The Imperial Knight lightsaber was a typical lightsaber design utilized by the members of the Imperial Knights, a group of Force-sensitives who maintained their allegiance to the Fel Empire and later to Emperor Roan Fel's Empire-in-exile. The consistent design symbolized both the order's unity and the Empire's authority over each individual Knight. This lightsaber featured a gray, cylindrical hilt with partial black ridge covering; with the exception of custom versions, its angled emitter projected a white blade. During their training, each Imperial Knight crafted their personal lightsaber, following the methods detailed by the former Galactic Emperor Palpatine in his book, Book of Anger, utilizing a synthetic lightsaber crystal. Functioning effectively both on land and in water, the lightsaber served as one of the tools employed by the Imperial Knights to safeguard their sovereign, the order's primary mission. In combat scenarios, Imperial Knights supplemented their offensive lightsaber maneuvers with protective cortosis gauntlets, which could neutralize an opponent's lightsaber blade, giving the Knight an opening to strike. When not actively engaged in combat, Imperial Knights typically secured their lightsabers to their belts.
The order's use of Imperial Knight lightsabers dates back to at least 130 ABY. They were prominently used in 137 and 138 ABY during the Second Imperial Civil War, a conflict where the Empire-in-exile battled an insurgency from Darth Krayt's Galactic Empire. Early in 137 ABY, Imperial Knights such as Antares Draco, Ganner Krieg, and Marasiah Fel wielded their weapons during a battle against Darth Krayt, the Dark Lord of the Sith, and his One Sith forces on the planet of Vendaxa. This skirmish saw Cade Skywalker—a former Jedi who had rejected his family's heritage to become a bounty hunter—seize Marasiah's lightsaber and engage the Sith, an action that marked the initial step in his journey to reclaim his Jedi identity. Throughout the following year, Imperial Knights deployed their lightsabers in battles against Krayt's forces on planets including Bastion, Dac, and Had Abbadon; many Sith perished at the hands of Imperial blades during the concluding phases of the war on both Taivas and Coruscant, the galactic capital. During the battle for Coruscant, Roan Fel attempted to deploy a bioweapon to eradicate all life on the planet. This prompted Draco to kill Fel with his lightsaber, thereby preventing the Emperor from committing an act fueled by the dark side of the Force.
A specific lightsaber model, the Imperial Knight lightsaber, was standard issue for all members of the Imperial Knights, a group of Force-sensitives active during both the Sith–Imperial War and the Second Imperial Civil War. The Imperial Knights, who were loyal to the Fel Empire and subsequently the Empire-in-exile, dedicated themselves to safeguarding their liege and furthering the interests of their Empire. The consistent lightsaber design served as a symbol of both the order's cohesiveness and their conviction that each Knight was subordinate to the Empire they served. The weapon's hilt was gray and cylindrical, featuring black ridges that covered less than half of its curved exterior. The activation stud was positioned near the angled emitter, which generated a white blade capable of functioning both on land and underwater. Certain customized lightsabers produced blades of different colors, such as the blue-bladed weapon wielded by Marasiah Fel, an Imperial Knight and the princess of the Empire-in-exile. Imperial Knight Azlyn Rae once utilized an orange-bladed variant during sparring. During covert operations, Rae carried a different lightsaber that also projected an orange blade. Another variation of the Imperial Knight lightsaber was a long-handled version. Approximately the height of a Human, it featured a flat emitter and was ignited during ceremonial events.
Although the organization adhered to a standard model, each Imperial Knight constructed their own lightsaber during their training in the Force. The weapons were assembled using methods similar to those of the Jedi Order; however, unlike their Jedi counterparts, Imperial Knights created synthetic lightsaber crystals instead of seeking out natural ones. Their crystal construction method was adapted from the writings of Palpatine, a late Sith Lord and ruler of the former Galactic Empire. Palpatine had detailed the creation of synthetic crystals in The Book of Anger, a tome of dark side knowledge that nevertheless contained certain teachings—such as the crystal construction process—that were untainted by the dark side. The Imperial Knights' construction process lacked ceremony and was treated with no more significance than the acquisition of a new Force power or combat technique. Lessons in unarmed combat, vehicular operation, and the use of Force powers demanded as much of an apprentice's time as did lightsaber training, and each Knight viewed the completed weapon as one tool within a broader combat arsenal.
