As established in Star Wars lore, a lightsaber can be any color based on its kyber crystal, but owing to its inherent light side attribution, lords of the Sith have to perform a ritual to bend them to their will.
Ever since the first teaser for The Force Awakens, we knew that Kylo Ren’s crossguard lightsaber was unique. In fact, fans have always been curious to know more about how Ben Solo came to build such an unusual weapon. Well, after more than four years, the new comic series, Star Wars: The Rise of Kylo Ren, has answered many of our questions regarding the origins of the villainous Supreme Leader of the First Order, and in the last issue, the writers finally revealed the long-standing enigma of how Kylo created his unstable saber.
After his first mission with the Knights of Ren ends on a dark note, Ben returns to his quarters in the Night Buzzard. He then proceeds to take apart his lightsaber, which is naturally blue. The young Solo clenches the blue kyber crystal in his hands to bleed it, which is a ritual that dark-side practitioners use to bend a crystal to their will. In doing so, Ben sees visions of his parents, his uncle Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca, and even Lando, but pushes further by pouring all of his rage into the deed. When he opens his hands, the crystal has cracked and turned crimson-red.
Kylo places the crystal in the hilt, but it becomes unstable and burns his hands when he tries to ignite it in a single beam. That’s why he modifies the weapon and creates exhaust ports in the form of a crossguard to vent out the excess energy.
While the end result was a pretty cool-looking weapon, it’s certainly interesting to see how Kylo’s weapon is a manifestation of his psychological breakdown, rather than merely serving as spectacle, for which there are many in the world of Star Wars.
Tell us, though, are you glad that this has finally been addressed? Let us know your thoughts in the usual spot below.