This is why I like the double-bladed spinning lightsaber the Inquisitor used in Star Wars Rebels. It offered hand protection, and had a button on it to make it auto-spin.
According to the old Star War RPG books lightsabers all have a cross guard formed by the blade itself. The blade is made up of positivity charged particles. The negatively charged particles produced by the lightsaber form a small invisible disk just above the emitter. Because of the negative charge it literally repels lightsaber blades away from the handle of an active lightsaber.
A friend of mine came up with the idea of a basket-hilted lightsaber. The basket used Gungan shield technology, so it was also useful for blaster-fire. (and looked cool!)
This is exactly why the Lord Corvax’s light sword is my favorite Lightsaber in Star Wars, sure it is only in the Vadar immortal trilogy of VR games, but it has a cross guard made of presumably lightsaber resistant material, though the cross guard is probably too thick
The reason most Lightsaber styles default to a two handed grip is, according to the fluff, the magnetic field that contains the star hot plasma osscilates in such a way that it makes the weapon difficult to hold steady with one hand. That said, I do like the visual aesthetic of a full hand guard with a shield faintly glowing around it.
In Jedi Survivor, Cal's lightsaber can have a crossguard that is only metal on the hand side, and only blade on the blade side, I explained very poorly but if you look at a picture you would understand. Also there are foil like lightsabers that were used by kinda welthy people during the times of the Old Republic to have duels.
They did approach lightsaber design from a logical historical perspective, just not a European one. George Lucas took a lot of his inspiration from old samurai and kung-fu movies, so the primary inspirations for the fighting style and design of lightsabers were more along the lines of Chinese and Japanese martial arts and sword design and refined through input and testing by actual practitioners of those martial arts. From there; They actually mapped out the technological development of lightsabers, and how the martial arts evolved alongside them.
Looks awesome with the guard! But I think that making a cross guard from a material that can resist the heat of a lightsaber for milliseconds is way easier than one that can trap the blade for longer, so maybe that's the reason a curved cross guard wouldn't make sense. Also, hello from Brazil! English is not my first language, so, sorry for any mistakes.
One of the possible in universe explanations is the fact that lightsaber duels were more than rare in the Prequels era. Form 2 was considered useless (Dooku was an oddity in the Order for working on it) and the Jedi more focused on fighting against blasters (form 3), ending fights quickly (forms 4 and 5) or using the lightsaber as a complement with the Force (form 6) Of course that doesn't explain the lack of crossguards in the expanded materials like in the wars of the Force when Jedi and Sith often clashed.
You could posit that the original lightsabers didn't consider crossguards in their design simply because of their relative rarity in-setting. Perhaps it was also just not considered that they'd ever clash, either, if they were all wielded by members of the same policing order that ought to agree. Though that's being more charitable than the IP deserves at this point. George likely just thought, "oh hey that'd be cool to have a sci fi metal tube, and a blade of light springs forth from it!" and figured that'd make for the most iconic scenes on screen.
If the Cross-guard were made using Corundium Ore (referenced from the G.A. Thrawn Books) that could work; but a Magnetic-field of sufficient strength should in theory stop/deflect a Lightsaber.
Lightsabers had no crossguards because for 1000 years jedi never fought against someone else that had a lightsaber other than training with other jedi.
It actually is fairly well explained in books (which Tbf are mainly legends now) why cross guards aren’t found on lightsabers. Kyber crystals are drawn to one another in a way that when the blades lock they become harder to slide against one another. If you look at all of the clips of people losing their hands most of them are after their opponent hit the blade away with a strong hit and does a wide sweeping movement (besides Grevious and arguably Dooku’s scene).
Form 2 Makashi(Doku's style) is a dueling based form that came after From 1 Shii-Cho(Kit Fisto's style). Form 1 was basic straightforward, think kendo. It relied a bit on the novelty of having a light saber and basic movements. Form 2 was developed to fight against Form 1 and was essentially with a rapier. The form that come after solve differnt problems. Form 3(Kenobi's style) is meant to be highly defensive as a lightsaber is also a mobile shield if your perception is good enough, especially against blaster fire. Form 4(Yoda's style) is in contrast much more offensive and uses the force to augment movement where 1 & 2 do not to that level. Form 5(Anakin/Vader's) was developed my form 3 users who instead of waiting for an opening, the would combine perception with agression to keep enemies pinned down on the defensive then create openings. Form 6(No remarkable ppl from the movies) was a combination of all of them, lacking the strengths and weaknesses, whil combining force push and pull to a greater extent. And Form 7(Maul & Windu) was super rare and mostly a Sith form that used the darkside for hyper aggressive acrobatic movements. The Windu version used the darkside but only let it pass over them, not through and was almost unbeatable. Needless to say, they thought of using it as a rapier. When you add blasters, along with vast differnces in force powers, specializations and personality, hold it like a rapier and poke them isn't valid nearly as valid as you think. Its like saying why don't wrestlers just do blast doubles, cause there are counters and counters to counters etc.
