can non-Force users weild lightsabers?

[Mr Light]

If I recall correctly, stun beams have been used on Jedi in the books and they can catch it on their blade even though it spreads out. Or maybe it just takes the brunt of it. I don't remember... I think the bad guys in Fate of the Jedi use it on the Jedi?

 

[UssGlenn]

Vader declares Luke's training is complete. Somehow, just making a light saber requires a mastery of the Force. Go figure.

Maybe, maybe not. Could be you need the force to align the crystal correctly, or perhaps anybody could do it but the Jedi never teach anybody else except their padawans as the last stage of their training.

 

[fett51]

And I also like the idea of a "black" lightsaber, even though a black light seems counterintuitive. If it's reflecting light, it's not "really" black, but however you could achieve the effect would be cool.

*mumbles something about season 2 of clone wars*

Blaster deflection is the issue - any random guy with a lightsaber would simply be shot, and if he or was clumsy he might take a limb off. Grievous can sort of cheat by spinning his lightsabers ridiculously fast, but that's because of his droid arms. Any organic would be toast. In the EU so far as I'm aware stun blasts can be deflected - with great difficulty. Likewise with the equivalent of shotgun blasts. Clone Wars I believe has shown Geonosian sonic blasts from small arms being deflected. As for non-force sensitives in duels, it's possible but apart from Grievous I've never seen it turn out well for them. Heck as far as I can remember post-RotS Grievous has never won a straight up lightsaber duel apart from Ahsoka - he always cheats.

As for lightsaber *assembly* I'm pretty sure that requires some degree of force talent.

 

[Sephiroth]

Vader declares Luke's training is complete. Somehow, just making a light saber requires a mastery of the Force. Go figure.

Maybe, maybe not. Could be you need the force to align the crystal correctly, or perhaps anybody could do it but the Jedi never teach anybody else except their padawans as the last stage of their training.

I think it's more of a symbol of training completeion, a Rite of passage that when a student is ready to leave the temple and go out into the world with a master that they go to build thier saber, not a literal proof of mastery of The Force

 

[Admiral_Young]

^ That's how I looked at it the first time Vader mentioned it.

 

[Nociod]

*mumbles something about season 2 of clone wars*

Yeah, the darksaber that Pre Vizsla uses in " The Mandalore Plot"


http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Darksaber_%28lightsaber%29

 

[Whofan]

Anybody remember Kevin J. Anderson's novel Darksaber? Basically, it had the Hutts construct a Death Star style weapon that resembled a giant lightsaber, hence the title:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Darksaber

The novel is pretty stupid. Basically it's Luke visiting the planets from the OT (a tie-in attempt to link to a Ralph Mcquarrie artbook released around the same time) in order to get his girlfriend at the time (Callista), who has become force-blind, to use it again. Or something. While the Hutts build their own Death Star thing.


This was of course after KJA had created the Sun Crusher and Death Star prototypes in the Jedi Academy trilogy.

 

[The Badger]

I was wondering whether lightsabers were made of "the Force" and nobody but a Jedi could turn one on, because nobody else would know how to "channel" the force into the saber.

There was a Jedi in the EU novels (though I'll be damned if I can recall who - first thought was Corran Horn, but I can only find reference to his dual-phase saber) who specifically constructed their lightsaber so that there is no external power button. Instead, the actuator was built inside the hilt, so that only a Jedi could activate the saber using telekinesis.

Since Corran's skill with telekinesis is pretty much non-existent, I don't think it was him but like I said above I can't recall who it was.

As I recall, it was the Jensaarai that Corran met in 'I,Jedi' that used lightsabres that could only be operated telekinetically. The switch was inside the handle.

Also from 'I, Jedi' is the notion that, through meditation, a Jedi constructing a lightsabre is able to modify the components so as to make the energy flow super efficient. Without force powers, it might be possible to build a light sabre, but it wouldn't be any where near as good.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I always believed that the Force allowed a Jedi or a Sith to anticipate the moves of an opponent during combat and match that person blow for blow (at least as long as their concentration held up). A non-Force using master swordsman can probably be just as skilled a martial artist with a lightsaber as with a regular sword, but would be bantha poodoo against someone with a blaster or in real combat against an actual Jedi or Sith...

 

[The Squire of Gothos]

I always had a picture in my head of a non-Force user holding one up to their eye and then activating it

 

[Teelie]

There are references to people such as Boba or Jango Fett (which I can't recall) effectively using a lightsaber against a Jedi but it was a passing reference, not a direct scene we read about as it happens.

That still shows even non-force-wielders who can use one are exceptionally skilled and proficient warriors so the average Joe in the Star Wars EU could be able to use a lightsaber effectively enough against another non-force user in a sword fight but against anyone with the skill to use the Force, they're sliced, diced and julienned into pieces.

