While the most common (and recognizable) lightsaber colors in Star Wars are blue, red, and green, the Star Wars universe has a variety of colors for these weapons – eleven confirmed ones, to be precise, including several unique colors introduced in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. Like most objects from George Lucas’ galaxy far, far away, the different colors of lightsabers are imbued with a deep meaning in Star Wars canon. There are dozens of different lightsaber designs beyond the standard “laser sword” made popular in 1977’s Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope — from Darth Maul’s dual-lightsaber to the Inquisitors’ spinning blades in Obi-Wan Kenobi. A lightsaber’s color and design matter, as the Star Wars canon has shown time and again that the color reveals a lot about its wielder.
Disney+ TV shows have expanded the presence of lightsaber weaponry, and not all lightsaber colors belong to Jedi or Sith. For example, The Mandalorian‘s Darksaber is a black lightsaber incredibly important in Mandalorian culture, despite them not being Force users. Though the Darksaber’s look differentiates it from all lightsaber colors, it also features a plasma blade powered by a Kyber crystal. The Kyber crystals are responsible for all different lightsaber colors. They’re rare, force-attuned crystals that can be found throughout the galaxy. Sources disagree over whether Kyber crystals are uncolored, only taking on a hue when they are found by a Jedi, or whether they are naturally different colors and Jedi are led to them. Meanwhile, some lightsaber colors – such as the Sith’s distinctive red blades – are obtained through different methods.
Blue Lightsaber
Of all lightsaber colors, blue lightsabers are the most recognizable lightsaber color of all. Blue lightsabers—along with their spiritual opposite: red lightsabers — made their debut in the first Star Wars movie, later titled A New Hope, with this color being immediately associated not just with the Jedi Order, but also with Luke Skywalker’s destiny. While blue is not the only color used by the knights of old, it was certainly the most common one, as evidenced by the abundance of blue lightsaber-wielding Jedi in the prequel trilogy.
Blue lightsabers are said to represent righteousness and bravery, mostly by association with what the Jedi stand for, as well as the user’s strong “spiritual alignment” with the crystal. This color was used by characters like Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Luke Skywalker, and Count Dooku (before his fall to the Dark Side). In Star Wars Legends, this color is designated to a Jedi Guardian, once again mirroring the Star Wars prequel trilogy.
Green Lightsaber
Green lightsabers are the second most common color used by the Jedi, with this color being closely associated with the attributes of harmony, helpfulness, cooperation, spirituality, and demonstrable goodwill. Canonically, the green lightsaber is commonly used by wiser, senior Jedi, such as Yoda, Qui-Gon Jinn, and Luke Skywalker before the sequels. In Star Wars Legends, green lightsabers designate a Jedi Consular, but this fact hasn’t been alluded to heavily in Disney’s canon. A Jedi Consular is a Jedi more devoted to the mental aspects of the Force than lightsaber combat.
Purple Lightsaber
The purple lightsaber is synonymous with Jedi Master Mace Windu. Mace Windu’s purple lightsaber was a request made directly to Lucas by Samuel L. Jackson, whose favorite color is purple. As such, there’s no hidden meaning to this rare lightsaber within the canon Star Wars universe. However, in Star Wars Legends, it indicates moral ambiguity, uncertainty, and reconstruction, as purple is a combination of red and blue. The purple lightsaber represents that its user shows an affinity with both the light and dark sides of the Force. Mace Windu’s purple lightsaber first appeared in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones and was lost when it fell out a window in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. This is one of the rarest lightsaber colors, but Star Wars: The High Republic has implied it was once more common, with purple Kyber crystals represented on a Kyber Arch in honor of fallen Jedi at the temple on Coruscant.
Yellow Lightsaber
This color is almost exclusively used by Jedi Temple guards, who carry double-bladed yellow lightsaber pikes. Little is known about this particular lightsaber color, so whether these are made intentionally yellow to distinguish the guards, or the crystal chooses the temple guards by turning yellow is currently unclear. Other characters such as Asajj Ventress and Ahsoka have also wielded this lightsaber color at some point. Most notably, Rey Skywalker wields a yellow lightsaber after defeating Palpatine at the end of Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker.
