The history of Luke Skywalker’s saber goes back as long as that of the Star Wars saga itself. This makes sense, considering that Jedi Knights with electric swords are the essence of what Star Wars is all about (not specifically but you’re aware of what we mean).
We refer to it as Luke’s saber However, it was Anakin’s. Obi-Wan Kenobi picked it up before he went to leave Anakin to die, having just defeated him in their duel on Mustafar In Revenge of the Sith. He held it for many years until he gave the saber to Luke in A New Hope, so fans often refer to the blue saber as Luke’s.
If the sword was initially Anakin’s, what’s its story? You may remember from Attack of the Clones that Anakin lost his arm during the duel with Dooku during the duel. Dooku and thus continued (or initiating!) the tradition of characters to lose their limbs in Star Wars movies.
Following the loss, Anakin required a second saber. This is the saber that the story comes into play. This is the saber that Anakin used when he became Darth Vader.
The saber killed The Younglings in Revenge of the Sith. It is the saber that he executed Count Dooku with. It is the saber that killed everyone he encountered in the Jedi Temple, and it is the saber that it was the weapon he used to defeat Obi-Wan.
The blue saber also had an uphill start It was first used by a promising Jedi that ever existed in use, and it was later up being used by one of the Sith Lord. It’s a matter of duality.
At the point it’s passed to Luke, the sword has seen lot of blood spilled in the form of Jedi and younglings. No wonder Kylo Ren wanted it so much.
This weapon has been part of some significant instances in Star Wars history, but in A New Hope, Luke does not get to play swashbuckler, but rather, he gets to train with it on the Millennium Falcon. It wasn’t until the incident that took place in The Empire Strikes Back that the sword was made a part of Luke’s story.
In that movie, Luke made use of it to release himself from the ice trappings of the wampa. later, it was used by Han Solo to carve up his tauntaun so that he could place Luke’s frozen body inside it to shield him from the frigid cold.
The next time it’s utilized is a dark time. Luke is an exercise with Yoda with Yoda on the swampy plant Degobah. It is at this point that Luke stumbles upon the cave. Effectively warned not to take his weapon in with him, Luke has a strange nightmare-like experience in which he is required to use his saber in order to defend himself from attacking Darth Vader.
This is the first time we have Luke actively use the saber to protect himself. It is a dream experience is not a detriment to the fact that Luke utilized the saber believing he was facing Vader.
Of course, Luke ultimately faces Vader at the Bespin’s Cloud City, where they engage in a spirited battle and take the sting out of each other – so much to the point that Luke cannot win, and loses his hand for his troubles (just like his father had previous times – and on two different occasions! ).
In the present, it is the basis of a film legend that Vader is revealed to be Luke’s father. Imagine!
However, amid all that excitement, Luke’s sword is lost in a shaft – and that was the end of that episode.
As in Return of the Jedi, Luke makes a saber that is his own (while it isn’t mentioned in the movie in any way, it’s a Jedi tradition to do this), and he uses this saber whenever he destroys Jabba’s sail barge, and of course when he fights Vader on the Death Star, returning the favor by cutting of Darth Vader’s arm. An humiliation he’s endured three times!
What happened to that blue sword? Here is where the story of the saber begins to unfold further than anyone thought of.
30-odd years since it was lost both in film and real-world time, it came back again in The Force Awakens.
The sword was found to be within Maz the Kanata’s possession. Maz is a strange being that seems adept to the Force or at the very least, has a an in-depth understanding of it. She sets Rey up to locate it, as she believes that her Force calls her there.
Why? We’re not sure, but Maz is aware that the sword will need to find its way into the hands of Rey, so she offers the sword to Finn as a placeholder until Rey is fully prepared.
Finn gets to dance alongside the Stormtrooper who wields the sword and holds his own for a while against the father-killing Kylo Ren, at which moment Rey gets hold of the sword and engages in an epic battle against Ren.
Ren Of course, Ren is the grandchild of Darth Vader, the man who had the sword that Rey fought him with. The sword seems to have come full circle.
