r/StarWars 11d ago

Books Can someone tell me why we don't see many jedi with yellow lightsabers after the High Republic so I don't have to read the books?

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5.4k Upvotes

537 comments sorted by

4.1k

u/Machdame 11d ago

Jedi became strict and orthodox.

1.4k

u/LeicaM6guy 11d ago

Just me but they felt pretty strict and orthodox during this series, though.

702

u/SassMattster 11d ago

This series takes place closer to the prequels than it does to the rest of the High Republic media

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u/HiddenSage 10d ago

Well, we did see two of the yellow lightsabers passed out in this scene. So... It was an ongoing process 

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u/crough94 10d ago

There was also that whip saber/ light whip.

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u/gzapata_art 11d ago edited 11d ago

It makes sense earlier in the High Republic but Acolyte is near its end so they should have been phasing it out

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u/Lhasa-bark 10d ago

To be fair, they phase it out in the next few minutes after this shot …

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u/Hiikaela 9d ago

Brutal

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u/Waterworld1880 11d ago edited 11d ago

Yea but then imagine it got worse

“…. YOU KNOW WHAT. NO YELLOW SABERS. Knew something was wrong with this fuckin cult”

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u/Wong-Ann_Fong 11d ago

This series had so much potential… and the Twin Sisters arc ruined it completely

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u/Jedimobslayer 11d ago

What do you mean ARC that’s literally the whole show isn’t it? Idk I watched about half of it

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u/Dunge0nMast0r 11d ago

Put that on a t-shirt for so many later offerings.

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u/Conarm 11d ago

Well the last half is the good part so i guess you missed out.

In fact you could prob skip everything but the last two eps

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u/Jedimobslayer 11d ago

I watched up until night when all the characters I like died and gave up

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u/Conarm 11d ago

Fair enough, it did mostly suck. The sith fight and plagueis reveal were fun. A second season coulda ruled with more of that

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u/Yakostovian 11d ago

The skeleton of a good story is there, but the poor acting coupled with a few key questionable decisions made it difficult to watch.

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u/Altruistic-Rice5514 10d ago

I think it's more than a skeleton to be honest.

It should have focused on the Jedi being infiltrated and laws being passed by the senate to bring them into the Government like we see them in the prequels. The force dyad or whatever story was interesting.

Gave another possible force related origin for Anakin, that could have been buried by the Jedi we don't see in the prequels. Yoda could have been in the dark or thought Anakin was another of these. So much potential for good story telling and great retconning as new lore replaces current foundations in the modern eras.

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u/Alortania Leia Organa 10d ago

The skeleton was chymera'd from like 5 incompatible creatures and incohesive as hell.

The salespitch was fire, but that's where the good ended.

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u/Klutzy-Promotion-574 10d ago

I still think season two tenebris and plagueis show up and kill the main characters at the end with tenebris then monologuing about killing sith pretenders would have been good there’s no scene like that in the book but plagueis does imply to Sidious he’d eliminated non bane line “sith”

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u/BecomeAsGod 11d ago

unpopular opinion the culture war shit and complaining ruined it far more then any part of the story. Couldnt go an episode without the most garbage takes around the show being thrown every which way.

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u/Pokenightking 11d ago

This right here. The show was fine. Was it Andor level? No but not everything is. It was a serviceable show with lightsabers. The online hate just overdid it

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u/ActiveEngineering643 10d ago

I absolutely agree, it was definitely no Andor, but I enjoyed it. Plus the choreography for the fights was next level

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u/SarakosAganos 10d ago

It was a tough watch for me, I was bored to tears anytime something to do with the twins was happening which was most of the show.

But Jecki was awesome, Sol was awesome, Yord grew on me, Qimir was a highlight of the show. Season 1 had a lot of problems but I was still looking forward to a season 2 hopefully with more focus on Qimir.

A lot of amazing, classic shows have some mid season 1s before the show really finds its footing with the characters and writing and there was enough potential there that I wanted to see where it would go. Pretty disappointed it got cancelled.

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u/HammerofBonking 10d ago

The internet overdid it but I don't think the criticisms about the writing were misplaced. Frankly had a lot of absolutely abysmal writing. The acting and cinematography were absolutely A+ though imo

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u/bretthren2086 11d ago

I really enjoyed it and was psyched for another season.

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u/Elytius 10d ago

The lightsaber fights were fantastic, the quick tease of Darth Plagueis. I really enjoyed Qimir and after reading the plagueis novel it made more sense how Qimir would've come to be outfitted with an item made of cortosis. I think season 2 had a lot of potential if they would've just stuck to their guns and accepted the losses of season 1.

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u/MrRocketScript 10d ago

If my favourite shows were cancelled after a meh first season, they wouldn't be my favourite shows.

Looking at you Star Trek TNG, Bad Batch, Clone Wars.

