Skip to main content

star wars - How does kyber crystal purification work?


Wookieepedia suggests that Ahsoka's lightsabers are white because she took red crystals and purified them:



"Ahsoka obtained the kyber crystals used in these lightsabers one year after the end of the Clone Wars, retrieving them from the lightsaber of Sixth Brother, an Inquisitor she had killed. Though the crystals originally emitted a red blade, she had purified them from the darkness tainting them, by her description."
Wookieepedia - Ahsoka Tano's White Lightsabers



If so, what is the process of this purification? Does purification always lead to a white lightsaber?




Answer



How does "purification" happen?


Based on what happens in the canon novel Ahsoka, crystals are purified by meditating with them; this is essentially the only thing Ahsoka does between the Inquisitor's (red) lightsaber exploding and her (white) lightsabers igniting:



Before she could even consider shouting a warning, the red lightsaber burst into a mess of noise and light. Bright spots pricked at her eyes, and then all was quiet. The creature wasn't going to bother her anymore.


[...]


She pushed aside her sense of urgency, even though she was in a hurry. Meditation came easily, as if she were sitting in safety in the Jedi Temple itself, instead of a dusty street with her enemies closing in. Her mind's eye sorted the preassembled components and those she had just retrieved into order, locking each into place with the others. When Ahsoka opened her hands, she was not surprised to find that two lightsabers, rough and unfinished, were waiting.


They would need more work, but they were hers.


When she turned them on, they shone the brightest white.


Ahsoka Chapter 28




Presumably, within the Force this is Ahsoka creating a bond with her crystal; Pablo Hidalgo has said on Twitter that this is how crystals change colour for Jedi, which is one of the few things we know about the process:


screencap of Twitter conversation



@primagrine what determines a light sider's lightsaber colour? do the crystals [have] anythin[g] to do w[ith] it [?]


@pablohidalgo The crystal takes on a color when a Jedi achieves a bond with "his/her" kyber. No one knows what the colors signify.



On an internal level, "purification" would seem to be resolving the Dark Side/Light Side conflict within the crystal; Ahsoka suggests that crystals are turned red by tipping the scales in favour of the Dark (emphasis mine):



Dark crystals were made, too, but not in that holy place. They were plundered from their rightful bearers and corrupted by the hands that stole them. Even rock could be changed by the power of the Force, bleeding alterations until their color was the deepest red. The balance was finely staged between the two, light and dark, and it took very little to upset it.



Ahsoka



Whether or not a crystal can be "purified" by anyone, or just by the person that crystal chooses as its proper bearer, is unknown.


Does "purification" always result in a white (or colourless) crystal?


We don't know; Ahsoka is the only example we have of this process in action, and her lightsaber colour explicitly symbolizes her detachment from both the Jedi and the Sith. Even Pablo Hidalgo doesn't know, having been asked this on Twitter:


screencap of Twitter conversation



@ReyaShankar Do red crystals turn only white when restored or can they change to other colors as well?


@pablohidalgo Unknown. In fact, Ahsoka was very surprised when it happened.




If forced to guess, I would assume that a "purified" crystal would turn to whatever colour was appropriate for the person who bonded with it; so, for example, Luke could have purified the crystal in Vader's lightsaber and turned it green. But this is, of course, only a guess.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.

harry potter - How could Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra?

I want to be very careful about how I ask this question – I am not asking How did Voldemort die? [CLOSED] Below the text is the relevant passages from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows if anyone wants to review them (I'm sorry for the amount of text). How did Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra and kill Voldemort? I feel the reason Harry's Expelliarmus overpowered Voldemort's Avada Kedavra curse has to do with who was master of the Elder Wand and how the Elder Wand works. I've always had trouble understanding fully how the Elder Wand works, though. How much did the fact that Voldemort never truly won or mastered the Elder Wand factor into how Expelliarmus reacted to Avada Kedavra and caused Avada Kedavra to rebound and kill Voldemort? An answer based in book canon would be especially welcome, but any canon source really is fine. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he, too, yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco’s wand: ‘ Avada Kedavra !’ ‘ Expelliarmus !...

tolkiens legendarium - Difference between elves and dwarves blacksmithing in the Lord of the Rings

Both the elves and the dwarves were famous for their metal work in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but what is the difference between what they made, and which one had the better skill of making amours and swords? Answer James Christopher's answer sums up the second part of your question well, but as to the difference in what they made, a little more detail is needed. Once the Elves learned to forge with steel, the shape of the sword changed, now being able to take on the form of a great broadsword or a light and agile curved sword. Additionally, they took great pride in decorating their swords. As we see in the Lord of the Rings , some swords like Sting had magical properties such as glowing blue when orcs are near. As far as the use of Mithril, lotr.wikia has two contradictory passages: Thus, Elven blades became renowned as great weapons, capable of performing deeds beyond the skill of their handlers and were even more glorious when the use of Mithril was allowed to the Elves. ...

game of thrones - Is Syrio Forel dead?

In the episode 'The Pointy End' (Season 1 Episode 8) when Arya runs from the Lannister guards you hear the sound of a sword being dropped (around 4:56): [embedded content] After that neither Syrio or Ser Meryn Trant is never mentioned or seen in the show again, except when Arya mentions to the Hound that Ser Meryn Trant killed Syrio. Is there any mention in the books that Syrio actually dies?