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Spoilers The Acolyte

Everyone's acting like kyber crystals turning red were some long held lore but keep in mind as recently as season 2 of TCW, characters were referring to "the kyber crystal" as a memory crystal to access the names of children in a holocron. That was it. There was no mention of kyber being lightsaber crystals or powering superweapons. That concept appeared only in the unproduced TCW episodes and then they went full speed ahead with it in the new canon.
Incorrect. The season 5 TCW episode "The Gathering" is all about Younglings getting kyber crystals to power their lightsabers.
 
As for the Orange sabers....I wonder if flooding the crystal with a different strong emotion would result in something that isn't quite red. Instead of anger and hatred, what about passion?
"Passion" is not something that seems to be driving either Baylan or Shin. "Ambition" on the other hand . . .

I would however hesitate to label both Shin & Baylan as servants of the dark side. They definitely used it, and as such would inevitably be consumed by it if they continued down this path; but they weren't fully committed to it the way the Sith were. Or at least the what the Sith became. I would not be shocked if it turns out the first Sith were very much like Baylan in the beginning; disillusioned and pragmatic, which over time would give way to greed and anger. The orange blades could mean that they're on that path, but not yet past the vital threshold. They obviously didn't bleed their crystals, so likely bonded them just as Jedi do.

Honestly though; I'd rather the exact meaning of colours (beyond the red & whites for obvious reasons) be kept vague and not so specifically linked to a trait or even emotion, even in-universe. That whole "Mace Windu's blade is purple because he's a little bit dark-sidey!" thing never sat right with me. Aside from being way too close to "Grey Jedi" nonsense, it just doesn't feel like something George would be down with. Same goes for "blue = guardian, green = consular, & yellow = sentinel" thing. It was fine for a game mechanic, but is way too narrow and restrictive from a narrative point of view.

Indeed it makes less and less sense once you get that these aren't a set number of specific hues, but just points on a spectrum. For example Ahsoka's second green blade was a different shade of green than her first (rather more yellowy.) So would that mean she's 75% "consular" and 25% "sentinel"? Of course not. That'd be dumb. Jedi are a diverse and multifaceted lot; not to be so narrowly defined, and their crystals should reflect that.

Personally I think the more interesting approach from a world-building standpoint is to have the meaning of the colours be a thing that even the Jedi never figured out, and at various points was hotly debated among the Order's scholars.
Perhaps there was a point in their long history where for a while they did let the colour of a padawan's first blade to determine a Jedi's career speciality, claiming it was an expression of the will of the force . . . but abandoned it after less than a century when it became clear just as many Jedi were poor fits for their assigned roles as were well suited, plus it would've started to smack of a caste system, which runs contrary to Jedi philosophy. That seems like a clean way to acknowledge the EU legacy material without being bound by it.

Another factor to consider is that kyber crystals aren't entirely discrete objects; they are alive in the force and as such connected to, and resonated with one another. So by that logic; the colour of a Jedi's blade could have as much to do with those around them, as the specific Jedi themselves. That may also account for how Shin & Baylan's are so identically coloured, and why the variety of Jedi blades got less and less diverse the more the Order became rigid and dogmatic. Not because of the individuals, but the Jedi as a whole.
 
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The elephant-in-the-room question is: why hasn't any Jedi ever had a red lightsaber?

If a Jedi could have a red lightsaber, then bleeding as the origin of red kyber crystals would make no sense. Therefore, a necessary condition for bleeding to make sense as the original of red crystals is that no Jedi has a red lightsaber.

And that's the case: none does. So, if not that bleeding exists, what's the explanation for no Jedi having a red saber?
A few Jedi did use red lightsabers - although those novels and comics stories are now 'Legends' - and I think these may have been before the concepts of 'bleeding' and other more modern portrayals of lightsaber construction?

Luke's red shoto, Leia's red saber (though she may not technically been a Jedi at the time? I can't recall the details), Adi Gallia, Even Piell, Depa Billaba, Sharad Hett, his son A’Sharad Hett, Aayla Secura, Yaddle, and the Jedi shown in 'The Star Wars' (2014 comic based on GL's 1974 1st draft of SW)...

