Lightsaber colors

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Gunhead
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Post by Gunhead »

Another theory is that the blue and green crystals are cheaper and since the Rebublic is footing the bill for the Jedi the Republic stuck them with the cheapest going.[/quote]

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Post by Lord Pounder »

Coyote wrote:What about the old thing of lightsaber colors indicated one's position within the Force? It always seemed to me that the "goodest" good guys got deeper in th eblue spectrum, and green always showed up in the hands of the more "neutral" types.

There was a yellow lightsaber wielded by a Dathomir witch, wasn't there? I have not read that particular book for a long time, but I Recall LUke thinking of a "rainbow" of lightsaber colors in a dark alley, or some such...
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Post by Lord Revan »

The new essential guide to weapon and technogy. says that lightsabers where in every color of the rainbow before the battle of Ruusan, since KOTOR happens before this (actually 3,000 years before it) the KOTOR system might have correct. After the battle of Ruusan only Blue, Green and Red common (the rest where very rare) until the NJO started find ways of making different colored sabers.
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Post by Drooling Iguana »

Maybe blue and green sabres work better at deflecting blaster bolts, while red lightsabres work better for dueling. Since the Sith are mostly facing off against lightsabre-weilding Jedi, while the Jedi spend most of their time fighting battledroids or regular people with blasters, it would make sense for them to design their lightsabres along different lines.
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Post by Stofsk »

Drooling Iguana wrote:Maybe blue and green sabres work better at deflecting blaster bolts, while red lightsabres work better for dueling. Since the Sith are mostly facing off against lightsabre-weilding Jedi, while the Jedi spend most of their time fighting battledroids or regular people with blasters, it would make sense for them to design their lightsabres along different lines.
Uh...?

Qui-gon's lightsaber: cuts Maul in half. Green.

Obi-wan's lightsaber: cuts Mos Eisley riff-raff arms off. Blue.

Luke Skywalker's lightsaber: cuts Vader's hand off. Green.

I am SERIOUSLY starting to think that Stark's idea - that it's meaningless - is the best one. KOTOR's is second best, as it does give an interesting take on the matter.
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Post by Drooling Iguana »

Stofsk wrote:
Drooling Iguana wrote:Maybe blue and green sabres work better at deflecting blaster bolts, while red lightsabres work better for dueling. Since the Sith are mostly facing off against lightsabre-weilding Jedi, while the Jedi spend most of their time fighting battledroids or regular people with blasters, it would make sense for them to design their lightsabres along different lines.
Uh...?

Qui-gon's lightsaber: cuts Maul in half. Green.

Obi-wan's lightsaber: cuts Mos Eisley riff-raff arms off. Blue.

Luke Skywalker's lightsaber: cuts Vader's hand off. Green.
That's like saying that since a shotgun and a submachine gun can both kill a guy, they'd be equally effective in all situations. Of course all lightsabres can cut, but there'd be other factors to consider as well, such as maneuverability of the blade, power consumption, effectiveness against shields and armour, etc.
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Post by Freeman's Trigger-Finger »

The theory falls apart when you watch ANH, and realise that according to this theory a Jedi Master wielded an apprentice-rank colour. Does that strike you as odd? Why would he choose blue?
Well, perhaps that wielding a lightsaber of green would remind Obi-Wan to much of when he tried to instruct Anakin as an apprentice, of course he failed, and using a green lightsaber would have reminded him of such failure.

This doesn't explain the reason behind him using a blue lightsaber in AOTC though.

One idea I had was that Obi Wan wasn't a fully fledged Master at the time of AOTC, because of his incomplete teachings after Qui-Gon was killed, and maybe he was only a Master 'in-part', not quite worthy of a lightsaber of green at that present time, but responsible enough to guide and teach Anakin (on permision of the Council).

NOTE: (I have read very little PT EU, so if it's stated in any of it that Obi-Wan did complete his teachings and become a Master, then please correct me.)

The above is doubtful, but it's really just throwing idea's out there.
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Post by Howedar »

Coyote wrote:What about the old thing of lightsaber colors indicated one's position within the Force? It always seemed to me that the "goodest" good guys got deeper in th eblue spectrum, and green always showed up in the hands of the more "neutral" types.
Only if you consider Yoda "neutral".
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Post by wolveraptor »

lightsabres (if i recall correctly) have some sort of knob on them that modifies length. the longer the lightsabre is, the worse its cutting ability is. this is probably all jedi need to adjust to different situations (dueling as opposed to blaster deflection).

besides, i've never read anything indicating a difference in the properties of different colored-sabres.

for sith, its obvious why their sabres are red. they create their crystals artifically (so they can imbue it with dark-side power, as someone said here). it must be red as a result of the artificial creation, or the dark-side power.

the jedi may just choose it randomly, with blue and green being popular, and red being forbidden (if its even possible to find a red natural crystal).
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Post by wolveraptor »

Stofsk wrote:
unbeataBULL wrote:hell with it. its probably all just random. maybe obi likes his lightsabres to match his eyes. :)
This is probably true, which is a shame, since I like KOTOR's explanation that the different colours correspond with different 'classes' or Jedi 'ranks'. Consulars use green, guardians use blue, sentinels use yellow.

