PT Why weren't there more lightsaber accidents?

It seems to me like this was MASSIVELY more of a problem in the prequels than in the OT. In the prequels, there were more Jedi and they constantly had their lightsabers out.

Why weren't there more lightsaber accidents?

The lightsaber always struck me as being a VERY risky weapon for someone to be using. Dangerous not just to the target, but also to the user. It's not like a sword where, if it just touches you a bit by accident, you're fine as long as you weren't swinging it too hard. If a lightsaber touches you even just a bit, you get severely burnt and possibly start losing arms and legs. I'm surprised there weren't more cases of Jedi having their lightsabers slip the wrong way from their hands and accidently hitting their own arms/legs/torsos. No matter how careful/well-trained a Jedi is with his/her lightsaber, if it gets rainy outside, the WET lightsaber handle could easily, at any point, unintentionally slip just an inch or two from one's grip, end up swinging possibly a whole foot or two unintentionally in the other direction, and become a massive risk to the wielder of the weapon. I was always in awe of how casually the Jedi were twirling their sabers around, sometimes just centimeters away from their own faces/bodies.

Why weren't there more lightsaber accidents in these movies where users accidently maimed themselves with their own weapons? Are we really expected to completely disregard chance and believe that the Jedi were 100% in control of their lightsabers at all times?

 

Yes, because of the whole reason why it's only Jedi (and other Force users) we see using lightsabers in the first place: the Force. Theoretically anyone can use a lightsaber, but as you describe, they're insanely dangerous to handle. Right from the very beginning of Star Wars, it's been established that Jedi can safely use them only through the level of control granted by use of the Force.

 

I assumed younglings had training blades

 

Conspiracy: the Jedi Council covered up all those padawan deaths/dismemberments.

 

Padawans have been training with lightsabers from an early age. The training sabers probably sting like hell if it makes contact with a person, so they learn quick how to safely handle them.

 

That's how it's portrayed in Jude Watson books- Legacy of the Jedi for example. Also Sean Stewart's Yoda: Dark Rendezvous.

 

The force lets lightsaber users not get harmed. As for how non-force sensitives are able to engage in melee combat with one, I have no idea. Pre Vizsla should have been cut down by Maul in seconds.

 

Maybe it was overestimated just how hard a lightsaber is to wield.

TCW has quite a few characters who are not called out as Darksiders wield them successfully (at least for a time). Besides Vizsla, there is that Terellian Jango Jumper in Lightsaber Lost, and the Clawdite changeling in Holocron Heist.

 

Right. Blades specifically designed to not slice off limbs, but would leave a bruise and would sting quite a bit. Basically like a cattle prod. The Jedi and Sith are trained from a young enough age to use Lightsabers, on top of their Force training and thus there aren't any accidents. This is different from real life sword fighting where even with adequate training and coordination, accidents will occur.

 

Still, a force sensitive has the advantage to passively sense the location of the weapon and the enemy's next movements, allowing things like deflecting blaster bolts and blocking melee attacks. Not to mention their could just as easily yank the enemy's weapon out of their hands if their opponent isn't able to use the force.

 

Probably because such accidents would either come across as inadvertently comical or simply too "realistic" for a series where laser guns go pew pew pew.

 

Because Jedi.

 

And sometimes if their opponent is - Yoda does it to Ventress in the first TCW episode.

 

Because those who use them happen to be the same people who were trained to do so? Where's the "MASSIVE problem"?