My idea would be to have the crossguard right up to the sabers blade, but have a channel along the saber side of the crossguard and let some of the energy come out to do the protecting. Similar to Keylo's saber but the metal crossguard to protect you.
Nevermind that in the Star Wars universe energy shields do exist, and Force users specifically have access to powers that absorb energy (preventing any slips or grazes from removing their hands). Most hands getting cut off with lightsabers involve aimed strikes just below the wrist against an off-guard opponent as well - I don't think a guard would have helped in any of those cases.
In the OT, it looked to me like the lightsabers naturally bound when they contacted: you could pull them apart, but they couldn't slide. It was never officially addressed, and forgotten about entirely later on, but that's what it looked like to me.
Honestly, I'm with you on lightsabers having cross guards or something like it. It's just silly to have NOTHING protecting your hand from an enemy lightsaber. I would go with the beskar/cortosis one over a beam one like Kylo's since the latter is caused by a cracked crystal (and if they aren't explicitly dangerously unstable like that, there should be a line to that effect regarding the crystal). Plus, it can protect you even if you don't have the lightsaber on.....Definitely tempted with a swept hilt or basket hilt, though, if you have the material handy.
One of my lightsabers has a long set of quillons. I got it from Custom Saber Shop. Still ding my forearm from time to time making choreographed fights. Kyberlight also has cross-guard "emitters" available.
Cup hilt would be better, bowl of plasma at the bottom plus quillons that produces plasma on 2/3 of the quillon towards the blade so that it cant be cut from the side
My only knowledge comes from the movies and early games, so light Sabers cuts metal via heat, like a torch (like when cutting the blastdoors). So a heat resistant cross guard could take allot of strikes before even starting to deform or melt, since the hits would be glances and not prolonged contact. A glove could also fix or help the situation. The reason why droids are cut so easily is because of subpar material in order to mass produce them (they are just guns with legs after all, cant make them all out of expensive stuff, you need that for the ships). Why Storm and Clone Armor is so easy to cut could be because they where ment to fight blasters and not lightsabres, and they need to mass produce them. Why shields or forcefields (like on the Droidekas) are pretty much non-existent is beyond me. If i lived in the Star Wars universe, there is no way i would ever be a force user (the odds are practically non-existent). I would have a rifle with both blaster and slug modes with a riot shield all around it with a forcefield (full body protection and you can put the shield on the ground so the gun is mounted), and power armour (think fallout or 40k). The armour itself covers the melee, and i would have a blaster built into the gloves.
System shock 2 has a laser saber, literally a light saber rapier. But no limb chopping as the game engine cant support that, the shotgun is a shaped thing if you play with original models.
A cortosis crossguard would short out a lightsaber. I'd be a good strategy to turn off the opponent's lightsaber in a fight. It'd just have to be designed to not short out your own lightsaber.
Yes the cross guard is far more practical, but I think that (retroactively) the basic “tubular” design, which looks a lot like standard equipment, was meant to help hide the lightsaber in plain sight for Jedi out on assignment with their simple monk like clothing and nondescript equipment help them blend in with the general populace, (obviously Anakin was able to recognize the lightsaber that Qui-gon was using) for the unobservant, a less conspicuous design is more easily overlooked, dueling wasn’t a major concern for most Jedi due to the rarity of lightsaber and lightsaber resistant weapons in the hands of the common criminal and evil despot, whose conventional blasters usually weren’t a match for the reflexes of a Force wielding Jedi and their blaster resistant weapon.
Anjas lightsaber from the young Jedi Knight book series she came in near the end of the series... Put the lightsaber she had I believe had either a Cutlass or a rapier hilt I would absolutely love to have that as a replica
It's not just about cutting yourself Tyranth - Why do you think you should be able to have your hand right next to the blade with nothing in between? And not just for a few seconds whilst you use the force to block the opponent's blade, but for a whole fight no matter whether that fight last 5 seconds or 5 hours, and every single time you use the blade!