In Star Wars Legends, yellow lightsabers are used by Jedi Sentinels, and when the ancient Jedi Jaden Korr purified a red lightsaber crystal, it turned yellow, which perhaps indicates a pious nature within its user. Prior to Samuel L. Jackson powering up Mace Windu’s purple blade in 2002’s Attack of the Clones, yellow lightsabers were actually one of the first non-green, red, or blue sabers seen on-screen thanks to the 2000 PS1 game Jedi Power Battles, which included Plo Koon wielding a yellow lightsaber.
Orange Lightsaber
One of the newer editions to Star Wars canon is the orange lightsaber, which features as a selectable option in Jedi: Fallen Order and Jedi: Survivor. Additionally, orange lightsabers are also wielded by the mysterious villains Baylan Skoll and Shin Hati in the Ahsoka series. As of now, not much is known about what orange lightsabers mean in Star Wars canon. However, in Star Wars Legends, orange blades have sometimes been used by the Sith and dark-aligned Jedi. Like Mace Windu’s purple blade treading dangerously close to the dark side, Skoll and Hati’s orange sabers may indicate that they aren’t completely aligned with the Sith.
White Lightsaber
White lightsabers were primarily used by Ahsoka Tano and are proof of her mastery of the Force. Ahsoka retrieved these special Kyber crystals from the lightsaber of the Sixth Brother, an Inquisitor she killed during the Imperial occupation of Raada while she was in hiding after the collapse of the Jedi Order. These originally emitted a red blade, but Ahsoka purified them with the use of the Force and restored them to a white color, which ended up representing her status as an autonomous individual. She was no longer affiliated to the Jedi and had no affinity to the dark side. These new white crystals were used by Ahsoka in two lightsabers, one of which was a shorter, shoto blade.
Red Lightsaber
Of all lightsaber colors, it is red lightsabers that iconically and unquestionably represent the Sith and the dark side. Unlike the Jedi, who share a connection with their Kyber crystals, the Sith are unable to forge this unseen bond and thus have to steal their Kybers or employ other methods to build their lightsabers. The process is known as “bleeding” and consists of pouring all their hate, fear, and other negative emotions into the crystal, causing it to “bleed” and turn red. Conversely, in Star Wars Legends, the Sith similarly couldn’t use Kyber crystals for their lightsabers, so they made synthetic Kybers, which turned out to be red. This color has been used mostly by the Sith, as seen with Darth Vader, Count Dooku, Darth Sidious, Kylo Ren, and of course, Darth Maul’s infamous double-bladed lightsaber.
Darksaber (Black Lightsaber)
Introduced in Star Wars: The Clone Wars in 2010, the Darksaber has become an integral weapon and plot point in Star Wars canon. The Darksaber is a one-of-a-kind blade created several centuries before the Skywalker Saga by Tarre Vizsla, the first Mandalorian Jedi. Since its first appearance, the Darksaber appeared in several Star Wars projects from Disney including Star Wars: Rebels. Yet its most notable use is its live-action debut in The Mandalorian. Despite being a uniquely colored lightsaber, the Darksaber commands the respect of all Mandalorians.
Several characters have wielded the Darksaber since its introduction into Star Wars canon. Aside from Mandalorians who have wielded the blade like Din Djarin, Bo-Katan Kryze, and Sabine Wren (who is due to debut in live-action in the upcoming Ahsoka on Disney+), non-Mandalorians like Moff Gideon and Darth Maul have also wielded the saber. In The Mandalorian season 3 finale, Bo-Katan Kryze became the final wielder of the Darksaber after Moff Gideon crushed it using his Mandalorian-inspired armor.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Colors
In addition to featuring most of the standard colors, the game Star Wars Jedi: Survivor also includes three new canon lightsaber colors for Cal Kestis to choose from. These are cyan, indigo, and magenta. Not much is known about the canon significance of these colors or what they mean for their wielders. Cyan and indigo seem to be derivatives of the standard blue lightsaber, whereas magenta is reminiscent of Mace Windu’s purple blade. Nevertheless, now that these colors have been introduced to Star Wars canon the door is open for Disney to fill in their meaning in future Star Wars installments.
