The Origins of Kylo Ren’s Broadsaber Design Revealed
By Elaine Tveit
Ever since it was first unveiled, Kylo Ren’s crossguard lightsaber (AKA, the broadsaber) has been a source of heated debate. Some fans love it, some fans think it’s ridiculous (I personally fall into the former category). One thing everyone has been wondering however, is: Why is the crossguard blade design necessary? And what are its origins?
Thanks to a prop display of Kylo’s lightsaber hilt at Disneyland in honor of Season of the Force (via /Film), we have some answers.
via /Film
“Quillons,” according to /Film, is not a new word; it simply refers to the blades (or bars, on a real sword) jutting out from either side of the hilt. It turns out they serve a practical function rather than being there just for flash, being “raw power vented from the central blade.” This connects to the first line on this plaque, which says that Kylo’s lightsaber is “an ancient design.” Meaning, at some point in Sith or Jedi history, lightsabers were not technologically advanced enough to not have “vents” for the saber’s power.
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Kylo’s lightsaber, however, is a recent construction, which brings up the question of why he felt compelled to base it off a primitive (albeit awesome) design. It could be that Kylo and the other Knights of Ren are resurrecting a cult even more ancient than the Sith, or perhaps from the very beginnings of the Sith. Alternatively, Ethan Anderton from /Film suggested that Kylo may not have the skills to build a modern, sophisticated version of the weapon, forcing him to draw on the most basic of lightsaber design.
However, I’m not sure I agree with that. I feel the Knights of Ren have enough reach and power, they could find a Jedi holocron, or data preserved by Palpatine and Darth Vader that would teach them the basics of lightsaber construction. But, with no official information other than what’s on this plaque and what little J.J. Abrams has been open to telling us, there’s no way to know for sure. Everything is open for speculation.
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One thing is for certain, however. Kylo, Supreme Leader Snoke, and the Knights of Ren are shaping up to be more dangerous and more mysterious than I think we’re prepared for.