How famous would Star Wars be without lightsabers? The franchise’s iconic weapon fueled the most famous images from the movies, sold countless replicas in toy stores, and even sparked an attraction in the Disney Parks. But as famous as it is, it’s also just as confusing. There are lots of conflicting stories on how lightsabers work within the Jedi Order, but in the recent (albeit non-canon) animated Star Wars series on Disney+, we learn more about a completely new kind of lightsaber, one that makes the weapon even more fascinating.
Warning! Spoilers for Star Wars: The Ninth Jedi ahead!
In Disney+’s new series The Ninth Jedi, young Kara finds herself wielding one of the lightsabers made by her father Lah Zhima. When she first wielded it in the Star Wars: Visions short where she made her debut, the saber glowed clear. Later, it glows green. But when Kara finds herself falling to the Dark Side, the saber glows red, just like the sabers of the Sith in the first-ever Ninth Jedi short.
But this is only the start of this saber’s quirks. Kara initially assumes the saber glows clear because she’s not strong enough in her abilities, but The Ninth Jedi reveals that the clear color is not a “default” option, but a “neutral” one. Kara confronts Nawaam, and the young enemy reveals he idolized Lah Zhima because he had the capability to eliminate all emotions from his mind, keeping it very clear. This “nothingness” — neither Jedi nor Sith — is seen as desirable to him.
How The Ninth Jedi remixes a fairly recent Star Wars canon rule
In Star Wars canon, there’s a very similar concept: “bleeding” Kyber crystals. First mentioned in the 2016 novel Ahsoka, the white lightsaber color is used to reflect Ahsoka Tano’s lack of belonging in either the Jedi or the Sith. It popped up again in canon in the comics to explain Anakin Skywalker’s suddenly red lightsaber, but the highest-profile existence of this was in The Acolyte, when Osha’s bubbling hatred turns her blue lightsaber red mid-fight.
By the end of The Ninth Jedi, Kara’s saber goes back to green, not clear, and thankfully not red. But the color-changing aspect of her father’s sabers, something we’re told is specific to his, makes for the perfect visual metaphor for her emotions and her motivations.
The Ninth Jedi may not technically be canon, but this reveal proves just how important lightsaber lore is to Star Wars as a whole. The franchise may be a fight between good and evil, but that is a vast spectrum, and in recent years we’ve seen more and more characters who exist in the middle. Isn’t it time we got a weapon that actually reflected this nuance?
Star Wars: The Ninth Jedi is now streaming on Disney+.
