Windu's purple sabre

[Darth Wong]

Rebecca was saying that Mace Windu's Vaapad fighting style as described in the novelization included the channeling of Dark Side energy, so on some level it represents a combination of Dark Side and Light Side ... and red + blue = purple.

Just an idea to toss out there, for fun. We know the real reason is that Samuel Jackson just wanted a purple lightsabre, but I kind of like this explanation.

[Crown]

I've always thought that. It's about as close as a Jedi could go to the Dark Side without turning. Sort of a 'controlled furnace' our Master Widu is.

[Crazedwraith]

Strange theory. It wouldn't be so bad if the colour of the blade was influenced by the force but the EU at least states its the crystal that controls blade colour.

And while the Jedi and Sith may choose the colour of their blade for symbollic reasons I doubt Windu would public own up to being verging on Dark side usage.

[Stravo]

I thought I read somewhere that Windu's saber used an especially rare crystal to get that color.

[Majin Gojira]

IIRC, that was Samuel L Jackson's explination for the purple sabre.

[Mr Bean]

I thought I read somewhere that Windu's saber used an especially rare crystal to get that color.

Only bad ass motherfuckers can draw that crystal out of the ground, hence why there arn't any other Jedi's running around with it.

[Firefox]

A former friend of mine had a running hypothesis identical to that before even TPM came out. He had also pondered about some old claim that saber color is determined by how the user is aligned to the Force, but of course that was thrown out the window since Han used one to carve up a tauntaun.

[Jason von Evil]

I thought I read somewhere that Windu's saber used an especially rare crystal to get that color.

Only bad ass motherfuckers can draw that crystal out of the ground, hence why there arn't any other Jedi's running around with it.

Except in Knights of the Old Republic.

[Vanas]

Clearly, thousands of years ago, ALL Jedi were bad ass motherfuckers. They've gone downhill since and now Mace is the only BAMF Jedi left.

[Noble Ire]

On a more serious note, I always thought the prevelance of varied blades in the KOTOR era was due to an abundance of naturally occuring lightsaber crystals. Perhaps after tens of thousands of years of mining, only green and blue crystals are left in any quantity.

This might also explain why new order jedi use varied blades. Perhaps the Old jedi only took crystals from the "sacred" planet of Ilum (which may have been over-mined), but that knowelge was lost for the newer jedi, so they had to look elsewhere.

[Shadow WarChief]

Didn't one of the Jedi in the Clone Wars cartoon series use a purple blade? I saw him in the episode right after Anakin's knighting ceremony.

[Anarchist Bunny]

On a more serious note, I always thought the prevelance of varied blades in the KOTOR era was due to an abundance of naturally occuring lightsaber crystals. Perhaps after tens of thousands of years of mining, only green and blue crystals are left in any quantity.

This might also explain why new order jedi use varied blades. Perhaps the Old jedi only took crystals from the "sacred" planet of Ilum (which may have been over-mined), but that knowelge was lost for the newer jedi, so they had to look elsewhere.

Or green and blue(and possibly red) are the only colors that can be cheaply made artificially(although in the EU Jaina Solo makes her crystals IIRC and has a purple blade)

[Noble Ire]

On a more serious note, I always thought the prevelance of varied blades in the KOTOR era was due to an abundance of naturally occuring lightsaber crystals. Perhaps after tens of thousands of years of mining, only green and blue crystals are left in any quantity.

This might also explain why new order jedi use varied blades. Perhaps the Old jedi only took crystals from the "sacred" planet of Ilum (which may have been over-mined), but that knowelge was lost for the newer jedi, so they had to look elsewhere.

Or green and blue(and possibly red) are the only colors that can be cheaply made artificially(although in the EU Jaina Solo makes her crystals IIRC and has a purple blade)

Well, the sith do artificially create their red sabers, but as far as I know, Jedi use natural ones as a matter of custom (as seen in several of the comics, the Clone Wars with Barriss Offee in it) However, it is possible that lightsabers are in more demand during the clone wars, so it is possible they begin to manufacture them at that point, and are still restricted to green and blue, at least in large part.

