Lightsaber theories (feel free to move if too off topic)

[Reverse]

its a movie....

[Sutek]

I think ToppDog has made a good point about Vader throwing his saber, and it's one I didn't think of either.

 

Boreas' second point (the one about force heighten parrying and dodging) is also a very good one, one which I think I tried to put across (but made my post too long for anyone to bother getting that far :> ), and this very point makes jabs and flicks highly unlikely to be very useful (I think). His 4th point makes sense if you assume he (I'm using "he" as a default pronoun, sorry if you aren't) was referring to eliminating multiple opponents in a single swipe.

 

The statement about Maul twirling his saber needs some correction though - The slightly confused explanation was referring to centripedal force, the force required to keep an object moving in a circle (which we all know is related to its mass). In this case it matters not if the blades had any mass, since they would move with the handle ends, and the HANDLE has mass.

 

Your point about the handle being snapped around in your grip on impact presupposes that the blade ACTS as though it were totally solid (a purely elastic collision), but since we know a lightsaber is capable of passing into such objects, we can see that the blade is insubstantial.

Ahaha...now I see you are thinking you have me - how can you have an insubstantial blade with mass? Simple. We know mass is a result of the curvature of spacetime, and that a relatively low mass object produces an almost negligible curvature. We also know that the SW universe is capable of producing artifical gravity without obvious recourse to such things as spinning their ships? So would it not be remarkably easy to include a small device that generates a beam of mass, say about the same length as a lightsaber? We certainly do not know all the components that go into a lightsaber, only that it requires an unusual (and rare) focusing crystal for the beam, for all we know, the energy passing through this crystal may produce a beam of more than simply light.

[starbucks]

has anyone mentioned the sparks that fly off the blades when they clash? the fizzle of a field breaking as they short out? these are clues to its technological reality. what about supercharged plasma suspended in a force field? perhaps the crystal is neccessary to generate the field, but not the raw energy it contains? these are just musings...

[Aoshi]

Originally posted by Sutek

The statement about Maul twirling his saber needs some correction though - The slightly confused explanation was referring to centripedal force, the force required to keep an object moving in a circle (which we all know is related to its mass). In this case it matters not if the blades had any mass, since they would move with the handle ends, and the HANDLE has mass.

 

 

sutek.. you try spinning something the size of a big tv. remote control that weighs prolly around 5 pounds quickly. you will see that it is impossible. the further out the weight is located, the faster and more powerful(and easier) the spin is because the force of gravity over a larger area and mass creates a quicker spin. if the blades are weightless or of negligible weight it would be utterly impossible to spin maul's double edged saber according to our present laws of physics. and you cant say that our laws dont apply to their universe because as long as they're standing on a planet and not floating off into space their world has gravity and mass. thus to reiterate, the further the extent of mass from a fulcrum point (in terms of mass) the faster a spin will be accomplished(assuming personal strength is adequate). go ahead and try it; pick up something cylindrical about the length of your forearm and try to spin it quickly. you will see that i'm right.

 

also no one has answered why, if blades are weightless, jedi arent running around with 3 foot wide lightsabers. the bigger the surface area, the greater a chance to hit. if blades are weightless why dont people run around with massive sabers? you can always add more crystals to generate a power supply. hell if i were a jedi i would just make a saber with 15+ crystals that could extend to 10 feet long and 3 feet wide. no one would ever beat me cause my saber would handle just the same as anyone else's but would have massive reach. in one swing i would probably have over 200% increased probability of striking. you could also block and then riposte with deadly effect if your blade were that much bigger but still weighed the same. it would be like comparing someone fighting with a dagger against someone with a sword that can move just as quickly as the dagger. needless to say the sword would win everytime.

[artie fufkin]

you're crazy.

[Kyth'emos]

well I just cant agree that lightsabers have weight, after all it is a lightsaber and light has no mass and therefore no weight.

[ToppDog]

Originally posted by Kyth'emos

well I just cant agree that lightsabers have weight, after all it is a lightsaber and light has no mass and therefore no weight.

