STAR WARS: The Skywalker Lightsaber Has Had a Tragic Life



This editorial contains spoilers for STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS. You've been warned.

The Skywalker lightsaber. It's had quite the life and its life continues in the Sequel Trilogy as Rey is now in possession of it after her Force powers were awakened within her when she was drawn to the weapon.

Should we consider that this weapon has lived a cursed life so far? Maybe, but let's quickly recap the life of it first.

The lightsaber was built by Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and saw a tremendous amount of use during the battles of the Clone Wars. But Anakin turned to the Dark Side and he was mortally wounded by Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi during an epic duel at the end of STAR WARS EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH.




Kenobi took the lightsaber from Anakin and held onto it until Anakin's son, Luke, found an exiled Kenobi in STAR WARS: A NEW HOPE. The elder Jedi Master decided to give Luke his father's former weapon and began training Luke in the ways of the Force. By the end of STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, Luke faced Darth Vader and learned he is/was his father, Anakin. Vader cut off Luke's hand holding Anakin's former lightsaber and it fell into what was thought to be oblivion... never to be seen again.




Well, in STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS, the Skywalker lightsaber is back and called out to Rey — after the weapon's been forgotten about while in storage for approximately 30 years — which helped awaken her Force powers through a vision she was given when touching Skywalker weapon. Rey refused to take the weapon after her visions, so Finn was given it and he used it against Kylo Ren. Unfortunately, Finn was overpowered by Ren and seriously wounded. When faced with an angry and raging Kylo Ren, Rey "out Forces" Ren's own Force power and grabs the potentially cursed lightsaber to battle, defeat and wound Ren.




While the question of if the Skywalker lightsaber is really cursed has two more episodes to be answered — its previous Jedi wielders lost body parts and Finn was seriously injured — it seems that an older and exiled Luke might not want the blue-bladed weapon at the end of The Force Awakens. His expression shows many levels of emotion and one of those might be from seeing his father's, and his own, Jedi weapon once again.

Maybe there is some redemption for the Skywalker lightsaber in Episode VIII and/or IX. It's lived quite the life so far, for sure, and it's journey is not finished yet.


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