Stellan Gios's Lightsaber is what I would see as the ideal when it comes to a lightsaber with Crossguard, as there is still an elegance that you don't see in Kylo Ren's lightsaber, and also, there is a metal guard where you can fix your hand to give more penetration power.
I agree with lightsaber resistance metal. I find the lightsaber cross guard with lightsaber beams useless due to one simple reason. Too much space between the cross guard hilt and the beam. If the lightsaber lock and slide then it will slide through the beam hilt side guard rather than the hit the beam block. Reason why I state lightsaber resistance material... The pure resistance is hard to come by and make, but there are materials that can slow it down... And those short few seconds are the difference between burn marks and missing hands.
I always thought that jedi used the force to stop the blade slipping down the blade to the hands hence why greives couldn't protect himself against obi-wan coz he didn't have the force and dooku and luke in 5 had their hands cut off from behind the hilt
I think eventually Shad will move from lightsaber to lightspear... The reach and 'all about stab' but with an effective slash and you'd struggle to stab yourself to.
During the timeframe of the films, lightsaber duels are rare and instead much of the job of Jedi was combating blaster wielding opponents, in which case the cross guard is more of a hinderance, so it makes sense to me that it wasn’t widely used. Back in the old republic times where the Sith and Jedi were more openly at war and lightsaber duels were more common, canon and legends differ a bit. In legends the lightsabers back then are a bit more bulky, and even though it isn’t explicitly stated (to my knowledge) I think it’s a fair assumption that the technology wasn’t quite there yet for crossguards to be common. In canon by contrast, cross guards actually were common back then, as seen on Malacore. So as far as lore goes, I think there is logic.
I don't like the show, but there was a brief moment in the most recent season of the Mandalorian where Bo Katan grabs that black saber, and turns on a shield on her offhand. That's something I'd like to see more of. But then... i might be biased because sword and board is my favorite....
I don't know if I read or heard this somewhere or thought it up myself but I always thought they stuck to each other a bit and never slid so no need for one considering anything else gets cut, before vibroblades got introduced in games anyway.
i love the fact that i thought of a swept hilt the moment before tyranth starts asking about them. For the rest of the video, it has to be remembered that the lightsaber is a self-defence weapon initially, not an offensive one. Also the lightsaber is used to deflect blaster bolt, so how much would a cross guard impede the jedi movements when trying to redirect a blaster bolt (idea for a video)?
I think we’re looking at this a little to much from a metal sword perspective. Lightsabers are so much more than just a sword. Talking about using the cross guard to block another lightsaber, but you really wouldn’t want another lightsaber that close to you. If a lightsaber even touches your hand it’s bad..
Personal shields are rare in Star Wars but they do exist. In the new canon we see Mandalorians have deployable energy shields built into their bracers of their armor that can be activated and deactivated at will with no physical frames when shut down unlike the Gungan shields. In the old Legends continuity the Hapan Prince Isolder has a personal energy shield he likewise can deploy in an emergency from a device worn on arm. This would allow for a properly equipped Jedi to have a sword and shield option.
The old canon explained there absence with technical limitations regarding power inificiancy. Basicaly; anything that could meet the power requirements for a personal energy shield was either to big and heavy to be reasonably portable for the average person, or could only power it for a very brief amount of time. The handfull of options that solved those two isues where volitile, rare, and/or non-shelf stable, with the substance the Gungans used actualy being all three.
One thing I never understood: why don't the Jedi use shields? Not only would a lightsaber esque shield would be perfectly in line with Jedi philosophy, but it would also be easier to block blaster bolts because they wouldn't need to flourish it at all, just hold it up and your good
Force users have access to powers that shield them from damage from any source; what's the point in equipping a physical shield (which will limit your mobility / range of motion) when you can just reinforce yourself with the Force's energy absorption?
10,000 Jedi, 1000 years, and all the hands were lost in a 30 year window. Most involving the same guy. You only need a crossguard if you know/fight/are Anakin.
Surely... if you add a shield to the lightsaber. You'd have it cover the forearm as well? Lose hands or forearms being a common risk among lightsaber users...
Wait... I thought Kylo Ren's light saber was like that according to LORE because his kyber crystal was damaged or defective and needed an extra way to vent energy. That's why his blades seem so ragged compared to other sabers. Why is my brain like this...
