Lightwhip

History

One of the earliest known wielders of the lightwhip was the Sith Lady Githany. According to the Sith Blademaster of the day, Kas'im, she wielded the weapon not out of any advantages it presented in combat, but to exploit its rarity and unfamiliarity with most duelists. Githany wielded the weapon up until her death in the final battle of Ruusan.

Lightwhip wielders active prior to and during the Clone Wars include Ona Nobis and Vianna D'Pow.

During their mission to Ord Cestus during the Clone Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi fabricated a lightwhip for use by both himself and Kit Fisto. This weapon was based on the one wielded by Ona Nobis, and first saw use during a mock duel between himself and Fisto, with Fisto masquerading as a member of Count Dooku's Dark Acolytes in order to fool the Cestus government into believing that the Separatists were interfering in their affairs. Towards the end of the same mission, Kenobi led the charge into the Cestus Cybernetics factory, wielding the lightwhip as a secondary weapon alongside his lightsaber.

A lightwhip fell into the possession of smuggler Drach Coven and his partner, Mok. The whip was found by Nick Rostu when he was given their ship, and he later presented it to the Jedi Jax Pavan. Pavan wielded the weapon against the Falleen Xizor, who wielded the Jedi's own lightsaber against him. Another lightwhip wielder active at the time was the Nightsister Silri, who worked for the Zann Consortium.

One of the most notable lightwhip wielders was the Imperial agent turned Emperor's Hand turned Sith Lady Lumiya. Constructing her weapon from Mandalorian iron and utilizing a shard of the Kaiburr crystal provided by Darth Vader, she also added on numerous tassels composed of leather knots studded with Mandalorian iron and flexible, gem speckled metal. Created by Lumiya shortly before the close of her training under Vader, she wielded the weapon against such notables as Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade, and even used it as a torture device on occasion. The weapon was ultimately lost during her final battle with Skywalker, falling into a gorge beneath them, along with her headless body.

Advantages

Wielded in the same manner as a proper whip, the lightwhip was a rare and exotic weapon. Due to this, lightwhip wielders enjoyed a considerable amount of leverage over opponents. Along with its rarity, lightwhips also featured copious range, the long, flexible energy strand allowing the wielder to attack from a range of several meters. The weapon was also difficult to defend against, as it could simply flex around an opponent's blade when he attempted to parry. When multiple tassels were included, the whip was able to overwhelm the defenses of enemies by attacking them from all sides.

Disadvantages

The lightwhip blade was difficult to control, able to just as easily maim an untrained wielder as an opponent, and was weaker than the standard lightsaber blade. It needed to be swung wide to gain momentum for attack, and it was difficult to use defensively as flexible tassels are not well suited for parrying, leaving the wielder vulnerable to both great speed and brute force. In fact, lightwhip blades were even known to short out violently when struck with enough force.

Efforts to compensate for the inherent weaknesses of lightwhips included the addition of tassels composed of solid matter, as Lumiya did with her weapon. These variations in composition also allowed her to attack her opponent on two fronts, as the different behaviors of the energy beams and the solid strands left the weapon highly unpredictable, as well as taking advantage of flaws in Jedi training, which only prepared combatants for a weapon that was one or the other. However, this innovation was not a complete solution, as the weapon still possessed the weaknesses. Also, the inclusion of the solid strands could be countered through the use of the Jar'Kai dual-blade technique, the method being to ensnare the energy strand with one blade while shredding the solid tassels with the second.