Dark Jedi lightsaber questions...

I have received conflicting information on what kind of lightsabers Dark Jedi used pre-Sith. If anyone could clear this up for me it would be greatly appreciated. Any information on the subject would be useful, though these questions in particular need answering (if answers even exist):

- What color(s) were used? I have heard that the Sith created red lightsabers, though I have also heard that red lightsabers were used pre-Sith, during the Great Schism. If anyone has any idea what color lightsabers the Dark Jedi used pre-Sith, specifically during the Great Schism, please help me out.

- What type(s) were used? The Complete Unofficial Star Wars Encyclopedia seems to suggest Archaic, though it is not stated specifically what was used by the Dark Jedi during the Great Schism.

Any information related to my questions or to pre-Sith Dark Jedi lightsabers would be very helpful.

And by the way, I have posted the first 4 chapters of Episode 1 of the Sith Legacy, if anyone is interested in reading it.

http://boards.theforce.net/Before_the_Saga/b10475/15465606/?5

Thanks.

 

The official answer to this question is, when a Jedi / Dark jedi uses the Force to imbue the crystals that'll focus the blade of her lightsaber, the result is a Red blade for a Dark Side user and a Blue or Green blade for a Light Side user. Mace Windu's purple saber is due to the fact Samuel L. Jackson said he'd play if his lightsaber was purple (childish, I know )

 

Going by the movies, then bad guys use red, simple as that. Of course, a Jedi who starts in the Order and then falls can always use his own saber-color (e.g. Anakin's was still blue when Luke got it).

I'm not really sure it matters, but since the type of crystal determines the color, one group will probably have the same color or two colors spread throughout the group. The movies seem to suggest that there are only four colors available (three up until AOTC), so, since the Jedi have green, blue, and purple, red would probably be appropriate for everybody else... it's tradition, after all. However, you could always have factions of Dark Jedi who experiment with some of the colors hinted at or used in the EU, such as orange or yellow.

 

Darth Bane was also known to use a purple blade. So any color could work, just red is the most common for Sith and Dark Jedi. Of course, EU has alot more colors to choose from.

 

Gotcha.

So, basically,

Is the idea that the Sith created red lightsabers false, or open to interpretation?

Is there any evidence to suggest red lightsabers were used pre-Sith?

Or...

If someone constructs their lightsaber using the Dark Side, regardless of whether they are Sith or not, will it be red? Therefore, must Dark Jedi lightsabers be red, or a shade similar to red (orange or yellow)?

 

Also, does anyone know an approximation of when Archaic lightsabers were used? When they became more "modern"? Anyone have an idea as to what kind of lightsabers would have been used during the Great Schism? Would they have been Archaic?

 

Thats difficult :/

In Knights of the Old Republic the lightsabres were around the size of TPM and AOTC (mabye a tiny bit bigger)
(Example: http://www.fansofxbox.com/hoosier/screenshots/kotor/kotor1.jpg )

Yet a few years before that in Ulic Qel-Droma's day a lot of the lightsabres i saw were huge things.
(Example: http://www.swtenerife.com/comics/historia/ulic.jpg )

Even furthur back, around when jedi discovered the force and became Jedi, the lightsabres needed a battary pack to be worn on their back

Then again, some Dark Jedi and Sith used sword covered with cortosis, at least according to KotOR and JK3:JA

 

Even furthur back, around when jedi discovered the force and became Jedi, the lightsabres needed a battary pack to be worn on their back

Exactly, Archaic lightsabers. These are the earliest form of lightsabers I'm aware of, though I have no idea if they were still used by the time of the Great Schism. This is the real question. Anyone have an answer, or even an educated guess?

 

I suppose the answer could be found in battle descriptions of the Great Schism.

Is anyone aware of any books or comics that show/describe battle scenes of the Great Schism?

 

If someone constructs their lightsaber using the Dark Side, regardless of whether they are Sith or not, will it be red? Therefore, must Dark Jedi lightsabers be red, or a shade similar to red (orange or yellow)?

No, look at episode 2 info (see the lightsaber section of the EP2 visual dictionary or the article on pages 28-37 of Insider #62.. with Aayla Secura on the cover) In both places it talks about the red saber.
Specifically on page 34 of the Insider it says:

"Red crystals are ordinarily unsuitable for lightsabers, since they are less stable then the customary green or blue crystals Jedi use . . . However red crystals glow in harmonic vibration when energized by the dark side of the Force. When energized in this way, red "Sith" crystals can actually produce a stronger blade that has the potential to "break the blade" of Jedi Lightsabers, overloading the energy matrix and instantly burning out the saber of the unfortunate opponent. this rarely happens, but it is a known and frightening possibility in combat."

The article also says that Obi-Wan uses a slow materialization setting for maximum stability against this.

In the visual dictionary it says:

"the Sith use synthetic lightsaber crystals, which generate a stronger blade when energized by the dark side of the Force. The advantage is slim, but the very appearance of a red blade is a symbol of hateful power."

All this tells me that it's possible for dark jedi to use other colors.. and they don't make their blades red by weilding the darkside. However if you look at it from the Light Side view. They can not use red crystals, and even if they could they probably wouldn't want to because of the red crystal's reputation.

Anyway I'll stop rambling now.

 

Thanks, Katha. That cleared up a lot of what I was wondering.

So now the remaining questions are...

- Did red lightsabers exist pre-Sith?

- What kind of lightsabers were used during the Great Schism?

 

A) I would imagine that it would be just as likely for red sabers to be used by Dark Jedi before they became the Sith Lords as any other colors. Somebody had to discover how to make them work, and I see nothing to suggest that it was specifically a Sith invention.

B) If it hasn't explicitly been set down, then you can probably make it up. You know that it's somewhere between the primitive external-battery-pack sabers and the more typical sabers of KOTOR. Pick one of the two and run with it.

 

The red lightsabers were probably used by Jedi, the color comes from the crystal, not from how it's put in there, so Jedi were probably using red 'sabers, Leia's lightsaber is red, so it doesn't matter which side of the Force is used to make it. And they were probably a mixture between the two types, maybe they were a bit bigger to suit the larger power packs of the time.

 

The Dark Side Handbook (I think--maybe it was the Power of the Jedi Sourcebook) claimed that the reason the Sith used a lot of red sabers is because, back when there were more than two, their home base was on a planet with a massive deposit of red crystals. Or something.

 

Like i said, in the Old (Ulic and Nomi era) Jedi coimics the sabres are a lot more chunky and large