What were the meanings of different lightsaber colours?
The weapon of choice for both the sith and the Jedi, the Lightsaber held great significance to its user, it being connected to them through the force itself. The colour of the Lightsaber signified the wielders personality, affiliation and even their specific discipline within the Jedi order.
In legends, a lightsaber would be coloured based upon the colour of the chosen Lightsaber crystal. However in canon, the colouration is determined based upon the user's force abilities and skills rather than colour preference. Today we will be exploring the meanings of all the different lightsaber colours in depth using both canon and legends material.
First of all we have my personal favourite lightsaber colour: red. Red Lightsabers, in both canon and legends, were made in a slightly different way to other lightsabers. In legends, red lightsabers utilised synthetic crystals which were made using the dark side of the force. However in canon, red blades were produced through the bleeding of a Kyber crystal. This process involved the sith pouring all of their hatred and anger into the crystal, turning it crimson red. In both canon and legends, red lightsabers represented the dark emotions of anger, hatred and greed typically used by the sith.
However in legends there were some exceptions to this. Adi Galia found an exceptionally rare light red Kyber Crystal and installed it into her lightsaber, but was forced to abandon it after the revelation of the Sith. Although there is little information on naturally occurring red Kyber crystals, they were attuned to the light side of the force.
Similar to the red lightsaber crystal was the pink lightsaber crystal seen in legends. These were just as rare as red Kyber crystals but were even harder to acquire. As far as we know, these could only be found within the eggs of the Kinrath, a species native to Dantooine. Just like in canon, these Kyber crystals would change colour depending upon the alignment of the force user. While the Kinrath eggs usually produced a blue or green crystal, on rare occasions they would produce a yellow or pink saber. While it's not known exactly what the meaning of this saber is, I thought it was worth a mention regardless. While working under the Emperor, Mara Jade utilised a pink lightsaber crystal, leading me to believe that it has dark side connotations, albeit less so than the traditional red Sith blade.
If I were to guess, I would say pink is a slightly darker variation of the next lightsaber colour on the list: purple.
As we all know the real reason purple was created was so that Samuel L Jackson could stand out during the attack of the clones. However in universe, purple signified a closer alignment to the dark side than most Jedi. Mace Windu was of course the most famous wielder of the purple lightsaber, signifying his more aggressive fighting style. Windu used a variation of form 7 known as vapad. Form 7 was traditionally used by the sith and was heavily frowned upon by the Jedi order. However, Windu was able to channel some of his and his opponents dark side energy into his fighting style, creating a variation of form 7 that was not forbidden by the Jedi.
Despite Windus dogmatic views concerning the Jedi and Anakin Skywalker, he was in a way the most balanced Jedi in the order, utilising both the dark and the light thus making his lightsaber purple. We haven’t yet seen how Windu acquired his kyber crystal, although I hope we get to find out soon.
In legends, purple sabers were slightly different. Instead of symbolising the balance between light and dark, purple sabers were more similar to the pink and naturally occurring red crystals discussed earlier and were made through acquiring incredibly rare amethyst crystals.
Windu first acquired his saber through the use of the force shatterpoints ability which allowed him to see glimpses of the future. He foresaw that he would create one of the most elegant sabers in the galaxy and the force compelled him to travel to the world of Hurrikan. After a short battle with rock monsters, Windu killed one of them. Distraught, he then used the force to bring them back to life. It was in this moment that Windu realised that he could use his anger to cause great destruction or defeat evil. After this profound realisation, the Rock monsters gifted Windu with the amethyst crystal which he used for the remainder of his life.
#lightsaber #lightsabercolors #starwarslore #starwarslegends #starwarsexplained #starwarscanon #VF #Vadersfortress