If there’s one thing you could point to within the Star Wars universe that is the most recognizable thing about the said universe, it would be lightsabers. They come in all shapes, sizes, and colors; some colors are much rarer than others. There’s a meaning behind every lightsaber color. As an orange lightsaber is one of the rarest, what’s the meaning behind it?
Orange lightsabers appeared in Star Wars Canon just recently, so the actual meaning behind the color is quite ambiguous. Some theories suggest that orange lightsabers present diplomacy, pacifism, and purification, while other theories say that they present a balance between the light and dark sides of the Force.
There are only a handful of notable wielders of an orange lightsaber, especially in Canon. Cal Kestis, a protagonist in the Canon video game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, wields one, and so does Jedi Master Yaddle in Star Wars Legends. We’ll go through what an orange lightsaber might mean and all the users of such blades, giving us a better understanding of such wielder’s nature.
How do you get an orange lightsaber?
For one to understand how to obtain an orange lightsaber, one must first understand how lightsabers work in the first place and how they get their color. The color of a lightsaber isn’t random – each color has a meaning and is aligned to the wielder’s personality, poise, and spiritual alignment when it comes to the Force.
To build a lightsaber, you need something called a kyber crystal. Those crystals are rare but can be found in places across the galaxy – some spots have more than others. Kyber crystals are almost sentient, aligned with the Force. If their natural state, however, kyber crystals are colorless.
Once a Jedi builds a lightsaber, they let the Force guide them to their crystal as they hear it ‘sing’ to them. Once they obtain the crystal and it bonds to the person, the kyber crystal changes color based on their spiritual alignment and character.
Kyber crystals naturally respond only to the Light side of the Force and will refuse a person inclined to use it along the Dark side. Once bonded with a Jedi, kyber crystals usually turn blue or green, each with a particular meaning we won’t get into.
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The kyber crystal is used as the driving force behind a lightsaber, serving as its core. If a crystal is green, the lightsaber will emit a green color. But, if kyber crystals refuse the Dark side wielders, how do the Sith have sabers, you might ask?
Well, the Sith actually uses the Force to, well, force the crystal into submission. It makes the kyber crystal ‘bleed,’ almost like a living being, turning its color to red – hence, the usual red hue of the Sith lightsabers. It represents rage, hate, vengeance, and other ugly emotions one might associate with the Sith order.
There are other lightsaber colors that are rarer, and each has a unique meaning. For instance, Mace Windu’s purple lightsaber indicates a combination of blue and red, indicating he has a deep understanding of both sides of the Force, enabling him to use Vapaad (a somewhat controversial form) as his preferred lightsaber Form.
Now, we finally get to the question: How does one get an orange lightsaber?
Well, if a person wielded an orange lightsaber, it would suggest that the kyber crystal bonded to them, and used to build the lightsaber, would have to obtain an orange hue.
Seeing how rare an orange lightsaber is in Star wars lore, it would require a very specific individual to get such a blade – meaning, their spiritual alignment would also have to be very specific. Let’s examine the meaning behind orange lightsabers by examining their known wielders.
What does an orange lightsaber mean?
Orange lightsabers are among the rarest types of lightsabers in the entire Star Wars lore. So far, it was almost exclusively connected to Star Wars Legends until a certain video game – Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order came out and featured an orange lightsaber, and the game is considered to be Star Wars Canon.
Due to the rarity of this particular type of blade, the meaning of an orange lightsaber is still a bit uncertain and ambiguous. There are several theories for us to explore based on who the wielder is and what their character is, so I’ll do my best to cover each wielder and theory as we go along.
The most prevalent theory about the meaning behind orange lightsabers might be that they represent the wielder’s inclination towards pacifism and diplomacy instead of combat. That theory comes from examining the most well-known orange lightsaber wielder – Jedi Master Yaddle.
Master Yaddle appeared in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, but we never saw her use an orange lightsaber. In Canon, it was green; hence, it’s hard to say she had an orange lightsaber in Canon. In Legends, however, we learn more about Master Yaddle’s background and see her wield the saber several times.
Master Yaddle was a Jedi Council member and a member of the same species as Master Yoda. The difference was Master Yaddle was younger. However, she was said to be even calmer, more composed, and more diplomatic than Yoda.
Master Yaddle was also known as The One Below due to being imprisoned underground for almost a century. However, after devastating earthquakes started shaking the planet, Yaddle found a way out of her prison.
And, instead of going into battle and fleeing the planet where she was held captive, Yaddle helped them recover from the earthquakes and rid them of the tyrannic rule they were under. Even when attacked, Yaddle always tried to resolve issues pacifistically. If, and only if, it was impossible, would she resort to combat and using her lightsaber.
The nature of Master Yaddle made many theorize that an orange lightsaber means the wielder is inclined towards pacifism, diplomacy, deep calmness, complete non-aggression, and avoidance of any kind of violence.
The only Star Wars Canon character we saw wielding an orange lightsaber was Cal Kestis, a playable character in the Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order video game from 2019. The game is considered Canon, and while Master Yaddle does appear in The Phantom Menace, her lightsaber in Canon is green, not orange.
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Another video game character wielding an orange lightsaber, Kyle Katarn, played in a Legends game called Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith. He got his orange lightsaber from a Dark Jedi called Yun.
Seeing that he got the blade from a Dark Jedi, perhaps it was only partially purified from a red lightsaber – hence, it was orange now. We saw the purification of red kyber crystals already with Ahsoka Tano, who purified red kyber crystals from a Sith lightsaber and turned white in the princess.