Legends Colors
All lightsaber colors mentioned above are part of Star Wars canon, but there are many others that haven’t made it there yet and remain exclusively part of Star Wars Legends. These stories established that other crystals can be used to build lightsabers, giving the blade a different color; this idea seems to still be canon, alluded to in recent role-playing sourcebooks. It means Legends introduced lightsabers with a variety of lightsaber colors, including silver, gold, viridian, and bronze. With many elements from the Star Wars Legends jumping to canon recently, it is not inconceivable that some of these lightsaber colors will also join the Star Wars canon in the near future.
Why Kenobi’s Grand Inquisitor Has A Spinning Lightsaber
Obi-Wan Kenobi‘s Grand Inquisitor features a red lightsaber with double blades that can spin in a circle, which not only gives the Grand Inquisitor certain advantages in duels with Jedi, but also doubles the red lightsaber’s intimidation factor. Though he answers to Darth Vader, the Grand Inquisitor’s double-bladed spinning lightsaber is indicative of his special purpose as a trained Jedi hunter. While Inquisitors are not true Sith, they are all armed with this special weapon, which gives them special abilities that are useful against the Sith’s traditional enemies.
Notably, like the Inquisitors or Kylo Ren’s Knights of Ren, these characters are also not true Sith. The easiest way to make the distinction is like fingers and thumbs: all Sith are Dark Side Force users, but not all Dark Side Force users are Sith. Star Wars Inquisitors, because of the Sith’s Rule of Two, cannot become true Sith. However, through their spinning lightsabers, they’re able to inspire fear and doubt in their Jedi opponents just like their Dark Side-wielding Sith masters. Star Wars hasn’t yet revealed the origin of these weapons. While “because they look cool” isn’t really an explanation for the reason they exist, so far it’s the only one available.
Color Doesn’t Define A Lightsaber
While the multitude of different colored sabers certainly has an appeal, the color of a Jedi/Sith’s weapon isn’t the most important thing about it. When the lore is put to the side, the main reason Sith have red lightsabers (for example) is that they’re the bad guys. When A New Hope was conceived and filmed, narrative heavy-handedness was the only reason for Vader’s blade being red and Obi-Wan’s being blue. The deeper explanations didn’t come until Star Wars grew into a franchise with its own lore and canon. Who wields the saber is far more important than its color.
Even seemingly “normal” sabers have hidden meanings. Darth Vader’s, for example, contains two Kyber crystals, which makes it incredibly unique in the Star Wars canon. This point isn’t touched on in the movies, but in-universe it’s a guarantee that almost every Jedi who faced Vader would notice. The dual crystals allow Vader to switch his blade’s length on a button-press, and deliver much heavier strikes than a single-crystal lightsaber. Meanwhile, Palpatine has garish gold-plated hilts on his weapon, for no other reason than to annoy the Jedi with its unnecessary opulence and excess.
Other characters, like Ezra from Rebels, have incredibly unique sabers despite them having a regular color. Ezra’s blue blade has a blaster built into the hilt — a much more definitive feature of his weapon than the color. Even Count Dookuhas a recognizable lightsaber, not because of its color, but its curved hilt. In any case, all lightsaber colors in Star Wars hold significance, but when it comes to understanding the warriors wielding them, there’s much more to take into consideration than the hue of the blade.
What Weapons Can Stop A Lightsaber?
The different colors of lightsabers in Star Wars all share a common characteristic — whatever the color, any lightsaber is considered the ultimate melee weapon in the galaxy. However, this doesn’t mean that the Jedi and Sith’s traditional weapons are completely unstoppable. The First Order Stormtroopers infamously wielded the Z6 riot control baton that uses two contact conductor vanes designed to resist lightsaber plasma blades. Materials that Star Wars‘ lightsabers can’t penetrate also include Mandalorian beskar steel, Zillo beast hide, and phrik — the material used to make electro-plasma weaponry such as those wielded by the Praetorian Guards in The Mandalorian and The Last Jedi.
Despite all lightsaber colors being feared for their sheer supremacy in close combat, there are many other materials across Star Wars that can fully resist the Jedi and Sith’s lethal plasma weapons. Curiously, this part of the lore hasn’t been explored that much onscreen. This could, however, change with Disney’s ongoing Star Warstimeline, which is bound to further explore and explain the different lightsaber colors’ meanings/capabilities.
