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Everyone should be familiar with how Kylo's main blade differs aesthetically with Anakin/Luke/Finn/Rey's lightsaber blade.

What is the cause of the shaky fizzling effect? The ancient hilt design, or the flawed crystal? If it's due to the crystal, is the use of a flawed crystal intended (Snoke has special reason for this choice of crystal) or unintended (eg. Snoke ran out of good crystals or Kylo broke it somehow)?

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Kylo Ren's lightsaber blade is almost certain "ragged" as a result of two factors; the cracked Kyber crystal and the crudeness of the design of the saber itself.

Note the marked difference between the design of Ren's blade and that of a Jedi blade based on Obi-Wan's saber, particularly the total lack of modulation circuits, power adjustment and secondary focusing crystals. Basically Ren's blade just dumps the energy from the (cracked) primary crystal straight into the emitter.

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and

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As to why his crystal is cracked, we'll have to wait until the next film to find out.

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    I've read a fan theory that suggested the cracked crystal came from Vader's lightsaber. When Kylo Ren retrieved the helmet from the funeral pyre he also found the lightsaber. It was burned and broken but Ren was able to remove the cracked crystal and use it in his own saber because he feels that it brings him a closer connection with his grandfather. I like that theory.
    – Mykewlname
    Apr 18, 2016 at 13:51
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    @Mykewlname - Worthy of its own question
    – Valorum
    Apr 18, 2016 at 14:57
  • I enjoyed the connection someone put forth between the character and lightsaber. Kylo Ren is a new enemy attempting to imitate Darth Vader, but unsure of who he is. His lightsaber is a new weapon based on an old design and its core is cracked. I am interested to see if Kylo Ren gets a new weapon, or new crystal, in the later movies as he "grows."
    – Odin1806
    Apr 18, 2016 at 19:53
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It's probably the broken crystal

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Here's Kylo Ren's lightsaber:

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Notice how "jagged" it is.

Now here is Ezra Bridger with a lightsaber of similar design, but much more ancient. This is from Star Wars Rebels.

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It might just be a matter of animation quality, but it certainly looks straighter to me.

In any case, according the Force Awakens Visual Dictionary:

Kylo Ren's unusual lightsaber is an ancient design, dating back thousands of years to the great scourge of Malachor. The crossguard blades, or quillons, are tributaries of the primary central blade, all spawning from a cracked kyber crystal that is the cause of their ragged, unstable appearance.

The cause of the crossguard is different, and has to do with the hilt design.

An array of focusing crystal activators split the energy stream into perpendicular blade energy channels, creating the quillons.

As for the reason for the broken crystal, we can only speculate. Perhaps Snoke viewed a broken crystal as suitable for an unstable Dark Side user. Perhaps Snoke required that Kylo make his own lightsaber, and it was all he could find.

One thing is certain, it was not due to lack of avaibility. Kylo trained at the Jedi academy, and presumably had a different lightsaber then, with a functioning kyber crystal.

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