 

Sorry, but you're wrong my friend. Light has both mass & weight! However slight it may be, it IS there. If light didn't have mass & weight there wouldn't be black holes & NASA wouldn't be thinking of building craft that sail on sunlight.

 

A more plausible definition by the writers would have been that the light in the blades is highly concentrated to account for the apparent weight & held together by some sort of magnetic field. For those with adjustable sabers, maybe they can not only adjust the length of the blade, but also adjust the concentration of light to either suit their particular style or a particular need at the time.

 

Hey, that makes a helluva lot of sense. Maybe when we are changing stances (light, medium, strong) we are actually changing the concentration of light in the blade & changing its weight. If you think about it you really wouldn't be able to switch between the three fighting styles without changing your weapon somehow, as these styles replicate those used by swords of different weights (foil, rapier, & broadsword for example).

[Demangel]

I go away for a day or two to play with the saber I just got from lightech, and everybody suddenly is reading this thread and bumping LOL.

 

Anyway I saw a LOT of good and BAD points on both sides of the fence. the bad points I saw simply come from peoples misconception about a few subjects. Or at least I read these points wrong.

 

first off, the lightsaber blade is NOT made of light. It is not a Laser beam, or some other kind of force made up "PURELY" of photons.

 

Look at fire. Is fire light? No, but it produces light.

 

the name of the weapon doesn't not describe what it is. I don't call My other swords "folded steel single edged cutting weapons" do I?

 

Anyway any remotely reliable article about SW will mention the blade is NOt made of light. Even MSN.com has an article about the science of Star wars. This article puts the arguments into perspective, saying how there are a lot of things in the movies done simply to add atmosphere to the nonreality that is SW.

 

However they clearly state with good authority the blade is NOt made of photons (light).

 

 

As for the various stances in JKII, don't go mixing up JKII for how sabers would really work, unless it's just for fun. Also don't assume different Weights in the blades of various weapons is the sole determining factor in what stances you use.

 

In fact as stated by many before, the only known comparable weapons to the saber in terms of how they are used are: Two handed broadswords, and Katana. Based upon this similarity, I extrapolated that the blades MUST have some significant wieght behind them in order to justify being used the way they are.

 

To say that fencing techniques are easy to block simply shows a lack of experience. Being a teacher of various weapons styles, I had the pleasure of sparring a few times with a friend who fences regularly. when using a Katana I will tell you now, that although it is possible to block and parry effectively VS a rapier for example, the rapier has the advantage of speed (not as in MPH, but as in quickness/dexterity).

 

Now after getting my hands on a prop saber, I feel comfortable saying the blades weight need not be heavy at all, or even quite the same balance as a real weapon. The Lightech saber I own has a very LIGHT blade. the balance being in the last inch of the hilt on the blade side, when the blade is attached. this however is still usable in my models.

 

As far as claiming the blade doesn't react to anything is wrong at least when it comes into contact with other sabers or materials of sufficent density.

 

the Saber can be blocked by another saber, and in fact they rebound off of one another. To assume something has no mass because it can pass through something with ease is silly.

 

go take a stick of butter. then lay a knife a hot stove for a short while. Get an oven mit, and rest the knife on the butter... what happens? It goes through effortlessly. the same can be said for a saber. Unless it is a monofilament that kind of effortless moevement through anything means it must melt/destroy matter as it comes into contact with it. Not that it does not have mass.

 

Again the light saber blade "ACT'S" as a solid. A kind of quasi state between matter and energy.

 

I am not asking for a revolution, or anyone to argue emotionaly about this subject. However, most (not ALL) of the people with some more or less advanced experience in either or both science or some form of martial arts, seem to agree the blade most likely has substantial mass.

 

One great point was the darth maul twirl. the speed and rate of the twirl of the lightstaff is not the kind of speed or deliberate motion you would get if the handle itself was the cause of the twirl. the vader throw is another good one though arguably it can be countered by saying that vader used the force to throw it.

 

However I would also like to once again point out that the saber doesn't seem to pass through things as easily as we imagine it would.