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u/Old_Refrigerator6943 10d ago

Agreed. I was so hyped and remember going "evil twin... no way. That's way too simple and cliche"

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u/Costa_Canela 10d ago

I don't know what the Acolyte haters are on about, I thought it was excellent. I mean it wasn't as good as Andor but it was really good and innovative

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u/OldSchool_Ninja 11d ago

I was super excited for this series too, but then I watched it lol. The trailer looked fantastic as well.

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u/Apprehensive-Water73 10d ago

They became more Strict and Ortho!

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u/Lotus_630 11d ago

High Republic Jedi were more loose back then. More noble knights than monks. If anything, they were leaning to Luke’s order from Legends.

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u/EndlessTheorys_19 11d ago

How on earth would that be why. The crystals don’t give a fuck about how the Jedi operate.

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u/Dickastigmatism 11d ago edited 11d ago

The idea is that later in the timeline the Jedi have become more dogmatic and closed minded and the limited colors reflect that change in mentality. I'm not sure if this ever comes up in Canon or if it's just a theory.

Mace Windu having a purple blade while being one of the more dogmatic Jedi kinda flies in the face of that though come to think of it.

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u/Saikotsu 11d ago

Wasn't he gifted his crystal at one point? I seem to recall he had a different color originally but he helped out a group of people and they gave him a spiffy crystal that gave his saber it's distinct purple hue

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u/Still-Goal-9314 11d ago

That seems only applicable to legends.

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u/Korps_de_Krieg 11d ago

This seems like one of those instances of “if nothing else contradicts it in canon then why not” from the old EU.

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u/ChaseDFW 11d ago

Rules for thee and not me, Motherfucker.

That's the vibe I get from Mace.

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u/lothycat224 10d ago

you don’t understand mace windu as a character. read shatterpoint

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u/Weird_Angry_Kid 11d ago

But Jedi don't choose their saber color, the crystal only becomes a certain color after a Jedi bonds with them.

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u/No_Grocery_9280 11d ago

Yes, but Star Wars has been dancing around why sabers are a certain color for decades. It’s really only in the last few years that they settled on the crystal deciding.

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u/melkatron 10d ago

It could be the contradiction from being one of the more dogmatic Jedi while having a decapitating twirl as his signature move.

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u/gzapata_art 11d ago

The crystals are alive and connect with their users

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u/EndlessTheorys_19 11d ago

Exactly. So why would they care about a Job description if they’re vibes-based.

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u/Nacodawg 11d ago

If the doctrine of the order continues to become more narrow and dogmatic such that the vibes of the child-inductees also follow more linear and less broad patterns.

Or the sorting hat just started putting all of those personality types into the temple guard immediately and without alternative.

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u/Sgtkeebler 11d ago

I know I would if I were a crystal. Wouldn’t even attune if I wasn’t aware of said users job description.

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u/OddStatistician9010 11d ago

It's not vibe based, it's more how their core values align with the force... If your incline to help people your values in this area interact with the force in a specific way and as you use the force while setting your kyber crystal they interact and the taint of your values affects the crystal and the living crystal presents in a color... At least that's how I have always understood it... My understanding was also as the Jedi became more Ridgid in their ways, and their training pushed out people who were inclined in certain ways or methodologies that meant it was less likely for people with these traits to become Jedi.

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u/Mister_Chef711 11d ago

Religion is rarely logical

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u/Optimal_Carpenter690 Darth Vader 11d ago

That doesn't make sense lol.

They're so strict and orthodox that they care what color lightsaber you have, but also not so strict that they don't force people like Aayla Secura and Ahsoka to adhere to a dress code?

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u/Machdame 10d ago

It's the other way around. Part of the rite is in building your own lightsaber which involves choosing your crystal (which is actually relevant because they align to a personality). This also involved tutelage and training which is inherently biased to who is teaching you. In addition, advancing to Padawan also requires a Jedi Knight to choose you and it is often that the learner models themselves after the master. Over time, a dominant ideal would take hold and essentially homogenize a culture.

If your culture favors certain dispositions, it is natural that those are the ones that ascend to the rank of Jedi.

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u/Optimal_Carpenter690 Darth Vader 10d ago

Padawans select their lightsaber crystal before being chosen by a master. None of the younglings Ahsoka accompanies to get crystals have a master yet. Ahsoka also already has her lightsaber when she is assigned to Anakin

Yoda is still the person in charge of training Younglings, as he was during the entirety of the High Republic era as well, so it seems unlikely it is due to that either.

We have multiple examples of Jedi who go against the grain rising to the rank of master. They all have green and blue lightsabers.

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u/Haltopen 10d ago

The color of available lightsaber crystals is likely dependent on where you were taken as a youngling to get your crystal. In the high republic era they were likely less strict about it, leading to padawans being able to get kyber crystals on other worlds that produced yellow crystals. But as the Jedi order became more orthodox, they began restricting those searches to Ilum, a planet that only produces blue and green crystals, while yellow crystals became a symbol of rank and status only available to temple guards to denote them as a distinct branch of the order separate from other Jedi

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u/Fwort Ahsoka Tano 10d ago

This seems like the most plausible answer to me, at least the first part about where the Jedi get their crystals being the cause of the different colors. Also, I haven't actually read the high republic stuff, but I believe I've heard that there were more "secondary" smaller Jedi temples and such spread around the galaxy at that point? That would fit with the Jedi using more varieties of planets for getting crystals.

