Is it true that only Jedi Can BUILD lightsabers?

The other day a friend of mine was telling me he read in some EU books that Only Jedi/force users can create Lightsabers.

I disagreed and I believe sabers could be created by anyone, but properly used by force users.

If anyone can provide me an answer to this and maybe a source, could you please provide?

I've searched wookiepedia, but it doesn't state anywhere whether Lightsabers can only be built by force users, or built by anyone.

 

Yes this is true. AS there is intricate circuitry and very small parts that can only be put together using the Force (through telekinesis).
HEREUnder the heading "Preparation".

 

The article doesn't mention anything about circuitry, but rather a Jedi has to mediate on a crystal for a long period of time.

But here's the question: What if a Jedi meditated on some crystals and someone put the saber together? I'm quite sure with the technology in star wars, if someone had the right parts, craftsmanship on how to build weapons and some blueprints, they could build a saber, hell maybe even a droid could, or factory machines

lol

 

Somehow I think it would make sense for Jedi to refine the lightsaber to the point where only a Jedi could make one. And why would a Jedi make a lightsaber for a non-Jedi? It makes no sense at all.

 

Lets say a Jedi is interrupted while preparing a crystal.

The interrupter then takes the crystal and (using a handy lightsaber building manual) builds a lightsaber.

All they would have to do is learn how to use it. The force seems to only be an amplifier.

 

I actually meant a non-jedi could build a lightsaber, either for a jedi, or as a weapon for a warrior or such, or hell even for Decor.

Maybe a non jedi could make a business off of it?

I didn't mean a jedi making a lightsaber for a non

;/

 

A non-Jedi could construct a basic lightsaber, but the way the lightsaber is initially powered is by channeling the Force through the primary crystal. As far as I know, there's no way to artifically channel the Force without destructively impacting any form of life. So I don't think that's going to happen. It's a cool thought, though, especially since I want to own one.

 

But if someone got their hands on a force crystal that was already channeled, what's to stop them from building a saber?

Say a jedi somehow loses his saber and it drops off a building and breaks. But the crystal is still in tact. Couldn't someone technichally put it in a new saber hilt, or repair it all together?

Therefor Jedi aren't required to build it, aside from force-tuning a crystal

 

A Jedi tuning a lightsaber crystal usually tunes it for themselves or to be used by another Force-user.

 

Guh. This whole new age "crystals" stuff really aggravates me. There's no sign in the films that lightsabres require highly compressed chunks of minerals to function, after all.

And, of course, Luke made his first lightsabre crystal in some kind of furnace in Shadows Of The Empire.


Plus of course the ANH novel mentions that:

Plus good ol Orman Tagge had a lightsabre built, presumably not by any Jedi as this was during Imperial days..

 

Anyone can make a lightsaber, but only force-users and particularly precise droids can construct the delicate circuitry required for a good one.

 

There is no answer to this question, as Lucas didn't discuss it in the films. EU is allowed to make up whatever it wants. There is no "truth" when discussing make-believe deutero-canon. So if you want to think you can buy them at GFFA Walmart, that is fine, just like the other exteme, that only highly trained force users can make them is also fine. It is clear that you do not have to be a Jedi or Sith to use one, because Luke has no problem with the remote the first time he picks one up, and Han has no problem slicing the Taun-Taun beast with one in ESB. It is a machine, so it seems to me that anyone well trained in building electronic/mechanical things could make one. But it is all make-believe, so believe whatever makes you happiest!

 

perhaps the greatest post of all time,

 

Watch it. We're not discussing what is canon and what is not here.

 

Obi-Wan said that? He must not have been...well...all there that day.

 

Yep. Of course, this was when he was telling Luke his father had actually been murdered by, um, his father...so maybe Obi-Wan wasn't all there that day.

 

Ok, you have to remember some facts.

1) Jedi were many, thousands, I believe

2) Jedi were the first to construct and develope the lightsaber into what it is mainly is today. (with out the power cords)

3) Jedi die, and there are wars and fights of all sorts

4) lightsabers were prized back then as they are now, even more so now because of the rarity of them.

Now about the crystals, NO One Can Just Pick Up any crystal and make it work. They are special crystals in their own right. Yes, that includes the one that um...Jacen, or was it Ben used from the Vong. The Jedi and the Sith, not Dark Jedi, (I will explain more here soon), are the main users of such weapons.

A person off the street can not build one on their own and live to tell about it...the circitry of the construction is very delicate and small. Yes, someone with the right tools could put one together, but to hope it will function, NO.

It is mainly because of the powering of the crstals that makes it work. Plus, if u know crstals, they are not just things to be grabbed and tossed around. Cracked, they become very unstable and good chance dangerous. If you were a Jedi building ur saber, and someone took ur crystal, it is just a crystal, until u insert it into ur hilt and "charge" it up. IF you lose ur concertration, you will have to start all over, from the begaining. Fact.

The Sith, and including Luke Skywalker on his first blade, made an synthic (ms) crystal, but it can not be done helter skelter. The Force is what makes the crystal do what it does, not some machine or power tool.


The building is very insightful and meditive of the Jedi and Sith, like someone said before, "telekinese is used, not machine work and tools. Yes, some are used, but not putting the crystal in and charging it. It is like u playing baseball, not evey one can do it. Concertration is needed to make a working Lightsaber.

