Following the Hundred-Year Darkness, the Sith developed and utilized shikkars, which were elaborate daggers forged from glass using Force techniques. The Lost Tribe of Sith on the planet Kesh greatly valued shikkars, with their long, refined blades, for both their combat applications and aesthetic qualities. These weapons were intended for a single use only; upon stabbing a target with a shikkar, the hilt would be snapped off, leaving the blade lodged within the victim. Due to the extreme pain inflicted by a shikkar death, many Sith saw it as a particularly demeaning form of assassination. These weapons were frequently created and wielded by members of the three competing glass-crafting guilds found on Kesh. Tura Sanga was a well-known shikkar crafter among the Sith Tribe, and Seelah Korsin, a Sith, possessed a shikkar crafted by the native Keshiri of Kesh.
Sorzus Syn, a Dark Jedi, mentioned in the Book of Sith that shikkars were often the Sith's assassination weapon of choice. These weapons remained in use for millennia after their creation; in 43.5 ABY, several members of the Sith strike team tasked with killing the Jedi Luke Skywalker were armed with shikkars, including Sith apprentice Vestara Khai and her Master, Lady Olaris Rhea. Later, in 44 ABY, shikkars were specially made as decorations for the celebration commemorating the Tribe's alliance with Abeloth, a dark side entity.
Shikkars were daggers made from glass by using the Force in their creation. Their complex and refined blades had a length of at least ten centimeters – roughly the length of a Human forearm – and were about as wide as a Human finger. The blades could be either straight or curved. The weapon's hilt was designed to be long and thin, and at least one shikkar was colored with black and white. The weapons could be easily concealed beneath a person's robes. The Lost Tribe of Sith on Kesh regarded shikkars as valuable for both their artistic merit and their effectiveness as weapons.
These daggers were designed for a single use, and while their overall fragility might be misleading, the junction between the blade and hilt was particularly vulnerable. After stabbing someone, the wielder would twist and break off the hilt, leaving the glass blade inside the victim to maximize pain. This led some Sith to view the weapon as a deliberate insult to the target, and shikkars were often employed as a means of exacting revenge. Furthermore, being made entirely of glass, shikkars could bypass sensors without detection.
The Sith began inventing and using shikkars for assassinations following the Hundred-Year Darkness, which concluded around 6900 BBY. Sorzus Syn, a Dark Jedi from that era, mentioned these weapons in a diary entry included in the Book of Sith, a compilation of historical Sith writings.
Around 5000 BBY, a Sith group crash-landed on the isolated planet Kesh after their vessel, the Omen, was knocked off course during a hyperspace jump. Stranded without the ability to call for help or repair their ship, the survivors quickly established a new Sith Tribe. Tribe members crafted and used shikkars; Seelah Korsin, wife of the Tribe's Grand Lord, Yaru Korsin, possessed a shikkar made for her by the Keshiri, the natives of Kesh. By 3960 BBY, Sith Tribe members frequently used shikkars to advance their positions, subtly assassinating rivals to climb the ranks. Sometime before 3000 BBY, one Tribe member attempted to assassinate another Sith with a shikkar, but due to a poorly made sheath, the blade fell into his ankle. The resulting infection killed him within a month.
In 3000 BBY, Sith Caretaker Varner Hilts used Iliana Merko's shikkar to cut into the command chair in the crashed Omen, revealing a hidden message from Takara, Yaru Korsin's mother. Millennia later, in 41 ABY, the Lost Tribe still had members who owned shikkars, viewing them as honorable weapons. By that point, members of the three Sith guilds, which monopolized glass sculpting in the Kesh capital city of Tahv, commonly used shikkars. These guilds crafted shikkars and other valuable items from the planet's lavender sands. Guild members often used their shikkars to assassinate rivals, leading the guilds to hire bodyguards for protection.
In 43.5 ABY, when a Sith strike team was dispatched to kill Jedi Grand Master Luke Skywalker, several members carried shikkars. During their battle against the Jedi at Sinkhole Station, a space station in the Maw, Master Yuvar Xal attempted a coup to seize command from Lady Olaris Rhea. However, Rhea's apprentice, Vestara Khai, killed Xal with her shikkar, throwing it into his abdomen and using the Force to break off the hilt. Later, during Rhea and Khai's duel with Skywalker, Rhea attacked with her lightsaber while simultaneously using the Force to attack him with her shikkar. The blade was powerful enough to puncture Skywalker's combat vac suit before breaking. Despite their efforts, the strike team failed to kill Skywalker, and Khai was the only survivor.
Gavar Khai, Vestara Khai's father and a Sith Saber, had a personal collection of shikkars on Kesh. In 44 ABY, he gifted Vestara one of his shikkars, hoping she would use it to kill either Skywalker or his son, Jedi Knight Ben Skywalker. This particular shikkar was crafted by the Force-sensitive Tura Sanga, a renowned shikkar craftsman known for his unique style. Gavar Khai tried to assassinate Luke Skywalker with a shikkar during a duel at the Pool of Knowledge Force nexus, but failed. Later, when the dark side entity Abeloth proposed an alliance with the Sith Tribe to defeat the Jedi, she was invited to Tahv. Shikkars were specially created for the celebration held in her honor. However, Abeloth betrayed the Sith and attacked the capital, destroying buildings, killing thousands, and using her Force powers to hurl shikkars through the city. The Jedi later launched a mission to defeat the Sith on Coruscant, the galactic capital planet, where Vestara Khai stabbed Sith Master Ruku Myal with his own shikkar.
The introduction of shikkars occurred in Christie Golden's Fate of the Jedi: Omen, the second book of the nine-part Fate of the Jedi series. These glass weapons then appeared in the series' third, fifth, sixth, eighth, and ninth novels: Fate of the Jedi: Abyss, Fate of the Jedi: Allies, Fate of the Jedi: Vortex, Fate of the Jedi: Ascension, and Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse. Shikkars were also included in Lost Tribe of the Sith: Paragon, the third entry in the ongoing Lost Tribe of the Sith eBook series, which is a tie-in to the Fate of the Jedi saga, and were later mentioned in the series' fourth, fifth, sixth, and eighth entries, titled Savior, Purgatory, Sentinel, and Secrets. Golden also mentioned shikkars in her short story, "First Blood."
Shea Standefer sketched a shikkar for The Topps Company, Inc.'s 2011 Topps Star Wars Galaxy Series 6 cards. Later, shikkars were mentioned in Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side by Daniel Wallace, a reference book presented as an in-universe compilation of Sith writings.