 

In The empire strikes back when vader is throwing objects using the force at luke. He bats them away, this alters thier trajectory, and doesn't simply pass through them effortlessly.

 

You can't tell me all of these objects where made of that magical cortosis material can you?

 

No it has resistance.

 

This means the blade is somewhat solid, OR repulses matter somehow. If it was a gravity well of some kind it would suck matter in not repell it.

 

Now from all I have seen I feel it repulses matter because it has an element of density to go along with whatever energetic effects the blade has.

 

Again, as seen in my diagram on the article page, the hilt of the saber would attempt to continue on it's path as dictated by the user, the blade wouldn't, at least not when faced with another saber blade. thus the blade would not continue in it's direction, but the hilt would. thus the hilt would twist in your grip of you attempted to press the attack (as in saber lock, or even just a clash). without SOME mass behind the blades motion, the user would have to compensate entirely on thier own. sure one could say the force is behind this. But again the force does NOT explain why the saber is swung like it has mass.

 

to say the saber is swung in order to confuse is silly. In any combat sport, hell in many sports/competitions, it is unwise to telegraph your movements.

 

For example, winding up or using a long arc in a sword fight is not desireable. it telegraphs your swing, and gives you too many clues as to where the swing will go. The main reason you swing is to develop power, in order to increase the likelyhood the attack would do damage, OR to speed up the motion of the blade.

 

However I would like to say that discussing weapon usage with only text is hard to do at best. the only way to truly describe what I mean is through demonstration. although I love teaching these arts, I don't have the resources to facilitate a forums worth of people coming over and allowing me to demonstrate LOL.

 

 

In the end however I am enjoying the discussion thus far, both the ones for my idea and against. I make no suppositions that any of you are uneducated so even when your wrong I take every argument seriously. so keep them coming gang

[Aoshi]

Demangel makes very good points. I also have to add that a major inspiration for the Jedi Knights were Samurai of feudal Japan, thus a fairly good assumption can be made that Lightsabres were based on the Katana. Another way to compare these two is that Lightsabres seem to be about the same lenght and are used more or less in the same style as a Katana would be used. This said I have also studied for a time in martial arts being learned in the forms of TaeKwonDo, Karate, and Kung-fu, and also having some limited experience with a foil(i went to fencing school for a few free lessons with my friend). I quickly learned that limited weight in a weapon is highly desirable for a greater amount of control, strength, and durability. When i fought with a foil after being used to fighting with a katana i had difficulties controlling my strikes. Now i know that the forms for each of these weapons are totally different but i played around with swatting things with my foil. Where i could once make precision strikes and parries with my katana, the foil moved much more quickly and was harder for me to control. Even a somewhat slight change in weight (in comparison with a katana and weightless lightsabre) made a huge difference and though my speed of striking was increased, my control of the weapon and the ability of the weapon to break through one's defences was greatly weakened. Thus if a lightsaber were weightless, a better style of fighting would be more akin to fencing while using only slashing style moves to defend against blasters. If, however the blade had weight to it then slashing moves could be used to a greater degree because your own physical strenght would be augmented by the forces of gravity and momentum. This would make slashing moves much more effective because you would be able to break through your opponent's defenses easier. Through my experience i have learned that with light blades your main fighting style is lunging and using deception to open your opponent's defenses, while with heavier blades you can still decieve your opponent(but sometimes your blade's reaction time is too slow to be useful) but a more effective way is either battering through your opponents defense or subtly maneuvering your blade so that you deflect a strike and then quickly riposte.

[Pedantic]

Well, the only problem I see with the blade being made of light is that if the light were trapped in a force field, why isn't the blade black?

[BlackDove]

At the press of a button the energy contained within is liberated and forms as a shaft of pure energy about a meter long.

[Demangel]

I am glad we have some people with experience in real martial science besides me. all the points made so far that point to a weighted blade are great, and some about a weightless blade are also good.

