One of the next movies in the Star Wars franchise is set to solve one of the franchise’s oldest mysteries about lightsabers, the iconic Jedi weapons. As the Star Wars galaxy continues to expand, new areas of the franchise have begun to be explored. From shows like The Mandalorian, which was the first to tell a story not directly related to the Skywalker saga, to projects like The Acolyte, which takes place in a new part of the Star Wars timeline, the franchise is reaching uncharted territory. That presents a unique opportunity for Star Wars to explore one of its most famous aspects: lightsabers.
Lightsabers have been a massive part of Star Wars for a long time, and as such, they’ve been explored in great detail. Over the years, 17 types of lightsabers have been introduced, along with seven lightsaber combat forms. The lore behind them has even been built out further by way of lightsaber colors and their meanings. Despite how much insight has been given into lightsabers, there’s one major part that has yet to be touched on in canon, but that will likely change because of one upcoming Star Wars movie.
Star Wars Is Showing The Dawn Of The Jedi… Which Means The Origin Of Lightsabers
One of the next Star Wars movies set to release is James Mangold’s Dawn of the Jedi. As it is set 25,000 years before the main Skywalker saga, Dawn of the Jedi will depict the origins of the Jedi Order in depth, and it could have a major effect on the history of the galaxy. Since it takes place so early in the Star Wars timeline, Dawn of the Jedi gets to be the first canon word on an almost untouched era of the galaxy. The movie’s setting also means it gets to choose how the Jedi Order came to be, and how they came to possess lightsabers.
The beginnings of the Order have been detailed in the past, but those stories were part of Star Wars Legends, which are no longer considered canon. As such, the canon origins of the Jedi and the lightsabers they wielded leave many questions unanswered. Many of those questions, such as how they were created, for what purpose they were made, and who had the first one, would provide fundamental insights into the heroes of Star Wars. Luckily, Dawn of the Jedi is primed to answer all those questions, and there are already hints at how it will go about them.
There’s Evidence Lightsabers Predate Even The Jedi
Since the origin of lightsabers has already been detailed in Legends, there’s a readily available way to incorporate it into canon. In Legends, the idea for lightsabers came long before the Jedi, from an existing weapon known as the Forcesaber, which was created by an alien race known as the Rakatan. Forcesabers were essentially normal weapons that were imbued with Force energy via artificial crystals, which gave them power and made them glow. Then, the Weapon Master, a member of a precursor organization to the Jedi Order known as the Je’Daii, created the first actual lightsaber.
There’s a rich history to the origins of lightsabers in the Expanded Universe, and there have already been hints that Dawn of the Jedi will be influenced by Legends. Secrets of the Empire, a virtual reality experience at the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge park, introduced the proto-saber to canon, and it seems similar to the concept of Forcesabers. Andor even referenced the Rakatan, meaning the species is now considered canon, though their role in the creation of lightsabers remains a mystery. All of that points to the idea that the Jedi weren’t the first to use lightsabers, but they did become symbols of the Order.
How Did The Lightsaber Become The Symbol Of The Jedi?
Lightsabers have never been used exclusively by the Jedi, but they have become almost synonymous with the Order. Dawn of the Jedi will likely explain exactly why they were so ubiquitously associated with the Jedi, but there’s also a simple reason lightsabers were such iconic parts of the Jedi Order, both in and out of the galaxy. Jedi use lightsabers more than any other group, and they were by far the largest and most important group to use them. Even the Sith, the next most prominent group to use lightsabers, began as part of the Jedi, which further solidifies them as Jedi weapons.
The Jedi also made a point of utilizing the lightsaber in different areas of the Order. The very symbol of the Jedi Order, for example, incorporates an ignited lightsaber. Jedi during the prequel trilogy, such as Obi-Wan Kenobi, also considered lightsabers to be akin to their own life, and placed tremendous importance on them. Even creating a lightsaber was a major part of a youngling’s journey to becoming a Padawan. Lightsabers are synonymous with Jedi because they used them constantly. The fact that such an important weapon has such a mysterious origin has always been strange, but Dawn of the Jedi will finally rectify that.
