The Sith are notorious for their lack of loyalty to others in Star Wars, including (if not especially) when it comes to their Sith masters. That is in part what makes the Sith Rule of Two so precarious. That is, because there is only ever one master and one apprentice, it is all too easy for the master to be usurped—which then means that new Sith master must find an apprentice, and the cycle continues.
Perhaps no Sith in Star Wars movies and TV shows understands this better than Palpatine, as he killed his own Sith master, Darth Plagueis, and then had a series of apprentices, ending with Darth Vader. Vader, interestingly, never made a direct play to usurp Palpatine. However, new details about the fan-favorite Sith’s lightsaber just suggested that he may have been plotting Palpatine’s demise all along.
Darth Vader Had A Major Lightsaber Secret
In a brand-new book, Star Wars: The Secrets of the Sith: The Chronicles of Emperor Palpatine, the text reads, “When [Jedi Master Kirik Infil’a’s] weapon was destroyed, Vader salvaged its crystal and constructed his own lightsaber, simple in design but devastating in function.” Notably, this book is written from Palpatine’s perspective—meaning this is Palpatine’s understanding of Vader’s lightsaber.
However, it’s already been confirmed in Star Wars canon that Vader had a dual-phase saber. Given that Palpatine believed Vader’s lightsaber was “simple in design,” which contradicts this dual-phase construction, it’s safe to assume that Vader had intentionally concealed this aspect of his lightsaber from Palpatine. That, alone, suggests that Vader had at least considered eventually betraying his Sith master, as he wanted his weapon to be more powerful than even Palpatine knew.
The dual-phase lightsaber design is an interesting choice in particular in this context, as one if its features was that it would allow the wielder to extend or shorten the blade mid-battle, which would have given Vader a clear advantage, especially if he could have taken Palpatine by surprise with it.
The fact that Vader had kept such a secret from Palpatine reasonably raises questions about whether he indeed intended to eventually attempt to overthrow Palpatine. However, this is far from the first sign that Anakin/Vader was contemplating that very thing. In Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, when Padmé arrives on Mustafar, Anakin already told her that he could overthrow Palpatine and rule with her. Yes, Anakin was deluded in thinking this was possible, but clearly, it was an option in his mind.
Yet, Padmé’s fate may have been the very thing that prevented that from happening. After losing Padmé, which he believed also meant the death of his children (who he thought was just one baby), Anakin felt that he had lost everything—and that was no doubt Palpatine’s plan. With that context, it makes complete sense that the fight would have been taken out of Vader, at least until he met his son. Based on this detail regarding his lightsaber, though, it seems he still left the door open to usurp Palpatine.
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