Lightsaber review: Why do certain characters have certain shapes and colors?

One of the most common things to come out of Star Wars is of course the lightsaber! There are so many different shapes and colors and yes, they all have different meanings.

We are going to be not necessarily taking a look at what each color means, but why certain characters are granted their respective colored lightsaber and if they have a certain shape as well.

What’s your favorite color and shape of a lightsaber? Let’s chat down below!

Blue Lightsabers – Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Rey

Blue lightsabers are the most popular color of the whole entire franchise. The blue ones stand for bravery and what better of a quality to have when you’re a tried and true Jedi. You might be wondering to yourself why Yoda, the Jedi Master, doesn’t have a blue one. Well, being that he is a Master afterall, there is a good reason why he yields a different color.

Green Lightsabers – Master Yoda, Qui-Gon Jinn, Luke Skywalker

Green lightsabers are the second most popular color of the whole entire franchise. The green ones stand for helpfullness and spirituality. Master Yoda out of all of the green lightsaber holders, has the best reason to yield a green one. He is chock full of wisdom, spirituality, and definitely helpfullness. He’s never not full of guidance and wisdom and he deserves this one the most.

Purple Lightsabers – Mace Windu

Unfortunately, there’s really no sort of spiritual or inspirational meaning behind why Made Windu is the only one to yield a purple lightsaber. As you all know he is played and voiced by Samuel L. Jackson. Given that one of the films he was in was going to end a big ole battle sequence, he just simply wanted to stand out. All he wanted out of the film was to have a purple lightsaber. Yes, that’s the only reason and there’s really no other meaning behind it, and I absolutely love that.

Yellow Lightsabers – Jedi Temple Guards, Rey

At the end of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Rey is shown burying a different lightsaber and picking up her own…yes, you guess it, a yellow one. It’s also singularly used by any and all Jedi Temple Guards throughout the franchise as a whole. The yellow ones simply stand for pious reasons, meaning devoutly religious. For me, that’s a huge thing. The moment that Rey picks it up at the end of Episode 9, is truly mesmerizing and I cannot imagine a better person holding it.

Orange Lightsabers – Cal Kestis

This is the newest color of lightsabers to come into the franchise since its tried and true beginning, thanks to Jedi: Fallen Order. Unfortunately, we’ve got no sort of backstory for this one. Why do we have oranges ones now? Simply because when Jedi: Fallen Order came out, an orange lightsaber was incentive for pre-ordering the game. I cannot wait to hear the backstory on this one, folks.

White Lightsabers – Ahsoka Tano

She is such an iconic character to the whole entire franchise, that it’s only fitting that she’s got the singular white lightsaber and boy does she make it look pretty dang bad a**, am I right or what?! Short but sweet, the white lightsabers mean and represent the middle path. How does Ahsoka have one? Well, folks the reasoning is actually pretty cool and makes her look like even more of a bad a** than we already know that she is. Basically, what Tano did was purify Kyber crystals and added her own (without doing so, they would end up red, but more on that later). She’s so cool and I cannot wait for her show to come out on Disney+ sometime in 2023!

Red Lightsabers – Darth Vader, Darth Maul, Darth Sidious, Kylo Ren

First of all, I’d personally like to address why Kylo Ren’s lightsaber has that ever-so-iconic ‘handlebar’ at the end of it. Here’s why: some say it was because of a cracked Kyber crystal. The real reason might be stemming from an ‘ancient’ sort of character called Darth Atrius; he was a Sith Lord that lived during the time of being a dominating force during the High Republic Era.

Okay, back to everyone else now…

They represent the Sith. Here’s what a report by ScreenRant has to say all about the Red Sabers:

"“The process is known as “bleeding” and consists of pouring all their hate, fear, and other negative emotions into the crystal, causing it to “bleed” and turn red.”"

How cool is that of a reason, am I right?!

Darksaber (Black Lightsaber) –

This particular lightsaber is very important in The Mandalorian culture(s). The most famous of its users, though there has been many smaller names, was a man named Moff Gideon. While we’re not exactly sure how he got a hold of it, we do know that he holds it well, but he does kinda scare me in all honesty.

Here’s a little bit more about him (Moff Gideon):

"“He is currently out to retrieve The Child, but much of his backstory has yet to be explored…The Darksaber is first seen in his possession at the very end of The Mandalorian’s first season…Currently, he is in the crosshairs of Bo-Katan Kryze, and their rivalry…”"

In the upcoming third season installment of The Mandalorian set to be released on Disney+ March 1, 2023, the darksaber is set to have a pretty heavy plot-line and be a very VERY important thing for many if not all roles.

Check out all of the other colors and what they mean right here!

That’s a wrap on why certain characters yield certain different colors and shapes of lightsabers!

Who has the coolest lightsaber of them all? Which one, regardless of what side of values that they represent, would you want to hold in your hands during an epic battle sequence? Let’s talk about all of that and so much more down below! And as always…May the Force Be With You All…Happy Star Wars New Year…so much fun stuff to come next year so follow along with me!