 

[Lindley]

What I have never understood is that in the first moments of A New Hope we see the perfect counter to lightsabers when the stormtroopers use a circular stun blast to take Leia down. But then we never see anyone else use that against lightsaber wielders.

Spoiler: Darksaber

Admiral Daala uses a stun blast to bypass Callista's lightsaber and escape from the Super Star Destroyer Knight Hammer which was falling into Yavin's atmosphere. Of course, I think Callista was force-blind at the time, so I'm not sure if that means anything.

 

[Stevil2001]

In The Last Command, C'baoth's forces use stun blasts inside Mount Tantiss because they know Luke can't deflect them, as I recall.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I was wondering whether lightsabers were made of "the Force" and nobody but a Jedi could turn one on, because nobody else would know how to "channel" the force into the saber.

There was a Jedi in the EU novels (though I'll be damned if I can recall who - first thought was Corran Horn, but I can only find reference to his dual-phase saber) who specifically constructed their lightsaber so that there is no external power button. Instead, the actuator was built inside the hilt, so that only a Jedi could activate the saber using telekinesis.

Since Corran's skill with telekinesis is pretty much non-existent, I don't think it was him but like I said above I can't recall who it was.

That's kinda how I thought lightsabers should be - either impossible for a non-Force user to use (because they couldn't make the light blade cohere) or at least designed so that on a practical basis, it would be difficult for someone to just pick one up and start swingin' it around. I just don't like the idea that the light blade is created by purely mechanical means, just a big laser.

Maybe Han could use Luke's lightsaber because a) there was enough "Force charge" left in it from when Luke was using it that Han could cut open a tauntaun or b) the Force is the life force of all living beings, so anyone can use a lightsaber at least for a little bit before the beam starts to collapse, and it helps a lot if you're highly focused and motivated, such as saving your friend who is dying from hypothermia.

Honestly lightsabers, even wielded by a master Jedi are horrible weapons for offense or defense. They tell the world exactly who you are, they give away your position. They have almost no reach.

That's why I'm trying to reconcile why lightsabers are still reasonable weapons in a galaxy full of blasters. I figure that it makes sense only if Jedi precognition makes every other weapon untenable against them. Then, the foe has only two choices: 1) run; or 2) try to get close enough to physically take the lightsaber away, which is not something most folks would try if they can't even manage to shoot the guy from a distance.

So in the end, Jedi precognition is their true weapon. They could just as easily be carrying blasters. But by carrying lightsabers, they psych non-Force-users out by sending the message that they're so unbeatable, they can go into battle with a weapon whose only advantage is that it looks cool.

 

[DonIago]

Of course, you also can't use a blaster to deflect a blaster bolt...potentially back at the person who tried to shoot you in the first place.

I suspect the power switch isn't generally internalized precisely for the occasions where it might be useful for a non-force user, or a Jedi whose abilities have somehow been neutralized, to still be able to use the lightsaber.

 

[David cgc]

They wouldn't even have to be neutralized. Using the Force takes effort. Think about when Luke was hanging from his feet-half dead in a freezing cave. He could barely pull the saber two feet into his hand. You think he'd be up to delicate internal manipulations of a mechanism he'd never even seen before the Wampa came back and kicked his ass? Making it unduly difficult to turn on a saber is probably way more trouble than it's worth.

 

[DonIago]

Plus you're making it unduly difficult to turn -off- the saber at the same time...that could lead to all kinds of fun if the Jedi drops it in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I'm not sure Luke in the Wampa cave is a good example given he was also half (or less?)-trained at the time.

 

[Sephiroth]

^don't most lightsabers have a kill switch if let go? it seems that every time Obi-Wan or Anakin dropped theirs it would auto-off

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Of course, you also can't use a blaster to deflect a blaster bolt...potentially back at the person who tried to shoot you in the first place.

Why not? Because you need a force field to do that? Okay, modify a blaster so it includes a force field projection gizmo.

The point is, there's nothing particularly special about a laser that happens to look like a sword. Any number of weapons could be invented that do the same thing and other things, too.

 

[fett51]

So in the end, Jedi precognition is their true weapon. They could just as easily be carrying blasters. But by carrying lightsabers, they psych non-Force-users out by sending the message that they're so unbeatable, they can go into battle with a weapon whose only advantage is that it looks cool.

I feel compelled to point out the ability to cut through nearly anything is a pretty useful thing lightsabers do that blasters don't. The other major aspect of their use is that they are defensive - they block blaster bolts and incinerate bullets, but only in the hands of force sensitives. They also double as flashlights

I think Darth Sion summed up Jedi in combat perfectly when he said "The Force is a blade, without it one is defenseless."

As for forcefields, I can't recall anyone in the PT/OT era of star wars running around with personal shields. Destroyer droids have them, but presumably there is something about shield generators that precludes an organic being from simply strapping one on.