Baird Kantoo

Baird Kantoo was a human male who lived as a Jedi Master prior to the formation of the Old Republic. Kantoo sought to craft a weapon suitable for the Jedi, so he used his knowledge of the Force to forge several kyber crystals into a single blade, creating the Kyber Saber—the galaxy's first lightsaber. The weapon magnified Kantoo's Force abilities a thousandfold, and when Kantoo realized the threat the Kyber Saber possessed, he shattered the blade into seven pieces. Kantoo gave the blade's fragments to six Jedi Knights, who hid the crystals across the galaxy. Kantoo later joined the Force Builders, and he recorded the secret to building with kyber crystals in a holocron, which was hidden at the site of the Kyber Saber's destruction.

For millennia, Kantoo's story was preserved in the Jedi Archives, and it was uncovered by the Sith Lord Darth Vader. Vader enlisted Naare, a Sith agent, to locate the crystals, and she began her quest on the planet Nal Kapok. During this time, Naare encountered a young, Force-sensitive boy named Rowan Freemaker, to whom the crystals called. To gain Freemaker's assistance, Naare claimed she was a Jedi on a mission to recover the Kyber Saber before Galactic Emperor Sheev Palpatine could. Freemaker agreed to help, and Naare soon collected the seven fragments, rebuilding the weapon. However, Freemaker learned Naare's true nature, and he destroyed the Kyber Saber in a river of lava on Sullust, honoring Kantoo's decision and considering the Jedi a hero. Later, Freemaker discovered Kantoo's hidden holocron and was deemed worthy of learning the Master's Force technique.

Text and facts from the “Baird Kantoo” article on Wookieepedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Modified for this site.