Imperial Knights employed their lightsabers in various forms of lightsaber combat, including two techniques unique to their order: the aggressive Praetoria Vonil and the defensive Praetoria Ishu. The lightsabers themselves, rather than practice weapons, were used during friendly sparring matches. In combat scenarios, Imperial Knights frequently used their lightsabers to deflect blaster fire from opponents until they were close enough to engage. They also supplemented their lightsaber use with defensive cortosis gauntlets. Worn on their forearms, the cortosis-embedded gauntlets could block enemy lightsaber strikes and temporarily disable the blade for several minutes, allowing the Imperial Knights to counter-attack their momentarily defenseless adversaries. When not in use, an Imperial Knight's lightsaber was typically clipped to their belt, visibly displayed atop their crimson armor. The combination of a white-bladed lightsaber and crimson battle armor was a distinctive feature of the Imperial Knights, visually distinguishing them from their Jedi counterparts. The lightsaber alone sometimes led observers to believe that its wielder was a Jedi.
The Imperial Knight lightsaber was in service as early as 130 ABY during the final stages of the Sith–Imperial War. As the conflict concluded, Emperor Roan Fel of the Fel Empire was betrayed by his One Sith allies. In a deceptive maneuver, four Imperial Knights used their lightsabers to protect Fel's security double when the Sith Lord Darth Krayt arrived on the galactic capital world of Coruscant to seize the Imperial throne. As Krayt killed them with his own blades, the lightsabers of Fel and his loyal Knight Antares Draco simultaneously saw action against LV8-series guard droids as the two fugitives escaped through the planet's Sublevel 12. Deprived of his throne, Fel became the leader of an Empire-in-exile, and his Imperial Knights continued to serve him in opposition to Darth Krayt's Galactic Empire. At some point before 137 ABY, Imperial Knight Eshkar Niin violated his vows to the Emperor and used his lightsaber to kill Fel's wife, Elliah, before defecting to Krayt's Sith.
The year 137 ABY witnessed intense conflict between the two Empires during a peak period of the Second Imperial Civil War, and lightsaber-equipped Imperial Knights were routinely deployed on missions throughout the galaxy by their Emperor. Early in the year, Imperial Knight Elke Vetter used her lightsaber in a duel against the Sith Hand Darth Talon, but was defeated and killed by her opponent. Talon later led a group of Sith to Vendaxa to capture Princess Marasiah, who was under the protection of Antares Draco and fellow Imperial Knight Ganner Krieg, as well as two Jedi and the smuggling crew of the pirate vessel Mynock. Several Sith were killed by the three Knights' blades during the ensuing skirmish. The captain of the Mynock was Cade Skywalker, a former Jedi and the heir to a powerful legacy who had abandoned his family's Force-using tradition years before and embraced a life of bounty hunting. During the battle, his first step toward reclaiming his legacy occurred when he picked up the lightsaber of a severely injured Marasiah Fel and used it to attack the Sith.
As the war continued, Draco and Krieg were dispatched by their Emperor to a space station known as the Wheel to serve as bodyguards for Imperial emissary Mingo Bovark as he negotiated an alliance with Galactic Alliance Remnant Admiral Gar Stazi. Although weapons were prohibited on the station, Draco and Krieg smuggled their lightsabers aboard and used them to deflect laser blasts fired by Alliance officers when the meeting was sabotaged by Sith-employed spies. When the two Knights refused to surrender their weapons to Wheel Administrator Pol Temm, Temm declared the station off-limits to all of Emperor Fel's forces. The Emperor's own lightsaber later saw action on his Empire's fortress world of Bastion when the Sith Lord Darth Kruhl infiltrated the planet and attacked Fel in the Pellaeon Gardens. Fel used his weapon to deflect the Sith's lightsaber attacks, but when Kruhl's Force lightning disarmed him, the Emperor killed his foe with a hold-out blaster.
When Fel sent Imperial Knights Treis Sinde and Sigel Dare to the planet Dac to sabotage the construction of an advanced Star Destroyer belonging to Krayt's Empire, the two successfully executed their undercover mission in plain clothes but nevertheless carried their lightsabers. Aided by several of the planet's native Mon Calamari, Admiral Stazi soon after seized the destroyer in the name of the Galactic Alliance Remnant, and Darth Krayt consequently arrived on-world to declare genocide against the Mon Calamari people. Sinde and Dare, who were on Dac at the time, used their lightsabers to cut through hordes of Imperial stormtroopers as they made their way to rescue several pilots of the Galactic Alliance Remnant in an effort to warn Stazi about the explosives they had planted. As Dare and the pilots boarded a shuttle into space, Sinde remained on Dac's surface and dueled the Sith Lord Darth Azard, thereby buying his comrades time to escape. After escaping from the Sith Lord, Sinde became trapped on the planet and joined forces with the Mon Calamari Rangers, a resistance cell active against Krayt's Empire. Sinde fought alongside them in several battles, often using his lightsaber against Sith Imperial forces while swimming through the planet's oceans.
