Lightsaber colors?

[RobRoy]

Do lightsaber colors have any significance? Originally, I didn't think so, but then I started to ponder, and I realized that all of the Sith apparently use a red lightsaber. Blue, green and purple are more common among the Jedi than red, although I think I recall one or two reds during ATOC, but admittedly, I have only seen the movie twice, and really wasn't looking.

Thoughts?

[Han Solo]

I always associate red lightsabers with the Sith. One of the Jedi Council members came with a red lightsaber as an action figure. Can't remember the name but it was a girl and an episode I figure.

I like the greens ones the best and you would think a master/padawan combo would have different lightsaber colors like Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan but with Obi-Wan/Anakin they both have blue. Looks odd.

Mace has the purple ones, Yoda and Qui-Gon have green. Hmmm, could color be associated with your training level but Obi-Wan still had blue so I guess not. I've always wondered about that. Might have to pay better attention.

[Mirage]

I have no idea, though when I was a kid and saw Star Wars for the first time, and having watched Ben fight in the Cantina, and then Vader fight Ben, I had naively came to the conclusion that blue light sabres cut like a knife and red light sabres cause the opponent to dematerialize. At the time the signficance of Ben and the Force during that fiight.

Lets see:

Darth Maul: Red
Darth Vader: Red
Count Dooku: Red
Anakin: Green (then blue at some later point in time)
Yoda: Green
Obi-Wan: Blue
Mace Windu: Purple
Luke: Blue, then Green

That's all that I know of. Off the top of my head, I don't remember any Jedi using red. Have to look at that battle scene again.

[Mirage]

Han, are you sure Anakin always had a blue sabre and didn't start out with green? Unless I'm mistaken, I saw a movie-still picture of him with a green sabre

[Mirage]

And speaking of sabres, Darth Vader's in AW:ANH was rather lame. In the later movies, they colored in all the sabres after filming

In ANH they initially relied upon ScotchLite (some highly reflective material) covering the sabres, and show focused strong lights (blue and red) on them. However, in post-production, they only touched up the blue sabre to give it more of an ethereal glow, but did little or nothing with Darth Vader's red sabre

[Han Solo]

Originally posted by Mirage
Han, are you sure Anakin always had a blue sabre and didn't start out with green? Unless I'm mistaken, I saw a movie-still picture of him with a green sabre

He has a blue lightsaber when he's on his way to rescue Obi-Wan and on Tatooine. He gets a green one in the arena battle because his got broken when he got captured and the green one is passed to him by the rescuing Jedi. Then he has green and blue with Dooku because Obi-Wan gave him his lightsaber but he did have the blue first.

[Mirage]

After poking around on the net, it appears that the topic of light sabre colors is a time honored Star Wars discussion with no real satisfactory resolution. I've found online discussions going back to 1983.

Some have postulated the red = sith, blue = padawan, green = master theory but that doesn't hold weight

BTW, for a web page on light sabres, check the link below for their history, the pseudoscience of their implementation, fighting styles and so on).

http://www.synicon.com.au/sw/ls/sabres.htm

Though it does not appear to address AOTC since that page was last updated in 2001

I read that the Conehead Jedi had a purple sabre as well. And there were some early Luke and Ben toys with yellow light sabres.

Personally, I think Lucas chose red for the Sith, since red is often associated with evil and blood (plus red and black are often considered a cool color combination). All other possible colors apply to the Jedi, but I think think the color palatte is reduced to blue, green and purple since they are the most vivid and distinct. Yellow and white are too light. Orange is too close to red

[tancred]

I love the red and blue lightsabers. It took me awhile to get used to Luke's green one in ROTJ. I'm still not used to the purple ones. I also noticed the yellow sabers on some of the early figures, as Mirage pointed out. Anyone see any of those in AOTC?

I have no idea what the different colors mean. Could they be some sort of reflection of the character of the wielder? Maybe the Sith are all red as they are bent on evil and corruption. Perhaps those with green sabers are more into the wisdom and meditation of the Force. The blue are maybe those who stress the physical well-being and prowess that comes along with the Force. A Jedi makes his or her own lightsaber. Could it be that they do not know what color it will be? Maybe they do not know until they first brandish it, and then maybe the color that arises means something significant to them spiritually? Maybe a Jedi starts out with one color, and sticks to it until some great or sad event in their life (Luke after Empire)? :confused:

[BlueDelvia]

According to this site... http://www.lightsaber.com/

The color of the blade depends on the crystal which is used... and elsewhere I once read that the Sith have a preference for one sort of crystal which has traditionally been used by them.

Crystal Energy Chamber

The energy from the power assembly is directed through the energy gate and into the crystals of the crystal energy chamber. The highly chaotic wide-spectrum energy which enters the chamber is transformed into narrow-spectrum energy, giving the lightsaber blade its distinct color and power/energy characteristics.

Virtually any naturally occurring crystals may be used. But the resonance and spectrum narrowing characteristics vary with the material properties of the crystal. Kaiburr crystals are preferred, but are extremely rare.

Primary crystal - provides the primary frequency of the energy beam which is fed to blade generation.

Focusing crystals - additional crystals to direct the energy beam toward blade generation. These often provide secondary frequencies, resulting in changes in color of the blade.

Focusing crystal activator - engages focusing crystals. Individual focusing crystals may have individual activators.

