153
votes
Accepted
Is there any material which cannot be cut by a lightsaber?
In the movies, what lightsabers can cut through seems to be, at best, a mixed bag. Focusing on the earlier movies, IV, V, & VI, where the technology is first introduced, I looked at two major ...
- 7,410
129
votes
Accepted
Why did Luke call the lightsaber by a different name?
He was mocking Rey.
He was arguing to Rey that he wasn't the savior she thought he was, and he wasn't going to return and go defeat the First Order on his own. He mis-identifies the lighstaber to mock ...
- 2,278
115
votes
Accepted
Why didn't Luke use his lightsaber during his mission on the first Death Star?
Luke's a farmer, not a swordsman. He had never held a lightsaber in his entire life until that day. However, he has used rifles before; when he went out looking for R2-D2 on Tatooine, he carried a ...
- 11.9k
90
votes
Do lightsaber blades/blaster bolts cast shadows?
If we assume that lightsabers and blaster bolts are some kind of plasma, they should cast a shadow under the right circumstances. Stars are big balls of plasma and one star can block the light of ...
- 1,375
78
votes
Who turned on the lightsaber?
It was 100% Kylo Ren.
When Snoke was slain, Rey had her back to him and when she turned around to see what happened, she was in complete shock.
Also, Snoke narrated Kylo Ren's thoughts, which included ...
- 3,381
73
votes
Accepted
How could Kylo Ren move Luke's lightsaber in The Last Jedi when he couldn't in The Force Awakens?
The implication was that Rey was somehow blocking him through her own efforts to move the hilt. Note his surprise that an object so small doesn't come on command.
The exertion actually causes him ...
- 718k
63
votes
Accepted
Do lightsaber blades/blaster bolts cast shadows?
From this image from Episode I would appear that they do cast shadows, though the angles don't look quite right to me.
From Season 1 Episode 14 of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, "Defenders of Peace", ...
- 144k
59
votes
Are Lightsabers ever used outside of combat?
Cutting tool
In Episode V, Han Solo used Luke's lightsaber to cut open a tauntaun on Hoth.
Image taken from a Youtube video
Han's tauntaun had just died from the extreme cold, so Han cut it open to ...
Null♦
- 70.3k
55
votes
Accepted
Why don't lightsabers have guards?
I suspect that there are many practical reasons why you might not have a guard. For example they may get caught, or stuck in clothing or against straps.
However in this instance I believe that it is ...
- 1,054
55
votes
Are lightsabers flat?
Lightsaber emitters are typically round:
Also, if these lightsabers were anything other than round you would expect them to appear differently depending on the relative angle between the viewer and ...
- 1,401
54
votes
Why didn't Luke use his lightsaber during his mission on the first Death Star?
Why did Luke leave his lightsaber behind?
It didnʼt fit in his pocket.
Another answer to this question suggests that Luke left his lightsaber behind on the Millennium Falcon because he knew ...
- 4,407
52
votes
Accepted
Was possession of a lightsaber grounds for arrest in the Empire?
Not likely
In Return Of The Jedi movie, when Luke surrenders to the Imperial troops on Endor, they looked confused about the lightsaber in his possession. The imperial officer passes him to Vader ...
- 13k
52
votes
Why did Luke call the lightsaber by a different name?
He tries to remove the lightsaber's mythical image.
The term lightsaber implies a lot of things beyond the actual technical device. For example, it is a part of the Jedi religion, it is a weapon of ...
- 1,459
48
votes
Are Lightsabers ever used outside of combat?
Episode V:
Luke uses saber to cut himself free of ice stalactite.
Han uses saber to turn a tauntaun into a sleeping bag for Luke.
Luke uses saber to cut a hole in the belly of an AT-AT walker so ...
- 4,316
46
votes
Accepted
Has Rey's new lightsaber been seen before in canon or legends?
In both Canon and Legends, a pair of lightsabers functionally similar to Rey's potential new one were seen in the hands of the Besalisk Jedi Master Pong Krell during the Clone Wars. This picture shows ...