It's also highly irradiated in its unprocessed form to the point of lethality to even the highly energy and radiation resistant Hutts, shorts out energy-based mining tools, and is hard enough to render most mechanical mining equipment inoperable in an incredibly short amount of time relative to how much usable cortosis they're able to extract.
The problem is it is less lightsaber "proof" than it is just a gimmick. The Cortosis is ACTUALLY CUT as it shorts out the blade and is therefore an ablative protection that is damaged thru use. The longer the fight, the less you have to use after repeated strikes. That and the shorting out is temporary. You have to move fast to take advantage of an opening so created.
The options for Lightsaber Proof and Resistant materials is quite an extensive list, each with pros and cons: 1. Beskar 2. Sith Alchemical Steel 3. Cortosis 4. Zillo Beast (and a rare few others) Scale 5. Magnetically Sealed 6. Energy Shield 7. Force Imbued Anyone making a crossguard and/or a Saberstaff or SaberPike that does NOT utilize one of the above methods to protect the lightsaber are just an exercise in Darwinism waiting to happen.
If we're getting pedantic then why even bother useing a lightsaber, cross guard or no cross guard, as you could just use an imperial guard lightsaber spear thing for attack with range and a gungan shield for proper covered defence
did shad just say that acolite material would be great for a lightsaber crossguard, honestly no, just skip the lightsaber part and make a sword out of it, it disables lightsabers on contact so try making a blade with it
I would say that in lore it makes perfect sense why lightsabers with crossguards are so rare in the canon. The main reason for a crossguard is to protect the hands in combat with other swords or lightsabers. However... Since the fall of the sith and the start of "the rule of two" with Darth Bane, a thousand years before the movies, the Jedi became the main users of lightsabers (and in some cases melee weapons in general) in the Galaxy... Sabers with crossguards were way more common in The Old Republic. But when the Jedi then had monopoly on the use of lightsabers and the fact that the vast majority of the threats they faced was blasterfire, it would stand to reason that the design of sabers with crossguards fell out of fashion over time and almost forgotten about because that they were not useful in defending against opponents at range.
This would make sense if not for Old Republic Jedi using the same design. But this might be just a modernism (modern game makers including anachronistic lightsaber design because they don't know any better).
I would say a part of it was likely for convenience. Jedi tended to do a lot of undercover work. A lightsaber with no guard is easier to hide and won't get caught on their robes as easily.
Yeah, I'd wager to say that it became nothing more than a ceremonial sword. It can do its job but why bother when the mere sight is enough to stop the majority of threats
Here the real question: do the jedi get paid? 2nd if so, why not the republic provide the jedi cross guards opposed another fancy robe? 3rd, why not given the loss of hands, did the jedi not address this issue prior to the most major issues? 4th if kylo ren can figure out a crossguard , is he captain obvious genius?
Since the lightsaber blade is omnidirectional **kicks the mandalorian darksaber down the Death Star Shaft** shouldn't they use a tsuba like handguard instead?
Perhaps or I agree with the idea of a complex hilted lightsaber like something like a swept Hill or even a Cutlass Hill. A tsuba might work but I think I wanted to be a little bit larger in diameter or if not that then perhaps some small projections out of the tsuba maybe ever so slightly curved upward from it. Bring up the fact that the blade is omnidirectional is an excellent point though.
I don't think the omni direction would make a tsuba more prefered. Regular crossguard is better and there is then an option to offend not on a dominate end.
My assumption is that many, but not all, might have been used alongside shields in earlier periods. I also wonder how many cavalry swords from outside Europe had guards of any kind.
Would have thought the controversy about the guard hitting ones self would have been in battle situations not personal swings without hitting a target. \it does not really make sense becuase it's also not a great secondary weapon... as there would be not other reason to have it unless there was a secondary weapon. Although... what about a sword with a single edge blade as a blade either side as a guard? Would there be good uses in battle of this? Of course it's likely to be damaged and broken more easterly than a guard... could it be useful or at there more points of failure that benefits?
The in-universe problem with a lightsaber crossguard isn't so much the method or the materials themselves, but the accessibility to the latter and the practicality of the former. On materials alone, Beskar is highly coveted by Mandalorians for improving their armor and they will fight for every scrap of the stuff. Not to mention they see Beskar weapons (even ones as simple as spears) as a form of blasphemy and will make every attempt to reclaim it on-principle. Method-wise, an energy shield would be difficult to keep compact and still project what you need for defense or would have parts easy for an opposing lightsaber to cut, disabling that defense. Then again, if you have an energy shield to block lightsabers, why not just go whole-hog on the shield alone?