But aesthetically, tastes differ. I myself prefer blue and green. Yellow and purple just don't seem nice to my eyes.
actually, i just realized that obi's eyes are brown :)
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Post by Trekdestroyer »

What if the crystal acts as a prism blocking all colors exept the color it is?If it's red, it blocks all light wave lengths exept red.
You get the idea...I hope :wink:
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Re: Lightsaber colors

Post by Tychu »

Karza wrote:What about yellow, orange and purple blades? Do those exist at all in the canon universe, or are they just computer game stuff?
wwwoooo Orange!!

well to answer your question each color in the real world represents something.....um....god knows i dont know the meanings but ive heard a color depends on your personality and mood

as for the Sith and Red. The Sith synthesize their crystals in a really hot room where hte sith aprentice sits and melds the crystal together with their anger and rage. And for all of western civilzation history red means hatred and evil so you know

wwwwooooo Orange!! The #1 thing that pissed me off was there was no Orange in KOTOR, my saber was Orange in Jedi Academy and i went to Korriban last in KOTOR2 so i didnt have my Orange for to long, and what the hell was the diffrence between Orange and Bronze in that game, i couldnt tell and can it be my TV resolution that i couldnt tell the diffrence?
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Post by Tychu »

unbeataBULL wrote:the jedi may just choose it randomly, with blue and green being popular, and red being forbidden (if its even possible to find a red natural crystal).
Games arent the biggest thing to base something on but in Jedi Power Battles (The best SW game for the last home console generation) Adi Gallia had a reddish blade, if i had the game in reach i would look at the booklet, instead of red it says is .......... (a color thats the same as red just has a more fancy name)
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Post by wolveraptor »

...coral?
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Post by neoolong »

Tychu wrote:
unbeataBULL wrote:the jedi may just choose it randomly, with blue and green being popular, and red being forbidden (if its even possible to find a red natural crystal).
Games arent the biggest thing to base something on but in Jedi Power Battles (The best SW game for the last home console generation) Adi Gallia had a reddish blade, if i had the game in reach i would look at the booklet, instead of red it says is .......... (a color thats the same as red just has a more fancy name)
Well, the Ep. 1 action figure gave her a red blade too. :D
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Post by Lord Pounder »

IIRC Leia weilds a ruby blade in the NJO.
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Post by Tychu »

im pretty sure it was ruby, thanx to the guy with the edward scisor hands guy

if it makes people sleep at night just look at your PS Jedi Power Battle booklet but im pretty sure it was ruby
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Post by wolveraptor »

well, the original Jedi Council was far more conservative than the New one. they couldn't marry, they couldn't be attached to anyone, etc.

Luke's academy probably abolished all the old restrictions, explaining the Ruby sabres, etc.

that's the only explanation i can think of.
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Post by Kurgan »

neoolong wrote:I figured that the color represented some sort of allegience or philosophy. Red for Sith, blue for mainstream (living force) Jedi, and green for the more rebellious (unifying force) Jedi like Qui-gon.

Mace had a purple saber, which is just a mix of blue and red. So he's a Jedi, but with some Sith leanings, since his saber style is closer to the dark side than others'.

Or maybe they just like to color coordinate like Yoda with his green saber.

Then again you have to consider that in the arena, Obi-wan and Anakin are just tossed some sabers, though that might just be temporary until they can get new ones. Or that Ki Adi Mundi's light saber actually switches color during the fight. Or that Mace Windu's saber from Ep. 1 was someone else's that he was using unil he gave it back and got his new one.
Don't forget the new DVD set! Luke's saber changes from Blue to Green in the course of ANH (and even in the same scene, there's even a few frames where it's both colors mixed!). He just couldn't decide which Jedi philosophy he agreed with! [/Joking]


That rocks about Ki Adi's saber though. I need to check that out next time I'm watching AOTC...


Maybe every lightsaber has a "color knob" on it that you can change to whatever you want. Each wielder just "tunes" his saber to the color of his choice, and the Sith, as a rule use red as a symbol of themselves. Perhaps the other variations in colors are just not that popular or these are the only real "distinct" colors you can get with the knob. [/pure speculation]
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Post by neoolong »

Kurgan wrote:That rocks about Ki Adi's saber though. I need to check that out next time I'm watching AOTC...
Took me a couple of times watching it to figure it out. I figure that the guy doing the saber color effects got confused about whose blade was whose during the scenes in the arena, and used the wrong color during one of the shots.

I belive it was when Mundi and Fisto were going back to the gunship and were blocking blaster shots.
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Post by Sharp-kun »

Maybe the Jedi just decides which he likes best?
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Post by Darth Fanboy »

I think it has more to do with Jedi using what crystals are availiable to them. As part of their training they must construct their own lightsaber, if you're on a world with specific type of crystals you're going to find green, blue, or whatever. Its not like there's a mall around the corner selling them specifically. Jedi training on diff worlds have different sabers.

In theory.
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Post by drachefly »

An obvious solution to Ki Adi's morphing blade would be that his original blade was shot up, so he scavenged one from a fallen comrade.
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Post by Kurgan »

Of course you could look also to see if the hilts are the same. ; )

Maybe they just have a bunch of "generic" sabers on hand for such situations (like the ones they tossed to Anakin and Obi-Wan).

The younglings have a mix of blue & green as well, quite interesting.
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Post by Lord Pounder »

Darth Fanboy wrote:I think it has more to do with Jedi using what crystals are availiable to them. As part of their training they must construct their own lightsaber, if you're on a world with specific type of crystals you're going to find green, blue, or whatever. Its not like there's a mall around the corner selling them specifically. Jedi training on diff worlds have different sabers.

In theory.
But from what the NT and the accompanying books tell us most of the training happens on Coruscant in the Jedi Temple.
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