Luke Skywalker's Red Lightsaber Was the Key to Defeating Palpatine's Heir
In the now defunct Star Wars Legends continuity, Luke Skywalker constructed a red-bladed lightsaber less than a year after he rejected the dark side of the Force and redeemed his father. In issue 96 of Marvel’s classic Star Wars comics, Luke battles the Dark Lady of the Sith, Lumiya, who is perhaps the only Sith worthy of being the successor to Emperor Palpatine. Luke’s use of a red-bladed lightsaber has a behind-the-scenes explanation involving the lore of lightsaber colors not being established yet, but in-universe, another Legends property may explain Luke’s atypical blade color.
A vital rite of passage for Jedi is the construction of a lightsaber. After losing both his hand and his father’s lightsaber on Bespin (where it would later turn up on either Wayland or Takodana, depending on the timeline), Luke built a new Jedi weapon, one that reflected both of his mentors, with a hilt that resembled Obi-Wan’s and a blade that was the same color as Yoda’s. While skilled enough to best Darth Vader aboard the Death Star II, less than a year later, Luke fought against Lumiya on Kinooine and was soundly defeated in their first duel.
Related: Luke Skywalker Secretly Learned Lightsaber Combat From a Stormtrooper
By the end of Star Wars issue 96, Luke constructed a new lightsaber off-panel, this one being a shoto (short-bladed lightsaber) with a red blade, which current Star Wars stories use as a visual signifier of the Sith and other dark side-users. Luke hadn’t fallen to the dark side, but used his new weapons along with his original lightsaber to non-lethally defeat the Dark Lady Lumiya (albeit with difficulty.) In later canon, red lightsaber are a sign their creator poured hate, rage, and fear into the kyber crystal inside.
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