The story of Luke Skywalker’s saber goes back as old as it is the Star Wars saga itself. This is logical, since Jedi Knights with electric swords are the main thing Star Wars is all about (not specifically however, you’ll know what we’re talking about).
We refer to it as Luke’s saber however it was actually Anakin’s. Obi-Wan Kenobi took it when he left Anakin for dead, after having defeated Anakin in their duel against Mustafar during Revenge of the Sith. He kept it for several years before he handed the saber the character Luke to use in A New Hope, so people often associate the blue sword as Luke’s.
If the sword was originally owned by Anakin, what was the story behind it? It is possible to recall from Attack of the Clones that Anakin lost his arm during the duel with Dooku in the duel. Dooku and thus continued (or beginning!) the tradition of characters having to lose limbs in Star Wars movies.
In the wake of losing his father, Anakin required a second saber. It is through this sword that the true story unfolds. This is the saber Anakin was using when he changed into Darth Vader.
The saber killed those Younglings as part of Revenge of the Sith. This is the saber was used to kill the Count Dooku with. It was the saber that killed everyone he encountered within the Jedi Temple, and it is the saber that the Jedi lost his duel against Obi-Wan.
The blue saber also had an uneasy start It was first used in the hands of one of the more exciting Jedi that ever existed used, but it later ended in the hands of an Sith Lord. It’s a matter of duality.
When it’s handed over to Luke, the sword has witnessed a many bloody spills and drained, including the blood of Jedi and the young ones. It’s no wonder Kylo Ren was so much.
The weapon has been element of some important events throughout Star Wars history, but in A New Hope, Luke isn’t able to play swashbuckler, but rather Luke is able to train using it aboard the Millennium Falcon. It wasn’t until the incidents in The Empire Strikes Back that the sword became an integral part of Luke’s story.
In the film, Luke utilized it to free himself from the ice-trappings of the wampa. later, it was used by Han Solo to carve up his tauntaun, so that Luke could be able to place his frozen body inside to shield him from the frigid cold.
The next time it is utilized is a dark time. Luke has been the course alongside Yoda in the park of Degobah. It is at this point that Luke encounters an underground cave. He is effectively warned against taking his weapon with him, Luke has a strange dream-like sensation where he has to use his saber in order to defend himself from the approaching Darth Vader.
This is the first time that we witness Luke utilize the saber in order to defend himself. It is a dream event of some sort is not a detriment to the fact the fact that Luke utilized the saber believing that he was fighting Vader.
Naturally, Luke ultimately faces Vader in the Bespin’s Cloud City, where they engage in a spirited battle and test one another – so much so that Luke cannot win, and he loses his hand due to his troubles (just as his father did earlier in the past – at two separate occasions! ).
It is a movie legend that Vader is revealed to be Luke’s father. Imagine that!
In all the excitement, Luke’s saber gets lost in a shaft and that’s the end of that episode.
The film, Return of the Jedi, Luke creates a saber of his own (while it isn’t mentioned in the film however, it’s an Jedi custom to make one) and uses the saber to destroy Jabba’s sail barge, and obviously when he fights Vader on the Death Star, returning the favor by cutting off Darth Vader’s arms, an humiliation he’s endured three times!
What happened to that blue sword? The story of the saber starts to unfold more than anyone ever dreamed of.
30 years after it disappeared both in real-world and movie time, it was rediscovered once more in The Force Awakens.
The sword was discovered to be within Maz Kanata’s hands. Maz is a mysterious creature who seems to be attuned to Force Force or at the very least, has a an understanding of it. She is the one who sets Rey up to locate it, as she believes that she is in the Force calls her there.
Why? We don’t know however Maz is aware that the sword needs to be able to find its way to Rey’s hand, so she offers the sword to Finn to act as an interim measure until Rey is at her best.
Finn is able to dance with the Stormtrooper using the sword and holds his own for a while against the father-killing Kylo Ren and at that the point Rey is able to grab the sword and engages in an epic battle against Ren.
Ren is, naturally, is the grandchild of Darth Vader, the man who owned the sword that Rey was fighting with. The sword is oddly full circle.