Nevermind that in the Star Wars universe energy shields do exist, and Force users specifically have access to powers that absorb energy (preventing any slips or grazes from removing their hands). Most hands getting cut off with lightsabers involve aimed strikes just below the wrist against an off-guard opponent as well - I don't think a guard would have helped in any of those cases.
A Curved Lightsaber with a swept hilt would look so good. And being what could be considered the Dueling Lightsaber it would make sense to have added hand protection
That would be cool I refer to Anja and her lightsaber from the young Jedi Knight series of books I believe the blade was straight though but I think it had a Cutlass or rapier Hill loved the idea of that as a kid reading those books
Yes, but. Yes, you could make a lightsaber with a cup/swept/clamshell hilt or maybe a basket hilt, but these have two major disadvantages: They make it a lot bigger. A retracted lightsaber is usually incredibly compact. Add a big wide hilt and it stops being compact. A simple cross guard would at least be flat. It needs a lot of lightsaber resistant material. Maybe you can barely afford the beskar to make a simple cross guard, but don't stand a chance to get enough beskar to make a swept hilt.
You forget that it happened long time ago, crossguards were not invented yet After the OG wars they invented them because everyone started clowning on those old idiots getting their hands chopped off
The frustrating thing about these videos is that Shad never acknowledges that Jedi AREN'T fighting other sword users most of the time. Cross guards have NO utility for blocking blaster shots. Guns are the weapons Jedi fight against most of the time. That's the real reason there's no crossguard lightsabers in the prequel films.
If you projected 2-4 beams forward at an angle of say 45-60 degrees, in such a way they crossed over the main beam slightly offset so they don't touch, you could have a kind of V or double V shaped cross guard, all made of lightsaber leaving nothing vulnerable above the hilt.
This is why I like the double-bladed spinning lightsaber the Inquisitor used in Star Wars Rebels. It offered hand protection, and had a button on it to make it auto-spin.
According to the old Star War RPG books lightsabers all have a cross guard formed by the blade itself. The blade is made up of positivity charged particles. The negatively charged particles produced by the lightsaber form a small invisible disk just above the emitter. Because of the negative charge it literally repels lightsaber blades away from the handle of an active lightsaber.
A friend of mine came up with the idea of a basket-hilted lightsaber.
The basket used Gungan shield technology, so it was also useful for blaster-fire. (and looked cool!)
8:49 Lol, i'v been doing this for the last 15 or so years.
"No this isn't a video from two years ago"
*Two years from now* O RLY!?
This is exactly why the Lord Corvax’s light sword is my favorite Lightsaber in Star Wars, sure it is only in the Vadar immortal trilogy of VR games, but it has a cross guard made of presumably lightsaber resistant material, though the cross guard is probably too thick
Tri-blade pata, made mostly of beskar, main blade is a lightsaber beam and the side blades are both cortosis
The reason most Lightsaber styles default to a two handed grip is, according to the fluff, the magnetic field that contains the star hot plasma osscilates in such a way that it makes the weapon difficult to hold steady with one hand.
That said, I do like the visual aesthetic of a full hand guard with a shield faintly glowing around it.
In Jedi Survivor, Cal's lightsaber can have a crossguard that is only metal on the hand side, and only blade on the blade side, I explained very poorly but if you look at a picture you would understand. Also there are foil like lightsabers that were used by kinda welthy people during the times of the Old Republic to have duels.
"The force, of course"
-Shad M. Brooks
They did approach lightsaber design from a logical historical perspective, just not a European one. George Lucas took a lot of his inspiration from old samurai and kung-fu movies, so the primary inspirations for the fighting style and design of lightsabers were more along the lines of Chinese and Japanese martial arts and sword design and refined through input and testing by actual practitioners of those martial arts. From there; They actually mapped out the technological development of lightsabers, and how the martial arts evolved alongside them.
Looks awesome with the guard! But I think that making a cross guard from a material that can resist the heat of a lightsaber for milliseconds is way easier than one that can trap the blade for longer, so maybe that's the reason a curved cross guard wouldn't make sense. Also, hello from Brazil! English is not my first language, so, sorry for any mistakes.
I love lightsaber-videos like these! 😊
One of the possible in universe explanations is the fact that lightsaber duels were more than rare in the Prequels era. Form 2 was considered useless (Dooku was an oddity in the Order for working on it) and the Jedi more focused on fighting against blasters (form 3), ending fights quickly (forms 4 and 5) or using the lightsaber as a complement with the Force (form 6)
Of course that doesn't explain the lack of crossguards in the expanded materials like in the wars of the Force when Jedi and Sith often clashed.
