10 Facts About The Lightsaber You Might Not Have Known
Sure, there are millions of fictional weapons that have been created over the years. But let's face it — we all know that lightsabers are the greatest. So, here are a few facts about the lightsaber you probably didn’t even know about. But just a quick note: like it says in the video at the end, some of the info is part of “Star Wars Legends,” and not part of the Star Wars main continuity. But it’s still fun to talk about and geek out over.
1. Lightsabers were basically created by the Dark Side. The first part of the lightsaber was called a force saber and was Dark Side energy channeled into a blade and if a Jedi picked up a force saber, he/she would risk immediately and unwillingly turning to the Dark Side just by using it. So the early Jedis made the first lightsaber in order to use it and not turn evil.
2. In George Lucas’s earliest draft of the Star Wars script, the lightsaber was called the laser sword. Luckily that did not stick and they switched it back to lightsaber.
3. Luke Skywalker's Return of the Jedi lightsaber was originally supposed to be blue, but then Lucas made the decision to change it to green because the blue lightsaber was difficult to see during the fight scene near the Sarlacc pit, as it was getting lost against the blue sky.
4. Lightsabers were illegal during Empire days, making owning a lightsaber a crime. Also a crime: trading the crystals needed to make the lightsabers, no matter what planet they grew on.
5. There are seven forms of lightsaber combat. Shi-Cho, Mahashi, Soresu, Ataru, Shien-Djem So, Niman, Juyo/Vaapad.
6. Lightsabers used to need battery packs and the earliest lightsabers (also called Protosabers) didn’t include internal power cells...mainly because they weren’t invented yet. The Sith were the first ones to invent power cells and that got rid of the cord attached to the saber.
7. The color of the lightsaber is determined by the crystals it uses to focus the energy. The Dark Side got used to red sabers while the Jedi only used blue and green. Now, Mace Windu did use a purple lightsaber but that's only because Samuel L. Jackson requested a purple lightsaber because he wanted to pick himself out in a fight scene.
8. Lightsabers aren’t the only light weapon. There was also a light whip which was like a regular whip with lightsaber crystals allowing the beam to move freely.
9. Cutting someone's hand off with a lightsaber is actually a technique. It’s called Cho-mi.
10. Lightsabers can’t cut through everything. There are a few materials that resist the lightsaber blade.
The video below, created by VariantComics, will go in detail about all the facts I listed above. It’s very fun and entertaining and you can sound like a pro next time you talk about Star Wars with friends.