While Sinde was on Dac, Emperor Fel pursued a formal alliance with the Jedi Order. Marasiah, Draco, and Krieg covertly followed the Mynock to a Hidden Jedi Temple on the planet Taivas, and when the Princess's protectors disembarked from their ship with lightsabers drawn, Skywalker and Jedi Knight Shado Vao attacked them. Tensions eased after a brief lightsaber duel, and Draco and Krieg soon after joined Vao and the Mynock's crew on a mission to the planet Had Abbadon to assassinate Darth Krayt. Aided by the ancient Jedi Knight Celeste Morne and her army of Rakghouls, the group battled Krayt and several of his Sith Lords. A number of the volatile Rakghouls were killed by the Imperial Knights' blades when Morne lost control of them, and Krayt ultimately survived the encounter. Fel's alliance with the Jedi was only secured when he traveled to the planet Agamar to conduct peace talks with several Jedi representatives; more than ten lightsaber-armed Knights accompanied the Emperor to the meeting, and they fought alongside their new Jedi allies when a Sith strike force arrived. Many Sith were killed by the blades of the Imperial Knights, who effectively used their lightsabers and cortosis gauntlets to protect their Emperor. Along with the Jedi, they were able to transport Fel away from the planet.
With a three-way alliance secured between the Empire-in-exile, the Jedi, and the Galactic Alliance Remnant, Darth Krayt began a renewed military push against his enemies in 138 ABY. Imperial Knights used their lightsabers against the Sith during battles on worlds such as Borosk and Taivas. Draco, Krieg, Marasiah, and Azlyn Rae stood with the Jedi as they defended the Hidden Temple from a Sith onslaught, cutting down several Sith warriors who attempted to breach the temple's gates. Krieg and Rae used their lightsabers to bring down an Imperial walker. After Taivas was evacuated, the allies struck at Krayt's throneworld of Coruscant, where Rae, Krieg, and Dare joined a strike team led by Skywalker that was tasked with deactivating the world's planetary shields. The Imperial Knights used their lightsabers to battle their way through Sith warriors and members of Darth Krayt's elite Sith trooper army on their way to the planet's central defensive computers. After they arrived, Krieg's lightsaber was one of several that disabled the computers and brought down the planetary shields, allowing the allied fleets to attack.
The Emperor had his own plans to destroy the Sith and, from the Star Destroyer Jagged Fel, prepared to release a bioweapon onto Coruscant's surface that would destroy all life on the planet. As every Imperial Knight had vowed to kill the Emperor if he ever succumbed to the dark side, Draco engaged Fel in a lightsaber duel. The two Knights locked blades outside an escape pod, and as Fel prepared to launch the weapon, Draco's blade pierced Fel's chest, killing him. The Sith eventually retreated from Coruscant and, during a funeral for the Emperor held on-world in the battle's aftermath, Marasiah was declared the new Empress and a member of the Galactic Federation Triumvirate. Draco and Krieg flanked her, holding ignited long-handled Imperial Knight lightsabers aloft as those in attendance mourned the Emperor's death.
The Imperial Knight lightsaber was initially mentioned and depicted in Star Wars: Legacy (2006) 0, a June 2006 preview edition of the forthcoming Legacy comic book series. As recurring characters in Legacy, Imperial Knights regularly wielded their lightsabers throughout the series' fifty-issue run, as well as in its subsequent miniseries, Star Wars: Legacy—War. Further details regarding the weapon and its creation process were disclosed in 2009's Legacy Era Campaign Guide, which also explicitly identified the weapon as the "Imperial Knight lightsaber" for the first time.
In the Legacy comics, the lightsaber's blade is consistently portrayed with a white color. The Legacy Era Campaign Guide and The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia similarly describe a white blade, but Threats of the Galaxy erroneously identifies the color as silver.
The Imperial Knights' lightsaber has been immortalized in plastic on multiple occasions, which is unusual for weapons from the Expanded Universe. Miniature figurines of Antares Draco, Ganner Krieg, Sigel Dare, Marasiah Fel, and Roan Fel were released by Wizards of the Coast in 2008 as part of the Legacy of the Force set of Star Wars Miniatures. Each of the five figures is posed with their lightsaber drawn. In addition, from 2008 to 2009, 3 ¾ inch action figures of Draco, Krieg, and Dare were released by Hasbro. Draco and Krieg are packaged together with the sixth issue of Legacy, while Dare is packaged with Darth Krayt and comes with Issue 22. Draco and Krieg include lightsabers with removable blades, while Dare's blade is fixed.