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In discussions and info surrounding The Force Awakens, it seems that a lot of the (now ancient) Jedi knowledge has been lost to time. Luke's Green lightsaber used a synthetic crystal, a practice usually resigned to Siths, and is said to be more cruder in design than the original ones. Likewise, Kylo Ren's lightsaber is said to be impure, primitive, and using a cracked crystal, resulting in a distorted blade with the need for side vents (the crossguards).

Of course, leading up to the end of the Clone Wars, most of the Jedi seem to have been wiped out, and, given Palpatine actively worked to erase all existence of the Jedi from public, one can assume that most of their weapons also followed suit. But do we know of any that have survived until the time of the Force Awakens? Other than Anakin/Luke/Rey's of course.

The only lightsabers I can remember from the original trilogy are:

  • Anakin's original (blue)
    • Taken by Obi-Wan towards the end of Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith, and is kept by him until he passes it to Luke.
  • Obi-Wan's (blue)
    • Assuming he kept his original from the end of the Clone Wars.
    • likely destroyed, either by Vader as a conclusion to their fight, or if it was left on the Death Star, exploded along with it.
  • Vader's (red)
    • I'm not entirely sure when this was crafted, but I assume it was during the conclusion of the Clone Wars or very soon after. At the very least, Anakin/Vader would've had original Jedi training on fashioning lightsabers so we can assume it's made to similar levels of quality.

Are there any other lightsabers that may have survived the Clone Wars and made it to the 'First Order' era?

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  • Is this question asking did any lightsaber at all make it to the 'First Order' era? Or are you asking if any lightsaber that we saw used during the clone wars survive?
    – Firebat
    Commented Jan 14, 2016 at 7:36
  • @S.Fruggiero - the former, sans Anakins of course. I only know of (or can only remember) the three listed above that came from the Clone Wars era, and all of them appeared on screen. I don't mind if it's an extracanonical source or not, just that I haven't read all books/surrounding materials and are wondering if any other lightsabers from the Clone Wars era are still kicking around
    – Robotnik
    Commented Jan 14, 2016 at 7:40
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    @NathanK.Campbell - I'm not necessarily restricting this to new canon - so long as its made clear whether a linked source is new or old canon :-). I.e. any story set after the time of Ep VI I'm interested in
    – Robotnik
    Commented Jan 14, 2016 at 8:09
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    Have any of them ever been confirmed destroyed? Closest I can think of is Darth Maul's, which was split in half, and each half still worked fine on its own. A lot of them fell to unknown depths, but as far as we know, Luke's original one could be still intact somewhere at the foot of Cloud City. Mace Windu's might be in a back alley dumpster on Coruscant. Vader's and Palatine's probably blew up with DS2, but other than that, there's no reason to believe that any of them were ever destroyed in the series.
    – Darrel Hoffman
    Commented Jan 14, 2016 at 22:53
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    But we don't know for sure that the Emperor destroyed every Jedi lightsaber he found. I mean, why destroy perfectly good weapons when you could use them instead? That's what Grievous did. Plus, the Emperor died in VI, so any lightsabers still intact at that time he probably didn't get to. So Luke's, obviously (both of them), but probably also Yoda's (I assume stashed somewhere on Dagobah), and any others they hadn't yet found...
    – Darrel Hoffman
    Commented Jan 15, 2016 at 14:41

3 Answers 3

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Disney Canon

There is a least one - Luke comes into possession of one in the new canon book "Heir to the Jedi" (which occurs between E4 and E5)

Luke meets a Rodian named Soonta, who's uncle, Huulik, was a Jedi who fought with Kenobi during the Clone Wars. She tells Luke:

Like your father, he was betrayed. He was shot by his clone troopers who were supposed to be on his side. He made it into his ship, recorded a brief message about what happened to him with his astromech, and gave it orders to bring him back here.

Later - she takes Luke to Huulik's grave where he retrieves his lightsaber with her permission.

Huulik's lightsaber was designed for a Rodian hand and wasn't quite comfortable in my fist...it ripped into life and thrummed with energy, a brilliant amethyst blade.

