An examination of the shields in Star Wars

By insisting on the defense, I think the Jedi would have to carry shields instead of weapons. Being futuristic, shields would be lightshields carried in the arm that does not carry the lightsaber and it not cut, but that would absorb the energy from impact.

Advantages of lightshield:

- A duelist with shield and sword usually has an advantage over a duelist with a sword.

- A lightshield can protect against more than two shots at a time that are not aligned, while a lightsaber can not.

- Proper use of a lightshield can protect against automatic weapons or very fast projectiles without relying much of user's reflexes, while proper use of the lightsaber is too dependent on the user's reflexes

- A lightshield can protect from explosive projectiles and fragmentation shells, while a lightsaber can not.

Disadvantages of lightshield:

- A Jedi with lightshield and lightsaber would lead to two objects, while a Jedi with lightsaber would carry only one.

- If a jedi with lightshield loses her/him shield, he/she could be worse rejecting projectiles with her/his sable than a jedi who has only used a lightsaber.

- The projectiles would be stopped to impact the shield and could not be returned to the enemies.

Beat the advantages of lightshield. So what do think?

 

Shields do have serious advantages in battle. That's me on the right.


As for why we don't see Jedi with shields in the movies, I can think of two reasons. First, it would cost more money and take more time to do the special effects. Second, GL was inspired by Kurosawa's samurai movies when he created the Jedi, and samurai don't use shields. Those money and time problems were less of an obstacle when he made TPM, so we got to see Gungan soldiers carrying personal shields, but not Jedi. I'd say that Jedi are just so amazing with sabers that they very rarely need the extra advantages a shield would give them. Still, if I were a Jedi who saw a lot of combat like the Clone Wars, I'd want a shield.

 

I think the shields that the they had in the clones wars in season 5 of 4

 

Jedi's carrying shields? You say thats a good idea now, but as soon as you lay eyes on it in an actual film you'll think its absolutely idiotic and stupid.

 

what form would this "shield" take anyway? A lightsaber is a single beam of light (which somehow magically conforms to a short-ish blade-like shape, but we won't get into that now)... but how do you translate that single beam of light into a shield? Seems overly complicated.... at that point, why not just use a personal shield like a droideka?

 

The stormtroopers in the original Ralph McQuarrie concept art had lightsabers and shields. It kind of looked cool. Definitely gave a futuristic fairy tale feel.

 

Why do you think that?

The light shield would not be based on the lightsaber's technology, that would not do damage to the touch, but repel impacts.

A personal shield is fine, but it weakens by impacts. A lightshield that would cover only the front would have to be impenetrable.

Examples

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I'm face-palming right now. A light shield would be a disgrace if it existed.

 

Your opinion is unjustified.

 

If Disney put a light shield in Episode 7, I am sure people would react negatively. The lightsaber is an iconic weapon, for that to be paired with something else would really be quite tedious.

 

Okay, but Star Wars would have to evolve it will not stagnate as the Old Republic.

 

Thats all a matter of opinion. The Jedi really have enough tools at their disposal as it is. They have been shown to carry:

• Force Strengthened Staffs
• Lightsabers
• Lightwhips
• Saberstaffs
• Lightsaber Pikes
• Lightsabers Shotos
• Dual Phase Lightsabers
• Lightclubs
• Guard Shotos
• Crossguard Lightsabers
• Grappling Hooks
• Blasters (rarely)

And more than that I can't think of off the top of my head. Do we really need to add light shields to the list...

 

A lightshield would be very interesting to see, but I would not like the Jedi to wield it. We've been discussing a similar option in 7SA for a potential Sith Army, which would be comprised of thousands of below-average Force users. They would all have very rudimentary Force training, and would use sabers and shields, much like a Roman legion. They would work as a unit and know just enough about the Force to use an occassional push or pull and not cut their own leg off with a saber. As mentioned above, a shield does not really fith the samurai-inspired origins of the Jedi, but I can easily see another faction using shields. For illustrative purposes, here's a piece I did of a Sith Legionnaire and a Sith Centurion with a shield.



The shield would emit from a gauntlet projector, whose physical components could either expand and project the field in front of them, or it would simply project a round (or whatever) shape without any visible physical boundaries.
I think it's an interesting concept worth exploring.

 

In terms of usefulness I think a lightshield would be much more useful than all those tools.

My opinion is just the opposite. The Jedi are inclined more to defense, while the Sith are more inclined to attack, so the Jedi would interest to increase their defenses with lightshield, but what Sith would be interested in taking an object that is not used to kill? It seems that the best equipment for a Sith would carry two lightsabers or a lightsaber and a gun. It is true that the Jedi are inspired by the samurai and the samurai carry no shields, but also the Jedi are inclined to defense much more than the samurai, besides that paladins can be another inspiration for Jedi and paladins usually carry shield.

 

That is an amazing... amazing drawing. Really, that is COOL. I would like to see those in the EU somewhere, I swear.