[RobRoy]

Originally posted by BlueDelvia
According to this site... http://www.lightsaber.com/

The color of the blade depends on the crystal which is used... and elsewhere I once read that the Sith have a preference for one sort of crystal which has traditionally been used by them.

Did it say why, Blue? Was there a particular kind of ressonance that the crystal gave that jived with the Dark Side of the Force? Or was it just because it's an ominous color and would dismay folks in a fight?

[BlueDelvia]

Originally posted by RobRoy
Did it say why, Blue? Was there a particular kind of ressonance that the crystal gave that jived with the Dark Side of the Force? Or was it just because it's an ominous color and would dismay folks in a fight?

I don't remember where I read that Rob or more, but I'm looking... :bg:

Spoke too soon... here's the site that explains the color diff's and why the Sith like to use red...

http://jediarchives.bejedi.com/index.php...lightsaber

[missferal]

Some time ago I read an article from Samuel Jackson with regards to the purple light sabre and went hunting.
Here is a portion of his answer:

Jackson said he asked "Star Wars" creator George Lucas to let Mace fight with a purple light saber. Why?

"I'd like to say, you know, because Mace is kind of an advanced Jedi, high up in the order, has more powers," Jackson, 53, said in an interview last week at Lucas' Skywalker Ranch. "He needed something that was very special.

"But the real reason is because I realized we had these big battle scenes I was sure they were going to shoot from a long distance. I wanted to be able to find myself in the middle of it."

[RobRoy]

Originally posted by BlueDelvia
Spoke too soon... here's the site that explains the color diff's and why the Sith like to use red...

This was from the site, and it actually makes interesting sense:

But, as Jedi students search out a crystal for their saber, a Sith Knight does not. The Sith are known to create the crystal themselves in blazing furnace. They shape the stone with their mind and focus all their hatred for the Jedi in the crystal.

And:

Red crystals are actually not that suitable for the use in lightsabers. They are less stable than their blue and green counterparts used by the Jedi. However, red crystals glow in harmonic vibration when energized by the Dark Side of the Force. When energized in this way, the crystals can produce a stronger blade that has the rare potential to "break the blade" of Jedi lightsabers. They overload the energy matrix, immediately burning out the saber of the opponent.

This rarely happens, but is a frightening possibility in combat.


How canonical is this site Blue? It makes sense to me, and certainly addresses all the aspects of the questions I was asking, so I'm just curious where they pulled this information.

[BlueDelvia]

Originally posted by RobRoy
How canonical is this site Blue? It makes sense to me, and certainly addresses all the aspects of the questions I was asking, so I'm just curious where they pulled this information.

None of it is unless it appears in the movie Rob and even then Lucas likes to fiddle with that.

As I've heard the list of authentic background intel goes something like...

1. Movies
2. Radio Dramas
3. Books
4. Comics

They listed a couple of the reference in that page and most of it comes from Expanded Universe books and sites.

[RobRoy]

Ok, so it does have some canonical legitimacy. Interesting. I liked the concept, so thanks for the article Blue. It was much appreciated.

[BlueDelvia]

Originally posted by RobRoy
Ok, so it does have some canonical legitimacy. Interesting. I liked the concept, so thanks for the article Blue. It was much appreciated.

No prob... but I think I miss wrote that previous post. I meant the order of legitimacy goes in that order. In other words the movies are the first source of legit info then comes the radio dramas and so on.

I believe alot of what they are siting is from the comics and books so it's last in the pecking order. LOL

But I do like the idea and it makes for interesting thinking.

[Mirage]

I've also seen some reference to light sabre colors in online documentation to Star Wars RPGs. I don't recall what it said, but I assume it was noncanonical

[RobRoy]

No Blue, that made perfect sense. Probably my terms were't all that clear. As I recall, Lucas has stated that any literature for the Star Wars universe if okey-dokey, but that he reserved the right to change anything any time he wanted. Thus, to some extent, it is legitimate until Lucas says otherwise.

[Goldmare]

Have any of you read the Star Wars: Young Jedi Knights series? I know it wasn't written by Lucas or anything, but in the book "Lightsabers" they don't just stick to blue and green. Each of the young Jedi assembles their own lightsaber, and the colors include: violet, bronze, emerald-green, gray-white with gold sparks, and turquoise. Personally, I think it's kinda boring for lightsabers to be one of just three colors. I think it shows less imagination. I know that I wouldn't want to be either blue or green, and I think purple is very cool, especially for Mace Windu. Although it does kinda make it easier to identify Dark Jedi because they all use red blades. Anyway, that's just my opinion.

Red crystals are actually not that suitable for the use in lightsabers. They are less stable than their blue and green counterparts used by the Jedi. However, red crystals glow in harmonic vibration when energized by the Dark Side of the Force. When energized in this way, the crystals can produce a stronger blade that has the rare potential to "break the blade" of Jedi lightsabers. They overload the energy matrix, immediately burning out the saber of the opponent.

I think this makes sense.

[Han Solo]

I have not read the Young Jedi series and I only have one book of the series but the only dark jedi we have seen on film, Maul, Dooku, and Vader have all had red sabers but they should vary. One thing that's hard is they should have made Anakin and Obi-Wan have different colors but they had to stick to blue for Anakin cause of A New Hope. A Jedi/Padiwan should have different colors to distinguish between who is fighting like Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon.