CT Luke's Lightsaber Color Change

What are your opinions on Luke getting a green lightsaber in ROTJ? Did you like seeing something different? Should George Lucas have stuck with the blue = Jedi and red = Sith scheme?

Personally, I don't think I would have minded Luke having either color. It's weird to think of Luke almost having a blue lightsaber after seeing ROTJ countless times over the course of my life. By now, I'm just used to seeing him with the green lightsaber in ROTJ. In the past, I probably wouldn't have had a preference though.

 

I love it. It shows a change in Luke, and it introduced a new blade color. I can't picture Luke with any other color in ROTJ now.

 

I like it in many ways. It's a visual representation of Luke's "complete skills" along with the ability to build a lightsaber of his own, as Vader notes. Green, along with blue and red, is a primary color of light. So it works in that sense as well.

 

It was only changed to green because blue didn't show up too well against blue sky during the Sarlaac scenes.



So Lucas opted for green.

 

I really thought this would be referencing the change in blue hues in between ANH and ESB, because it was a change that always kinda bothered me deep, deep down. I know why there's the change, but the lightsaber looks seafoam green in the Falcon during the training droid scene and the white to colour ration is just, wayyyy off.

Looking at the above prototypes for the blue lightsaber, I'm sure I would've still dug it, but I agree with those who say the green in ROTJ is just awesome. By having his own colour apart from Ben's and Anakin's lightsaber, the only two lightside sabers we had seen until the PT, really cemented Luke as his own individual Jedi. Also, introducing a new colour is never a bad thing IMO.

 

Yup, it perfectly symbolizes Luke's identity as a new type of Jedi, which I hope is detailed more in the ST. Knowing he was reviving a somewhat "dead" or at least subdued order, it was a great choice, as something about the color green just speaks of a renewed vitality.

 

I really like the green. It signifies change and that he's come into his own. I couldn't imagine him having a blue lightsaber in RoJ.

 

Huh... I've never really thought about it and now that I have I realised I probably wouldn't have liked the change! I love the green saber but am such a creature of habit I would have wanted it the same. In Lukes defence, that sabre killed children! I would want an untainted one myself...

 

My headcanon rationalization for that change is that the saber was switched from combat mode to training mode so Luke wouldn't accidentally poke holes in the Falcon's hold. Or his shipmates. Or himself.

 

Out of universe reason: as it has already been stated, the blue lightsaber didn't show up well against the blue sky background.

In universe reason: it shows Luke's maturity and independence as a Jedi. His black robes and lack of blaster also strengthen this notion that he's created his own identity and has embraced the Jedi life. Furthermore, what seals the deal is when he finds an alternative to Obi-Wan & Yoda's insistence on killing Vader; normally, this defiance would backfire, but the newly enlightened Luke sees a path that his masters don't even think exists. So yeah, I think the green lightsaber is just one out of many things that shows how far Luke has progressed as a character since the previous movie.

Yeah I always felt the same way. We can even see from this sub-forum's banner that the lightsaber's color changes its shade of blue from ANH (sky blue) to TESB (regular blue):

Spoiler

As a kid, I used to wonder about where Luke got his "new" lightsaber in TESB since I never realized that it was just the same one from the first movie. Having said that, I do like this explanation:

And by the time of TESB, he was confident enough to switch it from training mode to combat mode. BOOM. Let's put it in a guidebook.

 

I think green looks way cooler, but I think it also shows Luke's change in character very well. Adventurous young boy to wise Jedi Knight.

 

They don't have meaning. Jedi have green or blue, the Sith have red. Mace had purple. That's it.

 

In KOTOR they basically say the classes of Jedi have their own colour of saber. Jedi Guardians were blue, Jedi Consular was green and Jedi Sentinel were yellow. However, this is no longer cannon, if KOTOR could ever truly be called cannon.

 

Never liked the lightsaber meanings in KOTOR. Glad it's noncanon now.

 

Is it in canon that the lightsaber can be switched between combat mode and training mode?

 

I never thought so, I always figured training sabers were there own manufactured lightsaber. My lightsaber "blue prints" are in a different room and I'm too lazy to check, but I never thought a lightsaber would have the option of training and combat switches. I would fail to see the point as most lightsabers are made by already saber-trained Jedi/Sith and probably would not include it...but I am willing to accept it as an option to justify the different in colour/shape and size in Luke's ANH/ESB lightsaber.

 

To those of us that read the SW Marvel comics from mid-1980 - early 1983, there were about three years of original stories that took place between ESB & ROTJ (these have been reprinted numerous times since then). Luke had a blue lightsaber in those comics, since the Marvel writers obviously didn't know about the forthcoming green lightsaber in ROTJ. I even remember reading a letter from a fan in one of the late 1980?! issues complaining about this - i.e., this person was saying that Luke wouldn't even have the lightsaber since it was lost after DV cut off his hand in the battle scene. Not sure how this was ever explained in the comics, however.

 

Meh, some things don't need explaining. A bunch of EU material; comics, books and videogames alike with have Jedi with different saber hilts than those they actually carry in the movies.

I mean, not to go too off topic, but it always bothered me that Obi Wan constructed an identical hilt in AOTC to his TPM one...and then just straight up switches the design after losing his saber on Geonosis.

 

Yes, it is. Or, it at least their power level can be severely lowered.

 

Huh, I never knew that. Thanks.

 

It's awesome, green lightsabers are the best.

 

Found this too, while searching pictures of Anakin's saber. No on/off switch for safety, but a power adjuster just like ya said.

 

In universe, the reason Luke's blade is green is that was what the Kyber crystal Luke used when he obtained one to complete his new Lightsaber. Pretty simple.