[Noble Ire]

Didn't one of the Jedi in the Clone Wars cartoon series use a purple blade? I saw him in the episode right after Anakin's knighting ceremony.

Upon reviewing the episode in question (man, I love hyperspace) I didnt see any Jedi with purple lightsabers. However, for some messed up reason, Agen Kolar, or another Zabrak Jedi, is seen using a red lightsaber.

[Shadow WarChief]

Upon reviewing the episode in question (man, I love hyperspace) I didnt see any Jedi with purple lightsabers. However, for some messed up reason, Agen Kolar, or another Zabrak Jedi, is seen using a red lightsaber.

yeah, that's the one. I guess I was trying to rationalize it as purple to avoid from having an anneurism over the fact there was a jedi with a red saber.


here's the Jedi in question for anyone who can't call up the episode.

[General Brock]

I never thought to look at a color chart, but it makes sense and is a karma-like coincidence that works out symbolically. It might also explain why Mace had such a hard time with Anakin. Mace was close to the dark side himself, but had it well under control and Anakin's instability jangled him.

[Trogdor]

I thought I read somewhere that Windu's saber used an especially rare crystal to get that color.

It says that somewhere in Timetales. Supposedly Mace put off building a lightsaber because he wanted his to be special. Then he somehow got pulled back in time, became some legendary hero he'd heard about, and got his purple crystal in the process, IIRC.

[The Grim Squeaker]

I thought I read somewhere that Windu's saber used an especially rare crystal to get that color.

It says that somewhere in Timetales. Supposedly Mace put off building a lightsaber because he wanted his to be special. Then he somehow got pulled back in time, became some legendary hero he'd heard about, and got his purple crystal in the process, IIRC.

I thought it came from some type of rock/crystal based being that he helped repair in a canyon who gave him a crystal from his body as thanks

[Vympel]

I thought this was as good a thread as any to make this observation, but did anyone else notice that Palpatine and Mace Windu said the exact same thing in RotS?

Palpatine, after Anakin beheads Dooku:

"You did well, Anakin. He was too dangerous to be left alive."

Notice that Anakin knows what he did was wrong.

Windu, before Anakin behands (:lol:) him:

"He's too dangerous to be left alive!"

Do you think the Dark Lord of the Sith and the Jedi Master using the same reasoning factored into Anakin's decision at all?

[Illuminatus Primus]

Yeah, I've noted that. I think it was deliberate similarity, and all of Palpatine deprogramming rhetoric of "the Jedi and Sith are alike in almost all respects, including the quest for greater power" really solidified.

[Kurgan]

Rebecca was saying that Mace Windu's Vaapad fighting style as described in the novelization included the channeling of Dark Side energy, so on some level it represents a combination of Dark Side and Light Side ... and red + blue = purple.

Just an idea to toss out there, for fun. We know the real reason is that Samuel Jackson just wanted a purple lightsabre, but I kind of like this explanation.

It's a fun theory, but then why couldn't we have green+blue = turquoise?


Though running with that idea... [in the manner of Bob Brown]Perhaps he was using the Unified Force but borrowing a few Sith teachings [/in the manner of Bob Brown]

Still, that would have been a conscious choice on Mace Windu's part. He did use a blue lightsaber for awhile (C-level, and behind the scenes stuff from TPM). I wouldn't assume that one's use of the Force actually causes the lightsaber blade to physically change color. The Jedi Academy game almost went with this (if you turn to the Dark Side, your lightsaber changes whatever color it is to red), but it was an option that was toggled off by default.

Further evidence against any notion of "Force alignment actually colors your blade" would be Anakin's actions as Darth Vader in ROTS (while his saber remains blue throughout).

Why can't a Jedi just make a saber that's orange? Personal choice? Only red/blue/green/purple "crystals" exist? Cult rules? Who knows... it seems like there's no definitive official answer, at least not one that would work with ROTS in mind... or is there? The EU explanations up to now seem to conflict with one another. Like this stuff about Sith using "synthetic crystals" (the dark side is unnatural) but then having Luke "cook" his crystal as if it were artificial in making his ROTJ era lightsaber in SOTE.