Jc10Ju8.jpg


1AaCjfv.jpg


eYoKDxt.jpg


s27DeWO.jpg


Wp2ocgH.png


CBV1F2G.jpg


WlAuz5S.jpg


mltryFI.png


1zcuzrI.png



TvbFHhA.jpg

^ I'd love to see a similar 'follow-up' comic based on Leigh Brackett's script for Empire Strikes Back.


There are probably other Jedi with red sabers too. I know all this isn't probably what you meant in your post - but I took it as an opportunity to post up a few cool old (maybe long forgotten for some of us?) images of Jedi back in the earlier comics and novels etc - when the colour of sabers didn't appear to signify anything in particular. :)

(At the start of this all... way back in the 1978 'Splinter Of A Mind's Eye' novel, Vader had a blue lightsaber, and Luke could also alter the length of his saber.)
 
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If one assumes that part of the bonding process with a kyber crystal is how its color is determined, it is normally a onetime process unless deeply affected by something powerful. A Jedi who has to make new lightsabers over time might feel differently depending on when and what is going in in their lives. We see Ezra's three lightsabers over the course of Rebels and Ahsoka. His first and third lightsabers are blue. But his second was green. Why? We know Ezra was more determined and maybe conflicted when he had to make his second lightsaber since Vader destroyed his first one. This was also when he was listening to the Sith Holocron a bit to become more powerful. Did this effect his crystal (a new one, or a piece of his original one?) Where did he get that crystal?

As mentioned earlier, Ahsoka's shoto is a yellowish-green rather than green (it seems that the time George was not fully in to going with a yellow lightsaber, so Filloni just had the art team push the color as far yellow as they could without it being rejected by George). Could this be because of a shift in her feelings during the Clone Wars when she made the new saber? Also both her sabers turned blue when Anakin tinkered with them during the year or so she was away from the Jedi. What did he do to them? Did he replace her crystals, or did he change them? (I don't remember if this was how it was from the Ahsoka novel, but I was under the impression that the Inquisitor's saber had her crystals inside it (as in the ones from her Clone Wars era lightsabers) and they bleed them, which is why the called out to her.)

For current canon:
Both Anakin and Obi-wan have blue lightsabers, which seem to be the more common color. Qui-Gon and Luke have green lightsabers, which is only slightly less common. Yord and Rey have yellow lightsabers, which seem uncommon, or much less common by the time of the Clone Wars. Vernestra and Mace have purple lightsabers, which is very rare (we've seen more or less just them with that color). Baylon and Shin have orange lightsabers for an unexplained reason, but they both have them. This currently seems like an uncommon color, or one that was no longer used in the Jedi Order. Pretty much every Sith allied character uses a red lightsaber. That is "common" within that grouping, but the number of Sith is rare. What that was like in days past is no clear anymore. It is assumed now that Sith tradition has them bleed the crystal as a show of dominance and power. If that was the case back when lightsabers were a newer weapon is entirely unknown at this time. Will we see some sort of proto-lightsaber in the Dawn of the Jedi era film? Or are the so ancient of a weapon that a lightsaber just be the thing the first Jedi make once they discover the kyber crystal?
 
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A few Jedi did use red lightsabers - although those novels and comics stories are now 'Legends' - and I think these may have been before the concepts of 'bleeding' and other more modern portrayals of lightsaber construction?

Luke's red shoto, Leia's red saber (though she may not technically been a Jedi at the time? I can't recall the details), Adi Gallia, Even Piell, Depa Billaba, Sharad Hett, his son A’Sharad Hett, Aayla Secura, Yaddle, and the Jedi shown in 'The Star Wars' (2014 comic based on GL's 1974 1st draft of SW)...

Jc10Ju8.jpg


1AaCjfv.jpg


eYoKDxt.jpg


s27DeWO.jpg


Wp2ocgH.png


CBV1F2G.jpg


WlAuz5S.jpg


mltryFI.png


1zcuzrI.png



TvbFHhA.jpg

^ I'd love to see a similar 'follow-up' comic based on Leigh Brackett's script for Empire Strikes Back.