You could posit that the original lightsabers didn't consider crossguards in their design simply because of their relative rarity in-setting. Perhaps it was also just not considered that they'd ever clash, either, if they were all wielded by members of the same policing order that ought to agree.
Though that's being more charitable than the IP deserves at this point. George likely just thought, "oh hey that'd be cool to have a sci fi metal tube, and a blade of light springs forth from it!" and figured that'd make for the most iconic scenes on screen.
If the Cross-guard were made using Corundium Ore (referenced from the G.A. Thrawn Books) that could work; but a Magnetic-field of sufficient strength should in theory stop/deflect a Lightsaber.
Lightsabers had no crossguards because for 1000 years jedi never fought against someone else that had a lightsaber other than training with other jedi.
It actually is fairly well explained in books (which Tbf are mainly legends now) why cross guards aren’t found on lightsabers. Kyber crystals are drawn to one another in a way that when the blades lock they become harder to slide against one another. If you look at all of the clips of people losing their hands most of them are after their opponent hit the blade away with a strong hit and does a wide sweeping movement (besides Grevious and arguably Dooku’s scene).
sticky swords
Form 2 Makashi(Doku's style) is a dueling based form that came after From 1 Shii-Cho(Kit Fisto's style). Form 1 was basic straightforward, think kendo. It relied a bit on the novelty of having a light saber and basic movements. Form 2 was developed to fight against Form 1 and was essentially with a rapier. The form that come after solve differnt problems. Form 3(Kenobi's style) is meant to be highly defensive as a lightsaber is also a mobile shield if your perception is good enough, especially against blaster fire. Form 4(Yoda's style) is in contrast much more offensive and uses the force to augment movement where 1 & 2 do not to that level. Form 5(Anakin/Vader's) was developed my form 3 users who instead of waiting for an opening, the would combine perception with agression to keep enemies pinned down on the defensive then create openings. Form 6(No remarkable ppl from the movies) was a combination of all of them, lacking the strengths and weaknesses, whil combining force push and pull to a greater extent. And Form 7(Maul & Windu) was super rare and mostly a Sith form that used the darkside for hyper aggressive acrobatic movements. The Windu version used the darkside but only let it pass over them, not through and was almost unbeatable.
Needless to say, they thought of using it as a rapier. When you add blasters, along with vast differnces in force powers, specializations and personality, hold it like a rapier and poke them isn't valid nearly as valid as you think. Its like saying why don't wrestlers just do blast doubles, cause there are counters and counters to counters etc.
My idea would be to have the crossguard right up to the sabers blade, but have a channel along the saber side of the crossguard and let some of the energy come out to do the protecting.
Similar to Keylo's saber but the metal crossguard to protect you.
Nevermind that in the Star Wars universe energy shields do exist, and Force users specifically have access to powers that absorb energy (preventing any slips or grazes from removing their hands).
Most hands getting cut off with lightsabers involve aimed strikes just below the wrist against an off-guard opponent as well - I don't think a guard would have helped in any of those cases.
In the OT, it looked to me like the lightsabers naturally bound when they contacted: you could pull them apart, but they couldn't slide. It was never officially addressed, and forgotten about entirely later on, but that's what it looked like to me.
The Darksaber should really have had a beskar crossguard
The company Saberforge had quite a few historical longsword and rapier hilt designs. Very top quality.
Honestly, I'm with you on lightsabers having cross guards or something like it. It's just silly to have NOTHING protecting your hand from an enemy lightsaber. I would go with the beskar/cortosis one over a beam one like Kylo's since the latter is caused by a cracked crystal (and if they aren't explicitly dangerously unstable like that, there should be a line to that effect regarding the crystal). Plus, it can protect you even if you don't have the lightsaber on.....Definitely tempted with a swept hilt or basket hilt, though, if you have the material handy.
One of my lightsabers has a long set of quillons. I got it from Custom Saber Shop. Still ding my forearm from time to time making choreographed fights. Kyberlight also has cross-guard "emitters" available.
Rocking that Mytholon gambeson 👌
Cup hilt would be better, bowl of plasma at the bottom plus quillons that produces plasma on 2/3 of the quillon towards the blade so that it cant be cut from the side
My only knowledge comes from the movies and early games, so light Sabers cuts metal via heat, like a torch (like when cutting the blastdoors). So a heat resistant cross guard could take allot of strikes before even starting to deform or melt, since the hits would be glances and not prolonged contact. A glove could also fix or help the situation.
