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Lightsabers, what's the deal? Color coding

#1 User is offline   Vesuvius Icon

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Posted 27 August 2006 - 01:06 PM

Do Jedi Knights (Obi-wan, Anakin) all have blue lightsabers and Jedi Masters all use green? If so, why would Luke get a green lightsaber and act all tough in Ep VI, when Yoda told him that Vader remains. And I know that Dark Jedi and Sith usually use synthetic crytals that give them the red lightsaber, but why not a Sith that's so powerfull that he uses a blacklight purple lightsaber, showing his advanced Sith technique. And what's up with Mace Windu using a purple lightsaber and he's only one style above Darth Maul? If Yoda is the toughest, why doesn't he have the purple blade instead?
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#2 User is offline   MyPantsAreOnFire Icon

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Posted 27 August 2006 - 02:11 PM

I didn't think there any rhyme or reason except bad guys got red or red-ish blades and the good guys got everything else.

I don't get why the bad guys HAVE to have red blades. Wouldn't that be a dead give away for guys like Dooku who were trying to hide that they were evil? But nooooooo, he whips out a red lightsaber like it ain't no thang and everyone acts surprised...
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#3 User is offline   Vesuvius Icon

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Posted 27 August 2006 - 02:52 PM

"he whips out a red lightsaber like it ain't no thang and everyone acts surprised..." laugh.gif laugh.gif Awesome! But see, that's what bothers me, why do all the Sith have just red? Why can't they get some really dark shade of something, signifying that they are indeed Dark Jedi?! OH! I just forgot, only a Sith deals in absolutes (smacks head) Well now, ..... please.... How would you know master from apprentice if they both have red? For the Jedi, you knew who was the padawan and who was the Jedi Master, blue and green lightsabers. Oh, and correct me if I'm wrong but is it true that blue lightsabers were given to the users that displayed more physical attributes while users of green lightsabers were more intune and able to use the Force to solve conflict?
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#4 User is offline   MyPantsAreOnFire Icon

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Posted 27 August 2006 - 04:44 PM

Where is all this info coming from? And even if it's true, it still doesn't explain a lot...didn't we see orange and yellow lightsabers in the newer films? Maybe I'm just remembering wrong since I only saw each PT film once. And weren't there different shades of blues and greens? And what the hell does purple mean?!?

Besides, it seems pretty arbritrary to dole out different colors based on different personalities. It essentially makes them lethal mood rings and kind of, well, lame.

They should have just made them blue or red.

This post has been edited by MyPantsAreOnFire: 27 August 2006 - 04:44 PM

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#5 User is offline   johnnycancer Icon

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Posted 27 August 2006 - 07:05 PM

QUOTE
Oh, and correct me if I'm wrong but is it true that blue lightsabers were given to the users that displayed more physical attributes while users of green lightsabers were more intune and able to use the Force to solve conflict?


There is apparently some credence to this assumption, although I can't quote a specific Star Wars source. According to a Wikipedia article on lightsabers, "Blue-bladed lightsabers are amost often associated with Jedi Guardians [...]" while, regarding green lightsabers, "It has later been retconned to be the color of a "Jedi Consular", a Jedi who focuses on mastery of the Force rather than lightsaber combat."

Also, according to the article, Sith lightsabers are generally red because they use a synthetic crystal; the rationale for doing so is that these synthetic crystals create a stronger lightsaber blade than green or blue crystals would. So, since Sith tend to favor power, this explains why most, but not all Sith would have red lightsabers.

Also, I think we all knew this, but, Jedi traditionally build their own lightsabers and I guess part of that process involves finding a crystal. According to the article, usually a crystal will "call out" to a Jedi. So, the color of a lightsaber can be a reflection of a Jedi's personality; but, it doesn't have to be.

So yeah, still doesn't explain very much.

Here's the article:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightsaber

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#6 User is offline   CowboyCurtis Icon

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Posted 27 August 2006 - 10:23 PM

Can I mention my "mood lightsabers" idea again? biggrin.gif
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#7 User is offline   johnnycancer Icon

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Posted 28 August 2006 - 02:41 AM

QUOTE (CowboyCurtis @ Aug 27 2006, 08:23 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Can I mention my "mood lightsabers" idea again? biggrin.gif



The concept is becoming more and more appealing.

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#8 User is offline   diligent_d Icon

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Posted 28 August 2006 - 10:44 AM

Knights Of The Old Republic explains the rationale pretty good. The different colors were used for seperate Jedi "classifications".

Though I usually used red for my character, despite his class...
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#9 User is offline   StarWarsIsUs Icon

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Posted 28 August 2006 - 09:27 PM

Curtis, That is actually an interesting idea. A lightsaber that fits your mood.

Green = Have a tendancy to fight defensively.

Blue = Have a tendancy to fight offensively.
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#10 User is offline   KurganX Icon

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Posted 29 August 2006 - 12:22 AM

The master-apprentice thing is complete bollocks.

MASTER Qui Gon Jinn has a green one, and his padawan has a blue one.

Luke (blue lightsaber) is trained by Ben Kenobi (blue lightsaber) who trained Anakin (blue lightsaber). Yoda (we don't learn he has a lightsaber until the prequels, but it turns out to be green) also trains Luke (and Obi-Wan apparently).

Both Obi-Wan and Anakin briefly use green lightsabers in Episode I and Episode II respectively (and in both cases it's when they're on the offensive, I might add, to the section below).

On the Jedi Council, they're all suppposedly "Masters" and yet they have a mix of green and blue and of course Mace Windu seems to be one of three top dudes on the council and he has purple! (though we don't learn what students he has, if any).

Yoda teaches a bunch of "younglings" in Episode II and they have a mix of blue and green blades (and Yoda has green).

