Poison dart

A poison dart was a dart that was either coated in poison or injected poison upon impact. Poison darts were also known as toxic darts.

Poison darts were preferable over more direct assassination means for several reasons. First, with an appropriate toxin, the victim's death could be nearly-instantaneous, and essentially guaranteed. Secondly, the use of lethal toxins often incapacitated the target before they even realized what was happening, protecting the identity of the attacker and allowing time for escape. Because of these reasons, these exotic weapons were used by various bounty hunters and criminals across the galaxy, most notably Jango Fett and Jodo Kast. The only drawback is that they had a relatively short range.

Asajj Ventress used a Dathomirian poison dart during a mission to get revenge on her former Sith Master Count Dooku. She planned to use the dart, which was circular with retractable wings and a retractable needle, to numb his senses so her Nightsister allies Naa'leth and Karis could help to kill him. However, Dooku was proven to be too strong despite the poison.

After escaping the jungles of Tenupe, Alema Rar created some poison darts from the poison of a wasber, which she used, in conjunction with a blowgun, when she attempted to kill Jacen Solo on Coruscant. The dart was Force pushed away from Solo by Lumiya, and was injected into the World Brain, killing it. Rar would later use her poison darts to attempt to kill Mara Jade Skywalker on Roqoo Depot, and the Errant Venture, but failed both times as well. Weeks later, a poison dart ultimately spelled Jade Skywalker's doom when Solo, whom she was attempting to kill for his allegiance with the Sith, stabbed one into her leg. The dart was similar in design to those used by Rar, so the New Jedi Order incorrectly deduced that she was responsible for Jade Skywalker's death. Rar was thus hunted down and killed, while Solo managed to avoid discovery until he was exposed by Ben Skywalker and Lon Shevu.

Text and facts from the “Poison dart/Legends” article on Wookieepedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Modified for this site.