The reason why droids are cut so easily is because of subpar material in order to mass produce them (they are just guns with legs after all, cant make them all out of expensive stuff, you need that for the ships). Why Storm and Clone Armor is so easy to cut could be because they where ment to fight blasters and not lightsabres, and they need to mass produce them. Why shields or forcefields (like on the Droidekas) are pretty much non-existent is beyond me.
If i lived in the Star Wars universe, there is no way i would ever be a force user (the odds are practically non-existent). I would have a rifle with both blaster and slug modes with a riot shield all around it with a forcefield (full body protection and you can put the shield on the ground so the gun is mounted), and power armour (think fallout or 40k). The armour itself covers the melee, and i would have a blaster built into the gloves.
You should test out the light sabers from "theorysabers" that star wars theory makes.
System shock 2 has a laser saber, literally a light saber rapier. But no limb chopping as the game engine cant support that, the shotgun is a shaped thing if you play with original models.
that hand montage was hilarious
A cortosis crossguard would short out a lightsaber. I'd be a good strategy to turn off the opponent's lightsaber in a fight. It'd just have to be designed to not short out your own lightsaber.
Yes the cross guard is far more practical, but I think that (retroactively) the basic “tubular” design, which looks a lot like standard equipment, was meant to help hide the lightsaber in plain sight for Jedi out on assignment with their simple monk like clothing and nondescript equipment help them blend in with the general populace, (obviously Anakin was able to recognize the lightsaber that Qui-gon was using) for the unobservant, a less conspicuous design is more easily overlooked, dueling wasn’t a major concern for most Jedi due to the rarity of lightsaber and lightsaber resistant weapons in the hands of the common criminal and evil despot, whose conventional blasters usually weren’t a match for the reflexes of a Force wielding Jedi and their blaster resistant weapon.
Maybe an easy replaceable power supply is a feature that rarely potrayed
If it was made of that baskar or lightsaber resistant metal a crossguard would be op
As a fan of Halflife, my favourite weapon would be a lightcrowbar.
In a *Sharknado* movie they have a *LightCHAINSAW!*
Lightstaber rapier is Form 2 used by Dooku
Anjas lightsaber from the young Jedi Knight book series she came in near the end of the series... Put the lightsaber she had I believe had either a Cutlass or a rapier hilt I would absolutely love to have that as a replica
"The Force, of course." - Shad
Cortosis crossguards would end duels very quickly
Maybe when lightsabers hit they “stick” more than slide down to the hand guard like two harden metals do?
4:25 George "Luca"
It's not just about cutting yourself Tyranth - Why do you think you should be able to have your hand right next to the blade with nothing in between?
And not just for a few seconds whilst you use the force to block the opponent's blade, but for a whole fight no matter whether that fight last 5 seconds or 5 hours, and every single time you use the blade!
If you can use a cross guard to stop a lightsaber, could you make a lightsaber sword catcher?
Stellan Gios's Lightsaber is what I would see as the ideal when it comes to a lightsaber with Crossguard, as there is still an elegance that you don't see in Kylo Ren's lightsaber, and also, there is a metal guard where you can fix your hand to give more penetration power.
A lightrapier, with a cortosis weave cloak.
The mandalorian light saber has the tiny tiniest of tsubas
I agree with lightsaber resistance metal.
I find the lightsaber cross guard with lightsaber beams useless due to one simple reason.
Too much space between the cross guard hilt and the beam.
If the lightsaber lock and slide then it will slide through the beam hilt side guard rather than the hit the beam block.
Reason why I state lightsaber resistance material... The pure resistance is hard to come by and make, but there are materials that can slow it down... And those short few seconds are the difference between burn marks and missing hands.
I always thought that jedi used the force to stop the blade slipping down the blade to the hands hence why greives couldn't protect himself against obi-wan coz he didn't have the force and dooku and luke in 5 had their hands cut off from behind the hilt
I think eventually Shad will move from lightsaber to lightspear... The reach and 'all about stab' but with an effective slash and you'd struggle to stab yourself to.
During the timeframe of the films, lightsaber duels are rare and instead much of the job of Jedi was combating blaster wielding opponents, in which case the cross guard is more of a hinderance, so it makes sense to me that it wasn’t widely used.
