This lightsaber was the weapon constructed and wielded by Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker. Built as a replacement for his first lightsaber he lost on Geonosis, it was carried by its creator throughout the Clone Wars and after Anakin turned against the Jedi Order by joining the Sith Lord Darth Sidious.
In the hands of a Sith, the newly anointed Vader, the lightsaber was used to cut down numerous Jedi, including Padawans and Jedi younglings during the attack on the Jedi Temple of Coruscant. It then was used to slaughter the leaders of the Confederacy of Independent Systems on Mustafar. Upon being confronted by his former master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Vader used the lightsaber to duel Kenobi, but was defeated. Kenobi took the lightsaber and brought it with him to Tatooine, where he kept it for nearly two decades until he handed it down to Anakin's son, Luke Skywalker.
Luke carried his father's lightsaber during the Galactic Civil War, before losing the saber during a duel with Vader on Bespin. After the duel, Vader recovered the saber and brought it to Palpatine, who placed it in his private storehouse, Mount Tantiss on Wayland. The lightsaber remained there until the Thrawn campaign, when the insane clone and Dark Jedi Joruus C'baoth, who had become the Guardian of Mount Tantiss, gave it to a clone of Luke he had created, Luuke Skywalker. During the assault on Mount Tantiss, Luke and former Emperor's Hand Mara Jade faced off against C'baoth and Luuke, defeating them and recovering the lightsaber, which Luke subsequently gave to Mara.
Incorporating many of the elements from his first weapon, Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber was specifically designed to facilitate Skywalker's practice of Form V lightsaber combat. As per Form V weapon specifications, the lightsaber had a solid casing (either as a whole or in multiple sections for maximum protection against power surge deterioration) and a heavily shrouded blade emitter. The beveled emitter was designed to designate separate facets of the blade for either offensive or defensive purposes. The lightsaber hilt included a ridged hand grip, as Djem So required its users to maintain a solid grip on the hilt. It was also later modified to allow it to operate underwater.
Before being passed to Luke Skywalker, the weapon's hilt had been slightly altered so that the original belt fastener was changed into a ring.