Over the weekend Star Wars Celebration 2023 (an event dedicated to war of stars News, panels and more) happened, and while a lot of news came out of the event, the internet can’t stop talking about a relatively insignificant thing: orange lightsabers. Are they really orange? What does that mean? Who are these new characters using them? And is this related to other upcoming ones? war of stars projects? Well after digging around I have (some) answers.
Star Wars Celebration kicked off with a bang on April 7th in London. Lucasfilm announced new movies and showed fresh trailers for upcoming projects. Opening day’s biggest and most exciting trailer gave fans their first real look at the live action Ahsoka Series. But while there are some interesting tidbits to glean from this short trailer—-Similar characters off rebels Show up and have a banter with the big bad Thrawn—war of stars Nerds can’t stop debating and theorizing about new characters’ orange lightsabers: Baylan Skoll And Shin Hati.
Are the lightsabers in the Ahsoka Trailer actually orange?
In the new trailer for the upcoming Disney+ show, Ahsoka, we see Baylan Skoll and his apprentice Shin Hati, among others. At first glance they seem like Sith or maybe Inquisitors (Jedi hunters) but I’m not sure if these two are either. The main reason I hesitate to place them in either group? Their orange lightsabers.
At first I wondered if it was just a slight quirk or an artistic change. Lightsaber colors have long varied over the decades as different creators use changing technologies to represent the iconic lightsabers of the franchise. And sometimes creators like Dave Filoni (Ahsoka‘s showrunner) decide to change the look of lightsabers for creative reasons. A good example of this can be seen in Filoni-led rebels Cartoon. In this show Lightsabers were very thina callback to the original concept art for war of stars.
However, in the trailer we also see Ahsoka fighting what appears to be an Inquisitor. Trained by Vader, these Jedi slayers often wielded two red lightsabers with easily recognizable rounded hilts—and that’s exactly what the Ahsoka Inquisitor appears to be wearing. More importantly, whoever this is has an undeniably crimson lightsaber. So it seems unlikely that the orange sabers in the same trailer are a mistake or an artistic change if the show also keeps the classic red sabers.
Fans were still debating the lightsaber color because war of stars Fans love to yell at each other online. Some pointed out that they were an odd change for dark side users’ lightsabers. Others claimed it was a sign that Lucasfilm was lazy and didn’t care about Star Wars. And others suggested it was an example of unfinished CG. All of them were wrong
Shortly after the trailer debuted, Filoni himself confirmed that the blades are indeed orange for reasons he didn’t fully explain. Now the question is why? What’s that supposed to mean??
Why are orange lightsabers in it? Star Wars Ahsoka?
Before we jump straight into my theories on this, let’s first look at what Filoni had to say about the orange blades. screen rant was one of the first to ask that clone wars Creator and cowboy hat enthusiasts about the orange lightsabers and his response both confirmed they were intentional and hinted at some mysterious reason behind the color, saying, “Nothing is accidental.”
I made it a little more orange. That’s a really good eye. You’re the first to notice. That was very intentional. I didn’t just make them a strong red. I remember Vader’s lightsaber going from visual effects to a bit more orange as a kid.
I didn’t mean to go orange directly, but it shows kids a bit that they might not be what you think they are at first. Good that you noticed. Nothing is random.
This quote makes it clear that Filoni wants viewers to point out that these two new characters may not be what you originally thought they were. Hmmm! Curious. Most people immediately assumed they were Force users on the dark side. But Filoni specifically said that these characters “may not be what you think they are to begin with.” If they aren’t Sith (most people’s first guess) then what could they be? And do the orange lightsabers give us any clues?
So, back to the old days of the expanded universeKyber Crystals—the crystals that power lightsabers– worked very differently than today’s canon. I won’t reference the EU stuff because it’s no longer relevant but old to you war of stars Fans out there, if any of this sounds wrong, it’s probably because you haven’t noticed things have changed.
Today, red lightsabers are made through a process known as “bleeding.” Such is the case when an evil dark side character infuses a lightsaber crystal, often one from a fallen Jedi, with so much hatred, anger, and pain that the magical, force-connected crystal adjacent to the light side like an organ may bleed and turn red. It’s real Edge Lord shit and I love it.
So one theory I have is that the orange lightsabers seen in the Ahsoka trailer are actually partially bled kyber crystals. Perhaps these new characters aren’t Sith, but are turning to the dark side and have their blades slightly damaged in the process. A popular theory has it that they are fallen Jedi using the dark side to reach an as yet unknown destination in a post-Order 66 Return of the Jedi Galaxy. And I don’t think that’s a terrible theory, but I have another idea that involves a different aspect of the trailer and some things war of stars video games.
The Orange Lightsabers, Time Travel, and the High Republic
In the Ahsoka In the trailer we see her fight the older Baylan Skoll. That the show’s main character will go up against the (supposed) great evil of the series isn’t all that remarkable. However, Where I noticed they fight. They appear to be dueling in the world between worlds. You may be wondering, “The what between where?” I’ll explain. Meager.
Introduced in rebels, The world between worlds is a plane of existence outside of normal reality that seems to connect every moment in time in a great void. Although we don’t know much about it, we have seen it used to save a person from death through a little time travel once. And it seems only accessible to Force-sensitive beings.
So what does this have to do with orange lightsabers? About 400 years ago or so before the events of phantom menacethings were very different in the war of stars Galaxy. This era of the franchise is known as the High Republic. During this time, the Jedi were at their peak, the peace had lasted a very long time, and the Jedi Order was more diverse than ever, not only in all the different species that were part of the group, but also in all the different interpretations of the Force that existed.
This is represented in the books and comics by all of the different outfits that Jedi wore at the time, but also by all of the bright lightsaber colors that were used back then – including orange. For example, a lightsaber that looks pretty darn orange to me can be seen in the announcement trailer for Star Wars Eclipsean upcoming game set in this earlier era of Galaxy.
Here’s my theory: These two characters are Jedi (or former Jedi) from the High Republic era who somehow brought the world between worlds into the post-Return of the Jedi seen in the era Mandalorian Series. I wouldn’t be shocked if some Jedi from that era didn’t like the direction the galaxy was going. The New Republic proved a somewhat ineffective and powerless group after the war against the Empire, which would probably offend the Jedi of the High Republic. Maybe even enough to ally with Thrawn and the Imperial remnants to bring order and peace back to the galaxy, no matter the cost?
If that’s actually happening, Ahsoka would be in a strange position. Sure, she could argue that they’re jumping around in time and probably cheating death is wrong, but someone did just that for her rebels when she was spared by Ezra with the world between worlds.
This might seem a bit far off, but based on the trailers and what we know, it appears to be a similar story involving a long-forgotten Jedi of the High Republic who has gone rogue could happen in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor out later this month.
One final video game connection that might really back up this theory: Filoni loves wolves. And the new characters with the orange lightsabers Ahsoka are named after Wolves from Norse mythology chasing the sun and the moon. And what do the sun and moon create together? A solar eclipse. And what’s the name of the new one? war of stars Game set in the High Republic that appears to feature an orange lightsaber? darkness. hmmmm….