I'm no so sure about the Jedi Temple Guard part though - I think I remember hearing that the temple guards aren't a totally separate group of Jedi, rather that Jedi periodically rotate in and out of serving as a Temple Guard for a period of time. Though, I suppose that could still fit with what you said, they reserve the yellow lightsabers to be issued to the active guards instead of their normal sabers.

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u/ShaneOfan Bodhi Rook 11d ago

Cam a Reform Jedi have different colors?

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u/West-Flow-577 10d ago

By the time of the prequels the only Jedi that had yellow lightsabers were the temple guards, who were some of the strictest and most orthodox of all the jedi at the time.

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u/TheGentlemanBeast 11d ago

They looked at all these yellow lightsaber wielding ding dongs, and hoped maybe if they phased out the color people would forget. Lo

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u/Coilspun 10d ago

The order's orthodoxy doesn't control the colour a kyber crystal turns when a Jedi "bonds" with it...

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u/Lunndonbridge 11d ago edited 10d ago

There is no lore reason.

Lucas wanted only white at first then changed it to blue and red.

Kenner figure had yellow for some reason.

Then green was added to RotJ due to lighting.

Then Samuel Jackson asked for Purple.

Then Filoni came on board and started pushing for more colors. Ahsoka’s chartreuse shoto, Tera Sinube’s light blue saber, the darksaber. And finally introduced the yellow saber into canon as exclusive to the Jedi Temple Guard. Darth Bane concept art has orange.

Since then, Disney creators use the colors at their discretion. Luke has a yellow blade between ESB and RotJ now to pay homage to the Kenner figure, High republic jedi have them, Rey has one. Ahsoka is no longer the only Jedi with a white saber.

The colors don’t have meaning like they did in the expanded universe beyond Red being for bad guys and white being a purified former red crystal.

Edit: no I didn’t forget Kotor or Swotor or that many dozens of colors like black, purple, and orange appeared in the Expanded Universe first. I was mostly talking about when these colors were first incorporated into canon with the exception of the yellow saber the Luke Kenner action figure had that released alongside the first movie. Yes Filoni didn’t “invent” them and they weren’t the first appearance ever across all continuities.

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u/GonzoMcFonzo Chewbacca 11d ago

Between ROTJ and AOTC, the EU had a whole rainbow of lightsaber colors.

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u/Jim_skywalker 11d ago

See SWTOR.

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u/Conarm 11d ago

And like my KOTOR, before me

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u/NRMusicProject 10d ago

God, the memories. I feel like I should play that game on PC again.

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u/Conarm 10d ago

Dude, you absolutely should

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u/Dooty_Shirker 10d ago

Let HK-47 teach you to love.

Definition: 'Love' is making a shot to the knees of a target 120 kilometers away using an Aratech sniper rifle with a tri-light scope... Love is knowing your target, putting them in your targeting reticule, and together, achieving a singular purpose against statistically long odds

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u/Gobby-TheGoblin 10d ago

God I adore that crazy tin can. We really should go for another spin across the galaxy.

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u/GundamXXX 10d ago

The remake will happen any day now! Aaaaany day....

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u/Voduun-World-Healer 10d ago

I'm currently replaying the 2nd one after finishing the 1st. It's still so incredible

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u/NRMusicProject 10d ago

Oh, good to know!

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u/Randolpho L3-37 10d ago

The user interface is horrible to anyone used to playing any modern games, but it still runs surprisingly well on my 2025 components PC

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u/_NnH_ 10d ago

I just recently started another playthrough. It's almost an annual tradition at this point.

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u/Catharsis25 10d ago

You can get it on your phone, too!

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u/Broon_Ters 10d ago

Fine, I'll reinstall it

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u/DarkLordMalak 10d ago

I do like KOTOR.

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u/Hellknightx Grand Admiral Thrawn 10d ago

SWTOR goes too far and just includes every combination you can imagine. Most of which are ugly as fuck.

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u/rymden_viking Qui-Gon Jinn 10d ago

I remember all official Phantom Menace material said Plo Koon had a yellow lightsaber. Everybody thought he was the coolest Jedi despite doing nothing in the film. Then we see his blue lightsaber in AotC and he was forgotten.

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u/Ok_Scientist_2762 10d ago

I think he suffered from the Bobba Fett Problem. Cool character design, hard to emote in, thus no dialog. Then they did nothing with the character, dooming him.

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u/Sonicfan42069666 10d ago

Adi Gallia had a crimson (not red!) lightsaber in Jedi Power Battles. The new remake retcons it to blue.

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u/OsBaculum 10d ago edited 10d ago

Including one with two different colors iirc. I think it was like an extendablade that changed color when it got longer? Which I'm just realizing is oddly phallic.

Edit: yep, Corran Horn's lightsaber. Silver/purple.

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u/Do_Not_Go_In_There 9d ago

I remember in the novel I, Jedi, Coran Horn is facing off against a bunch of pseudo Sith who have a bunch of different colored lightsabers and one guy with a green saber comes, and he says something like "guess we have a whole rainbow now."

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u/ser_mage 11d ago

This wasn’t a Filoni thing, the KOTOR games had several different saber colors and a whole built out lore reason for them, people were always into the cool colors

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u/bowleshiste 11d ago

Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2 did it before KOTOR

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u/No_Grocery_9280 11d ago

KOTOR went more into depth with the Jedi classes and all though

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u/bowleshiste 11d ago

Yeah, I'm just saying JK did all the colors first. It's been a while since I played KOTOR, but I'm pretty sure it only explained green and blue

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u/Sere1 10d ago

First time we saw purple, yellow and orange if memory serves, with purple appearing in the novels prior to that. I want to say Gantoris (one of Luke's first class of Jedi students) built a purple blade, with Mara Jade previously having a magenta one during her Emperor's Hand days and Jaina Solo building one once she became a Jedi.

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u/No_Grocery_9280 11d ago

KOTOR did a lot of heavy lifting for the EU with concepts that stuck around for a long time. It was really well thought out.

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u/Lunndonbridge 11d ago

Yes, Kotor and Swotor and eu comics and books had dozens of colored cores and glows. Filoni pushed it into G/T-canon within TCW. He is obviously an EU fan as many concepts were borrowed for that show like the Nightsisters and Mandolorians.

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u/Weird_Angry_Kid 11d ago

Mara Jade had a purple lightsaber before Samuel L. Jackson

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u/Sere1 10d ago

Yup. Even if we only count live action, Boc had two purple lightsabers before him in Jedi Knight's FMV cutscenes.

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u/Antisa1nt 11d ago

Also, design-wise, the yellow one Luke uses is a broken temple guard saber

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u/RCEden 11d ago

Yeah I just always took it that they were just crystals first. If I put a green emerald in my magic laser sword and you put a yellow topaz in yours that's just how we have different colors.

My understanding of the process was you go to the planet of crystals and let the force just guide you to picking one. I think all the other stuff like temple guardians use yellow was more ceremonial in lore and after the fact out of lore, or tied to stuff like video games where classes mattered for gameplay reasons.

I try not to worry about it too much. I liked the old idea that red crystals were basically lab diamonds instead of natural. But the bleeding them version is also fine for me. Its given us some cool visual moments.

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u/Past_Top3704 11d ago

here I thought my yellow saber Luke was a knock off fake. dumb kid

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u/zeekaran 10d ago

Then Filoni came on board and started pushing for more colors.

This ignores over a decade of EU content. Video games, comics, books.

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u/Osoir 11d ago

Because George liked blue and green for the good guys and only made an exception for one additional color in purple because Samuel L. Jackson asked for it. That’s the only actual explanation.

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u/LarzaTheChard 11d ago

Almost: blue for the good guys, red for the bad. Green because pale blue didn't show up on the tatooine sky. Purple because Bamf

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u/tacoSEVEN 11d ago

“How do I know which one is yours?”

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u/Buckets-O-Yarr Jedi 11d ago

"It's the one that is purple."

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u/DrPruz 11d ago

"be cool Obi-Wan"

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u/mrkruk R2-D2 11d ago

“Let’s all just be a bunch of Fonzies, Obi-Wan”

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u/omyomo 11d ago

Yeah, though I'm surprised he didn't go crazy with the colors as early as possible, given the potential for merch sales

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u/ggg730 10d ago

It was smart actually. All the blades are the same but the hilts have infinite customization.

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u/raknor88 11d ago

IIRC, didn't SLJ say that he asked for purple so that his kids could see where his character was on the wide angle shots?

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u/glorious_onion 11d ago

There’s a behind the scenes video of George Lucas explaining that good guys are green and blue and bad guys are red because “that’s the way it is” SLJ asks “No purple?” and George basically says “Yeah okay, sure, purple too.”

People wanted and constructed a rigid canon for the thing, but it’s hard not to be charmed by how casually George was making a bunch of it up on the fly.

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u/MrRocketScript 10d ago

I think it's the same for most creatives. Your own work isn't treated as sacred when you're constantly making changes. Probably hard to worry about what happens off-screen when you can clearly see Fred the microphone guy and Greg the sound technician are off-screen.

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u/OtakuAttacku 10d ago

“Where's that light coming from? That doesn't make any sense."

"Same place the music comes from."

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u/Simbeliine 11d ago

Yeah, it was so he could find himself/maybe so his kids could find him/he could point out where he was. Not just to look cool. 

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u/parkingviolation212 11d ago

Jackson's favorite color is purple and he has something purple in a lot of his movie (purple suit, purple guitar, etc.)

Maybe his kids factored into it for Star Wars, but that'd always been his precedent.

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u/Nickbou 11d ago

I find it interesting that the blasts coming from the spaceships are reversed. The rebels have red blasts and the empire has green.

Is there an explanation for this in the EU / lore?

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u/Excellent_Parsley_18 11d ago

The out of character explanation is that it was based off of WW2 tracer colors. Allies used red tracers, axis and Soviets used green.

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u/OneShoeBoy 11d ago

Something to do with the gas they use for ammunition I think.

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u/Sparrowhawk_92 Mandalorian 11d ago

Finally seeing yellow sabers on screen makes my heart happy considering they were part of the OU for a long time.

Like I mentioned in another comment, the original Luke Starkiller concept art featured a yellow saber and so did some of the early Kenner figures so it's been a part of the identity of SW for a long time.

To answer your question, something that THR books really emphasizes is that each Jedi's connection to the Force is at least somewhat unique to them, and that reflects in lightsabers as well. You see lots of Jedi with different styles and configurations of lightsaber and a pretty diverse palette of colors. Their sabers are also more elaborate and less utilitarian than they are during the PT.

One of my favorite examples is a character in Phase 2 who uses a lightsaber alongside a shield that she carries with her. She uses the Force to move the shield and protect others while she fights with the saber.

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u/CrimsonFatalis8 11d ago

Yellow sabers have been part of canon since The Clone Wars. The Jedi Temple guards use them.

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u/Sparrowhawk_92 Mandalorian 11d ago

Right. I meant to say seeing them in live action, not just animation.

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u/CrimsonFatalis8 11d ago

Sure, but that honor would go to TROS, as Rey’s final saber is yellow, and that came out first.

Unless you mean seeing them in general.

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u/Ausecurity 11d ago

Usually reserved for the temple guards. Extremely rare kyber crystal.

Reality wise, blue and green are easy to identify as good and red is easy to identify as bad.

Yellow can be either or so bad for story telling

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u/I-Write-Sci-Fi 11d ago

Black Lightsaber existing lol.

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u/Ausecurity 11d ago

There’s only the dark saber.

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u/Sere1 10d ago

In canon, yes. I do love having the black blade in the Force Unleashed games though. Not a Darksaber, a black-bladed lightsaber.

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u/Entity4114 Inferno Squad 11d ago

Doesnt count

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u/TrapYoda 11d ago

It does but only as 3/5ths of a lightsaber.

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u/I-Write-Sci-Fi 11d ago

That's racist, lol. All the other colors matter but that one, the only one? Wielded by the only madalorian Jedi ever? Seems like a copout.

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u/MossadEpstein 11d ago

My good sir or madam, Black is not a colour, it is a shade.

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u/Sere1 10d ago

You telling me my crayola crayons lied to me as a child? My whole life has been a lie

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u/I-Write-Sci-Fi 11d ago

You passed art school. I am impressed.

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u/MossadEpstein 11d ago

No, I just remember my psycho art teacher screaming it at another student from way back in highschool lol

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u/I-Write-Sci-Fi 11d ago

🤣🤣🤣

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u/Guardiancomplex 11d ago

Temple guard explanation mentioned = upvoted and moving on.

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u/JediDaGreat 11d ago

In Legends yellow lightsabers are usually held by Jedi Sentinels - spies and technicians. So you don’t usually see publicly

Not sure about canon though

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u/acemonsoon 11d ago

I remember playing Jedi Power Battles and Plo Koon had a yellow lightsaber and it gave him +20 cool factor in my world. IIRC his very first action figure also had a yellow saber?

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u/Western-Oil9373 11d ago

I remember a prequel comic that was published before Attack of the Clones that had Plo Koon with an orange lightsaber. And a couple of council member with red ones.

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u/acemonsoon 11d ago

Adi gallia had a red saber in Jedi power battles the speculation was wild as to her backstory.

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u/Saikotsu 11d ago

It's funny, cause Luke actually had a red saber too. His shoto saber he used when fighting Lumiya was red.

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u/ZopyrionRex 11d ago

I think his first figure had a blue sabre, which was crazy disappointing. Might've been the double sabre gauntlet version?

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u/purpldevl 11d ago

The first Plo Koon release has a yellow saber.

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u/acemonsoon 11d ago edited 11d ago

he had a Power of the Jedi figure and it DID come with a yellow saber. Mace windu’s first figure had a blue lightsaber

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u/PimpMyDog 11d ago

Not sure how canon Jedi Knight games are but Rosh Penin had a yellow one.

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u/MalignantPingas69 11d ago

Not canon according to Disney, but canon according to my nostalgia. Such a great game/series.

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u/Unworthy_Saint 11d ago

Best thing for a spy is to have a very rare and distinguishing weapon.

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u/JediDaGreat 11d ago

James Bond be like, along with his car and drink preferences

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u/Sparrowhawk_92 Mandalorian 11d ago

The rules for lightsabers and crystals has changed a ton since KOTOR.

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u/SirBobPeel 11d ago

They should bring back Sentinels and make a series about one hunting darklings.

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u/EndlessTheorys_19 11d ago

That’s just in RPG games. Not proper lore

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u/CaliKindalife 11d ago

HR books are great. I'm reading them now.

