The weapon of choice for Jedi and Sith comes in many shapes and colors.
But why are there so few purple lightsabers?
And what determines a lightsaber's color anyway?
Keep watching: We're breaking down the meaning behind it all.
Blue is one of the two most ubiquitous colors of the Jedi lightsabers, and the very first
color lightsaber beamed onscreen in A New Hope.
When it's first introduced, Obi-Wan Kenobi aptly describes it:
"Not as clumsy or random as a blaster, an elegant weapon for a more civilized age."
The old Jedi's words set in stone the lightsaber's reputation for control and precision, something
that young Luke Skywalker has to master with patience throughout the original trilogy.
The blue beam creates a striking contrast when Obi-Wan Kenobi's blade strikes Darth
Vader's red saber.
In the non-canon Knights of the Old Republic game, blue denotes a combative Jedi Guardian
who applies the Force on a physical level.
In Rebels, Kanan Jarrus and Ezra Bridger are also known canonical wielders of the blue
blade.
For much of the original trilogy, blue existed as part of the blue-red binary of Jedi vs.
Sith.
As the Star Wars galaxy expanded, its creators began exploring a myriad of lightsaber colors
on the light side spectrum.
In addition to blue, green is a common color for the Jedi lightsaber.
Qui-Gon Jinn and Master Yoda are well-known wielders of the green lightsaber.
The first ever green lightsaber seen onscreen is Luke Skywalker's replacement lightsaber
in Return of the Jedi, constructed after he loses his inherited blue saber — along with
his hand.
From a technical perspective, green was a practical hue.
According to Lucasfilm Story Group creative executive Pablo Hidalgo, Luke's second saber
was supposed to be blue but it would have blended with the blue sky.
Green was a more striking color against the sky and Tatooine sands.
Hidalgo told Vanity Fair,
"As much as we like to mythologize why it's green and what that all signifies, sometimes
there are very pragmatic filmmaking reasons behind these things."
That said, it is not thematically unnatural that Luke Skywalker would end up forging a
green blade after losing his blue one since green symbolizes growth and restoration.
This symbolism extends to the green lightsaber Ezra Bridger adopts after he breaks his blue
one.
Knights of the Old Republic drew greater distinctions between blue and green.
If blue is for the Jedi Guardian who focuses on combat, green is for the meditative Jedi
Consular who bears diplomatic responsibilities.
In the days of the Old Republic, the double-bladed yellow lightsaber was the weapon of the robed
and masked Jedi Temple Guards.
These guards would stay behind to defend the Jedi Temple from threats while Jedi Knights
and masters ventured on dangerous missions far from home.
The lightsaber color and masks symbolized the guards' emotional detachment.
While yellow may have stoic connotations for the guards, the color assumes different nuances
for individual users.
At the end of the sequel trilogy, Rey reveals a gold lightsaber after declaring herself
a Skywalker.
It represents her carrying the torch of the Jedi legacy while forging her own path.
In addition, Ahsoka Tano wielded a yellow-green lightsaber with a shortened blade alongside
her green lightsaber.
The yellow epitomizes her experimentation beyond Jedi norms, foreshadowing her signature
use of dual white blades.
Red represents a river of rage and blood.
As detailed in E.K.
Johnston's novel, Ahsoka, devotees of the dark side do not have a peaceful Force connection
to kyber crystals, which provide lightsabers with their color.
Unlike the Jedi, Sith must force the crystals to work for them.
This "bleeds" the crystal, causing it to turn blood red.
Famous red blade wielders include Darth Sidious, Darth Maul, Darth Vader, the Inquisitors,
and Asajj Ventress.
Disciples of the dark side tend to get creative with their designs.
The first double-bladed lightsaber seen on screen is Maul's crimson double-bladed saber
in The Phantom Menace.
The Inquisitors also use their spinning two-bladed sabers to fly as one-person helicopters.
Star Wars: Visions also depicts red parasol-like lightsabers.
Kylo Ren's kyber crystal was so intensely warped that he crafted side vents, creating
his lightsaber's notorious crossguard as a safety measure to keep the crystal from overloading
the hilt.
Unfortunately, even this explanation has not spared Ren's lightsaber from being the butt
of many jokes.
"Look, I found Kylo Ren's lightsaber.
Look at it up close."
"Dude, that thing looks dangerous, man.
Poorly made, like a little kid made it."
White is an interesting and rare hue for lightsabers.
Ahsoka Tano owned two blue lightsabers, given to her by her former master, Anakin Skywalker
when she allied with the Jedi cause to capture Darth Maul in The Clone Wars.
In the subsequent events of E.K.
Johnston's novel, Ahsoka, she constructs a new pair of white lightsabers from the red
kyber crystals of an Inquisitor's destroyed sabers.
