6) That Lightsaber Though…
When Darth Maul first appeared in The Phantom Menace, his double-bladed lightsaber immediately became one of the film’s main talking points, so the pressure was on for the design team of The Force Awakens. Knowing that this would be the case, Abrams and his team decided to debut Kylo Ren’s new lightsaber early on in the first trailer.
Prior to the film’s release, many were quick to dismiss the crossguard blades as a mere gimmick, but now that we’ve seen Ren’s weapon in battle, most of these concerns have now been dismissed. On a design level, it’s been revealed that the crossguard blades were created to vent raw power from the primary central blade, but in practical terms, the extra blades are surprisingly effective in battle.
In the final confrontation between Kylo, Rey and Finn, the extra blades add tension to an already thrilling fight scene and perhaps most importantly of all, they just look cool AF.