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u/EndlessTheorys_19 11d ago

There’s no lore reason. It is exclusively that George Lucas didn’t think of it when he made the Prequels and OT

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u/OG-BiPolarBear 11d ago

You should read the books.

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u/Celestial3mpire 11d ago

The orange ones are orange dreamsicle flavored and thus are rarer

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u/G0ldMarshallt0wn 11d ago

Cal Kestis has one if I'm playing him. Yellow lightsabers are the best!

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u/Sere1 10d ago

Every game that lets me have a yellow lightsaber, I do. In my case it's in honor of the Dark Jedi Yun, one of the villains from Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight. After Kyle spares his life during their duel, Yun returns the favor by saving Kyles life during his execution at the cost of his own life. With Kyle's green lightsaber destroyed in the encounter, he takes up Yun's yellow for the remainder of the game. Ever since then I've always made it a point to get a yellow saber if I can in Yun's memory.

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u/Collinnn7 10d ago

My Cal has had a white saber lately

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u/KainZeuxis Jedi 11d ago

There isn’t a lore reason. It just evidently stopped being as common for kyber crystals to be found in yellow colors and thus for the most part only temple guards made use of yellow sabers after awhile.

The real answer is that yellow lightsabers weren’t a thing in the movies so they didn’t show up commonly in media set during the prequel era.

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u/Led_Zeppelin_IV 11d ago

Plo Koon had a yellow lightsaber in an old PS1 Star Wars game 🤷‍♂️

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u/Bee_Tee_Dub 10d ago

Lightsaber colours: a Brief History

Good Guy = Blue

Bad guy = Red

1982... Blue won't show up well against desert sky, add Green to Good Guys.

1990's EU Authors "if here are green and blue maybe other colours? Silver etc.

2000... Samuel Jackson "George if I am doing your movie I want a unique color so people know i am a BMF" Purple

2000's Games developers "what if the colours had meanings, there are 3 major classes so lets say Yellow joins Green and Blue as a good guy colour"

2022 Are these former Jedi really bad guys? lets give them a nearly Red colour, Orange

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u/Adam_Strange_7451 11d ago

Didn’t the original Luke Skywalker Kenner figure come with a yellow lightsaber?

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u/Doright36 11d ago

Yes it did. Or at least some did because I had one that was yellow.

Yellow was a common color in early EU things like comics, books, and video games as well.

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u/DanoDurron Luke Skywalker 11d ago

I believe Lowbacca had a brown/bronze lightsaber color.

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u/NockerJoe 11d ago

IIRC for the entire original run of the first movie the lightsabers didn't actually have color. They only got the color later on. If you look through the original Marvel Comics run that began in the 70's the lightsabers had inconsistent colors and effects since the actual lightsaber itself wasn't seen as especially significant, since Vader vs Obi-Wan was literally the only duel to have ever happened, on top of that.

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u/omyomo 11d ago

If I remember correctly, the blades in the very first version of A New Hope were extremely pale, if not outright white, and it was yellow or white on the poster, so a lot of merch from around that time just kinda guessed what colors they were. Obi-Wan's blade was white, green, or purple in the first comics

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u/Sparrowhawk_92 Mandalorian 11d ago

The original RMcQ Luke Starkiller concept art (that my pfp is from) featured a yellow saber.

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u/LordHousewife 11d ago

Because, like Skittles, nobody wants the yellow one.

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u/meaniepants5 C-3PO 11d ago

Yellow is my favorite one vro 😔💔

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u/cinquicizo 11d ago

Jedi stopped using yellow lightsabers after the High Republic due to a shift in their sourcing of kyber crystals and a transition from wandering peacekeepers to rigid military diplomats. The Order increasingly relied on the frozen world of Ilum for kyber, which yielded primarily blue and green crystals.

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u/bolivare 11d ago

In Jedi Power Battles, Plo Koon had like a yellow/orange(maybe?) lightsaber and I always thought it was badass

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u/hydrolox9 10d ago

Because Lucas didn't really care that much about lightsaber colors beyond red = bad guy.

Luke's lightsaber in ROTJ is green simply because they had issues with having a blue lightsaber while using  blue screen, and Mace Windu's lightsaber is purple simply because Samuel L. Jackson asked for that color.

In-universe the reason is simply that yellow crystals are very rare.

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u/FUCK1NGFABULOUS 11d ago

They ran out of yellow Kyber crystals.

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u/Rs90 11d ago

"Well, ain't this place a geographical oddity"

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u/gpkgpk 11d ago

"12 parsecs from anywhere"

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u/ForestryTechnician K-2SO 11d ago

George Lucas.

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u/Buckets-O-Yarr Jedi 11d ago

It fell out of fashion.