Their color comes from the purification of the reddened crystals.
Perhaps this acknowledges that she has grown beyond the Jedi Temple, so she uses a color
that's not typical of Jedi sabers but still represents her allegiance to the light side.
White very much indicates her non-affiliation with either Jedi or Sith.
White and its association with purification pairs perfectly with Ahsoka, a Force-user
who has undergone symbolic deaths and rebirths that include leaving the Jedi Temple.
At the end of The Clone Wars, she's cloaked in dusty white, which indicates how the war
tainted her.
But at the end of Rebels, she bears a pure white cloak as she summons Sabine to locate
Ezra.
White is Ahsoka Tano's iconic color.
One question has lingered for Star Wars fans since the advent of the prequel trilogy: if
blue and green are the typical hues of Jedi lightsabers, why does Jedi Master Mace Windu
get a purple one?
The behind-the-scenes answer is that actor Samuel L. Jackson made a special request to
George Lucas.
"Good guys are green and blue, bad guys are red.
That's just the way it works."
"No purple lightsaber?"
The purple color allowed Jackson to pick himself out in a crowd of green and blue Jedi lightsabers
in the First Battle of Geonosis in Attack of the Clones.
Mace's unique purple blade gave Star Wars fans the license to go crazy with theories.
Red and blue make purple, so it's evident that Mace Windu's blade contains a balance
of the light and dark sides of the Force.
In the non-canon comic Star Wars Tales #13, the native Hurikane species gave Mace Windu
a violet-colored crystal to construct the lightsaber of his Force vision.
The color purple is a testament to Windu's standing as a Jedi who veers dangerously close
to the dark side without succumbing to it.
In Claudia Gray's canonical novel Master and Apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi explains that sometimes,
a kyber crystal will turn purple after it bonds with a Jedi.
This means that, while a rare phenomenon, purple lightsabers are not exclusive to Mace
Windu.
Interestingly, Kenji Kamiyama's non-canon Star Wars: Visions anime short "The Ninth
Jedi" depicts a purple lightsaber wielder named Homen.
Homen is a Jedi who spies within the Sith ranks.
Due to his exposure to the Sith's ways, he admits his vulnerability to the dark side.
Purple explicitly symbolizes Homen straddling the line between the dark and light.
Unlike red, black is far from negative when it comes to lightsabers.
The flat-bladed, one-of-a-kind Darksaber bears a complex and storied history.
If the rare purple and white lightsabers are made famous by their individual users, the
Darksaber is fascinating because of its multiple Mandalorian and Jedi masters.
Clone Wars supervising director Dave Filoni brainstormed the idea of a unique Mandalorian-made
lightsaber with a black blade.
A millennium before the events of Star Wars, its creator, Tarre Vizsla, is documented as
the first Mandalorian inducted into the Jedi Order.
The hilt is constructed of dark beskar, proudly symbolizing the Mandalorian hands that built
it.
In turn, the kyber represents Tarre's loyalties to the Jedi Order.
Mandalorian legends tell that it was a symbol of unity in Tarre Vizsla's grip.
However, its purpose of reconciling two seemingly paradoxical cultural heritages was corrupted.
When Tarre died, the Jedi took possession of the Darksaber, but it was stolen in a raid
by House Vizsla.
In the hands of Tarre's descendant, Pre Vizsla, the Darksaber is a Jedi killer.
In the hands of the notorious Maul, it was used to assassinate the pacifist Mandalorian
ruler, Satine Kryze.
The Darksaber remains a symbol of Mandalorian leadership.
Custom dictates that it can be won in a fair duel from its current wielder.
As of now, Mandalorian Din Djarin holds it, though it seems to resist his attempts to
control it.
A relic and a functional blade, its ownership is constantly in dispute and its purpose in
flux.
Technically, all kyber crystals begin as colorless before a Jedi bonds them with their lightsaber.
The Star Wars: Visions non-canon short "The Ninth Jedi" explores this idea in depth.
Anime director Kenji Kamiyama toyed with the Star Wars mythology to feature clear-bladed
lightsabers in an era eons after the sequel trilogy.
In canon, lightsabers keep their respective colors whether they land in the hands of Sith
or Jedi.
However, in Kamiyama's creative vision, lightsabers will assume a color that reveals the user's
moral alignment.
If they're Sith, the blade turns red in their grip.
If they adhere to the light side, it glows blue or green.
Sabers can turn purple for someone who walks the line between light and darkness.
For someone with undetermined allegiance and connection to the Force, their blade will
come out translucent, as in Kara's case.
When she proved herself to be a Jedi in combat, her blade glowed green as a signal of her
maturing Force connection.
A lightsaber's ability to reveal its user's nature turned out to be handy for uncovering
dangerous intruders while rebuilding the Jedi Order.
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