Lightsabers: Jedi only?

[Battlehymn Republic]

Is it taboo for non-Jedi to use lightsabers? The only non-Jedi I've ever heard of using lightsabers are General Grievous and the people who turn out to be Jedi eventually. I'm guessing at least some Force is needed to use lightsaber offshoots, like the pike the Senate Guards use.

Speaking of which, are there such things as light-daggers or even light-knives? I can't imagine so, since vibroblades do the trick.

[The Grim Squeaker]

Non jedi can use a lighsaber but it takes a lot of practice and isnt worth it compared to a blaster for a non force sensitive.

The Young jedi knights series had a normal human wielding a saber (Anja Gallandro) but she had trained on it since childhood, hadnt built it and couldnt deflect bolts.

Darth Lumiya had a light wip that also had a physical component.

[Glimmervoid]

I cant see why not. They can’t not however make them because the creation of a light sabre uses the force.

Also I will assume when you said non Jedi you meant non force user because Sith use light sabres.

[Noble Ire]

A lightsaber is fairly useless, and even dangerous to non-force user in combat. If they really want a melee weapon, a vibro knife or staff is far more suited.

[Mobiboros]

From a purely sword fighting perspective the suppossed massless blade would be a detriment. Much of actual sword technique is based on the principles of using the swords momentum and balance to accomplish a strike. Having no mass means any attack would need to be maneuvared purely by the fighters muscles.

I don't think it's taboo for non-force users to wield them. Just not really practical.

[McC]

"Your father's lightsaber," Kenobi told him, "At one time they were widely used. Still are, in certain galactic quarters."
...
"This was the formal weapon of a Jedi Knight," explained Kenobi. "Not as clumsy or random as a blaster. More skill than simple sight was required for its use. An elegant weapon. It was a symbol as well. Anyone can use a blaster or fusioncutter--but to use a lightsaber well was a mark of someone a cut above the ordinary."

Emphasis mine. Jedi inherently have the requisite abilities to use a lightsaber well, and most likely only Jedi can use the lightsaber as an anti-blaster weapon. However, with training, anyone can learn to use the lightsaber for dueling.

[Drooling Iguana]

"Your father's lightsaber," Kenobi told him, "At one time they were widely used. Still are, in certain galactic quarters."
...
"This was the formal weapon of a Jedi Knight," explained Kenobi. "Not as clumsy or random as a blaster. More skill than simple sight was required for its use. An elegant weapon. It was a symbol as well. Anyone can use a blaster or fusioncutter--but to use a lightsaber well was a mark of someone a cut above the ordinary."

Emphasis mine. Jedi inherently have the requisite abilities to use a lightsaber well, and most likely only Jedi can use the lightsaber as an anti-blaster weapon. However, with training, anyone can learn to use the lightsaber for dueling.

I thought that the bits of the novelizations that are contradicted by the films (such as this version of Kenobi's speech) are to be considered non-canon.

[McC]

The information contained within isn't contradicted. *shrug*

[Drooling Iguana]

The information contained within isn't contradicted. *shrug*

That would be fine if it was presented or corroborated by the omniscient narrator, but the only source we have for this is a speech that we know didn't happen, and, even if it did, was given by a character who at that point in the story is lying through his teeth with every other sentence ("I don't seem to recall ever owning a droid." "You uncle wanted your father to remain on the farm instead of going off on a damn fool idealistic crusade" "Darth Vader betrayed and murdered your father", etc.)

[Grandmaster Jogurt]

The information contained within isn't contradicted. *shrug*

That would be fine if it was presented or corroborated by the omniscient narrator, but the only source we have for this is a speech that we know didn't happen, and, even if it did, was given by a character who at that point in the story is lying through his teeth with every other sentence ("I don't seem to recall ever owning a droid." "You uncle wanted your father to remain on the farm instead of going off on a damn fool idealistic crusade" "Darth Vader betrayed and murdered your father", etc.)

Yes, but how does lying about the prevalence of lightsabers help in any way? All the others are to hide the past from Luke until he's ready. Lying about lightsabers just seems pointless.

[Nephtys]

Lightsabers also seem prohibitively hard to construct, especially compared to cheap and common vibroblades, which provide most of the benefit without needing special training, components, being really conspicuous, and as well as being much safer. All a lightsaber REALLY adds is better use against armor, and the bolt-deflection, which a non-forcie couldn't do anyway.

[000]

Sora Bulq duels with a full length lightsaber and a 'light dagger' of sorts.

I've always wondered myself why lightsabers aren't more prevalent. They'd be pretty handy for, say, cutting through bulkheads and such.

[Grandmaster Jogurt]

I've always wondered myself why lightsabers aren't more prevalent. They'd be pretty handy for, say, cutting through bulkheads and such.

Shouldn't be that much more effective than a blaster or a cutting tool with a similar power output. Not only that, but without the force energy absorption like Qui-Gon was apparently using, they'd be fried by melting a door at point-blank range.

[000]

True. Although they're pretty quiet when slashing through stuff-- I'd think that covert ops teams at least could find use for them.

Now that I think about it, laser scalpels are basically just mini-lightsabers. Same properties, just tiny.

[Quadlok]

I'm pretty certain that its mentioned somewhere that aristocrats in the Senex/Juvex sectors traditionally duel with lightsabers.

