Star Wars wouldn't be Star Wars without lightsabers. The weapon of choice for both Jedi and Sith, they are, as Obi-Wan Kenobi so wisely put it, "an elegant weapon for a more civilized age." In each lightsaber is the kyber crystal, a rare crystal attuned to the Force. Lightsabers come in many shapes and colors. Depending on their user, they can be anything from green or blue to red or black. But why are there so few purple lightsabers? And what determines a lightsaber's color anyway? We're breaking down the meaning behind it all. This is every Star Wars lightsaber color explained.
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00:00The weapon of choice for Jedi and Sith comes in many shapes and colors, but why are there
00:05so few purple lightsabers?
00:07And what determines a lightsaber's color, anyway?
00:10Keep watching.
00:11We're breaking down the meaning behind it all.
00:15Blue is one of the two most ubiquitous colors of the Jedi lightsabers, and the very first
00:19color lightsaber beamed onscreen in A New Hope.
00:22When it's first introduced, Obi-Wan Kenobi aptly describes it,
00:26"...not as clumsy or random as a blaster, an elegant weapon for the more civilized age."
00:35The old Jedi's words set in stone the lightsaber's reputation for control and precision, something
00:41that young Luke Skywalker has to master with patience throughout the original trilogy.
00:46The blue beam creates a striking contrast when Obi-Wan Kenobi's blade strikes Darth
00:50Vader's redsaber.
00:52In the non-canon Knights of the Old Republic game, blue denotes a combative Jedi guardian
00:57who applies the Force on a physical level.
00:59In Rebels, Kanan Jarrus and Ezra Bridger are also known canonical wielders of the blue
01:04blade.
01:05For much of the original trilogy, blue existed as part of the blue-red binary of Jedi versus
01:10Sith.
01:11As the Star Wars galaxy expanded, its creators began exploring a myriad of lightsaber colors
01:16on the light side spectrum.
01:19In addition to blue, green is a common color for the Jedi lightsaber.
01:23Qui-Gon Jinn and Master Yoda are well-known wielders of the green lightsaber.
01:27The first ever green lightsaber seen on screen is Luke Skywalker's replacement lightsaber
01:32in Return of the Jedi, constructed after he loses his inherited blue saber, along with
01:37his hand.
01:38From a technical perspective, green was a practical hue.
01:41According to Lucasfilm Story Group creative executive Pablo Hidalgo, Luke's second saber
01:46was supposed to be blue, but it would have blended with the blue sky.
01:51Green was a more striking color against the sky and Tatooine sands.
01:54Hidalgo told Vanity Fair,
01:56"...as much as we like to mythologize why it's green and what that all signifies, sometimes
02:01there are very pragmatic filmmaking reasons behind these things."
02:04That said, it's not thematically unnatural that Luke Skywalker would end up forging a
02:08green blade after losing his blue one, since green symbolizes growth and restoration.
02:14This symbolism extends to the green lightsaber Ezra Bridger adopts after he breaks his blue
02:18one.
02:19Knights of the Old Republic drew greater distinctions between blue and green.
02:23If blue is for the Jedi Guardian who focuses on combat, green is for the meditative Jedi
02:28Consular who bears diplomatic responsibilities.
02:32In the days of the Old Republic, the double-bladed yellow lightsaber was the weapon of the robed
02:36and masked Jedi Temple Guards.
02:39These guards would stay behind to defend the Jedi Temple from threats, while Jedi Knights
02:43and Masters ventured on dangerous missions far from home.
02:47The lightsaber color and mask symbolize the guards' emotional detachment.
02:51While yellow may have stoic connotations for the guards, the color assumes different nuances
02:56for individual users.
02:57At the end of the sequel trilogy, Rey reveals a gold lightsaber after declaring herself
03:02a Skywalker.
03:03It represents her carrying the torch of the Jedi legacy while forging her own path.
03:08In addition, Ahsoka Tano wielded a yellow-green lightsaber with a shortened blade alongside
03:13her green lightsaber.
03:14The yellow epitomizes her experimentation beyond Jedi norms, foreshadowing her signature
03:19use of dual white blades.
03:22Red represents a river of rage and blood.
03:25As detailed in E.K.
03:26Johnston's novel Ahsoka, devotees of the dark side do not have a peaceful force connection
03:31to kyber crystals, which provide lightsabers with their color.
03:35Unlike the Jedi, Sith must force the crystals to work for them.
03:39This bleeds the crystal, causing it to turn blood red.
03:43Famous red blade wielders include Darth Sidious, Darth Maul, Darth Vader, the Inquisitors,
03:48and Asajj Ventress.
03:50Disciples of the dark side tend to get creative with their designs.
03:53The first double-bladed lightsaber seen on screen is Maul's crimson double-bladed saber
03:57in The Phantom Menace.
03:59The Inquisitors also use their spinning two-bladed sabers to fly as one-person helicopters.
04:05Star Wars Visions also depicts red parasol-like lightsabers.
04:09Kylo Ren's kyber crystal was so intensely warped that he crafted side vents, creating
04:14his lightsaber's notorious crossguard as a safety measure to keep the crystal from overloading
04:18the hilt.
04:19Unfortunately, even this explanation has not spared Ren's lightsaber from being the butt
04:24of many jokes.
04:25Look, I found Kylo Ren's lightsaber.
04:26Look at it up close.
04:27That thing looks dangerous, man.
04:28Poorly made.
04:29Like a little kid made it.
04:33White is an interesting and rare hue for lightsabers.
