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can non-Force users weild lightsabers?

I think in Outbound Flight it's mentioned that personal shields are (theoretically?) possible but tended to have detrimental effects upon the users.
 
Thanks to this thread..

I spent almost 2 hours at http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page reading up on Lightsabers, Light-Whips, The Darksaber, Shoto/Guard Shoto, various Force-User Organizations (of which there are more than just the Jedi & Sith), a rather lengthy article on Mandalorian Culture, as well as the Skywalker & Solo Dynasties spanning a time from the Golden Age of the Old Republic all the way to the Legacy Era...

Two Hours and 1 minute before reading the Wookiepedia, I had absolutely no clue what the hell I just said either.

Star Wars may have less filmed material than a couple of seasons of TNG, but it's pretty freaking dense and complex in terms of it's EU.
 
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Temis the Vorta said:
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. :rommie:

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 :p

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.

that weird armored creature from the Tartakofsky clone wars series had shield armlets, and in the P&P SW game there are personal shields and a shield force-power
 
Modern fencing sabres have virtually no weight. People use them just fine.

They can't cut a person in half. Well, it'd take a very long time, anyway...

The thing that always gets me about lightsaber use in the SWU is that, if the Jedi and Sith are Force-users, and have telekinesis, they shouldn't even *be* fencing - they should be standing somewhere else, concentrating on making the weapon zip around in the air. And by extension, a lightsaber is therefore not the best weapon for a Force user... They need a Flying Guillotine or something...
 
The thing that always gets me about lightsaber use in the SWU is that, if the Jedi and Sith are Force-users, and have telekinesis, they shouldn't even *be* fencing - they should be standing somewhere else, concentrating on making the weapon zip around in the air. And by extension, a lightsaber is therefore not the best weapon for a Force user... They need a Flying Guillotine or something...

Except that leaves you completely open to attack yourself. The game Jedi Academy allows you to wield two lightsabers - you can hold one lightsaber to deflect and throw your other one. I would imagine this is extremely taxing on the Jedi doing it however.

I completely agree that we should see telekinesis being used as a weapon much more frequently than we do.
 
I feel compelled to point out the ability to cut through nearly anything is a pretty useful thing lightsabers do that blasters don't.
Why couldn't a blaster be designed to blast through anything? Just use the same "material" as a lightsaber does. You cut with "bullets" rather than a blade. If you want a long, thin, blade-like cut, you change the pattern of the bullets. (I'd want to have many different patterns under my control from concentrated point to buckshot-scatter).

As far as I can tell, a lightsaber has an offensive component (cutting) and defensive (blocking). The defense is in essence a force field and the offense serves the same purpose as a blaster ray. But a blaster can also project force further away, and if you have all those bullet-pattern settings, you have a much more versatile instrument than a simple blade whose shape you can't alter.

But forget all of that, this is the weapon I want: a remote-controlled nanobot swarm that is invisible to the eye when dispersed in a loose swarm, but can be commanded to coalesce into anything I want. I'll just send my swarm to sneak up on the enemy while I'm nowhere in sight, re-form into a lightsaber right behind him, and SNIK! :D

They need a Flying Guillotine or something...
Oh right, that's what I want. A stealth nanobot lightsaber. I'm thinking that it would be remote-controlled mechanically but if you can command them via telekinesis, so much the better.
 
You're all forgetting the first description of a lightsaber. "A more civilized weapon, for a more civilized time."

The Jedis don't use a lightsaber because it's the best weapon. They use it out of tradition and a sense of chivalry.
 
You're all forgetting the first description of a lightsaber. "A more civilized weapon, for a more civilized time."

The Jedis don't use a lightsaber because it's the best weapon. They use it out of tradition and a sense of chivalry.

You know what they say: Those who live by the sword...

...get shot by those who don't.
 
You're all forgetting the first description of a lightsaber. "A more civilized weapon, for a more civilized time."

The Jedis don't use a lightsaber because it's the best weapon. They use it out of tradition and a sense of chivalry.

Feh, more Jedi hypocrisy! Considering that a Jedi-turned-Sith was responsible for the "uncivility" being referred to, Obi-Wan can save the platitudes. :rommie:
 
Why couldn't a blaster be designed to blast through anything? Just use the same "material" as a lightsaber does. You cut with "bullets" rather than a blade. If you want a long, thin, blade-like cut, you change the pattern of the bullets. (I'd want to have many different patterns under my control from concentrated point to buckshot-scatter).

As far as I can tell, a lightsaber has an offensive component (cutting) and defensive (blocking). The defense is in essence a force field and the offense serves the same purpose as a blaster ray. But a blaster can also project force further away, and if you have all those bullet-pattern settings, you have a much more versatile instrument than a simple blade whose shape you can't alter.

I think part of what enables the lightsaber to cut through anything is that it's constantly being generated - if you wanted the same effect with a blaster you'd need to hold down the trigger for however long you wanted to burn through. Additionally, the precision needed to cut something at range would be much greater than melee. Range as whole is less critical for jedi - they can use telekinesis. Personal shields are no substitute for a jedi-wielded lightsaber in terms of defense - they lose power and you can't choose where to redirect blaster fire.

As for "don't bring sword to a gunfight," tell that to Ponda Baba's arm :P
 
Need new mods!!!!

What's wrong with the old mods? Are they not thwacking enough people in this thread? :p

Anyway...if I had telekinesis, mind control and precognition, I'd still opt for a blaster. Those are all individual weapons that can be used together or separately, but only the blaster is guaranteed to kill from a distance.

I think part of what enables the lightsaber to cut through anything is that it's constantly being generated - if you wanted the same effect with a blaster you'd need to hold down the trigger for however long you wanted to burn through.
Redesign the blaster to do what you want it to - constantly generate power if that's what you want. "Blaster" is just a generic term for energy gun. There isn't just one style.

Additionally, the precision needed to cut something at range would be much greater than melee.
Precision??? I'm in a fight, not doing brain surgery! (Well, very messy brain surgery, maybe.) Precision is not high on my wish list. I'd just as soon use TK to drop a boulder on my opponent from a great distance.

Range as whole is less critical for jedi - they can use telekinesis. Personal shields are no substitute for a jedi-wielded lightsaber in terms of defense - they lose power and you can't choose where to redirect blaster fire.
Design a personal shield to do what you like - have panels whose angle can be controlled to play richochet. If lightsabers don't lose power, why should a personal shield be any different?
 
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