General Grievous uses both blue and green simultaneously and he's not a Jedi or a Sith! (also Lucas broke his own "out of universe" rule here, by giving a "bad guy" colors other than red... though he also has Anakin continue to use blue well after his "fall" to the Dark Side).

In Episode II we have numerous examples of people using blue and green lightsabers simultaneously (though apart from Anakin's 3 second bout, the rest are Jedi extras in the background of the Geonosis arena fight).

There were no orange or yellow lightsabers in any of the movies, that was just rumor based on color corruption of trailers/screenshots (even I was sucked into this until I saw later higher quality trailers/shots that proved they were simply blue and green). Mace Windu was the only purple lightsaber user.

The "Synethic Crystals" thing is contradicted by Shadows of the Empire which has Luke synthesizing crystals for his lightsaber which is GREEN and he's not using the Dark Side, is he?

The thing is, Lightsabers are never explained in the movies (it's just "the weapon of a Jedi Knight, not as clumsy or random as a blaster... an elegant weapon from a more civilized age." and in the prequels we get "this weapon is your life" and young Anakin associates "your Laser Sword" with being a Jedi), and the information in the Expanded Universe sources is contradictory.

Besides, how would a Sith lightsaber be "stronger"? Would it have more cutting power? Would it glow brighter? Last longer? What? Because in the fights we don't see Sith lightsabers cutting through Jedi ones, do we? They don't seem to be any better at cutting things, etc. They seem pretty much the same as Jedi sabers other than the color.



The tendancy to fight offensivly vs. defensively thing doesn't really hold up either.

Was Yoda really a "Defensive Fighter" (in saber combat?)?

Qui Gon went for the gusto, he didn't seem defensive, except in that very first fight with Maul (the brief one in the desert).

Luke was hardly a defensive fighter either in his battle with Jabba's thugs or with Vader. Green all the way.

Is Grievous a combination of defensive and offensive fighting then, since he has both?

The colors just don't mean anything anymore, if they ever did. Just that (in the movies) if you have red, you're definately one of the "bad guys."

This post has been edited by KurganX: 29 August 2006 - 12:23 AM

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Posted 29 August 2006 - 02:14 PM

No, General Grievous doesn't even apply to the rule.


Grievous is not a Jedi. He's just some mecha-man who stole lightsabers from the Jedi he killed. Nothing really deep there.
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#12 User is offline   Vesuvius Icon

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Posted 29 August 2006 - 10:39 PM

Awesome post KurganX! I was also thinking about Jedi being solely on the defensive. You can't kill your oponent if you're only defending. Another thing that I had a problem with was when Yoda threw his lightsaber into a clone trooper and it stuck in him! Would not the weight of the handle pull the weightless blade down and make a really bad mess out of that clone trooper?

I was also wondering about stronger lightsaber blades too. It's light, it's hot, it's not going to get much stronger than that. What's next, Lucas decides to have a "tempered" lightsaber?
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#13 User is offline   MyPantsAreOnFire Icon

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Posted 29 August 2006 - 11:53 PM

For some reason I always had assumed that the Jedis had to bascially hold the swtich in the "on" position when they turned it on...like it was part of their discipline, having to focus on the fight and keeping the blade active, too. I think I guessed that after ESB, when Luke's lightsabre just randomly turns off after his hand holding it gets lopped off. Even when Vader threw his in ROTJ and the blade stayed on I simply figured that he was willing it to stay on as opposed to any kind of switch.

If this isn't the case, wouldn't Jedi duels on space ships and stations be incredibly dangerous? Guy drops dead, his switched on lightsabre falls out of has hand and just burns through the floors or walls until it punches a hole into space.

Again, I have no idea why I assumed that. It makes no sense once you remember Luke being able to turn it on and swing it around in ANH.
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#14 User is offline   johnnycancer Icon

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Posted 30 August 2006 - 04:51 AM

QUOTE (MyPantsAreOnFire @ Aug 29 2006, 09:53 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
For some reason I always had assumed that the Jedis had to bascially hold the swtich in the "on" position when they turned it on...like it was part of their discipline, having to focus on the fight and keeping the blade active, too.


You know what, I remember thinking this for a long time too. I hadn't given this much thought in a while. But, thinking that the Jedi have to hold down the "on" switch on their lightsabers doesn't make any less sense than thinking they just stay on with the push of a button.

At the very least, there must be some mechanism that deactivates the lightsaber when it's outside of someone's hand; otherwise, how do you account for both Obi-Wan and Luke's lightsabers being deactivated when they dropped them in their duels with Vader?

And, as you already pointed out, if there is no such mechanism, then, lightsabers are one of the most dangerous things you can ever be swinging around when you're onboard a spaceship! Seems like that would be horribly impractical and foolish - why would you ever engage in combat with somebody when you're both using weapons that could potentially melt a hole through steel, depressurize your entire space vessel and kill everybody on board?

Anybody want to bust out the technical manuals and tell us how this works?

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Posted 30 August 2006 - 07:47 AM

Perhaps a combination of a switch and some kind of sensor?

BTW, an explanation of the lightsaber colours is given in the game Knights of the Old Republic:
Blue = Jedi Guardian (those who focus mainly on lightsaber combat).
Green = Jedi Consular (those who focus mainly on using the Force).
Yellow = Jedi Sentinel (those who focus on both equally, and additional non-Force-specific skills).

I'm pretty sure the 'classes' were just invented for gameplay purposes and have no basis in the movies, but I actually like the idea of Jedi specialisations. Makes a lot more sense then having every Jedi act as a combination soldier/diplomat/spy/detective/bodyguard/plumber/whatever happens to be needed at the time.
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