Star Wars: 5 Lightsaber Twists That Broke the Rules & Shocked Fans

Lightsabers have been one of the most iconic aspects of Star Wars since the franchise began with A New Hope (then just called Star Wars), nearly 50 years ago. However, when Star Wars movies and shows first began and for many years after, lightsabers remained fairly standard on screen. In fact, in A New Hope, the rules seemed to be that red lightsabers were for villains, blue lightsabers were for heroes—or the dark side versus the light side—and all lightsabers were just single-bladed.

Obviously, that has changed enormously over the years. Now, lightsaber colors are varied, with on-screen sabers including yellow, orange, purple, white, green, and many other colors. Likewise, lightsaber designs have changed considerably over the years, with new installments in the greater Star Wars franchise increasingly revealing customized designs. Of those innovations, these 5 truly broke the rules when they debuted.

Mace Windu’s Purple Lightsaber

Samuel L. Jackson is a truly iconic actor, and it’s clear that George Lucas, a legend himself, was well aware of that fact. When Lucas tapped Jackson to join the Star Wars franchise as a brand-new Jedi Master in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Jackson had an unexpected request: He wanted a purple lightsaber.

Lucas, no doubt wanting to keep Jackson signed onto the project, shockingly agreed, and thus the very first purple lightsaber was brought to the canon Star Wars screen. This saber definitely broke Star Wars’ rules up to that point, although most fans were willing to forgive it, given that this was Samuel L. Jackson. This also opened the floodgates, with many more colors now part of canon.

Darth Maul’s Double-Bladed Lightsaber

Like Jackson’s Mace Windu, Darth Maul was introduced in The Phantom Menace, and he too broke a major Star Wars rule. Although the color of his saber was in keeping with the classic Sith red, Maul’s unique lightsaber design was the first double-bladed saber on the Star Wars screen. This was an amazing innovation, and it certainly stunned audiences and broke the rules.

Since then, though, double-bladed sabers have become much more common. In fact, all of Darth Vader’s Imperial Inquisitors wield double-bladed red lightsabers, all for the very same reason: They, like Maul, needed to be prepared to fight a Jedi Master and a Jedi apprentice at once. And, more than once, they have done just that.

Kylo Ren’s Crossguard Lightsaber

Yet another dark sider’s lightsaber innovation, Kylo Ren’s crossguard design completely broke the rules when it debuted in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but like Darth Maul’s blade, it was largely a massive hit. The crossguard hilt itself is very cool, but what also makes the blade really unique is the chaotic, broken blade itself.

In fact, Kylo’s unique lightsaber design is a great reminder that these weapons are so much more meaningful than they may initially seem. Lightsabers are a representation of the Force-users who wield them, and Kylo, like his blade, is chaotic, uncontrolled, and unpredictable.

The Acolyte’s Red & Blue Bleeding Lightsaber

The Acolyte unfortunately proved to be one of Star Wars’ most controversial projects, for myriad reasons. One of those controversies, in fact, had to do with a lightsaber that broke the rules. Specifically, Osha, who had once seemed to be a hero of the story, turned to the dark side as she killed her former Jedi Master, Sol. As she did so, she gripped his broken lightsaber hilt, inadvertently bleeding the kyber crystal within.

Because of that, audiences got to see the lightsaber color change from blue to red in real time. There was some backlash to this scene, as some viewers felt it went too far in changing the rules, but it was nevertheless a very cool moment, particularly visually.

Luke Skywalker’s Green Lightsaber

Finally, while it might be difficult to imagine it now because of how iconic the weapon has become, when Luke Skywalker’s green lightsaber debuted in Return of the Jedi, it actually broke the rules. As mentioned, for the first two Star Wars movies, the distinction seemed clear that dark siders had red sabers and Jedi had blue. Yet, Luke appeared with the first-ever green lightsaber on screen.

Decades later, green is a very common lightsaber color. Even so, at the time, this was actually the very first lightsaber to break the rules in Star Wars—and how fitting that this was the lightsaber of Luke Skywalker himself.

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