 

My position still hasn't changed however. to me it is obvious that a weightless blade might be more deadly/hard to control ETC. but a weighted blade is the only REAL explanation for why it is "swung" and not thrust and used in the style it is currently used.

 

To me it would make much more sense to "fence" with a light saber and not swing the saber ala Kendo ETC if the blade had no mass.

 

To most others who have done one the other or both forms of weapons fighting with any regularity this is obviously true.

 

Anyway keep the feedback coming

[ToppDog]

I agree that the blades should be considered to have weight, mainly because they were filmed (for the most part) using simulated blades that DID have weight, & it is much clearer to explain that they have weight than to try & explain in every single instance why they act as if weighted when the don't have weight.

 

Gyroscopes are out. They can't override the characteristics of a weightless saber to make it act as if weighted in free flight.

 

Force Powers are out. Even if I give in to the fact that Darth Vader might have used the Force during the throw, there were two instances where Luke lost his saber in ESB where it twirled away as if weighted: one was when Darth Vader knocked it out of his hand, & the other was when Vader cut his hand off. I'm sure that in those two instances if Luke was using the Force for anything, it was to keep from crapping his pants & not to replicate weight in a saber blade!

 

On the other side of the fence though, I would have to disagree with the arguement that using a weightless saber would be too dangerous for anyone untrained in the force. As far as weight characteristics go it would be no more difficult to use than a flashlight! Different? Yes. Dangerous? No.

 

As far as the light vs Plasma/Pure Energy issue, I would go with whichever one better explains the obvious weight in the blade.

[HappyPrancer]

I think if I were investigating this problem, I would look for some lightsaber spinning and try to estimate a center of mass or a moment of inertia. If you assume that the mass of the hilt is evenly distributed and the mass of the saber (if any) is evenly distributed and do some fancy dancy high-school integration, you could probably get a good estimation of the mass of the lightsaber. Then look at the effects of an un-lit lightsaber (i.e. look for one falling and try and determine the mass that way). That will tell you if the lightsaber being lit changes the moment of inertia of the saber--implying the blade has mass. I think anyone with high-school calculus and physics should be able to do this.

 

***

Edit: Anyone attempting this calculation should be careful to obey the first law of thermodynamics. The lightsaber is a closed system (mass of radiated light is negligeble compared to mass of saber itself over short periods of time). Therefore,

 

mass of lit saber = mass of unlit saber.

 

I'd really like to see someone use this to get an approximation of the actual mass of the blade. I'm quite excited.

 

-HP

***

I'd try to do this myself, but I don't have any of the movies on tape/dvd.

 

Also, there is a scene in episode one where qui-gon puts his saber through some big blast shields and tries to melt them. From this scene it's obvious that the blade is doing some heavy-duty newtonian interaction with the door. It looks as if qui-gon could take his hands off the hilt of the saber and it would stick out of the door. This, to me, implies that the mass of the blade is interacting with the matter in the door. One could argue, however, that there are electro-magnetic forces holding the lightsaber to the door and I would have no rebuttle. The fantastic lightsaber could certainly have enough energy for something like this.

 

About Gyroscopes: I agree that a gyroscope would resist rotation (this is thier use in the Segway Transportation deal), but for that very reason it seems to be ludicrous to put them into a weapon. The advantage of having a massive blade is that the momentum in the users swing would help to crush through enemy defences. The gyroscope could simulate the momentum through the air by resisting rotation (conserving angular momentum [vector]), but it wouldn't resist stopping when it hit something (ie. It would have no crushing power). So you'd have a hard to swing blade, but it would carry no momentum.

 

I'd like to hear some thoughts on the qui-gon vs. blast door scenario. It seems to me the blade (if it was pure energy) should have been able to swing through the door as easily as it is swung through air. Please reply.

 

-HP

[BlackDove]

"As you see my Jedi powers are far beyond yours. Now, back down." FZZZZZZZZZZZZT *->part you need to pay attention to<-* "I don't think so."

