The complex story of father and son, of darkness and light, is reveled in The Empire Strikes Back, and the full scope of the Star Wars epic takes hold.  Darth Vader, fallen Jedi Knight and father of Luke Skywalker, stands against his son in as epic duel that could determine the fate of the galaxy.  Overwhelmed by the dark side of the Force, Vader confronts Luke, wielding his most deadly and personal weapon: the lightsaber.

Vader's lightsaber is an elegant balance of black and silver.  The simplicity of its design contrasts the intensity of its power.  In this way, it resembles the lightsaber of the young Padawan Anakin in Attack of the Clones, or the lightsaber inherited by Luke in A New Hope.

The lightsaber prop seen in The Empire Strikes Back varies slightly from the piece used by Vader in A New Hope.  While both lightsabers probably began as the same antique flashgun, minor details of the prop were altered for use in this second installment of the Star Wars trilogy.  Ultimately, this version of the lightsaber would also be dropped and an entirely new prop would be used for Return of the Jedi.

The rubber grips were lengthened by approximately 5/8 of an inch.  The clamp lever originally present on the center control box was removed and replaced with a pin and what appears to be a hat nut of other fastening device.  Small wires were also inserted into the oval recharge ports near the front of the flashgun.  Finally, the control box sidebars were changed to black painted pieces with angled ends, rather than the chrome, squared-off sidebars on the original Star Wars prop.

We hope that you enjoy our replica of Darth Vader's infamous weapon as seen in The Empire Strikes Back.