MovieChat Forums > Star Wars (1977) Discussion > Are light sabers really good weapons?

Are light sabers really good weapons?


For Jedi, I mean. If you were a Jedi, wouldn't you* want to carry a blaster* in addition to your light saber?

Because yes, a light saber is very useful in a Jedi's hands, it can deflect blaster bolts and cut through armor plating and you can flip it around while looking too cool for words. But it sucks as an offensive weapon, you can only use it offensively at close range if you're willing to get in close and grapple one on one with your foe. Which wouldn't be the first choice for someone who isn't big and strong, like say... Leia. Who had Force abilities all along, but apparently never learned the light saber, I don't suppose she ever did enough fighting to get expert with it, and face it, in the hands of someone small and not athletic, a light saber is useless unless they're a grand master level expert.

*goddamn autocorrect!

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"If you were a Jedi, wouldn't touch want to carry a bladder in addition to your light saber"

No, I don't think so. While it might momentarily disgust your enemy if you squirt them with pee, it won't really affect their combat abilities.

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Yeah some sort of aerial bombardment vehicle would be much more suitable in a lot of applications :)

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op there for a month ,then 2 replies at once! spooky

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These newfangled lightsabers from the newer films are not good weapons - starting with Darth Maul:
A double ended sabre wielded much the same way as a martial artist wields a staff. Problem is he can only touch the middle of it - rendering it useless.
We dont have to invent lightsabres to know this . If that was a do-able thing we'd have seen double ended swords before.

secondly - Emo boy's cross-patterned lightsabre.
In real life swords that look like that look like that because the cross pieces at the end of the hilt are guards to guard the users hands from the blade ( or other blades) . They arnt more blades . Again - we'd have seen this before if it was practical.

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I'm going to disagree with you about Darth Maul's double-headed saber, it's a design that wouldn't work as a sword, but could word as a light saber. The difference is that swords can only injure if the edge or point hits the target with enough speed to cause injury, and it's very difficult to twirl a double-headed sword-staff in a way to make the blade hit at the right angle. But a light saber can cause injury with any part of the "blade", and at any speed, it handles differently than a sword. Of course the difficult thing about using the double-bladed light saber is that if you're twirling it around like a boss and your twirl goes off by an inch or two, you fry your own fingers off.

And speaking of frying fingers off, I'm surprised that all light-sabers don't have a cross-blade like Darth Emo's! It's there to keep the opponent's blade from sliding down your blade and hitting your hand, something that would be far worse with a light saber than a sword. Even the lightest touch of the glowing blade on your hand could make you lose control of your own blade, or yeah, fry your fingers off.

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I guess you're right in that a guard to stop the opponents blade sliding down your hand is always a good thing, and with lightsabres it would have to be made of lightsaber!

I guess the little circle on a katana does the same thing.

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Yeah, if I lived in the Star Wars universe during the Jedi era, I'd try to get into the prosthetic-electronic finger business.


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Except that you wouldn't want the cross blades sticking out 8 or 9 inches because that would be a danger to you. The best guard would be the smallest one possible that still protected your hand.

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While Kylo's cross-blades are used for decent purposes, they are actually there to vent out excess energy from the unstable crystal he uses. It's the same reason his blade looks fiery instead of smooth.

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if i were him id get that fixed ..

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Some are.
Not the 'Upturned Cross' type Kylo Ren is using.

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Actually, the wonderful thing about a blaster is that you can drop your opponent before there's any need to get into a close-quarters fight!

And if you're a tiny unathletic little person like Leia, that's got to be your basic strategy. If anyone ever gets close you're at a tremendous physical disadvantage whether you've got a light saber or not, so never let them get within ten feet of you alive.

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The age of chivalry was killed by gunpowder so in real life no light sabers woulden't be effective.

In real life blasters are better as their range weapons but this movie was trying to depict a sci-fi medival war faught by knights with swords. The prequels tried to fix this strange glaring problem by showing that they can deflect blaster fire rapidly and magically direct them back to the shooter. Something we don't see in the original films except for luke blocking a few blasts on the sail barge and I think he blocked a few rounds on endor as well when he fell off the speeder.

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What about when Han walks into a room , spots Darth Vader and immediately starts blasting?

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1) A glove would never stop a blaster
2) Jedi clarivoyance as to the trajectory of a blaster would be unstopable in real life. And would beat a light saber as well.

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but it did.
That episode in that room in 1982 in ESB was the clearest cut case of Jedi vs Blaster. and Darth Vader didnt even bother using his sword.

We'll have to invent a new term, probly starting with 'force' , like "force ghost" and force lightning" and other crap thats been invented.

Force-Shield?
Also ESB is the fans favorite , and part of the original holy trinity , so anything that happens sin it is double canon :p

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Why not build a light saber twice as long as a man?

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Because spaceships tend to be cramped?

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Always wanted to see a Jedi or Sith control their saber remotely with the Force as they meditate... or multiple sabers at once! No need to hold it.

Imagine if Yoda did that in Ep.2. Would have been amazing.

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Now that would be too cool for words!

Betcha somebody does it at some point...

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It's probably in one of the million Star Wars novels, but I dunno.

You can do it in the old Super Star Wars (or Super Empire Strikes Back) game. That's where I got the idea.

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I want to see a jedi just telelift people off the ground and crush them in the air with the force like tetsuo in Akira. but that would bump the films rating to R real fast.

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