[HappyPrancer]

I think the best theory about lightsabers is that the blade is some sort of "supercharged plasma" (at what point plasma becomes supercharged is anyone's guess) contained in a forcefield which is optically and physically transparent, but not thermally transparent (because it's fantasy).

 

Now, looking at it from this perspective, we can see that there are several problems. For the energy to be so condensed that it mimics such a great deal of mass, it seems that the energy would condense into some phase of matter (at least gas, but most likely solid or liquid). This is the same thing that happens to a compressed gas when it turns into a liquid.

 

Also, if the energy remained energy, but there was enough of it to have properties of mass, I believe it would "slosh" around in it's containment field. It would be as if the lightsaber was filled with liquid.

 

Different "colours" of light have different energies (per photon). This means that different colours of lighsabers would have different masses, or would require different concentrations of energy to achieve the desired mass effect.

 

Please discuss...

 

-HP

[Sutek]

Again, as seen in my diagram on the article page, the hilt of the saber would attempt to continue on it's path as dictated by the user, the blade wouldn't, at least not when faced with another saber blade. thus the blade would not continue in it's direction, but the hilt would. thus the hilt would twist in your grip of you attempted to press the attack (as in saber lock, or even just a clash).

 

I thought of something more about this issue last night: IF you take a sword, balanced around the end of the hilt as they often were and swung it at a solid object. On impact the blade would eventually come to a halt, but the swing would keep moving (your arm, wrist and sword are not locked into one position relative to each other, they are a hinged system), as a result, even a realistic sword with mass would attempt to twist the hilt out of your grip as the system pivoted around the impact point. Simple mechanics. The only things that are required for this to occur is that the blade and the hilt must be fixed relative to each other (ie the blade does not twist on the hilt, but remains straight), which we know is true for lightsabers. The other thing is that the lightsaber must not act as an insubstantial beam - it must be quasi-solid (as many people have agreed). Given that lightsabers can slide through objects without *too* much trouble, but not through lightsabers, it is a reasonable conjecture to assume that to a lightsaber, another lightsaber blade is fully solid (probably due to the fields in use, which are in no way standard EM or gravitational fields, but the mystical "force fields" of sci-fi).

 

The reason I mentioned the hilt balancing is largely because this situation is the closest simulation of a weightless blade that we can manage, since a slight flick of the wrist will allow the end of the blade to move in a wide arc.

 

I'd like to hear some thoughts on the qui-gon vs. blast door scenario. It seems to me the blade (if it was pure energy) should have been able to swing through the door as easily as it is swung through air. Please reply.

 

A reasonable common consensus has the blade behaving as a partially solid object, slowed but not stopped by matter. I stand by my "beam/plasma in semi-permeable field" theory :>

A nice description of an alternative "rip-off" (I prefer tribute myself) to the lightsaber is the Fading Suns Flux/Mist sword, which is a plasma trapped in magnetic field. The field allows matter to pass through it (but constrains the charged plasma), allowing the matter to contact the plasma. Due to it's high temperature, it melts matter quickly, but NOT instantly, so a long swing through something would do damage over a wider volume, possibly opening up flaws. A brief stab would only heat/damage a small area.

 

Perhaps the long swings are all about bringing the blade into contact with as much of the target as possible?

[sanpilou]

ok, ill explain all................it's an energy blade that makes no heat 'till it touches something that is solid..............it has NO weight..........why it's hard to swing is because the blade moves since it's pure energy......... not lasers..............just pure energy

[m64253]

Do not every thing have mass??

[Sutek]

Photons have no mass. Mass may or may not be the result of an interaction with the Higgs field, or some other theory. The Higgs field one allows for the possibility that NOTHING has mass unless it interacts with a Higgs Boson :>

[Demangel]

I'm not sure if I mentioned on my article or not, but I agree that the blade of a normal sword would react similarly to that of the saber except for one important factor. since the blade of a real sword has momentum (crushing power) built up by it's moevement, far less effort wouldbe needed to hold onto the hilt of the sword because the momentum will try to carry the blade through the obstacle. Essentialy canceling out much of the rebound force so long as pressure is applied. for example, if you do study some form of melee fighting you would notice your blade "MIGHt" bounce off the incoming, or oposing blade when the come into contact.