04:37Ahsoka Tano owned two blue lightsabers, given to her by her former master, Anakin Skywalker,
04:42when she allied with the Jedi cause to capture Darth Maul in the Clone Wars.
04:46In the subsequent events of E.K.
04:48Johnston's novel Ahsoka, she constructs a new pair of white lightsabers, from the red
04:52kyber crystals of an Inquisitor's destroyed sabers.
04:55Their color comes from the purification of the reddened crystals.
04:59Perhaps this acknowledges that she has grown beyond the Jedi Temple.
05:02So she uses a color that's not typical of Jedi sabers, but still represents her allegiance
05:07to the light side.
05:08White very much indicates her non-affiliation with either Jedi or Sith.
05:13White and its association with purification pairs perfectly with Ahsoka, a Force user
05:17who has undergone symbolic deaths and rebirths that include leaving the Jedi Temple.
05:22At the end of the Clone Wars, she's cloaked in dusty white, which indicates how the war
05:26tainted her.
05:28But at the end of Rebels, she bears a pure white cloak as she summons Sabine to locate
05:32Ezra.
05:33White is Ahsoka Tano's iconic color.
05:37One question has lingered for Star Wars fans since the advent of the prequel trilogy.
05:41If blue and green are the typical hues of Jedi lightsabers, why does Jedi Master Mace
05:46Windu get a purple one?
05:48The behind-the-scenes answer is that actor Samuel L. Jackson made a special request to
05:52George Lucas.
05:53Good guys are green and blue, bad guys are red.
05:57That's just the way it works.
06:00No purple left.
06:02The purple color allowed Jackson to pick himself out in a crowd of green and blue Jedi lightsabers
06:07in the First Battle of Geonosis and Attack of the Clones.
06:11Mace's unique purple blade gave Star Wars fans the license to go crazy with theories.
06:16Red and blue make purple, so it's evident that Mace Windu's blade contains a balance
06:20of the light and dark sides of the Force.
06:22In the non-canon comic Star Wars Tales Number 13, the native Hurricane species gave Mace
06:28Windu a violet-colored crystal to construct a lightsaber of his Force vision.
06:32The color purple is a testament to Windu's standing as a Jedi who veers dangerously close
06:36to the dark side without succumbing to it.
06:39In Claudia Gray's canonical novel Master and Apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi explains that sometimes
06:44a kyber crystal will turn purple after it bonds with a Jedi.
06:48This means that, while a rare phenomenon, purple lightsabers are not exclusive to Mace
06:53Windu.
06:54Interestingly, Kenji Kamiyama's non-canon Star Wars Visions anime short The Ninth Jedi
06:59depicts a purple lightsaber wielder named Homan.
07:02Homan is a Jedi who spies within the Sith ranks.
07:05Due to his exposure to the Sith's ways, he admits his vulnerability to the dark side.
07:10Purple explicitly symbolizes Homan straddling the line between the dark and light.
07:16Unlike red, black is far from negative when it comes to lightsabers.
07:20The flat-bladed, one-of-a-kind darksaber bears a complex and storied history.
07:25If the rare purple and white lightsabers are made famous by their individual users, the
07:30darksaber is fascinating because of its multiple Mandalorian and Jedi masters.
07:35Clone Wars supervising director Dave Filoni brainstormed the idea of a unique Mandalorian-made
07:40lightsaber with a black blade.
07:42A millennium before the events of Star Wars, its creator, Tar Vizsla, is documented as
07:47the first Mandalorian inducted into the Jedi Order.
07:50The hilt is constructed of dark beskar, proudly symbolizing the Mandalorian hands that built
07:55it.
07:56In turn, the kyber represents Tar's loyalties to the Jedi Order.
08:00Mandalorian legends tell that it was a symbol of unity in Tar Vizsla's grip.
08:04However, its purpose of reconciling two seemingly paradoxical cultural heritages was corrupted.
08:10When Tar died, the Jedi took possession of the darksaber, but it was stolen in a raid
08:14by House Vizsla.
08:16In the hands of Tar's descendant Pre Vizsla, the darksaber is a Jedi killer.
08:20In the hands of the notorious Maul, it was used to assassinate the pacifist Mandalorian
08:24ruler Satine Kryze.
08:26The darksaber remains a symbol of Mandalorian leadership.
08:30Custom dictates that it can be won in a fair duel from its current wielder.
08:34As of now, Mandalorian Din Djarin holds it, though it seems to resist his attempts to
08:38control it.
08:39A relic and a functional blade, its ownership is constantly in dispute, and its purpose
08:45in flux.
08:46Technically, all kyber crystals begin as colorless before a Jedi bonds them with their lightsaber.
08:52The Star Wars Visions non-canon short The Ninth Jedi explores this idea in depth.
08:57Anime director Kenji Kamiyama toyed with the Star Wars mythology to feature clear-bladed
09:02lightsabers in an era eons after the sequel trilogy.
09:06In canon, lightsabers keep their respective colors whether they land in the hands of Sith
09:10or Jedi.
09:11However, in Kamiyama's creative vision, lightsabers will assume a color that reveals the user's
09:16moral alignment.
09:18If they're Sith, the blade turns red in their grip.
09:21If they adhere to the light side, it glows blue or green.
09:24Sabers can turn purple for someone who walks the line between light and darkness.
09:29For someone with undetermined allegiance and connection to the Force, their blade will
09:33come out translucent, as in Kara's case.
09:36When she proved herself to be a Jedi in combat, her blade glowed green as a signal of her
09:40maturing Force connection.
09:42A lightsaber's ability to reveal its user's nature turned out to be handy for uncovering
09:47dangerous intruders while rebuilding the Jedi Order.