Ok, I was going to explain about the Dark Jedi, yes there is a manual on how to make one, but would you leave a thousand dollars sitting out for everyone to look at? No. So Dark Jedi must find and locate a master, or stelal a copy of it...and if they live to tell, they still hide it from looking eyes and a lot of times, it is a bad copy anyway.

 

VADER (indicating lightsaber): "I see you have constructed a new lightsaber."

Vader ignites the lightsaber and holds it to examine its humming, brilliant blade.

VADER: "Your skills are complete. Indeed, you are powerful, as the Emperor has foreseen."

As per the films, the ability to build a lightsaber is an indication of a fully trained and greatly skilled Force user.

 

Well, it's a feat supposedly "achievable only by Jedi, Sith, and other Force-sensitive beings," because of reasons mentioned already-- the finite nature of assembling the components (even though the components themselves aren't really that hard to come by), ensuring the stabilization of the crystals, etc.-- all of which are generally described as being done with the Force (as in Luke's pre-RotJ meditation noted in Shadows of the Empire; Rostek's notes in I, Jedi; seen here in a scan of Skywalker from the Jedi vs. Sith Sourcebook; in a good bajillion TPM sourcebooks talking about Maul and the furnace, etc.).

However...you do win the argument with your friend, as the whole process has been done by non-Force-users before-- in fact, WotC even has an official little article on the subject here (about Suvram Tan, the Rodian merchant on Yavin Station in the KotOR PC-version).

 

But by your article, it took a person with unique intelligence and unique gems.....so the plural use of "non-Force-users" is a bit generous. While it doesn't necessarily contradict the films (Vader's comment is an indicator, not absolute proof), I think Lucas' point is pretty clear in the context of the films.

Furthermore, it doesn't surprise me that the role-playing game would come up with such a scenario, but that's a whole 'nother debate.

 

Even Han mentions in the ANH that one does not see that kind of sword play in this part of the galaxy anymore.

 

Not to mention the almost-immediate Imperial attention Ben brought upon himself after using a lightsaber in the cantina.

Heck, even Palpatine calls it "a Jedi's weapon."

[EDIT]

I just remembered something from the Annotated Screenplays...

(Ironically, these two quotes have conflicting cause-&-effect. The first quote says the lasersword was created, and then limited to the Jedi. The second quote has Lucas creating the lasersword for the Jedi. Nonetheless, the point remains the same. Jedi=lightsaber.)

 

Not really, considering, in addition to Tam, Shel Jelavan has little trouble unlocking, reassembling, and replacing the crystal in her brother's lightsaber once taught by Raana Tey (KotOR #23/24), and as DarthBoba already pointed out, Orman Tagge had one built to use against Vader (though he could conceivably have found a Force-user to do so for him, yet very unlikely considering the time period and Tagge's disdain for the "unnatural" "crazy wizard" powers-- particularly after being choked and losing his eyes to Vader).

And that's not counting, say, the possibility of Zilaash Kuh being revealed as the builder of her Kenobi replica later on in FotJ. The point is, the answer to Xeiconfinsha's question is no, it is not true that only Jedi/Force-users can build lightsabers-- though non-Force-users still need the materials and instructions to make an attempt, and it's hardly a lock for success.

Lucas' point in the context of the films has little to do with this question, since it's more a reflection on the symbolism of the process of constructing a new lightsaber rather than the construction itself. Lightsabers have traditionally been symbols of the Jedi not only because of their rarity and visibility to the rest of the galaxy, but also because the Jedi themselves believe them to reflect the wielder's "prowess in his use and understanding of the Force"-- helping one to "focus, attuning him to the Force so that it more easily flows through him" (TotJ Companion, page 142-- also see AotC's humor with Anakin always losing his despite Kenobi's reminder that "This weapon is your life").

Thus the importance typically placed on a Jedi's building of a lightsaber, as ritually symbolizing the completion of the journey necessary to become a Jedi, much more than simply signifying the ability to assemble the parts-- and thus why Vader notes that Luke's "skills are complete" upon seeing his new lightsaber.

 

Well, Kotor and such similar material is certainly more than welcome to delve into territory that was never even considered when Lucas was writing the films, so whether or not the question is "answered" depends on how far one wants to stray from the films.

Of course, it's all made up anyways, so any "answer" is pretty intangible...and what self-respecting SW fan wouldn't want to write a story that puts the possibility of creating one of sci-fi's greatest weapons in the realm of non-Force-users such as ourselves?

 

Well, Xeiconfinsha said his friend had read some books and claimed lightsabers could only be created by Jedi/Force-users, then asked if this was really the case, and if it could be sourced. That the answer comes from a WotC article (supplemented by the comic/companion/novel examples provided) doesn't make it any less the answer, considering A.) Wizards is licensed by Lucas to produce official material, and B.) the question was originally generated from "EU books," so it wasn't really a canon issue from the beginning.

I mean, if you don't want to accept the answer from the expanded material, cool, different strokes for different folks-- but a claim by Xeicon's friend (or anyone for that matter) that the books say only Jedi/Force-users can build lightsabers is contradicted by that material itself.

I'm not sure why you pointed this out, but I linked to Sly and the Family Stone already and felt obligated to link to this since I was to led to listen to it from that song. And it made me happy.