But Rey did not want the sword of Maz to begin with in the very first beginning. The dream sequence terrified her to the point that, even though she was aware that she must find Luke Skywalker, she still handed his sword upon their initial meeting at the summit of the “Jedi Steps” on the island that Luke had hidden away. It’s a touching moment. Luke’s blue saber was returned to him, after so many years.
One could only imagine the feelings that were running through Luke’s head at the moment he saw it – the last time he saw it the father had taken off the arm of his son and revealed his own identity.
What was the fate of the saber in The Last Jedi?
Rey offered it up to Luke who then casually dropped it over the cliff. Rey continued to train using the Achto island. Kylo Ren later used it to kill Snoke as well as his Praetorian guards.
As Rey and Kylo are about to Force duel for possession the saber snaps half, putting it out of service.
Then we move on to The Rise of Skywalker
Rey’s skills are perfect, and she has repaired the split saber (or maybe Leia has). Luke shows Rey where the saber of Leia is hidden in Achto Island, and boom Rey is awestruck. Rey can carry two different sabers to her side when she confronts Palpatine.
The Force Dyad is now so strong between Rey that she’s able pass Ben Skywalker’s Anakin’s Saber to him so he can combat against the Knights of Ren, who have reacted against Ben Skywalker and turned on him. It’s space magic, indeed.
This means that the last Skywalker to use the saber was the grandson of Anakin Skywalker. An extensive history for a small piece of metal.
The Reason Luke’s Lightsaber changed from Green to Blue in the movie “Return of the Jedi”
The films A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back The lightsabers were shown as red or blue. Obi-Wan’s lightsaber featured a blue blade that was later attributed to the Jedi, as did the one that he gifted his friend Luke Skywalker. Darth Vader, however, had a red lightsaber that was later branded in the Sith. The situation changed with Return of the Jedi when Luke Skywalker had built himself his own lightsaber. The new lightsaber departed from the norm of color that we all believe was the norm, being green. However the first posters and promotional materials to promote Return of the Jedi had Luke Skywalker using the traditional blue-bladed lightsaber. Luke Skywalker’s blue light sword even was used in the trailers. Based on this, you can imagine the excitement of the viewers in the film’s actual version with Luke Skywalker using a green-bladed lightsaber, instead of blue.
Why did we see this color change for the lightsaber? Star Wars storytelling has covered this issue from an in-universe viewpoint through various layers of multimedia projects, but that was after the fact. This opened up a new world of discussion around the color of lightsabers. The actual reason that Luke Skywalker ended up with the green blade instead of the usual blue has no connection to storytelling and had everything to do with real-life practicality.
Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber went from green to blue while they were filming due to the fact that it was difficult to see. It was evident during act one in Return of the Jedi when the fight on Jabba the Hutt’s sailbarge was shot in the daylight. The blue lightsaber blended in with the blue skies that were clear. A little thought on set resulted in the choice to change the color of Luke Skywalker’s new lightsaber to green from blue. From that point on, those who love Star Wars lightsabers suddenly had their world wide open from a blue and red pairing to the potential to have other colors beyond blue red, green, and.
Although it never actually made it into the official Version of the Return of the Jedi movie there’s actually a deleted scene that shows Luke Skywalker building his own Luke Skywalker lightsaber, using the green blade. The scene was included in an extra disc of content in the Blu-ray set that was released under the title “Luke’s lightsaber.” It makes sense that the scene was taken out because it would have revealed too much, and taken away a lot of the thrills which would occur later in the movie.
With the introduction of a brand new Jedi lightsaber colour in Return of the Jedi, the Star Wars franchise would have the possibility of having more opportunities to use them in future films. We’ve seen this happening during the Prequel Trilogy, with blue purple, green and blue lightsabers being wielded by the Jedi and red being used by the Sith. We also saw yellow lightsabers used by the Jedi Temple guard during The Clone Wars animated series. Of course, the lightsaber Rey Skywalker built at the beginning in The Rise of Skywalker was also yellow. Other notable individual entries include an black lightsaber in the Darksaber’s case the white lightsaber of Ahsoka Tano and a red lightsaber in the video game Jedi: Fallen Order.