- 8,438
40
votes
Accepted
Do lightsabers smell?
There seems to be a particular smell associated with lightsabers; Ozone.
A burning blade of green slanted across the sergeants face so close he
could smell the ozone, and the hunchback wasn’t a ...
- 718k
39
votes
Accepted
Are there lightsabers with moving emitters?
The Inquisitor Lightsaber from Star Wars: Rebels
I'm not sure if you'll count this as hinged, but it can certainly move the angle of the blade. In fact, it's a hand-held General Grievous, being ...
- 5,389
35
votes
Accepted
Would a lightsaber cut through wood?
In Star Wars: The Force Awakens we see both the antagonist Kylo Ren (using his funky red saber) and protagonist Rey (using Luke's lightsaber) cutting through trees with gay abandon. They seem to ...
- 718k
35
votes
Accepted
What happened to Count Dooku's lightsaber?
Anakin left Dooku's lightsaber beside his corpse in General Grievous' quarters in the spire aboard the Invisible Hand.
This part of the ship was destroyed during their catastrophic landing (you can ...
- 718k
33
votes
Is there any material which cannot be cut by a lightsaber?
Beyond other lightsabers, off the top of my head I can think of two instances in the movies of a weapon capable of blocking lightsaber blades.
The first is in Revenge of the Sith. Obi-Wan Kenobi and ...
- 639
31
votes
Accepted
Why isn't Luke's lightsaber red?
Crystals don't change colour while inside a lightsaber
This is something that Pablo Hidalgo seems to get asked on an almost weekly basis on Twitter; here's just one of his many (identical, with slight ...
- 165k
28
votes
Accepted
Who invented the lightsaber?
The answer to this question depends if you are talking about Legends (pre-Disney) or canon (post-Disney).
Legends:
If you consider Force-sabers (predecessor of the lightsaber) then the first creators ...
- 7,285
27
votes
How does the Mandalorian armor stop a lightsaber?
In the current Star Wars canon, Beskar, also known as Mandalorian iron, is an alloy used in Mandalorian armor, notable for its high tolerance to extreme forms of damage. The metal was durable enough ...
- 10.6k
25
votes
Accepted
Which button activates Skywalker's lightsaber, and why is it inconsistent?
Straightforward answer: Yes, as Pablo Hidalgo of the Lucasfilm Story Group recently said here and here, it's a mistake and that the lightsaber is still supposed to activate with the plate in the ...
- 5,638
25
votes
Why don't lightsabers have guards?
A Jedi wields his lightsaber in flow with the Force, without it a lightsaber would be extremely hazardous to its wielder, however since most combat oriented Jedi are wielding their lightsaber in ...
- 2,927
24
votes
Who turned on the lightsaber?
It was pretty obvious in the scene that it was Kylo Ren, as he was
Rey was focused on Kylo
- 4,084
24
votes
Accepted
Is it possible to construct a multi-colored double-bladed lightsaber?
According to the Star Wars Database, Maul's double-sided lightsaber was just two standard ones joined together.
The Sith apprentice Darth Maul wielded a double-bladed lightsaber made by joining two ...
- 67.2k
23
votes
Are Lightsabers ever used outside of combat?
Off the top of my head...
There are several instances in the Clone Wars TV series showing Jedi using their sabres as light sources. Technically may not qualify, as they were in combat zones, but it ...
- 16k
23
votes
Are Lightsabers ever used outside of combat?
Identification
Prior to the events of Order 66, the Jedi would wear their Lightsabers proudly and visibly. This would signify to people that they are indeed Jedi.
Look at that badass!
Peace Offering
...
- 46.1k
23
votes
Why did Luke call the lightsaber by a different name?
Remember that we open with Rey handing Luke the lightsaber (i.e. the end of The Force Awakens) and
Luke doesn't want anything to do with Rey, or rebellions, or Jedi. He's now a crotchety (and snarky) ...
- 53.7k
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