Alex
Sep 26th, 2004, 08:17:17 AM
There's something I've been wondering. It's kinda random, and there's no point me asking, save for the fact that I'm wondering about it. But I'll ask anyway. What colour Lightsaber blades can a Jedi have?
I always assumed before that it was blue for a Padawan, and green for a Knight upwards, with red being used by the Sith/Dark Jedi. However, after Episode II and EU, it seems that a Jedi Knight can basically have whatever coloured blade he wants. I did wonder if green was the major colour because the Jedi Order gave the Knight-in-training the crystals, or at least gave them access to it. Those with different coloured blades may have changed them later, or have asked for different coloured crystals, or something like that. However, in Episode IV, Obi Wan had a blue lightsaber. Is this because he prefers blue? It doesn't seem to fit with the pattern...even if he'd built a new saber between Episodes II and III, it would presumably have been green, as he was part of the Order. However, it doesn't seem to have been...
I thought about Jedi Academy, where you can select the hilt and blade for your Lightsaber. You can have it whatever colour you want, even when you move on to two sabers, and double-bladed sabers. I usually go for red, because red is my favorite colour. However, I'm wondering if a Jedi would be allowed to do that.
Next, I thought about Count Dooku. He was a Jedi Knight, but broke away and became a Dark Jedi. He had a red-bladed saber. There are three general ways that could have come about. Either a) he always had a red blade, b) a red blade is a symbol that you are not of the Jedi Order, or c) he changed it when he became a member of the Sith (Sith being different to Dark Jedi). The third option, to me, seems dumb. For starters, as soon as he drew a red blade, it shows that he is in league with the Sith. Ok, so it was obvious by the time he duelled Obi, Ani and Yoda. But still...all it would have taken is for someone else to have seen Dooku use his saber, and for word to have filtered back to the Jedi that he was part of the Sith...so unless Dooku was careless, c can be ruled out. If red was disallowed by the Council, then having a red blade would show that you had broken away from the Jedi Order. Dooku may have changed his blade in order to show that. However, what is the point? Why bother? Why not keep the green blade that you had as a Jedi Knight? Ok, it didn't go with his wardrobe, and most would percieve any Jedi who had broken away from the Order as evil, but why actually expend the effort and resources to change your blade? The only logical explaination to have changed colour have been if your former blade had been damaged/lost, or if you were changing saber styles - Dooku's saber was quite clearly a 1-handed weapon, whereas the Jedi usually favour a 1 1/2 handed saber (for an example of a non-saber 1 1/2 sword, watch Lord of the Rings. Aragorn has one).
Another thing. In one of the early-ish EU books (close to Episode VI), one of the Jedi pupils on Yavin IV constructs a lightsaber, under the guidance of the spirit of Exar Kun. That weapon eventually falls into the hands of Kyp Durron. The blade is purple. If Exar Kun were guiding him to create this weapon, surely he'd have said it should have red crystals, if red did symbolise the Dark Jedi or Sith. The only explaination is that there were only purple crystals availiable...but I'm a little confused as to how you get the crystals anyway. They're found mainly on Ilum, in all kinds of colours. If they end up elsewhere...why only one colour?
The whole changing saber things though...it doesn't sit right with me. "This weapon is your life," Obi Wan said. If the Lightsaber is that important to a Jedi, they wouldn't want to go changing it too much.
Anyone else have any other theories? Is the differently-coloured saber reserved for Masters only? I think we've only seen masters with them. It's just one of those things I started wondering about..
Oh, and a slight aside...in Episode II, Anakin had the same saber as he "gave" to Luke in Episode IV. However, that saber got cut in half in the Geonosis droid factory. From the footage I've seen of them training, when Anakin duels Obi Wan, he has a red bladed saber, which would suggest that, during the course of the film, he changes weapon. Now, I don't doubt between Episode II and Episode III, Anakin would have made a new saber. However, I can't think of a reason that Obi would get hold of Anakin's old saber, unless Anakin gave it to Obi, or left it somewhere when he changed weapons.
Also, lastly...I'll need to check on the Episode III preview, and the making the game documentaries on the DVD to see, but if Anakin is fighting with a new, red-bladed lightsaber, shouldn't it have the same hilt as Vader's one? It can't possibly be to do with Vader building a new Lightsaber to complete his training, because he couldn't. I can't really see Vader building anything in that suit. So, unless someone else did it for him...
