Hacker News Reader

Comment by raldi | Hacker News Reader

> Force-operated

If it's force-operated, how did Han use Lukes's to slice open the tauntaun on Hoth?

Making light saber technology somehow tied to the Force answers an obvious question from Star Wars: why do only Jedi have light sabers?

There's a more mundane answer: they're just not very useful weapons for normal people. It's like the difference between a sword and a gun. Which would you rather have to defend yourself? The gun beats the sword every time.

Unless--you're so super-humanly fast and accurate that you can use your sword to block every bullet fired at you. Or even better, bounce them back at the person who fired them.

Light sabers are great weapons for Jedi because Jedi have the reflexes and skills to make them useful. This is not limited to light sabers--we've also seen Jedi be superior as pilots, pod race drivers, and blaster shots.

Why would Jedi not be master gun fighters then?

They probably would be, but presumably you'd run out of "bullets" pretty quickly if you were trying to block other bullets. Plus, a "blade" is probably more useful than a gun in most cases (e.g., breaking down a door.)

Kyle Katarn would like a word with you ;)

I think in one of the movies one of the Jedis calls the blasters clumsy or ugly or something. They're looked down upon as too easy or low class.

Also if you just have a blaster, then you can get shot. With a lightsaber you can block shots at you, and also block force lightning.

Obi-Wan Kenobi calls a blaster "so uncivilized" as he throws one away, after using it to kill General Grievous in Episode III: Revenge of the Sith[1] (see time mark 6:17).

[1]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oGf-a1Dqlc&t=6m17s

After watching the whole thing, the winner can say that. None of that was "civilized"

I think that they are. (Can you think of any in-universe proof they are not?) Blasters are less versatile than light sabers, though, so they carry light sabers.

You don't need to be force sensitive to use a lightsaber but it helps because it's weightless so someone without force enhanced reflexes is likely to slice off an arm or foot trying to actually fight with it. I'm pretty sure though there are a couple of expanded universe characters who use lightsabers but aren't force sensitive and of course there's General Grevious who is a robot.

This is starting to sound like a Big Bang Theory episode :)

I remember playing Jedi Outcast where you start as a regular guy with guns and then you slowly get new force powers. At the beginning I never used the light saber. However, the more skills and power the character got the more I was using the saber until at one point it was the only weapon I would ever use. The blasters just felt clumsy and limited.

It's useless until you get the ability to deflect blaster fire with it. Then it become free armor and eventually you can reflect most of the weapons back at the person who shot them.

I believe it started as a fan theory, but Han's incredible luck has been explained as latent Force-sensitivity. Appears to have made it into some expanded universe material.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Han_Solo#Personality_and_trai...

Seems like a fan 'solution' to a fan 'problem'. There isn't anything in the movies to suggest that Han using the lightsaber was problematic. There was nothing to explain until other fan theories were made despite being in conflict with that scene in the movie.

Which is why this universe is so damn awesome!

I was under the impression when I first saw that scene that lightsabers were just meant to be technology - the more "civilized" version of a blaster in the way swords were once seen as more civilized than guns, but still basically just a device. Han knew where the button was to turn it on, which was all he needed to know. In the same way you wouldn't have to be a samurai master to use a katana to cut a watermelon.

I always thought one had to be a trained Force sensitive to construct one, which is among the final tests of becoming a Jedi. Apparently if you didn't build the device properly, it would blow up in your hand upon first activation.

Which is also why they are not mass produced.

Luke Skywalker's first lightsaber was his father's, it was blue. Luke built his second one, which was green. Vader later noted this as a sign his skills were "complete".

EDIT: I'm now reading that at some point lightsabers were indeed mass produced. I think that ruins the fun of the mythology around the weapon.

EDIT2: Now I'm reading that the crystal must be infused with the Force by the builder before construction. Fun mythology back on?

Does the Force require lucidity in order to operate?

no but Han does not use the force

Yes, but only out of choice. He is actually the most powerful Jedi in existence, which is how he managed to travel through time to fight the Nazis.

You mean in Raiders of the Lost Ark?

Yeah, the Ark is actually a Sith relic containing the ash from Vader's cremation on Endor.

http://i.imgur.com/mJMj0.gif and now I know what's in the briefcase in Pulp Fiction.

Han doesn't have to use the Force. Luke is present, though not lucid, and he uses the Force.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com