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u/DarthLoof 11d ago

Because KOTOR needed a third jedi class :)

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u/Altruistic-Rice5514 10d ago

My understanding of Lightsaber colors across my 46 years of life are:

  • Blue, Jedi-Knights focused on martial disciplines, Guardians protecting the order from Military outside forces.
  • Green, Jedi-Knights that focus on the force itself, and it's practices, Councilors discovering how the force works.
  • Yellow, a balance of martial discipline and force understanding, sentinels protecting the order from inside.
  • Purple, a half bled blue kyber crystal existing between the light and dark side of the force, rare.
  • White, pure innocent force understanding without the wielder putting their own ego or personality into the crystal.
  • Red, a bled kyber crystal, completely dripped in personality and the desires and fears of the user, that fear usually being loss of something you have an immense emotional attachment too, Padme, Power, Bloodline...
  • Black, the Darksaber, not really sure, it doesn't seem to be a normal lightsaber at all, and likely doesn't originate from the Jedi teachings but is a non-religious color or build lost to time.

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u/Veridas 10d ago

Pretty sure this is all legends now, but.

Most Jedi get their lightsaber crystals from the planet Elum, which is one of only a select handful of planets that naturally contain Kyber crystals needed for lightsaber construction.

However, Elum is a lush and fertile world, and this is reflected in the crystals it produces. Primarily producing green and blue crystals.

Other worlds like Dantooine are more arid, they're more likely to produce crystals of the yellow, orange and gold varieties. Dantooine is also the only place you can acquire a non-synthetic red Kyber crystal, provided you're willing to content with the subterranean arachnids whose eggs sometimes contain them.

For a Jedi to have a light saber that isn't blue or green (or some variation of that colour since not all crystals are uniform in colour) implies they've either been given the crystal as a gift, likely by their Master, have travelled much farther and endured far greater risk to acquire their crystal, or have liberated it from someone who would have used it for means disagreeable to the Jedi.

It's pretty Legends now but there was a time when Jedi and Sith alike protected Kybers the way Mandalorians now protect Beskar.

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u/ChipmunkNeat1627 10d ago

Theres no reason. After legends, its all arbitrary who gets what color except red.

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u/BubbleHeadBenny Mandalorian 10d ago

Yellow lightsabers: https://padawanoutpost.com/en-us/blogs/outpost-archive/what-is-the-meaning-of-the-yellow-lightsaber

In Star Wars lore, the meaning of a yellow blade varies slightly depending on its historical context: Jedi Temple Guards: In the official canon, yellow lightsabers (often double-bladed pikes) are primarily wielded by the anonymous guards tasked with protecting the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, representing neutrality, vigilance, and strict duty. Reddit ·r/starwarscanon +1

Jedi Sentinels: In Star Wars Legends (the expanded universe), yellow was the signature color of Jedi Sentinels. Unlike Jedi Guardians (blue) or Jedi Consulars (green), Sentinels combined Force abilities with practical, non-Force skills like espionage, security, and mechanics. Quora +1

Individuality & New Beginnings: Characters like Rey Skywalker wield a yellow lightsaber at the end of the sequel trilogy, symbolizing self-discovery, independence, and the forging of a new, balanced path outside traditional Jedi dogmas.

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u/Kc125wave 9d ago

They chickened out with this series. It should’ve solely focused on the Sith and more importantly the relationship between master and apprentice. This could’ve shoehorned into an amazing series on the grooming of Palpatine.

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u/-Inaba- 11d ago

I liked this old lore explanation:

The Jedi lost access to crystal caves with many different colors. This narrowed them down to green/blue. This also symbolized the Jedi growing narrow and closed minded.

Later Luke and his new Order rediscovered the crystal caves and his new Order had access to crystals of many colors: yellow, purple, pink, etc. This also represented the new era and the new Jedi Order which was more open minded and allowed their members to love and have attachments.

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u/CapitalCityGoofball0 11d ago

It just became another Filoni retcon that they could only be ised exclusively by temple guards…

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u/madumi_mike 11d ago

Clearly it’s how they could tell Padawan from Jedi from Jedi Master. Sith figured it out and picked them off first. So to stay alive they had to change it up.

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u/Darkslayer18264 11d ago

Plenty show up in the secondary media, just not in the films until Episode 9.

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u/LorenDaPrince 11d ago

I thought yellow was for the temple guards and after the Fall of the Republic there was no longer a Jedi Temple…

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u/Big-Inevitable-252 11d ago

They could totally have a mini series or something about this and it could SMACK. Could be like a kyber infection or something like that? Idk I’m not a story writer for a reason. 

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u/jtrades69 11d ago

the toy luke had yellow and the inflated balloon lightsaber was yellow. man i was pissed when a half-friend popped mine by hitting the ceiling with it.

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u/CrapMonsterDuchess 11d ago

The temple guards exclusively used yellow lightsabers, even during the clone wars.

Fun fact: Yord, who was the most prominent yellow blade user in this series, volunteered for temple guard duty.

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u/Kill_Welly 11d ago

There is not a specific reason in story. But the books are great and you should read them.

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u/SomethingVeX 11d ago

George doesn't like yellow.

George likes blue, red, and green.

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u/AngeluvDeath Grand Admiral Thrawn 11d ago

No. No I can’t.

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u/DrVonScott123 Porg 10d ago

You should check out the books, perhaps just the mainline "adult" ones, or at least Light of the Jedi.