Any thoughts?
I always assumed before that it was blue for a Padawan, and green for a Knight upwards, with red being used by the Sith/Dark Jedi. However, after Episode II and EU, it seems that a Jedi Knight can basically have whatever coloured blade he wants. I did wonder if green was the major colour because the Jedi Order gave the Knight-in-training the crystals, or at least gave them access to it. Those with different coloured blades may have changed them later, or have asked for different coloured crystals, or something like that. However, in Episode IV, Obi Wan had a blue lightsaber. Is this because he prefers blue? It doesn't seem to fit with the pattern...even if he'd built a new saber between Episodes II and III, it would presumably have been green, as he was part of the Order. However, it doesn't seem to have been...
I thought about Jedi Academy, where you can select the hilt and blade for your Lightsaber. You can have it whatever colour you want, even when you move on to two sabers, and double-bladed sabers. I usually go for red, because red is my favorite colour. However, I'm wondering if a Jedi would be allowed to do that.
Next, I thought about Count Dooku. He was a Jedi Knight, but broke away and became a Dark Jedi. He had a red-bladed saber. There are three general ways that could have come about. Either a) he always had a red blade, b) a red blade is a symbol that you are not of the Jedi Order, or c) he changed it when he became a member of the Sith (Sith being different to Dark Jedi). The third option, to me, seems dumb. For starters, as soon as he drew a red blade, it shows that he is in league with the Sith. Ok, so it was obvious by the time he duelled Obi, Ani and Yoda. But still...all it would have taken is for someone else to have seen Dooku use his saber, and for word to have filtered back to the Jedi that he was part of the Sith...so unless Dooku was careless, c can be ruled out. If red was disallowed by the Council, then having a red blade would show that you had broken away from the Jedi Order. Dooku may have changed his blade in order to show that. However, what is the point? Why bother? Why not keep the green blade that you had as a Jedi Knight? Ok, it didn't go with his wardrobe, and most would percieve any Jedi who had broken away from the Order as evil, but why actually expend the effort and resources to change your blade? The only logical explaination to have changed colour have been if your former blade had been damaged/lost, or if you were changing saber styles - Dooku's saber was quite clearly a 1-handed weapon, whereas the Jedi usually favour a 1 1/2 handed saber (for an example of a non-saber 1 1/2 sword, watch Lord of the Rings. Aragorn has one).
Another thing. In one of the early-ish EU books (close to Episode VI), one of the Jedi pupils on Yavin IV constructs a lightsaber, under the guidance of the spirit of Exar Kun. That weapon eventually falls into the hands of Kyp Durron. The blade is purple. If Exar Kun were guiding him to create this weapon, surely he'd have said it should have red crystals, if red did symbolise the Dark Jedi or Sith. The only explaination is that there were only purple crystals availiable...but I'm a little confused as to how you get the crystals anyway. They're found mainly on Ilum, in all kinds of colours. If they end up elsewhere...why only one colour?
The whole changing saber things though...it doesn't sit right with me. "This weapon is your life," Obi Wan said. If the Lightsaber is that important to a Jedi, they wouldn't want to go changing it too much.
Anyone else have any other theories? Is the differently-coloured saber reserved for Masters only? I think we've only seen masters with them. It's just one of those things I started wondering about..
Oh, and a slight aside...in Episode II, Anakin had the same saber as he "gave" to Luke in Episode IV. However, that saber got cut in half in the Geonosis droid factory. From the footage I've seen of them training, when Anakin duels Obi Wan, he has a red bladed saber, which would suggest that, during the course of the film, he changes weapon. Now, I don't doubt between Episode II and Episode III, Anakin would have made a new saber. However, I can't think of a reason that Obi would get hold of Anakin's old saber, unless Anakin gave it to Obi, or left it somewhere when he changed weapons.
Also, lastly...I'll need to check on the Episode III preview, and the making the game documentaries on the DVD to see, but if Anakin is fighting with a new, red-bladed lightsaber, shouldn't it have the same hilt as Vader's one? It can't possibly be to do with Vader building a new Lightsaber to complete his training, because he couldn't. I can't really see Vader building anything in that suit. So, unless someone else did it for him...
Any thoughts?