The electrum-plated lightsabers wielded by Darth Sidious were a matching pair, crafted during his time as an apprentice to Darth Plagueis. Sidious, a highly skilled and lethal fighter, rarely drew these weapons, doing so only when absolutely necessary, to avoid revealing his identity as a Sith Lord. His preference was to wield influence through manipulation and delegate tasks to his subordinates in pursuit of his clandestine objectives.
Darth Sidious possessed a refined appreciation for the finer things, a trait reflected in the design of his lightsabers. Constructed from virtually indestructible phrik, they featured a flat aurodium emitter for the blade and were entirely coated in electrum. Each weapon housed a corrupted kyber crystal at its core.
One of these weapons was typically concealed within a neuranium sculpture, displayed on his desk in his office within the Senate Office Building on Coruscant.
These lightsabers, belonging to Darth Sidious, also known as Sheev Palpatine, were forged by him during his training as an apprentice under the tutelage of Darth Plagueis.
In 19 BBY, Darth Sidious took his lightsabers with him on a journey to Mandalore. His purpose was to confront Darth Maul, his former apprentice who had gone rogue, along with Maul's younger brother and apprentice, Savage Opress. During the ensuing duel, he fought with both lightsabers, separating the two brothers. He swiftly defeated and killed Opress. Maul, armed with his two two lightsabers, presented a greater challenge, holding his own for a time. Sidious eventually disarmed Maul and used a combination of telekinesis and Force lightning to subdue him.
Later, during the Second Battle of Dathomir, Sidious brandished one of his lightsabers. He used it in combat against Maul and his and Savage’s Mother Talzin, who met her end with assistance from General Grievous and Sidious' current apprentice, Count Dooku.
As the Clone Wars drew to a close, Chancellor Palpatine engaged in combat fought with Jedi Masters Mace Windu, Kit Fisto, Saesee Tiin, and Agen Kolar, wielding one of his lightsabers. He swiftly dispatched Kolar and Tiin, and soon after, Fisto. However, he faced a prolonged confrontation with Windu. The Jedi Master skillfully directed the duel towards the bay window of the Sith Lord's office, leading them onto the windy ledge outside. With a precise kick to the face, Windu disarmed the Sith Lord, causing Sidious to lose his balance and drop his lightsaber, which fell out the window and into the depths of Coruscant before his friend and final apprentice Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker arrived. Consequently, Sidious was forced to use his remaining lightsaber from then on even if he was as deadly with one as he was with two.
After Skywalker’s friend and mentor Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda became aware of the situation, Yoda went to face Emperor Palpatine in person at the Senate Building, while Kenobi went to face Skywalker. Yoda surprised Palpatine, who told him that his arrogance blinded him and his new apprentice would be more powerful than both of them but Yoda answered Palpatine that his faith in Vader was a mistake along with his faith in the dark side. Yoda then dueled Palpatine, who used his remaining lightsaber to face the Jedi Master. The clash led them to the Galactic Senate Chamber, the center of the Senate. Palpatine hurled Senate pods at Yoda, and the effort to avoid them exhausted the Jedi Master. Palpatine then blasted Yoda with Force lightning, but with the last of his strength, the Jedi Master repelled it enough to send both himself and Palpatine over the pod's edge. Palpatine was able to hold on to a senate pod, while Yoda fell to the Senate floor, leaving only his cloak. With Bail Organa's help, Yoda fled the Senate Building and would go into exile.
Not long after his new apprentice was rebuilt as a cyborg, Sidious informed Vader about his wife's passing. Enraged, Vader used the Force to throw the Emperor against a wall, but Sidious managed to talk Vader into letting him go. After Vader did so, Sidious shocked his apprentice with bolts of Force lightning. Sidious then ignited his lightsaber and threatened that if Vader touched him with the Force again, he would finish what Obi-Wan could not.
After Vader tracked down Jedi Master Kirak Infil'a and took his lightsaber, claiming the kyber crystal, Palpatine sent him to a Sith cave which was all that remained of the Sith temple on Mustafar so that he could corrupt it with his pain and anger in order to make it "bleed." Inside the cave, Vader's first attempt resulted in him experiencing an intense, light-side Force vision that urged him to return to the light side. He experienced a vision in which he reassembled the lightsaber and returned to Emperor Palpatine on Coruscant with its blade still green. Realizing Vader had not embraced the dark side, Palpatine attacked his apprentice; but the cyborg killed him in the vision and reconciled with Kenobi.
Later, after Vader bled his third kyber crystal, Palpatine sought to impart a lesson through a sparring match on the Works, the initial headquarters for them and the new Inquisitorius. Igniting his remaining lightsaber, Palpatine charged at Vader, quickly overwhelming him. He explained that lightsabers were not the true tools of the Sith, but the dark side of the Force was. After attacking Vader with pieces of wreckage that he lifted with the Force, Palpatine made his attack a clear symbol for the true power that anyone who stood against the dark side would face.
Shortly before the Battle at Amaxine Station, Emperor Palpatine used his lightsaber to spar with his apprentice again, discussing Qi'ra and her plans to destroy the Sith. Soon after, Palpatine and Vader arrived at the Amaxine Station aboard the latter’s flagship the Executor and took his shuttle down to it. Once landed, Palpatine and Vader ignited their lightsabers to use to finally put an end to Crimson Dawn, with Palpatine decreeing there were to be no survivors left in their wake.
Fighting their way into the station with their lightsabers, Palpatine and Vader led the latter's guard of death troopers and the former's Royal Guards. To Palpatine, the moment was a rare opportunity to take a direct hand against his enemies; much to his enjoyment. In the end, Crimson Dawn's plans would be crushed with the destruction of the Fermata Cage. Palpatine's rule over the galaxy would instead be brought down by the Rebel Alliance with the Battle of Endor, where Vader returned to the light side and sacrificed himself to destroy his Master in order to save his son Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker and the fate of Palpatine’s remaining lightsaber was unknown. Without Emperor Palpatine, the Empire struggled along for the following year until the Battle of Jakku in 5 ABY. Due to his belief about the lightsaber’s role in the power of the Sith, Palpatine never reclaimed his lightsaber when he returned to life on its hidden world Exegol and did not use it when his granddaughter was dispatched by Luke to face him and destroy the Sith once and for all to win the last stage of the War between the Sith and the Jedi Order and the Rebel Alliance.
The initial appearance of Darth Sidious' lightsabers occurred in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, specifically in Episode III Revenge of the Sith. They were first used by his public persona, Palpatine, the Supreme Chancellor of the Senate. A blooper shows Sidious' black lightsaber sometimes interchanged with the Skywalker lightsaber in the duel scene in Palpatine's office. The fact that Sidious wielded two lightsabers was revealed in "The Lawless", an episode of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series. These weapons continued to appear in Star Wars canon through other media, including The Clone Wars Legacy and a selection of comic books. The identification of Darth Sidious's lightsabers first occurred in Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition.