I think it sounds like the crystals change color when the Sith/Jedi manipulate them with the Force, so long as none of them are involved with it's use in the Death Star, I don't think it will change.
So this is why we have red lightsabers
- Thread starter Gingerbread Demon
- Start date
The thing is, as we saw in Rebels & TCW, kyber crystals are naturally clear. The book even states that they can be forcably extracted by unnatural means, which is akin to what the Sith do so presumably "mining" them in the traditional sense would also turn them red. That they're already green suggests that a Jedi or other lightsider had a hand in it's initial purpose.
This seems to agree with the suggestion that part of the plot of Rogue One will involve such a one on Jedah, which is supposedly an (possibly *the*) ancient home of the Jedi. An ancient Jedi artifact like a large holocron secreted away in some hidden chamber is certainly within the realms of possibility.
I admit I'm not too keen on this idea of "bleeding crystals" that react to whoever finds them. Could've just kept it simple that Sith have red lightsabers because that's traditional for them and wannabe Sith simply follow suit.
Oh, I forgot they were clear. In that case it does sound like the second part of your post is pretty likely.
Plus IIRC the presumed one that Hera destroyed had a similarly tinted green energy blast.
Well the "bleeding" part is more metaphor than literal. It seems the reason why Jedi can turn the crystals into several different colours is because they're forging a sympathetic bond with it and the colour is a reflection or perhaps more aptly; a resonance of that individual.
Whereas the Sith are imposing a bond through domination, which being a disharmonious process is expressed uniformly as a darkening to a red hue.
Personally I think it's a neat way to express the fundamental differences between the light and dark sides. It's more about selfless passivity & harmony vs. selfish aggression& conflict than anything as subjective as "good vs. evil".
Out of interest, Pablo Hidalgo recently pointed out that the superlaser's beam isn't as uniformly green as it first appears, before going on to post this insightful string of totally unrelated tweets on the properties of Kool-Aid in the hands of both Jedi and Sith.
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I'm well aware of that, but I still think it could have been simpler if red was just the color the Sith and their followers historically chose for their lightsabers.
I don't see how. You'd then have to explain *why* they specifically chose red so the end result would essentially be the same. This way has the added benefit of there being an inherent meaning in it beyond mere aesthetics.
I gave a really simple answer earlier in the thread; perhaps red crystals just allowed one to channel the dark side of the Force more easily while simultaneously stifling the light side (or vice-versa with the other crystals; red being the 'neutral' one; if not both). That's really the only explanation required.
The whole having to "bound" with the crystals is really silly, especially since they're clearly used outside of just light sabers. Did the Death Star have to bond with its crystal? And why can anyone use anyone else's lightsaber without restriction? What does this bonding actually do, especially since they're also passed down from one generation to another as seen in A New Hope.
It's just a bad explanation all around, especially when much simpler ones are available.
I mean, light sabers were clearly originally just supposed to be that galaxy's version of swords, and the Jedi preferred them the same way the Bride preferred to use her Hanzo sword over modern firearms in Kill Bill.
Like Exar Kun or Qel-Droma? Bane had a purple one didn't he? As did Revan at one point in KOTOR 2. Hell, even Anakin had a blue one even after he had fallen; he didn't switch to red until his saber was taken from him by Kenobi.
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You're overthinking it. The Sith could have simply chosen red simply because they had always favored the color or that it had some kind of ancient significance to them millennia ago. It need not be any more complicated than it being the color long associated with them.
For all we know, some ancient Jedi used to have red lightsabers too. At some point, they could have distanced themselves from the color.
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That's an extremely shallow justification and at odds with the notion that dark siders are inherently selfish and individualist. Such beings would always be seeking to distinguish themselves from the pack, especially back when the Sith were legion. Respect for tradition is much more a Jedi trait than a Sith one, so the idea that this is simply an aesthetic choice simply doesn't hold water.
All this new explanation does is add a little depth to the Jedi & Sith lore, that there's more to their weapons than simple tools. It's really not anywhere near as complicated as you seem to be making it out, just an elaboration one what we've already seen in mere fragments.
I suspect this may even come from Lucas himself as he supposedly had a bunch of background notes on Jedi, Sith and force lore that never made it into the movies since it was never terribly relevant to the stories.
No, it doesn't add any depth. All it adds is pure, unadulterated cheese and lameness. Lightsabers were never a Jedi-only weapon, and kyber crystals -- EU as I think they are as I don't recall them ever once being mentioned in a movie, let alone by name -- are most definitely not a Jedi-only thing, the latter of which making the entire explanation dumb as heck.
No it's not, it's just not a long-winded, overly-convoluted one and steers clear of a lot of unnecessarily complicated stuff (i.e., fanwank b.s.) that adds nothing in the end. Besides, I'm talking about a purely hypothetical situation in which there's a simpler rationale behind lightsaber colors, so put away the canon pitchforks...
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As I am unfamiliar with the origins of the red color, I am not sure when the Sith started using it. I remember reading about their title coming from them defeating a race of aliens called Sith and adopting the title "Lords of the Sith." In The Old Republic, there are the Sith Purebloods and their skin was red, so I took that as part of the inspiration for the saber color. Also, much of lore about the lightsaber crystals was that the Sith crafted artificial ones that had the potential to "break" saber blades from Kyber crystals.
That, of course, probably has changed.
He also uses purple in SWTOR.
This new addition to the lore doesn't bother me at all, and if anything I think it makes it more interesting, and keeps to the mystical origins of the Force. Sure, anyone can wield a lightsaber, but they're only truly special in the hands of a Force-user, and the kyber crystals show us why. This is certainly a more satisfying and intriguing explanation than the Sith just really liking the color red because it goes really well with their black robes.
