Star Wars: Lightsabers - A Guide To Weapons Of The Force By Pablo Hidalgo ANATOMY OF A LIGHTSABER Notes

Star Wars: Lightsabers - A Guide To Weapons of The Force by Pablo Hidalgo ANATOMY OF A LIGHTSABER notes of interest: (NOTE:  This is the 2018 version, so this is a canon reference book.)

A true lightsaber cannot be assembled by a machine, only those sensitive to the Force can construct one.

“Once the energy is focused, it leaves the handle from a positively charged energy lens inside the blade emitter.  The beam is trapped inside an energy field created by the kyber crystal, which bends the beam back towards a negatively charged high-energy flux aperture in the emitter.  To an observer, it looks like the blade simply stops growing, but this loop of energy creates the lightsaber’s distinctive hum as well as the spinning effect in the blade’s movements, making the weapon difficult to control for those without training.”

(This is probably what makes the blades so bouncy against each other, because they’re–as someone once described them–a bit like energy chainsaws, in the way that they’re a loop going around and around, rather than a steady beam.)

“A lightsaber is an extention of a Jedi’s Force awareness.  Becasue Jedi let the Force guide their selection of the crystal, the vibration the crystal creates in the lightsaber blade helps Jedi center themselves and find balance in the Force.”

MYTH:  Only a Jedi or a Sith can wield a lightsaber. FACT:  "Anyone could pick up a lightsaber and use it, but lightsabers are extremely difficult to wield. Those used to swinging solid swords often find using a weightless blade a challenge–one that can have dangerous consequences.  Only through rigorous training and enhanced senses through the Force can a Jedi use a lightsaber to its full potential.“

“Training lightsabers emit low-intensity blades that cannot cut and are not lethal.  Contact with a training blade will only sting or numb an opponent; however these blades do convey an accurate sensation of holding a real lightsaber.”

“Most lightsabers incorporate a pressure activation lever that causes it to power down if dropped.  They may also have a ‘lock’ switch that keeps the blade active, so a Jedi can throw a lightsaber some distance and guide its path through the Force.”

“Beyond its use as a weapon or an instrument of meditation, a lightsaber is a practical tool.  Given enough time, a lightsaber can cut through most substances.  Even shield-rated blast doors will melt after extended exposure to a lightsaber blade, making it nearly impossible to imprison an armed Jedi Knight.  Most Jedi will not risk slicing through bulkhead walls or high-energy force fields, though, because cutting into such a powerful source could be explosive.”

MYTH:  A lightsaber can cut through anything.   FACT:  The key to creating a solid weapon that can clash with a lightsaber blade is not the metal used in construction but rather the energy the metal conducts.  Energy transmitted across a metal blade or polearm can foritfy a weapon so it can block a lightsaber blade.  The electrostaffs of the MagnaGuard droids or the energized weapons of Supreme Leader Snoke’s Praetorian Guards, for example, pose a challenge to even trained lightsaber combatants.“

“Standard lightsabers and water don’t mix.  While some protective measures do exist, such as flashback waterseals, lighting a lightsaber underwater can be a problem.  The weapon may boil the surrounding water, spinning turbulance and making it difficult to control.  Should a Jedi become submerged in water during the course of an assignment, he or she had best make sure the lightsaber is prepared for such a journey.”

“A Jedi who loses a lightsaber often builds another.  In times of great need–such as the emergency of the Clone Wars–the Order kept replacement lightsabers for Jedi to use while they built a new one.”

“Above all, Jedi must keep track of their lightsabers.  Should a lightsaber fall into the hands of an unpracticed or dishonorable person, it will almost always lead to tragedy.”

What’s your most eldritch Maul headcanon?

I'm not sure if this counts as "eldritch" or not, but it's one of my more intense and debated headcanons:

Maul, as we knew him in TPM, actually did die as a result of the events in Duel of the Fates. I think this is why Sidious didn't immediately seek him out to kill him while he was Lotho Minor or even while he was causing problems with the pirates with Savage. Maul's force signature winked out that day and effectively, he was dead.

"Oh so how was he alive then" you ask? I believe that The Son gave him life by possessing him. We see some evidence of this by his voice changing to the Son's voice, the phrase "the chains are the easy part, it's what goes on in here that's hard" when we first see him, and even the framing of putting Maul in the same position as the son when he says this line. To me, that's significant.

We also know that the Son is capable of possessing a person in the Mortis since he did this to Ahsoka and we also know that the Ones are capable of infusing their life force into someone else through the Daughter giving her life force to Ahsoka, which brought her to life. I could get into the parallels of Maul and Ahsoka having their connections with the force fundamentally changed since these events, but for now I'm focusing on Maul.

If we're to base the rest of Maul's life on this, it's why he was still incredibly powerful as a force weilder and definitely able to hold his own in the criminal underworld as he had sheer dark side influence at his side (this is also why I think he whole arc in Rebels is a little on the stupid side, but I'll save that rant for another day). You could argue that maybe some of Maul's old self was in there actively fighting for control against the Son possessing him and it's seen in sometimes erratic behavior that seems a little off (yeah this is definitely a dig at his Rebels arc).

In short, the Maul we see in TCW, Solo, and Rebels isn't 100% him but an amalgamation of him and the Son living as one entity. "Poor Maul, all he ever wanted was a friend?" Yeah well, he got one alright...

look if someone gave me a 14yo monk-soldier to teach when I was 19 and in a literal warzone, I'd probably go dark side too

(commission info // kofi support!)

"Maul ate his evening meal as usual. He was not confined to a sensory-deprivation suit or forced to sleep on a hard floor. The atmosphere controls in his quarters were not turned off." (Windham, 50).

Just a little taste test of the types of punishments Maul received.