As every fan of the franchise knows, the lightsabers are one of the most important and popular elements of the Star Wars lore, as well as one of the most popular pieces of Star Wars merchandise. The franchise has shown how powerful they are, and the lightsabers were always the most entertaining aspect of the series.

The evolution of lightsabers since the Original Trilogy is definitely an interesting one, with the franchise expanding its traditional three-color model (red, blue, green), as well as showing off different types of lightsabers and different designs, which provided us with even more fun facts about the weapon.

But why do the Jedi (and the Sith) use lightsabers anyway? This is a question that has not been answered, and we are quite interested to find out why. Sure, they keep using them, but why these weapons exactly? A new Star Wars book finally gives us the answer we wanted.

As said, lightsabers are an exceptionally important aspect of Lucas’ lore. Whether it’s Yoda’s clash with Dooku and Palpatine, Grievous’ four lightsabers and his epic duel against Obi-Wan, the Mustafar duel between Obi-Wan and Anakin (Vader), the lightsabers have provided the fans with a lot of joy and everyone is happy when the series presents us with an amazing lightsaber duel.

This is also why lightsabers are a popular piece of Star Wars merchandise, as fans want to have a lightsaber of their own.

And while, today, we know a lot about them, there are still some mysteries. For example, we know how they are made, how complicated the process is, as well as how they are designed.

We also know how many colors there are, how the colors are created, and what they represent. But do we know why they are so popular among the Jedi?

Right, a very important question, and when you think about it – no one explained to us why the Jedi rely on lightsabers, especially since it is a very impractical weapon that is not easy to use, as the series explained.

Surely, the Jedi could have picked an easier weapon, but they have not. Why? Well, after several decades, the book Star Wars: The High Republic: The Lightsaber Collection by Daniel Wallace finally provides us with an explanation in the form of a definition of the lightsaber, which reveals the following piece of information:

“Lightsabers were designed to end conflicts. They were designed to injure no more than necessary, and in the horrible circumstance where death was the only possible outcome, they would kill quickly. No more damage would be done by a lightsaber than its wielder chose.”

As you can see, this definition does not give a straightforward answer as to why the Jedi use lightsabers, but it is quite clear when you read the whole definition.

The Jedi are peacekeepers, so a weapon is not something they resort to unless necessary; this is why they needed a weapon that was practical and humane, as humane as a weapon could be. And that was the lightsaber.

They do not deal collateral damage, and – as it says – if they do kill, they kill quickly and basically painlessly. This is why the Jedi chose them, as they were probably the most humane and least torture-y weapon in the franchise, and that makes absolute sense.

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