Alright, admit it. Ever since you were a kid, you’ve probably wanted a lightsaber, or something like it. You may have even paid some thought into what color your lightsaber would be. But have you ever wondered what lightsaber colors actually exist in the Star Wars universe, and what those colors mean? Because yes, lightsabers do have meaning. We’ll break it down for you.
Lightsaber Colors
For starters we should probably establish what colors of lightsaber are available to prospective laser sword users.
- Black (to our knowledge, this is just the one-of-a-kind Mandalorian Darksaber)
- Purple
- Blue (various shades, like cyan, etc.)
- Green
- Yellow
- Orange
- Red (Sith sabers)
- White
Generally though, the movies have only shown us red, green, blue, and Mace Windu’s purple saber. Though Disney’s animated Star Wars series have shown yellow and white sabers, as well as the edgy Darksaber. Fun fact: Mace Windu has a purple lightsaber in the movies not for lore reasons, but because Samuel L. Jackson wanted one. It was thrown into Star Wars canon later.
Lightsabers get their colors from “kyber crystals,” which are basically colorless, Force-sensitive rocks. Prospective Jedi mine their own crystals, and once attuned to a Jedi, a crystal will take its color (which then determines the lightsaber’s color).
There are also different types of kyber crystal, which can change lightsaber properties. Stuff like making the blade dimmer or even silent. Honestly, if we went through every lightsaber intricacy this post would be a million years long, and none of us want that. Plus we’ve also seen stuff like silver, bronze, and gold sabers in the expanded universe, but don’t those just seem like extensions of yellow or white?
What Do Lightsaber Colors Mean?
Blue
Given that “red and blue” are very common color contrasts used to depict “good and evil,” it shouldn’t surprise you that blue is one of the most common lightsaber colors in Star Wars. Those who used a blue lightsaber were often designated as Jedi Guardians. While it’s not like one’s personality dictates their lightsaber (it kind of does, given that there’s Force shenanigans, but whatever), blue sabers were often associated with bravery (hence that Guardian thing).
Green
Having seen the movies, you probably know that green is the other most common lightsaber found within the Jedi Order (less common than blue, however). Jedi Consular would normally take to green sabers in the expanded Star Wars universe. Granted, the green saber is normally associated with wiser Jedi. Ergo, Yoda, and Luke Skywalker in later films (used to show his character development).
Purple
Alright, we know that technically purple exists because “Samuel L. Jackson wanted a lightsaber that was his favorite color” in the movies. Honestly, we kind of enjoy the fact that this is the “canon” reason for purple sabers.
In the expanded universe, purple became associated with being morally grey. Jedi whose kyber crystals turned purple had ties to both the light and dark sides of the Force. Makes sense, because mixing red and blue paint gives you purple.
Yellow
This color has yet to make an appearance in the films, but it has made appearances in Disney’s animated series’ so it’s canon. We’ve seen it used by some characters, and as a standard issue for Jedi Temple Guards.
Outside of Disney’s new canon, yellow sabers were taken by Jedi Sentinels.
Orange
Orange has yet to make an appearance in any of Disney’s canon video media. However, now that the new Jedi: Fallen Order video game by Respawn is actually part of Disney’s new canon, orange is canon now!
We haven’t had the time to really play it in the office yet, and the game is kind of new, so we wouldn’t want to spoil it anyway. The orange saber is just a character customization option you get for preordering the game though–and the cynically minded of us who do play video games (author of this post included) are going to tell you the game’s publisher, EA, stuck the orange saber in to preempt sales because people are suckers for unique things. That’s just a long way to say “the game probably won’t broaden the canon on the orange saber.”
In the expanded universe, orange lightsabers were associated with Sith and Dark Jedi. So maybe Jedi: Fallen Order or the new movies will explore that?
Red
The other iconic lightsaber color is, of course, red. The color of anger and all those evil shenanigans the Sith get up to. There’s a reason why the Sith don’t get to play with colors like the Jedi do, and that’s because the Sith (or other Force users attuned to the dark side) can’t actually form relationships with kyber crystals. Instead, the Sith have to take krystals from slain Jedi, or make weird kind of corrupted crystals artificially. All this because kyber crystals are inherently partial to the light side of the Force.
This whole ordeal of pouring your rage into a good egg crystal gets even edgier if you didn’t think it could. The entire ordeal? Yeah, it’s called “bleeding.” That’s why they’re red, because the crystal “bled.” No seriously.
Do note that a red lightsaber doesn’t mean a kyber crystal was bled in the expanded universe. Making an artificial (“synthcrystal”) kyber crystal would also result in a red blade. In Disney’s canon, synthetic crystals aren’t a thing.
White
Segueing right into the white saber, we’ve only ever seen one pair (used by Ahsoka Tano) in the animated series. The white sabers came about because she “purified” the already-bled red kyber crystals of a slain Sith Inquisitor.
Not much else to it, the expanded universe has explored the idea further though, with a synthetic crystal being purified (it doesn’t make sense to us either) to a yellow blade.
Black
The edgy lightsaber to end all sabers, we covered it our post about Mandalorians, and there’s no “meaning” that we could find for the saber in the same way the other saber colors have them. It’s implied that the black Darksaber is an older version of the lightsaber, which may explain why the blade doesn’t look like the traditional cylinder. Instead, it looks more like a katana in the animated series, because it has to be even cooler.
Know your lightsabers? See who used which one here.