However, Rey did not want the sword of Maz at all in the first in the first place. The dream sequence scared her to the point that, even though she was aware that she had to find Luke Skywalker, she still gave Luke the sword at their first meeting on the “Jedi Steps” on the island that Luke was hiding. It’s a moment of great emotion – Luke’s blue sword has been returned to him after all these years.
One could only imagine the thoughts that were running through Luke’s head at the time – the last time he was able to see it his father had removed his arms and exposed his own identity.
What did happen to the saber from The Last Jedi?
Rey handed it over to Luke who dropped it over the cliff. Rey later trained with the Achto island. Kylo Ren later used it to take out Snoke as well as Snoke and the Praetorian guards.
When Rey and Kylo proceed to Force to fight for control The saber is snapped in half, putting an end to its history.
Then we move on to The Rise of Skywalker
Rey’s abilities are flawless and she’s repaired the saber that split (or maybe Leia is). Luke is able to show Rey the location where Leia’s saber was concealed in Achto Island, and boom it is revealed that Rey is carrying two swords in her possession when she confronts Palpatine.
The Force Dyad is now so powerful between Rey that she is able to pass Ben Skywalker’s Anakin’s saber over to him, so that he can combat against the Knights of Ren, who have reacted against Ben Skywalker and turned on him. Space magic indeed.
It also signifies that the Skywalker who was the last to use the saber was the great-grandson of Anakin Skywalker. A long and rich history for a tiny piece of metal.
The reason the Luke Skywalker lightsaber changed from Blue to Green in “Return of the Jedi”
The films A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back The lightsabers were shown as red or blue. Obi-Wan Kenobi’s lightsaber featured blue blades, which was later associated with the Jedi and the one he gifted the character Luke Skywalker. Darth Vader, however, was equipped with a red lightsaber that was later branded to the Sith. The situation changed with Return of the Jedi when Luke Skywalker had built himself an entirely new lightsaber. The new lightsaber was a departure from the standard color scheme that people had come to be used to, as it was green. However the first posters and promotional materials in Return of the Jedi had Luke Skywalker using the traditional blue-bladed lightsaber. Luke Skywalker’s blue lightsaber also was used in the trailers. Based on this, you can imagine the surprise of the audience when they saw Luke Skywalker using a green-bladed lightsaber instead of blue.
What is the reason we have this new color of the lightsaber? Star Wars storytelling has covered this issue from an in-universe viewpoint through different layers of multimedia projects however, this was done later. This opened up a new realm of discussions about the colors of lightsabers. The real reason Luke Skywalker was able to get an emerald-colored lightsaber instead of the blue he was expecting had nothing to do with story telling and was all about the real-world practicality.
Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber changed from green to blue when they were filming, as it was hard to see. It was evident during act one in Return of the Jedi when the fight took place on Jabba the Hutt’s sailbarge was shot in the daylight. The blue lightsaber was blending with the blue sky that was clear. A little thought on the set led to the decision to alter the color of Luke Skywalker’s brand new lightsaber, from blue to. From that point on the those who love Star Wars lightsabers suddenly had their world expanded beyond a red and blue combination to include other colors besides blue green, red, and blue.
While it was never made it into the final edition of the Return of the Jedi movie there’s an uncut scene that shows Luke Skywalker making his new lightsaber using his green blade. The scene was included in the extra content disc included in the Blu-ray set, which was released under the title “Luke’s lightsaber.” This makes perfect sense to have this scene deleted because it would reveal too much information and removed a lot of the excitement of events which were to follow in the film.
The introduction of the brand new Jedi lightsaber colour with the release of Return of the Jedi, the Star Wars franchise would have the potential to expand their possibilities for their use in future films. We’ve seen this happening during the Prequel Trilogy, with blue purple, green and blue lightsabers used by the Jedi and red being used by the Sith. We also saw yellow lightsabers being used by the Jedi Temple guards during The Clone Wars animated series. Of of course, the lightsaber Rey Skywalker built at the close in The Rise of Skywalker was also yellow. Other notable individual entries include an black lightsaber in the Darksaber’s case, an white lightsaber to Ahsoka Tano and a red lightsaber from the video game Jedi: Fallen Order.