As to why lightsabers aren't common, the only mention I've seen for the price of a lightsaber has one going on the black market on Nar Shadaa for 10,000 credits. For breaching hulls, there are much less expensive ways, like fusion cutters and force pikes.

[Vicious]

I think the primary reason the Jedi carry it and most others don't is defense. A blaster is an offensive weapon, allowing you to kill from a distance, indiscriminantly. A lightsaber, however, requires you to get up close to your target, and in the hands of a Jedi (or other Force user) serves as a shield against blasters. Yes, technically you could return the fire towards the gunman, but from what's seen in the movies this isn't the case every time. It takes the right angle to deflect the bolt properly, and it's easier to just whack 'em into the air than try to aim them back. Non-Jedi can wield lightsabers, but there are better and easier weapons for them to use. We see Han using Luke's lightsaber in ESB to cut open the tauntaun. He had no problems then, but he wasn't doing anything more than a simple fusion cutter would be used for.

[Kurgan]

Han Solo (ESB; ANH: Infinities)


I would think anyone with the proper equipment and know-how could contrust one, and anyone with the proper training could use one. It's just that it's Jedi/Sith tradition AND it helps being Force sensitive to use it well in a blaster-dominated galaxy.

And Jedi can use non-saber weapons too. At one time (obviously long before the prequels came out) some speculated that in the Old Republic, Lightsabers were the norm, and blasters were a more recent development that had supplanted them in the galaxy. Of course the early Star Wars Scripts put them as standard issue equipment alongside firearms.

Force pikes can "breach hulls"? Since when? I thought they were just spears with basically a cattle prod on the end? (see TPM)

[JediMaster415]

From what I've read about them, force pikes are nothing more than vibro spears. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

[Darth Fanboy]

KOTOR has the short lightsabers used for dual wielding.

[The Dark]

"Your father's lightsaber," Kenobi told him, "At one time they were widely used. Still are, in certain galactic quarters."

Emphasis mine. Jedi inherently have the requisite abilities to use a lightsaber well, and most likely only Jedi can use the lightsaber as an anti-blaster weapon. However, with training, anyone can learn to use the lightsaber for dueling.

I'd always assumed that was a line left over from the earlier version of the script where everyone and their brother used lightsabers (literally...it was the standard stormtrooper weapon early on).

[Kurgan]

From what I've read about them, force pikes are nothing more than vibro spears. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

We've never really seen any such weapon in-use on screen other than the Gungan guards using spears that delivered an electric shock to Jar Jar Binks (he didn't get knocked down by it).

However, I associated the term "Force Pike" with those spears the Imperial Red Guards carry. In Crimson Empire some of them carry Darth-Maul-esque double blade ended polearms that vibrate and can somehow reflect blaster bolts and cut through just about anything. I don't mean those. And then we have the Magnaguard staves that are completely new. Those aren't "force pikes" are they? They seem to be as good as sabers, but without the ability to cut things (only zap them).

In Jabba's Palace there are numerous weapons that (in the C-level literature) are all vibro powered, but for various reasons (broken, "honor codes" and such) they aren't set in "vibrate mode" and so appear to be like medieval axes, spears and halbeards. I thought for example those tridents the Gammorean guards that Luke choked in ROTJ were carrying could be Force Pikes. The Rebel lookout who spots the Falcon/X-Wings on Yavin 4 in ANH had a spear. Might be a Force Pike, or maybe a signal antenna thingy (what good is a spear up there anyway?).

[Molyneux]

KOTOR has the short lightsabers used for dual wielding.

One thing I've been wondering...why use a long lightsaber and a short one? Why not just carry two full-length-blade lightsabers, seeing as how the blades are massless and a longer reach is almost always a good thing?

I mean, maybe you could save some weight from a smaller battery or something...but I doubt it'd be worth sacrificing a few feet of bladelength.

[Noble Ire]

KOTOR has the short lightsabers used for dual wielding.

One thing I've been wondering...why use a long lightsaber and a short one? Why not just carry two full-length-blade lightsabers, seeing as how the blades are massless and a longer reach is almost always a good thing?

I mean, maybe you could save some weight from a smaller battery or something...but I doubt it'd be worth sacrificing a few feet of bladelength.

Perhaps they are only practical with specific dueling styles. After all, with shorter blades, you might be able to get inside the defenses of an opponent with longer ones more easily.

[Vicious]

I think (and this is pure speculation) the short lightsabers are to prevent the blades getting "tangled" during a fight. The short lightsaber is mostly defensive, used to parry, much like a dagger in the offhand paired with a sword. Having it shorter allows you to manuever it in conjunction with your main weapon with less risk of the blades colliding. Watch Anakin's fight with Dooku in AOTC. His arms are out wide and he's just windmilling Dooku, using the rapid hits to prevent Dooku from getting a chance to attack. He can't defend himself very well because the blades would get in each other's way.

[Quadlok]

Force pikes can "breach hulls"? Since when? I thought they were just spears with basically a cattle prod on the end? (see TPM)

From the EGTW&T:

Force pikes are useful weapons for boarding actions, since they allow attackers to slice trough bulkheads and airlocks in a few seconds without having to resort to dangerously unpredictable explosive charges.

So I overstated a little. The point is that they are still effective against big hunks of heavy metal.