There are probably other Jedi with red sabers too. I know this isn't probably what you meant - but I took it as an opportunity to post up a few cool old (maybe long forgotten for some of us?) images of Jedi back in the earlier comics and novels etc when the colour of sabers didn't appear to signify anything in particular. :)

(At the start of this all... way back in the 1978 'Splinter Of A Mind's Eye' novel, Vader had a blue lightsaber, and Luke could also alter the length of his saber.)
And, of course, there's this:
wp5401427-676360786.jpg

Granted, yes, Anakin had Dooku's as well as his own. But Jedi don't seem to consider carrying or using a red blade all that taboo.
 
I'll have to rewatch but I don't believe they ever call the crystals kyber in that episode.
They were indeed not referred to as kyber crystals in that episode . . . but the were in the subsequent episode 'A Test of Strength'. Also spelled out quite explicitly on the official site at the time the episode released.

It's not like this just came out of nowhere even then; the word itself comes from the second and third drafts of ANH, as various McGuffins consistently described (though not consistantly spelled!) as being crystals used by Jedi to focus their powers, and was even brought back in the maybe back-up sequel that was never made.
In 'The Gathering', Yoda describes the crystals as "the heart of the lightsaber" and that it focuses the Force from the Jedi. This is just George transposing that early concept of a spiritual talisman onto lightsabers, and knowing him he probably had this in mind for years prior and just never got around to putting it into a story until TCW.

So no. It's very much not a Disney thing. Disney don't care about this kind of trivial stuff. At all. They're much more into quarterly reports and the like.
 
So no. It's very much not a Disney thing. Disney don't care about this kind of trivial stuff. At all. They're much more into quarterly reports and the like.
Funny since every time people have pointed out the relatively low viewer numbers of Acolyte compared to other shows, those reports get shot down.
 
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Beat me to it.

Honest Trailers has been hit or miss for me recently (often they're too harsh on films and shows) but I largely enjoyed this entry as someone who mostly enjoyed The Acolyte...although I disagree with them calling Jekki annoying. She was the best side character!

...I also liked how they weighed in on the whole bleeding lightsaber debate that's been raging on here and how they're just as dismissive about it as I am (and George Lucas, too!).
 
At this point, I gotta say that, while some may think Acolyte is one of the worst SW series in existence, but one thing that nobody can deny is that it seems to have generated quite a bit of conversation and debate here and out in the greater net. I suppose it could be considered a relative success. :shrug:
 
ETA:
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Funny since every time people have pointed out the relatively low viewer numbers of Acolyte compared to other shows, those reports get shot down.
Well for one, those numbers aren't from Disney, thus they are irrelevant. For another; dubious viewing number estimates from third party sources and internal financial quarterly reports are two *vastly* different things. You do know that different numbers mean different things, right?

Anyway, no one show, no matter how unpopular is going to give Disney much pause outside of maybe an inquiring memo. Remember that this is the studio that made 'John Carter' and just took that 200 million loss right on the chin without even breaking stride. They're an 80+ billion a year company. They deal in *real* money. You put up whatever signage you like, and hire as many sherpas as you can, but it ain't going to make that little mole hill into a mountain.
Honest Trailers has been hit or miss for me recently (often they're too harsh on films and shows) but I largely enjoyed this entry as someone who mostly enjoyed The Acolyte...although I disagree with them calling Jekki annoying. She was the best side character!
Well, some people just find characters having their own opinions and personalities to be an annoyance . . . funny how that often just so happens to coincide with said characters being female. I'm sure it's just a pure coincidence, but I do remember seeing a lot of similar complaints about Rey, Jyn, Ahsoka, even very recently about Kay Vess (which is extra bizarre given the game isn't even out yet) and not so much about Poe, Cassian, Rex, or Cal. What a mystery this is! ;)
 
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I thought Honest Trailers (Fandom/Screen Junkies) calling Jecki "annoying" was a tongue-in-cheek jab at the routine criticism of powerful female characters being called annoying, as well as a possible reference to Ahsoka also having been referred to as annoying in the beginning.
 
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