What Was Star Wars' First Lightsaber?

In 1977, moviegoers witnessed something special with "Star Wars." Director George Lucas' creation has it all — from fascinating aliens to epic space battles to fantastical weapons. Though blaster rifles and the planet-annihilating Death Star are impressive, they pale in comparison to the legendary lightsaber. Audiences are introduced to the mythical sword when Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) ignites his father's blue saber while learning about the Force from Obi-Wan Kenobi (Sir Alec Guinness). While this is the first on-screen appearance of a lightsaber, in terms of canon, what was the very first lightsaber in galactic history?

The weapon dates back long before the Republic, with the book "The Art of 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens'" revealing the oldest version of it in canon. The hilt is held together by leather bands and rope that house the lightsaber crystals that form the blade. This ancient piece likely influenced the proto-saber, which operates with two prongs rising from the crossguard and a beam of energy between them. In the non-canon Star Wars Legends continuity, protosabers are shown to run on an external battery, which connects to the hilt via cable. There's also the First Blade, an early version of a standard lightsaber without the added hardware on protosabers.

Thus, in canon, the predecessor to the proto-saber is the oldest lightsaber known so far, but had an unmade Star Wars production come to fruition, we'd know about the very first one ever constructed.

At the movies and on television, Star Wars fans have only seen standard lightsabers. Those wielded by the likes of Yoda (Frank Oz) and Rey Skywalker (Daisy Ridley) use state-of-the-art tech and are a result of improvements made over time. Those that came centuries before haven't gotten a chance to shine in live-action or animation; however, it has come to light that the first lightsaber could've gotten a cinematic spotlight all its own, courtesy of David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.

The "Game of Thrones" creatives spoke to The Hollywood Reporter and discussed their ill-fated run at Lucasfilm. During the chat, they revealed they pitched a movie titled "The First Jedi." "We wanted to do 'The First Jedi.' Basically how the Jedi Order came to be, why it came to be, the first lightsaber," explained Benioff. Unfortunately, "The First Jedi" never got off the ground, as Lucasfilm wasn't interested in the story the creatives had in mind.

If there's one thing Disney and Lucasfilm are good at, it's expanding on Star Wars lore. In due time, fans might see the definitive first lightsaber in action in some form — perhaps in James Mangold's "Dawn of the Jedi."