LIGHTSABRES

THE EARLIEST LIGHTSABRES, ALSO CALLED

PROTOSABERS, DIDN’T INCLUDE INTERNAL

POWER CELLS, MAINLY BECAUSE THEY

HADN’T BEEN INVENTED YET. PROTOSABERS

HAD EXTERNAL POWER SOURCES, MEANING

THE JEDI HAD TO CARRY AROUND BATTERY

PACKS ON THEIR BACKS OR WAIST

EVER WANTED A TRIDENT STYLE LIGHTSABRE?

OR A KNUCKLEDUSTER VERSION? WELL,

NOW YOU CAN OWN ONE WITH THE JEDI MASTER

LIGHTSABRE TOY, WHICH WAS UNVEILED AS

PART OF A GLOBAL “UNBOXING” EVENT FOR

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS. THE NEW

HASBRO LIGHTSABRE WILL IMPRESS EVERY

STAR WARS FAN WITH THE ABILITY TO FORM

OVER ONE HUNDRED COMBINATIONS, ALLOWING

YOU TO BUILD IT IN ANY SHAPE OR SIZE. AND

AS IF THIS WASN’T ENOUGH, IT HAS

CRACKING SOUND EFFECTS TOO

ONE IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT LIGHTSABRE WOUNDS

IS THAT THEY RARELY BLED PROFUSELY, EVEN

WHEN A LIMB HAD BEEN SEVERED. THIS IS

BECAUSE THE ENERGY BLADE CAUTERIZED THE

WOUND AS IT PASSED THROUGH AND THUS EVEN

A SEVERE WOUND DID NOT TEND TO BLEED HEAVILY

A LIGHTSABRE BLADE WAS A MASS LESS FORM

THAT NEITHER RADIATED HEAT NOR EXPENDED

ENERGY, OTHER THAN THAT EMITTED AS

VISIBLE LIGHT, UNTIL IT CAME INTO CONTACT

WITH SOMETHING SOLID. THE POWER OF THE

ENERGY BLADE WAS SO GREAT THAT IT COULD

CUT THROUGH ALMOST ANYTHING, ALTHOUGH

THE SPEED WITH WHICH IT CUT DEPENDED

ON THE DENSITY OF THE OBJECT

THE TYPICAL LIGHTSABRE HILT CONSISTED OF A

METAL CYLINDER BETWEEN TWENTY FOUR AND

THIRTY CENTIMETRES IN LENGTH. HOWEVER,

THE SIZE OF INDIVIDUAL HILTS VARIED

DRASTICALLY, AS THE WEAPON WAS

TAILORED TO THE USER’S SPECIFIC

NEEDS AND PREFERENCES

ACCORDING TO THE HOLOCRONS, THE EARLIEST

LIGHTSABRES WERE CRUDE DEVICES THAT

UTILIZED AN EXPERIMENTAL “FROZEN BLASTER”

TECHNOLOGY TO CREATE AN ENERGY BEAM

OF FIXED LENGTH

THE LIGHTSABRE WAS ALSO REFERRED TO AS

THE “LASER SWORD” BY THOSE WHO WERE

UNFAMILIAR WITH IT. YOU KNOW, THE

NONBELIEVERS WHO JUST WATCHED THE

FILMS BY ACCIDENT

TYPICALLY, A JEDI’S LIGHTSABRE BLADE IS

COLOURED GREEN OR BLUE. OTHER COLOURS

ARE RARE BUT POSSIBLE, MOST NOTABLY

SEEN IN JEDI MASTER MACE WINDU’S

PURPLE BLADE. SITH UNIFORMLY USE RED BLADED

LIGHTSABRES, AN INTENSE, AGGRESSIVE COLOUR

THAT REPRESENTS THEIR PERSPECTIVE OF THE FORCE

WHILE MOST LIGHTSABRES HAVE A SIMPLE METAL

HILT WITH ONE BLADE, OTHERS CAN BE MORE

COMPLEX AND FEATURE PROMINENT DESIGNS.

DARTH MAUL WIELDED A DEADLY DOUBLE BLADED

LIGHTSABRE, ALLOWING HIM TO PARRY EASILY

IN HIS DUEL WITH OBI-WAN KENOBI AND QUI-GON JINN

PULP MAGAZINES FROM THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY

OFTEN FEATURED HEROES FIGHTING WITH RAY

GUNS ALONGSIDE SWORDS AND MEDIEVAL ARMOUR.

THESE INSPIRED GEORGE LUCAS WHEN HE

CREATED THE ATMOSPHERE OF TECHNOLOGY

PLUS MAGIC SEEN IN THE FILMS

AS FAR AS “REAL” LIGHTSABRES THAT WORK

AS SEEN IN THE FILMS, SCIENCE SAYS NO WAY.

ACCORDING TO ENGINEER MATT GLUESENKAMP

OF GENERAL ELECTRIC, A LIGHTSABRE’S BLADE

APPEARS TO BE A FORM OF ELECTRICALLY

GENERATED PLASMA. NO BATTERY SIZE POWER

SOURCE EXISTS THAT COULD PROVIDE THE

REQUIRED AMOUNT OF ELECTRICITY. AS FOR

LASERS, THE BEAM WOULD NOT STOP AT THE

END OF THE BLADE BUT WOULD CONTINUE

INDEFINITELY