 

however this bounce would be very limited and would be a bounce. with a saber there would be no innertia to keep the blade going into the obstruction, and thus the hilt would be even more effected.

 

the wieght in a balde is very important. it is half the reasons different styles of weaponry are balanced the way they are. either the blance works to improve the handling, or the cutting/blocking ability of the weapon in some way.

 

the best dueling weapons "Feel" almost weightless or light because the Weight is distrubuted in such a way to make the hilt heavy enough to put the balance as near the hand as possible. However the balance is still toward the blade end to ensure the blade will have some impact power.

 

even a Katana which doesn't hack but cuts (hard to explain in a few sentances), needs some extra weight in the blade to make it blanced properly for this task.

[Sith knight]

I have no melee weapon combat training, so I just have something to ask the experts. In Star Wars world, sabers should be trained to use, at least, in every episode I see. So saberists should not encounter too much saber combat except in training. Saberists should be more readily to fight blaster or other projectile weapons using enemies. Then what kind of fighting style should be used? And what kind of training should be taken?

[Demangel]

Sith knight:

 

If your asking how would a jedi fight if they where real, and the sW universe was real?

 

Well I dunno really. According to the films the force is 90% of what makes a Jedi so formidable. they rely less on blasters, and more on an exotic sword like weapon.

 

In real life to take on someone using a gun at all but the closest of ranges fighting someone using a gun while your using a saber would be suicidal at best.

 

throw in the force however and now all things change... you can no predict where the bolts will be and block or dodge accordingly. however the question remains why would a Jedi use a Saber exclusively? It has limited range, moves slower, and is bright and flashy looking so you stick out like a sore thumb.

 

Some people suggest sabers are used to "show off" the Jedi's connection to the force since using a saber in most cases against blasters would be a bad idea otherwise.

 

 

the only time I can envision using a saber instead of a gun and not being one with the force in some way, would be to reduce the chances of damageing the interior of a smaller ship with corridors.

 

But as far as I can tell the corridors of the ships seem to be well protected from blaster fire, but are easily destroyed by sabers.

 

anyway I never said the saber was a perfect weapon, and actually points to some of the problems with the Sw universe...

 

however if someone WASn't a Jedi, i doubt they would hate the idea of having a saber as a side arm. It was customary throughout earth history for various societies since guns became popular to issue swords of one kind or another to officers all the way up to WWII.

 

Durring WWII there was actualy a training pamphlet for us troops(I have one), that mentioned that asoldier should always take care to kill a japanese officer first, as they often carried a sword, and where often highly skilled with it. So much so that in close quarters combat they can on occasion take out up to 5 or more of your unit before being slain!!!

 

This is without the force mind you!

 

think about that for a moment. the important factor in my opinion is the level of training with that weapon. American GI's at that time where no longer trained to use swords at all, even the officers. furthermore they carried rifles with bayonets. Now don't get me wrong if your good with a rifle and fixed bayonet you will kick some serious ass in melee combat, but when up against a highly trained swordsman like some of the japanese officers of the period, that rifle might as well be a broom stick with a ice pop on the end.

 

All in all this shows that sabers COULd serve some limited usefulness for those not skilled in the force. did jedi evolve partialy out of this officer mentality somewhere long ago in the SW history?

 

If a non force user can conceivably (not always, but on occasion), dominate in close quarters with a bladed weapon, couldn't someone using a saber do the same? possibly even better since the saber would cut through most of the things that might be used for blocking in close quarters combat? couldn't we conceivably see an officer holding a pistol in one hand, and a saber in the other like civil war offficers did on occasion in america?

 

Now give someone the added ability to use the force, and the paradigm changes a bit. Now the saber becomes a plausable main weapon. would arifle be better? who knows, I don't have the force so I can't be sure...