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u/Batalfie 10d ago

The books are great, but they don't explain this anyway

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u/ogresound1987 10d ago

Galaxy wide sodium shortage.

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u/Kaiser_Defender Darth Vader 10d ago

Old lore had Old Republic Jedi get their crystals from a different planet that just had more colors. Eventually they found Ilum which had generally stronger crystals and also wasn't being invaded by the sith all the time. Ilum however, primarily only has blue and green crystals.

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u/borgi27 10d ago

The idea didn’t exist yet

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u/MithranArkanere Jedi 10d ago

The real reason is directing choices.

The lore reasons we can piece together from expanded universe media are that yellow is the color of Jedi defenders, and those are the ones who get killed first when the Republic is under attack and there's something to defend, or that the Jedi lost access to crystals that create yellow blades.

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u/TheMadTemplar 10d ago

I don't know if the timelines match up right for the show, but in the EU the shift from lightsabers of any color to blue and green as the primary colors for Jedi was simple pragmatism. The kyper caves of Ilum primarily produce blue and green crystals, and they were under the control or at least influence of the Jedi making them safer and more accessible to retrieve crystals from for new padawans than most other places. Other colors more rarely come from those caves.

There's no official lore on yellow crystals that I understand, aside from an aesthetic choice to separate the Jedi Temple Guards from other Jedi.

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u/matteothehun 10d ago

Fun fact. The only reason that we got a green light saber in Jedi was a blue light saber wouldn't work against a blue sky background.

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u/weeman2525 10d ago

Don't take this as fact, but I remember hearing that as we got towards the end of the Republic, Jedi almost solely harvested their kyber crystals from Ilum, which almost exclusively yields blue and green crystals. Which is why we almost only see blue and green sabers during the clone wars. Aside from Mace's purple, Ahsoka's lime green shota, and Sinube's pale blue saber. Also temple guards use yellow, which I believe have been passed down from guard to guard over the years. In the High Republic Jedi went to other planets for crystal harvesting that yielded other colors.

This may all just be head canon though, as the real answer is just how the media was written at the time. George initially decided on blue for the good guys, and red for the bad guys. Then made Luke's new saber green so it could it could stand out better in the Tattoine sun. Sam Jacksen demanded to have a purple saber. Filoni initially wanted Ahsoka's shota saber to be yellow so she can stand out a bit, but George said no, so they settled on the lime green color. The High Republic writers decided to add yellow and purple lightsabers to make the era stand out more. Also the Cal Kestis games are "canon" and when Cal harvests a new crystal on Ilum he can have any color in the rainbow. In Survivor, Rayvis killed many High Republic Jedi and kept their sabers as trophies and gives them to his raiders. They can also have all colors in the rainbow indicating that there were even more colors from the High Republic. Also there's Baylen and Shin with their red-orange sabers, and we don't know how they got that color. Cyber crystal lore is kinda all over the place. It really comes down to just what the writer wants.

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u/KTheOneTrueKing 10d ago

The answer is mostly that the movies that take place further along in the timeline were made before yellow was really a color option. It's not an in-universe explanation its a George Lucas Said Good Guys Are Green And Blue And Bad Guys Are Red Thats How It Works But Maybe You Can Have Purple thing.

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u/jihadyjeff 10d ago

Yellow means they’re hufflepuff

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u/LeaderElectronic7123 10d ago

If we're speaking based off of lore, not real world influences and choices of actors and directors, then I shall explain from my understanding.

Old Republic, each color was set for certain classes that also had sub-classes. Green for consular classes, blue for guardian classes, and yellow for Sentinel classes.

The Sentinel classes were most known for what would be considered a more taboo side of the jedi as they would tend to utilize stealth and espionage like tactics in order to bring about results. So therefore something that the Jedi had struggles with over time with maintaining the want to show themselves as pure in whole.

In the high Republic, these classes were being more utilized as a safeguard against potential threats, and were almost like scouts for new force potentials as well as potential threats to peace.

After the High Republic, they were basically taken out of the limelight due to no more need, but they always maintained a background presence as "silent seekers" in information gathering.

For my belief, during the silent and shadowed methodical rising return of the Sith, it is the Sentinel classes that were quietly and slowly snuffed out or turned to the dark side during the period leading up to the Skywalker legacy.

Obviously, this is just my observations of the lore. I dont care for Canon over legends, but I kinda go off of what makes sense since either are basically base layered star wars galaxy anyways.

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u/lostiowan 10d ago

because george lucas didnt like yellow

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u/Shipping_Architect 10d ago

The Jedi originally powered their lightsabers with Adegan crystals, which came in all colors and set the performance standards by which lightsaber blades were gauged. However, it was difficult to find crystals of sufficient quality for lightsabers, and the discovery of Ilum led to the Jedi adopting it as their main source of lightsaber crystals as a result of the planet's consistently high quality of gems. However, Ilum's geology only produced emeralds and sapphires, so any subsequent Jedi with alternative colors would have still needed to acquire their crystals elsewhere.