Luke Skywalker's yellow lightsaber

During the High Republic Era, the Jedi Order established an outpost on Tempes. It was eventually abandoned, but several Jedi artifacts were left behind, including a Jedi Temple Guard armor and a damaged lightsaber pike that was placed on a pedestal. Shortly after the Battle of Hoth in 3 ABY, Luke Skywalker, a Jedi Padawan and Commander in the Alliance to Restore the Republic, lost his father's lightsaber during a duel with his father, Sith Lord Darth Vader, on Bespin. Skywalker traveled to the outpost on Tempes to retrieve a new lightsaber after receiving directions from the partially trained Padawan Verla.

Upon entering the abandoned outpost, Skywalker noticed the lightsaber and claimed it as his own. He was immediately ambushed by the spirit of The Grand Inquisitor that had been bound to the ruins for eternity by Darth Vader to serve as a trap for unsuspecting travelers. Using the weapon, Skywalker defended himself against The Grand Inquisitor's lightsaber. Although the Inquisitor initially had the upper hand, the aspiring Jedi bested him by severing his hand and slicing him across the chest. Skywalker subsequently returned to the Fourth Division of the Alliance Fleet, where he presented his new lightsaber to his comrades aboard an EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigate.

Later, the Fourth and Seventh Divisions engaged a fleet of Imperial forces over Elessia. During the battle, Skywalker flew his personal T-65B X-wing starfighter until he received news that Princess Leia Organa's frigate had been boarded. After clearing out an Imperial fighter wing, Skywalker boarded Organa's frigate to assist with repelling Imperial forces. Using his lightsaber, Skywalker cut through a group of stormtroopers and entered the engine room, where Imperial Commander Ellian Zahra was facing Organa. Skywalker ordered her to stand down, but Zahra escaped after a brief fight with the Jedi.

At some point after the beginning of Operation Starlight, Skywalker practiced with the lightsaber aboard an Alliance starship in deep space. He trained against several Marksman-H training remote droids, deflecting their laser bolts and destroying them with his saber, until he was interrupted by C-3PO and R2-D2. Shortly afterwards, Skywalker travelled to the moon Nar Shaddaa alongside the two aforementioned droids and Chewbacca to investigate rumors that the bounty hunter Boba Fett had been sighted there. Fett had taken Skywalker's friend Captain Han Solo prisoner.

Not long into their investigation, Skywalker and his allies were accosted by a group of armed thugs also searching for Fett. Skywalker drew his lightsaber to intimidate the thugs, but they didn't believe he was actually a Jedi and opened fire. The young Jedi used his weapon to deflect incoming blaster shots, facilitating a safe escape for himself and his team. They subsequently fled the moon empty-handed.

After he returned to the Alliance, Skywalker took part in an attack on the on Bar'leth, one of the Rebels' first large scale operations since the Battle of Hoth: Organa and the rest of the Alliance hoped it would announce to people that they still existed and could still strike back against the Empire, doing so without harming civilians as well. Afterward, Skywalker participated in a toast to the Rebel Alliance and he was then approached by Evaan Verlaine, who asked him to show off some of his "magic" because it made them feel like they could not lose and had the light on their side. He was reluctant to do so because it made him feel like a show-off, but he agreed, igniting his yellow lightsaber. Verlaine called it magic while many looked on in awe.

After failing to acquire a Nihil strikeship at an auction on Spira, Skywalker, Leia Organa, Amilyn Holdo, Lando Calrissian, and Chewbacca attacked Imperial forces guarding the ship to recover its Path engine. Skywalker's lightsaber identified him as a Jedi, drawing attention to him as a target and creating a diversion for the others. Holdo subsequently instructed Skywalker to cut through the hull of the ship, which he did.

Luke's lightsaber was later damaged during a fight with Killdroids, along with his right arm where the sentry droid crushed both of them. Skywalker repaired his arm and set out to find a new kyber crystal. While reading a sacred Jedi text about kyber crystals, Skywalker informed R2-D2 that the crystal cracked when it was damaged, causing the lightsaber to barely work, to cut out at the worst times, and to not feel stable to use for a long time.

In 4 ABY, Skywalker constructed a new green-bladed lightsaber that he began using.

Years later, Skywalker, Ben Solo, and Lor San Tekka went to a Jedi outpost on Elphrona. There, Skywalker mentioned to Solo that he had ventured into a similar temple in search of a lightsaber and had fallen into a trap.

Luke Skywalker's yellow lightsaber first appeared in the sixth issue of the comic book series Star Wars, which was written by Charles Soule, illustrated by Jesús Saiz, and published by Marvel Comics on September 16, 2020. In the initial printing of the thirteenth issue, Skywalker's lightsaber was incorrectly stated to have originated from Elphrona rather than Tempes.