Skip to main content

star wars - Why did Luke give Leia a red lightsaber, of all colors?


For many years in the Legends EU, Leia used an old hand-me-down lightsaber - a blue one. However, she rarely used it and also neglected her training as a Jedi, long fearing that either her or her children would repeat the mistakes of Darth Vader,




her father (and the grandfather of her children).



However, a third of the way into the novel "Ambush at Corellia", Luke gives her a new lightsaber - one that he built from scratch just for her. The lightsaber is described as smaller than her previous one - fitting her hand much better - and having a red blade.


Knowing Leia's fears of the dark side and the Sith... why did Luke give her a RED lightsaber of all things? And did she ever change the color of her lightsaber?



Answer



I'm sure that in 2015 there's lightsaber crystals available at every corner drug store, but a long time ago they were a little hard to come by.


Lightsaber color used to usually mean something. These days it's left entirely up to personal preference (in and out of universe). Gathering the crystals to create a lightsaber is the hard part. If you have them, you might as well just build a new one. AFAIK, she still has both lightsabers and (I hope) we'll learn very soon which one she prefers, in episode seven.


Creating a Meaning for Lightsaber Colors –scifi.about.com




Even within the Star Wars universe, the meaning of lightsaber colors is not always certain. Jedi vs. Sith: The Complete Guide to the Force, for example, states that the idea of lightsaber colors reflecting their wielders' personalities is a "popular notion," but incorrect. Rather, lightsaber colors depend on the type of crystals used to create the blade.


According to The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force, lightsaber colors originally indicated a Jedi's role in the Order. For example, Jedi Consulars, who focused on non-violence, carried green lightsabers to symbolize peace. Jedi Guardians, on the other hand, carried blue lightsabers as a symbol of uniformity and solidarity. These symbolic colors began around 4,000 BBY. By 1,032 BBY, lightsaber colors were still associated with different types of Jedi, but were neither required nor exclusive. Kerra Holt in Knight Errant, for example, wields a green lightsaber despite having no association with the Jedi Consulars.


The in-universe explanation for the lack of lightsaber color variation in the movies is a lack of colored crystals. According to Jedi vs. Sith, the Empire quarantined or destroyed many sources of lightsaber crystals. This left the Jedi with mostly Ilum crystals, which can only produce green or blue blades. This explains neither the dearth of colors in the Prequels nor the unusual lightsaber colors in the Expanded Universe during the time of the Empire, but it's likely the best explanation fans will get.



After reading, What is the reason that lightsabers have different colors? I can only surmise that Leia's is a natural crystal (which would make it completely okay in my book) and not a synthetic crystal.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Do the Kwikspell courses work?

In Harry Potter we are introduced to Kwikspell course in The Chamber of Secrets (and never hear about it again). We see Filch taking courses, presumably by mail. The descriptions of Kwikspell make me think it is for people who are weak in magic (kind of like how Neville was supposed to be when he was younger), but had magic in them nonetheless. However, Ron's comments later in the chapter make it sound like it is mainly for Squibs to learn magic. However, it is strongly implied through out all the books that Squibs are essentially Muggles, and will never be able to do magic. How then is a Kwikspell course supposed to work? Do we have any information to know if it works at all? Is it a scam? An answer from any level of canon is welcome. Answer Kwikspell courses are (probably) useful to some wizards, but not to squibs. The Kwikspell course literature comes with two testimonials. Madam Z. Nettles of Topsham writes: ‘I had no memory for incantations and my potions were a family joke...
Post a Comment
Read more

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.
Post a Comment
Read more

star wars - What "exactly" happens when someone turns to the Dark Side?

When I saw the original Star Wars saga as a kid, the concept of the Dark Side imprinted in me was quite simple. You did a bad thing, so you're a bad person so you go to the Dark Side and keep doing bad things. Now, obviously this doesn't hold true in reality. In my mind it is perfectly reasonable for Luke to kill the Emperor and Vader and then just flee the Death Star and rejoin the Alliance. After all they are at war, those are enemy officers that have captured him and are taunting him by threatening with death of all loved ones and the whole operation was intended to kill the Emperor anyway. The same would hold true for Anakin. He could have killed Mace Windu to save the Chancellor and Padme but that doesn't mean he's going to then go mad and kill all Jedis including children. It doesn't add up from a merely psychological point of view. He had a set of objectives and that made him want to keep the Chancellor alive (quite valid by the way, Mace Windu is quite clums...
Post a Comment
Read more

star trek - Warning regarding forward saucer section in Nemesis?

In Star Trek: Nemesis , just before the Enterprise rams into the Scimitar, Picard sends a text message from his captain's chair arm pad to Troi — who is manning the helm in lieu of the crewman who was just blown out through what was once the view screen — indicating that she should put full impulse on standby. (Literally, if you watch the scene closely, Troi's console prefaces the order with "TXT MSG" !) My question is: Did Picard also somehow warn crew members in the forward saucer section about what was about to happen? The ramming of the Scimitar was a heat of the moment decision. Considering that he also resorted to calling the auto-destruct sequence shortly after (which ended up being offline), he probably was of the mindset that any losses would be acceptable in order to hault Shinzon's march to Earth. Still, I'm curious. Answer The original script indicates that he called for the crew to " brace for impact ". Whether that call (or the comma...
Post a Comment
Read more