 

As for only encountering saber on saber fighting I think you have a point, however from experience on the subject of teaching an art form no longer used I the militaries of the world, I can attest that a Jedi would know how to saber fight simply through proper training. As stated in some other places by myself, there are strong canonical references to sabers being used extensively by others besides just jedi, especialy WAY back in the SW time line.

 

so possibly one reason Jedi are still trained to use sabers in duels is beacuse of this possibility. In the end only lucas canreally tell us! LOL it's his fantasy world!

[KriLL]

The lightsaber physics is based on not just physics in starwars but physics of making the film too.

 

For a start a lightsaber would have either NO mass or negligible mass. If it was made of concentrated light i.e. photons it would have no mass as they have none (as they travel at the speed of light).

If it was made of plasma (electrons) it would have mass but this would be next to nothing as electrons at 1/1836 of a mass of a proton.

 

I guess as light would be hard to bring into a point and plasma is hard to contain it could me made of a material that we haven’t discovered yet. Maybe some type of neutrino gas or maybe tachyons or dark matter?! Then it might have a mass.

 

Wielding something with no mass would be difficult because it would be very hard to estimate the amount of force to use and where the actual end of the lightsaber is. As it would move through air and material with no force required it would be fairly easy to just do a normal cut. Just like when u pretend to hold a lightsaber.

 

As people said they flicks of the wrist would be better but wouldn’t look as good in a film which is why they do the big fancy swings. Plus I guess it might be more honourable wielding it like a sword as they are jedi's. Also as we don’t have lightsabers it would be hard to pull off the flicks of the wrist special effect wise as the props they wield have mass. Which is needed for when they hit each other while duelling as you probably already know.

 

Perhaps the lightsaber uses extreme concentrated light like a laser only near infinite power so can cut and melt though anything. When 2 lightsabers meet its like a immovable object meets irresistible force scenario. Maybe the material it can't cut through acts like a black body therefore radiating all heat it receives, therefore not heating up resulting in not getting sliced in two. This could then cause the lightsaber to maybe get into some weird paradox loop causing its safety mechanism to switch it off hence the disengaging.

 

Hope this makes all of you see the light....and not the dark side

[Aoshi]

Sith Knight and Demangel

 

I have come up with an idea of how lightsabres would be used if the SW universe really existed. The way JediKnights right now use their sabres is completely ludicrous. If you think about the aspects of a lightsabre it draws almost instantly from the hilt and can damage you from any side of it. Now imagine two Jedi facing off. One uses the normal stance and another uses my idea for Lightsabre fighting which is

1) keep the lightsabre unignited until the last second before impact

2) hold it with one hand

3) use it in the manner that a kodachi(shorter sword) would be used

4) fight using both stabs and sweeps

5) incorporate a form of kempo into your style

 

If you did this a fight between two Jedi would happen something like this. The Jedi could attack you but if you attacked first it would be better. You could start a sweep but then suddenly turn it into a lunge while igniting your sabre. If your opponent went to block you could simply retract your sabre and then lunge higher(and blocking this from a tactical point of view would be very difficult at best). If your blade is unignited until the moment before impact, then it is much much harder to fortell which way the blade will come from and it would be impossible to block it (because the blade surface would not be exposed to be blocked). This hidden style of fighting would be incredibly lethal and there would be many benefits from it.

1) no one would really see your lightsabre's glow but for a moment so you wouldnt give your position away

2) you could switch directions and styles of attacking instantly without giving the opponent a chance to block and correct his stance.

3) it would be almost impossible to fortell which type of attack (slash or lunge) would be coming because you would only see the hilt of the sabre

4) if the opponent managed to move his sabre down to block you could quickly retract your own so that his blade hits air and while he is correcting his blade and regaining his defensive posture you could strike again.

5) if your opponent attacked you forcing you to block you could quickly ignite your sabre, block, use the kempo to counter, then attack again with your sabre while your opponent is stunned.

 

Against blasters you would probably have to keep your sabre drawn for most of the time so you could quickly deflect the blasts, but against other sabreists this form of fighting would be vastly superior to the form of fighting currently employed by the Jedi and Sith. What do you guys think?