Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Concept Artist Reveals Mechanics of Rey’s Lightsaber

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker‘s concept artist has revealed another look at the mechanics of Rey’s lightsaber. Matthew Savage posted the new images and an animation on his Instagram account. One of the most hype moments in the theater during The Rise of Skywalker was when Rey ignited her lightsaber near the end. As soon as images of the new weapon hit the Internet, people wanted to know as much as possible about her weapon. Well, the information might not have been available immediately, but it has finally started making its way out. A lot of fans speculated that the weapon was actually Rey retrofitting her signature staff with the technology. But, upon further inspection, things are quite a bit more complicated than all of that.

Savage wrote, “It wasn’t needed in the end but we did design the inner workings and kyber crystal cage for Rey’s lightsaber. Drawn before we knew what colour the blade would be. Swipe for animation.”

Lucasfilm’s creative art manager, Phil Szostak also weighed in on the original plans for Rey’s lightsaber and the comments from the novelization are shocking. “The lightsaber was going to be in more than just one shot at the end,” Szostak explained to a fan. “There was going to be a subplot throughout the film showing Rey working on it at her bench, using the Jedi texts as a guide.”

Rae Carson wrote the novelization of the film and there’s a section of the book is rather illuminating.

“She eyed the unfinished lightsaber on her workbench. It wasn’t ready yet, and the one she’d painstakingly repaired — Luke’s — didn’t belong to her. So her quarterstaff would have to suffice as a weapon. Which was just fine. It had served her well on Jakku for years. In fact, someday, once she had mastered this lightsaber-building business, she might design one that felt more like a quarterstaff in her hand. Familiar and hefty. Two business ends. Maybe with a hinge in the middle for portability.”

Would you have enjoyed The Rise of Skywalker more with this subplot? Let us know in the comments!