>>715566350
It has an edge and it is shaped like a sword because it was originally supposed to be a vibrosword, like in KOTOR. Late in the production of the episode, Lucas watched it and did not like the idea that a sword seemingly made out of metal could counter a lightsaber, he thought it diminished the lightsaber, and said that if this was a thing everyone would use it. So he said the sword had to be made out of light, not out of steel, and to make it unique he said to make it black, like some kind of ancient lightsaber. The reality of the situation is that the creator of Star Wars hated most of the EU ideas, and what he had in mind differed drastically from 99% of it.