his lightsabers against Baron Merillion Tarko's gorog creature.[2] Afterward, he altered the color of the blades to blue when the Jedi General Rahm Kota presented him with two crystals—relics of the Clone Wars—to replace Starkiller's synthetic ones.[1]
Shortly after their alteration, Starkiller used the lightsabers against a squadron of Terror Troopers and Terror Droids that had infiltrated the Salvation, the Rebel flagship of the Alliance Fleet and commanded by Captain Eclipse. Upon clearing the starship of the Terror units, the clone utilized his lightsabers against various Imperial soldiers, including Saber Guardsmen and Sith Acolytes, during the Assault on Kamino. In Timira City, the cloning facility where Starkiller was created, his lightsabers left a massacre in their wake; much of the Imperial garrison was destroyed by the clone as he infiltrated the inner workings of Timira City.[2]
Starkiller wielding his modified lightsabers against Darth Vader on Kamino.
Before engaging Darth Vader in a lightsaber duel, Starkiller was forced to use his lightsabers against a group of aberrant clones, all of whom originated from Galen Marek's genetic material as well. When Vader threatened to strangle Juno Eclipse to death via the Force, Starkiller discarded his weapons as a gesture of submission. Eclipse discreetly retrieved one of the lightsabers and attempted to assassinate the Sith Lord, damaging the control panel on Vader's armor in the process. Vader separated the lightsaber from Eclipse with a powerful Force Push in retaliation.[1] Reclaiming both lightsabers through telekinesis, Starkiller was driven into a state of rage by Vader's attack on Eclipse. In the final portion of their duel, Vader utilized a Force blast to disarm Starkiller, which completely destroyed both lightsabers.[1]
Behind the scenes
In the novelization, which is the most canonically relevant source involving the weapons, both lightsabers are destroyed in the Assault on Kamino after Vader Force blasts them from Starkiller's hands and they shatter.[1] In the video game and graphic novelization, however, Starkiller's lightsabers are still intact at the end of the battle.[2][3]
Appearances
- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II comic (First appearance)
- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II novel
- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II
Sources
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II official game website on LucasArts.com (content now obsolete; backup link (games/theforceunleashed2/) not verified!)- "The Good, the Bad, and the Gorog" — Star Wars Insider 121
- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II: Prima Official Game Guide
- Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide: Updated and Expanded (Picture only)
Notes and references
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II (novel)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II (comic)
- ↑ Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II Distant Thunder cutscenes
- ↑ Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II Databank