Did you know that, besides using the lightsaber as their ultimate weapon, the Jedi also had another weapon called the lightsaber rifle? Because it was built like a gun, this weapon had terrifying destructive power, which is why it was kept hidden inside the Jedi Library.
To understand just how powerful it was, you could think of the lightsaber rifle as something like a handheld Death Star. Even a normal lightsaber could not deflect the energy blast fired from it.
The Weapon Was First Seen When Jocasta Nu Used It Against Darth Vader
To see the power of the lightsaber rifle, we have to look at Marvel’s Darth Vader (2017), especially issues #9 and #10.
After Order 66, nearly all of the Jedi were killed. The few who survived were forced into hiding from the new Empire. Among those survivors was Jocasta Nu, the keeper of the Jedi Library. She believed that as long as she remained alive, she could help the Jedi one day rise again through the knowledge she still carried.
Because of that belief, and because she was convinced the Jedi would eventually return, Jocasta Nu risked her life by going back to Coruscant and sneaking into the Jedi Library to recover knowledge that could help future Jedi rebuild the Order.
But when she returned to the library, she was not alone. This is also the first time we meet the Grand Inquisitor. He had once been a Jedi Temple Guard, but because he had been forbidden from accessing the knowledge inside the Jedi Library, he grew resentful toward the Jedi. That bitterness was part of what led him to betray them.
As soon as Jocasta Nu entered the library, the Grand Inquisitor discovered her and tried to kill her. Fortunately for her, Darth Vader appeared and stopped him, because the Emperor wanted Jocasta Nu taken alive.
The conflict between Vader and the Grand Inquisitor gave Jocasta Nu a chance to escape deeper into the Jedi Library. When she was finally cornered, she found the lightsaber rifle. She attached her own lightsaber to the weapon, and the first shot she fired was aimed directly at Vader.
Vader assumed he could deflect the blast the way he would deflect any ordinary blaster fire. But the weapon was far too powerful for that, and the shot sent him flying backward.
After only a few shots, however, the lightsaber rifle began to run out of energy. Even more terrifying was the cost of using it: the lightsaber Jocasta Nu had attached to the rifle was completely melted down by the process.
However, once the lightsaber rifle had effectively run out of ammunition, it still was not useless in the way a normal blaster would be. The weapon had another function: it could be detonated like a bomb. When Jocasta Nu realized that her lightsaber rifle could no longer fire, she triggered its self-destruction and then used telekinesis to shove it back toward Vader. A massive explosion followed, erupting inside the Jedi Temple.
Luke Skywalker and Ben Solo Also Encountered a Lightsaber Rifle
In The Rise of Kylo Ren #2, Luke Skywalker and Ben Solo travel with Lor San Tekka to explore an abandoned Jedi outpost filled with old relics and forgotten artifacts. While searching through the ruins, Luke finds a Jedi holocron, and Ben comes across a lightsaber rifle, showing that this rare weapon was still preserved among ancient Jedi items. However, the discovery does not lead to anything major in that moment. Ben and Luke only find the weapon, and before anything more can happen, they sense another presence and soon come face to face with the Knights of Ren.