If you want more examples of "messed up lightsabers" check out Jedi Power Battles (or those action figures around the same time too IIRC). Windu with a blue saber (gelled with behind the scenes stuff about his saber being blue in TPM), Adi Gallia with red, Plo Koon with Orange and Ki Adi Mundi with purple. This was of course before we saw many of those characters actually wield sabers onscreen, and then they turned out to be complete wrong.

About that scene with Windu echoing Palpatine's words, it could be that Palpatine saw the future and used those words purposely to plant a seed in Anakin's mind (thematically it's just to show how the same kinds of logic are used by those to justify their actions). With hindsight being 20/20 Mace Windu would have been justified in killing Palpatine. Would Windu have fallen to the Dark Side? If Windu was a Dark Jedi, would he have been a huge threat to the Jedi Order? Would Anakin become his apprentice? Or would Anakin kill them and then be the sole Dark Force user (with no Sith training)? Revenge of the Sith: Infinities!

[Darth Wong]

I wouldn't assume that one's use of the Force actually causes the lightsaber blade to physically change color.

Of course not, since Anakin's blade is still blue at the end of ROTS. What I meant was that people pick colours which are symbolic of their choices, and Windu chose the purple to symbolize his Vaapad style.

[The Grim Squeaker]

I wouldn't assume that one's use of the Force actually causes the lightsaber blade to physically change color.

Of course not, since Anakin's blade is still blue at the end of ROTS. What I meant was that people pick colours which are symbolic of their choices, and Windu chose the purple to symbolize his Vaapad style.

maybe it's possible to alter the crystal after enough meditation?
I,Jedi has Corran optimizing his crystal and lightsaber with the force so it may be possible.

[Kurgan]

I wouldn't assume that one's use of the Force actually causes the lightsaber blade to physically change color.

Of course not, since Anakin's blade is still blue at the end of ROTS. What I meant was that people pick colours which are symbolic of their choices, and Windu chose the purple to symbolize his Vaapad style.

Missed my edit, sorry. So he invented this "style" that only he uses and that explains why he uses a purple saber. I hesitate to think he specifically chose to put red in it to symbolize the Sith's use of the Dark Side (and thus red sabers).

It's a fascinating theory, and B Squared seemed to agree with it (his "unifying force = blue; living force = green; sith = red" thing). The only thing he didn't account for was the purple. But like you say, if Mace Windu had this weird style of saber combat that he invented, and the novels have him looking at the force as this strange spiderwebby thing with "shatterpoints" everywhere... maybe he's just his own thing?

Who knows.. maybe the first Dark Jedi to leave the Order to form the Sith happened to have a red lightsaber and THAT is why it became associated with the Sith order? Again, it's fun to speculate.

[Kurgan]

I wouldn't assume that one's use of the Force actually causes the lightsaber blade to physically change color.

Of course not, since Anakin's blade is still blue at the end of ROTS. What I meant was that people pick colours which are symbolic of their choices, and Windu chose the purple to symbolize his Vaapad style.

maybe it's possible to alter the crystal after enough meditation?
I,Jedi has Corran optimizing his crystal and lightsaber with the force so it may be possible.

What does an "optimized with the Force" saber blade look like? I never finished I, Jedi... If such a thing is possible, one wonders why it wasn't done more often?

Perhaps all lightsabers just have a "color tuning knob" on them ("blade length adjust" mislabelled in the VD's? j/k)?

PS: Originally I had a theory about the purple lightsaber thing, that the head members of the Jedi Council all had purple sabers (Ki Adi Mundi.. like in the Jedi Power Battles game; Mace Windu as I heard about in the press before AOTC came out, and then I would assume Yoda as well... some fan art even depicted him with a purple one). Alas, it was not to be! I remember also how the mis-timed color in some of the AOTC trailers and stills seemed to depict yellow/orange and purple lightsabers (that were really just the familiar blue and green... Mace's saber appeared pink).