Post by Darth Reaver on Apr 22, 2015 21:13:18 GMT
In early days of the Old Republic with access to several Crystal Caves and various other sources of Lightsabre Crystals, the Jedi, Dark Jedi and even ancient Sith carried a a veritable rainbow of different coloured Lightsabres (Exar Kun carried a blue double bladed Lightsabre, constructed or at least altered after he became Dark Lord). Over time and as sources began to dry up or be destroyed however traditions began to dictate which colour both Sith and Jedi would carry and most would follow these traditions. There were still some however who carried different colors than the usual, some because of personal preference and some because they carried Lightsabres that had been heirlooms of their families for generations (An example of this would be the Silver Lightsabre blades carried by the Halcyon line of Jedi from Corellia including Corran Horn)
The Red Lightsabre came to be identified with the Sith and Dark Jedi. Some theorise that the ancient Sith picked the colour Red because it was the colour of blood and fire and because of its association with danger in peoples minds. The vast majority of Red Lightsabere crystals are artificially made, not natural. These artificial crystals do not have the same lifetime as the natural variety, but even so will last in hundreds of years at least, their is a potential adavntage to these artificial crystals, in that they have been known, very rarely, to 'break' the blades of Lightsabres made with natural crystals. There ARE in fact natural Red Lightsabre Crystals, but they can be found in only ONE place. Inside of Kinrath eggs found inside the Crystal Cave on the planet Dantooine. Despite its associations with the Darkside of the Force there have been Jedi who carried Red blades, the most noteworthy lately has benn Princess Leia Organa who has been known to carry a red blade in tribute to the "redemption" of her father.
Jedi by tradition carried blades that advertised which path that they followed within the order. Jedi Consulars, the diplomats of the order, carried Green Lightsabres. Jedi Guardians carried Blue whilst the those that followed the rarest path, the Jedi Sentinels, carried Yellow Lightsabres. This became even more prevalent as the Jedi lost access to the Crystal caves, except for Ilum, which ONLY produces crystals of either Green or Blue. This would suggest that Jedi Sentinels used artificial crystals in their blades (Artificial crystals, contrary to popular belief dont have to be red, they can be made in any colur, further evidence of this is supplied by the fact that the green crystal used in the lightsabre Luke Skywalker made for himself in the ruins of Obi Wan Kenobi's hut on Tatooine was artificially creted using a furnace he found there). Some people claim that Jedi commanders carried Purple blades but the only evidence known to support this claim is that the last head of the Old Jedi Councill, Mace Windu used a Purple Blade. Until just prior to the start of the Clone wars there was a sect of the Jedi Order who carried Silver Blades. This sect was called the Order of the Silver Jedi and they were solely devoted to combating the Darkside of the Force. Is it possible that the Halcyon line of Jedi were members of this Order? They too were well known for carrying silver blades, but as this was known to be a family heirloom, this eveidence is circumstantial at best. This Order was breifly revived only recently when its members attempted to trap and kill a number of our own brethren, all those Silver Jedi involved were killed, indeed Darth Reaver has one of their Lightsabres on display in his personal quarters, which he has been known to loan to his apprentices to use until they create their own.
Whether in fact the colours of someones Lightsabre blade were in fact symbolic of anything originally is now long lost to history, in part because of the late Darth Sidious's success in erasing any mention of Jedi history during his time as Emperor. The only hint that can be inferred as to the (possible) meanings of any colours can be gleaned from another similarly ancient organisation, that of the Mandalorians who can use the colour of their armour to carry a message as to what cause they are fighting for at that time. It is entirely possible that this culture with its long history of alliances with the Sith Order and wars against the Jedi Order could have picked up thses meanings from either at some time in the past. The colours known to have significance for the mandalorians are:
Gray= Mourning a Lost Love (Possibly from the Silver Jedi's mission to fight the Darkside of the Force, including those who used to be Jedi and friends and had 'fallen'?)
Red= Honoring a Father (or alternatively honouring the original Dark Jedi wh became the Sith?)
Gold= Vengeance (Could this be a corruption of the Sentinels job to PROTECT the Jedi Orders temples and allies?)
Green= Duty
Blue= Reliability
Orange= A Lust for Life
This however is pure conjecture and cannot be proven.