Luke later disassembles this saber so as to get his first glimpse into the construction of a saber (since he was of course reluctant to disassemble his own) and discovers that there are wafer thin crystals and that construction surely requires the Force (thus he can't put it back together yet)

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    Interesting. So there is definitely a "loss" of knowledge occurring - as you say he hasn't been able to put it back together yet.
    – Robotnik
    Commented Jan 14, 2016 at 8:21
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    yes indeed - it's probably the most interesting part of the entire book imo
    – NKCampbell
    Commented Jan 14, 2016 at 8:21
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    In the 'Star Wars' comic series currently being published (also set between episodes IV and V), there's a Hutt who has been collecting lightsabers for some time. At least a few of them are shown to still be functional
    – LowIntHighCha
    Commented Jan 14, 2016 at 13:29
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    @LogicianWithAHat - that's a valid answer - go ahead and add it
    – NKCampbell
    Commented Jan 14, 2016 at 14:25
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    Wait, but if Luke disassembled it between E4 and E5, how can it be said to have "survived" until E7?
    – Dylan Cristy
    Commented Jan 14, 2016 at 14:49
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More Disney canon:

The currently running Marvel comics 'Star Wars' series, set between episodes IV and V, features Grakkus the Hutt, a collector of Jedi artifacts on Nal Hutta (in issues 8-12). In his collection are numerous lightsabers, at least some of which are seen to be in working order. They've not been shown to have been destroyed in any way since that appearance.

Some (hopefully not too spoiler-y) pictures:

Luke, in restraints, arms held by two tall enforcer droids with shock rods, says "No!!! You can't!" to which the Hutt in the background responds "So full of anger, this one. No wonder he's not much of a Jedi. Give him his saber." The next frame shows Luke's hands, holding a lightsaber in his right; he says "This isn't mine."

Leia, Chewie and Han stand together; in front Leia, turned to the left but facing forward over her left shoulder, has a green-blue lightsaber in a two-handed grip over her right shoulder. Behind her Han stands in a mirror pose with a green lightsaber in front of him. At the back Chewie has a blue lightsaber in his right hand and a yellow one in his left. Leia says "And may the Force be with us." Chewie growls a challenge, and Han responds "I'd settle for a good blaster."

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  • Side note, so much for the idea that only Jedi can safely wield lightsabers...
    – FuzzyBoots
    Commented Jan 3, 2020 at 0:26
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There were hundreds of light sabres in the prequel trilogy, and it seems statistically unlikely that they were all destroyed in the five decades between Revenge of the Sith and The Force Awakens. I'm not aware of Order 66 stating that light sabres were to be destroyed along with their owners.

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    I bet there is a tiny green lightsaber chilling on Dagobah right now. Side note: I have 11 swords in my possession, each at least 5 centuries old. If a sword mostly copper or iron can last that long, I bet any Lightsaber (not intentionally destroyed) could last half a century.
    – Firebat
    Commented Jan 14, 2016 at 9:00
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    While statistics make sense, I think we would need more concrete proof in proper answers. Especially since your reasoning still leaves some gaps unaccounted. Palpatine sought actively to erase all existence of the Jedi from public. Lightsabers lying around would be one such thorn: Not to mention how dangerous it would be to circulate in the black market.
    – thegreatjedi
    Commented Jan 14, 2016 at 9:02
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    @S.Fruggiero a lump of iron can easily withstand time and only get rusty or blunt. Try putting complicated electronics in the ground for a while and see how well it stands up. I'd hazard a lightsabre would need extensive maintenance and cleaning to work again, at best.
    – gbjbaanb
    Commented Jan 14, 2016 at 14:49
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    @gbjbaanb - see the canon answer of mine above. Luke obtained a lightsaber that had been buried with a dead Jedi since Order 66 - possibly as much as 30 years and it was in perfect working order.
    – NKCampbell
    Commented Jan 14, 2016 at 16:55
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    General Grevious had quite the collection of lightsabers. He could only carry 4 at a time, so it's probably safe to assume he stashed the rest of his collection somewhere. Is it known where? Or should that be a new question?
    – Ellesedil
    Commented Jan 14, 2016 at 20:04

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