Jedi Lightsaber Color Explained
Here are all the lightsaber colors in Star Wars, their significance, and who uses them.
The lightsaber is one of the most iconic and downright coolest weapons in all of sci-fi/fantasy. Lightsabers are primarily known for two things, the unique hum they make as they’re swung through the air—or a limb—and the vibrant color of their glowing blades. Originally only conceived in one variety—white—lightsabers have evolved to the point where Jedi now carry lightsabers in every color of the rainbow and beyond.
Saber lore can get complicated, however. Gems called Kyber crystals produce different color blades, all of them with their own significance. Each Jedi lightsaber color has three meanings behind it: the real-world reason behind it, the color’s significance in Legends, and the current canon explanation.
Luckily we made this handy list to help you keep track of your greens and blues and help you differentiate between your synthetic reds and your bled crystals.
Blue – represents loyalty, stability, truth, and justice
This is the OG. The very first lightsaber we see on screen in the very first Star Wars movie.
Real-world: The glowing effect for the lightsabers in A New Hope was done practically using rotating reflective rods attached to the lightsaber hilts. The effect produced a brilliant white blade, but only when filmed from certain angles. The blades were rotoscoped in post-production to give them a more consistent glow.
During the rotoscoping process, George Lucas decided to give the lightsabers different colors in order to distinguish easier which saber belonged to who during a fight. For reasons known only to him, George decided the good guy’s color would be blue, and the rest is history.
Legends: The Jedi Guardians, members of the Order specializing in lightsaber skills over Force use, preferred blue as their lightsaber color of choice. Blue is the most common lightsaber color due in large part to the abundance of blue Kyber crystals that grow on the planet Illum.
Canon: No particular significance has been assigned to blue lightsabers so far.
Notable users: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Luke Skywalker, Rey Skywalker
Green – represents harmony, growth, and safety
Green is the second most prominent Jedi lightsaber color.
Real-world: While initially blue, George Lucas wanted the new lightsaber Luke Skywalker uses in Return of the Jedi to stand out better against the Tatooine sky, so he changed it to green.
Legends: Green lightsabers were wielded by Jedi Consulars, knights who focused more on using the Force to solve their problems rather than violence.
Canon: Green is the favored color of more experienced senior Jedi.
Notable users: Qui-Gon Jinn, Yoda, Luke Skywalker, Kit Fisto
Yellow – represents goodness, warmth, energy
Real-world: Originally, yellow sabers existed so that video games like Jedi Power Battles and Knights of the Old Republic could give the player’s Jedi more lightsaber color options. In the movie, The Rise of Skywalker, Rey’s lightsaber was made yellow to signify that she is the start of a new Jedi order.
Legends: Yellow lightsabers were used by a class of Jedi known as Sentinels. Sentinels represented a mix of the physicality of the Jedi Guardians and the more contemplative nature of the Consulars.
Canon: Yellow sabers are used almost exclusively by Jedi Temple guards.
Notable Users: Asajj Ventress, Ahsoka Tano, Luke Skywalker, Rey Skywalker
Purple – represents nobility, wisdom, and moral ambiguity
Only wielded by the strongest warriors.
Real World: Samuel L. Jackson famously asked George Lucas for a purple lightsaber (and George knew better than to argue with Sam Jackson).
Legends: Any Jedi who chooses a lightsaber with a purple color blade walks a razor’s edge between the light side of the Force and the dark side. Only someone as powerful as Jedi Master Mace Windu could successfully draw from both sides of the force in order to wield a purple saber without succumbing to the dark side.
Canon: Purple lightsabers just kind of exist. They are implied to be fairly common during the High Republic era—several purple Kyber crystals are present in the Kyber Arch Jedi memorial on Coruscant—but are incredibly scarce in Mace Windu’s time.
Notable users: Mace Windu, Mara Jade
Red – signifies power, anger, and hatred.
Red sabers are used exclusively by the Sith and other evil-force users.
Real-world: Once the decision to make Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi’s lightsaber color blue, it only made sense to make Darth Vader’s saber red as the two colors are usually seen as opposites of each other.
Legends: The Sith used synthetic red gems to mock the Jedi’s Force connection to their Kyber crystals. Naturally occurring red crystals did exist, but they were incredibly rare.
Canon: Jedi form a natural bond with their Kyber crystals through the Force. Sith lack the tranquility to forge this bond and instead rely on a process called “bleeding” to create their signature red blades. Bleeding consists of taking a Kyber crystal and pouring all of one’s hate, anger, and even fear into it until the overloaded crystal “bleeds” red.
Notable users: Darth Vader, Count Dooku, Kylo Ren, Darth Maul, Darth Sidious
White – signifies purity, peace, and neutrality.
Only two white lightsabers are known to exist in the Star Wars universe.
Real-world: Dave Filoni, the creator of Ahsoka Tano, gave her white lightsabers to signify her non-affiliation with the Jedi or Sith.
Legends: White lightsabers don’t exist in Legends continuity.
Canon: Former Jedi Ahsoka Tano took two bled Kyber crystals from the lightsaber of a slain enemy and attempted to heal them of their red color. Tano was successful, and the healed crystals now produce blades of pure white energy.
Notable users: Ahsoka Tano
Black – signifies ???
Another extremely rare color, only one, exists in both Legends and the current canon.
Real-world: The Darksaber was conceptualized by George Lucas as a weapon used by the Mandalorians that would be effective against a lightsaber. Dave Filoni decided the easiest way to do that would be just to make it a lightsaber.
Legends: The only black saber in existence was created by Mandalorian Jedi Tarre Visla, who constructed a unique lightsaber with a distinct obsidian color. The Darksaber was constructed centuries before the Skywalker Saga and is revered in the Mandalorian culture as a sacred artifact that can only be won through combat. Whoever wields the Darksaber is considered the rightful leader of the Mandalorians.
Canon: Same as Legends.
Notable users: Tarre Visla, Darth Maul, Bo-Katan Kryze, Moff Gideon
Orange – signifies ???
Not much is known about these little used sabers.
Real-World: Much like their yellow cousins, orange lightsabers primarily existed as just another color choice for players to choose from in several Jedi-centric video games.
Legends: Certain Jedi, such as Plo Kloon and Yaddle, carried Lightsabers with an orange blade; however, no significance was associated with the color choice.
Canon: In the current Star Wars canon, only Cal Kestis from the games Jedi: Fallen Order and Jedi: Survivor and Baylan Skoll and Shin Hati from the upcoming Ahsoka series have wielded orange lightsabers. Cal doesn’t even really count since he technically swings around whatever color lightsaber you assign him. As for the other two, we won’t know much about their choice to carry orange blades until Ahsoka actually comes out. As it stands, orange is the lightsaber color with the most mystery surrounding it.
Notable Users: Cal Kestis, Baylan Skoll, Shin Hati, Plo Kloon, Yaddle