Back in the old republic times where the Sith and Jedi were more openly at war and lightsaber duels were more common, canon and legends differ a bit. In legends the lightsabers back then are a bit more bulky, and even though it isn’t explicitly stated (to my knowledge) I think it’s a fair assumption that the technology wasn’t quite there yet for crossguards to be common. In canon by contrast, cross guards actually were common back then, as seen on Malacore.
So as far as lore goes, I think there is logic.
Rapier hilt with a guts sized broad sword as the blade
I don't like the show, but there was a brief moment in the most recent season of the Mandalorian where Bo Katan grabs that black saber, and turns on a shield on her offhand. That's something I'd like to see more of. But then... i might be biased because sword and board is my favorite....
How do you make a cross guard that works for a lightsaber?
Kylos' weapon ruined the idea for me
I don't know if I read or heard this somewhere or thought it up myself but I always thought they stuck to each other a bit and never slid so no need for one considering anything else gets cut, before vibroblades got introduced in games anyway.
i love the fact that i thought of a swept hilt the moment before tyranth starts asking about them. For the rest of the video, it has to be remembered that the lightsaber is a self-defence weapon initially, not an offensive one. Also the lightsaber is used to deflect blaster bolt, so how much would a cross guard impede the jedi movements when trying to redirect a blaster bolt (idea for a video)?
what about crossguards made of whatever the helmet in acolyte was to disable lightsabers
Food for thought
A lightsaber's edge is everwhere and always aligned. Where do you put the crossguard?
I think we’re looking at this a little to much from a metal sword perspective. Lightsabers are so much more than just a sword. Talking about using the cross guard to block another lightsaber, but you really wouldn’t want another lightsaber that close to you. If a lightsaber even touches your hand it’s bad..
Please someone go through all shadiversity content and clip every time the cross guard makes content with the wielder.
Personal shields are rare in Star Wars but they do exist. In the new canon we see Mandalorians have deployable energy shields built into their bracers of their armor that can be activated and deactivated at will with no physical frames when shut down unlike the Gungan shields. In the old Legends continuity the Hapan Prince Isolder has a personal energy shield he likewise can deploy in an emergency from a device worn on arm. This would allow for a properly equipped Jedi to have a sword and shield option.
The old canon explained there absence with technical limitations regarding power inificiancy. Basicaly; anything that could meet the power requirements for a personal energy shield was either to big and heavy to be reasonably portable for the average person, or could only power it for a very brief amount of time. The handfull of options that solved those two isues where volitile, rare, and/or non-shelf stable, with the substance the Gungans used actualy being all three.
One thing I never understood: why don't the Jedi use shields? Not only would a lightsaber esque shield would be perfectly in line with Jedi philosophy, but it would also be easier to block blaster bolts because they wouldn't need to flourish it at all, just hold it up and your good
Force users have access to powers that shield them from damage from any source; what's the point in equipping a physical shield (which will limit your mobility / range of motion) when you can just reinforce yourself with the Force's energy absorption?
Because they are cumbersome and for the Jedi the benefit is too small?
10,000 Jedi, 1000 years, and all the hands were lost in a 30 year window. Most involving the same guy. You only need a crossguard if you know/fight/are Anakin.
Surely... if you add a shield to the lightsaber. You'd have it cover the forearm as well? Lose hands or forearms being a common risk among lightsaber users...
With the stupid Acolyte show they introduced Cortosis..... You can just use that as cross guard and it would be devestatingly good.
Its simple, Lucas was inspired by kendo and most people dont care as long as it looks flashy
My favorite crossguard saber is Stellan Gios’ design. The crossguard is still a beam, but folding metal quillons keep the hands safe when activated.
Now I find myself wondering what you would think of the laser rapier from System Shock.
Wait... I thought Kylo Ren's light saber was like that according to LORE because his kyber crystal was damaged or defective and needed an extra way to vent energy. That's why his blades seem so ragged compared to other sabers. Why is my brain like this...
I'm so glad you mentioned cortosis. No ome ever talks about it. It actually shorts out the blade so it's "better" than beskar.
It's also highly irradiated in its unprocessed form to the point of lethality to even the highly energy and radiation resistant Hutts, shorts out energy-based mining tools, and is hard enough to render most mechanical mining equipment inoperable in an incredibly short amount of time relative to how much usable cortosis they're able to extract.
The problem is it is less lightsaber "proof" than it is just a gimmick. The Cortosis is ACTUALLY CUT as it shorts out the blade and is therefore an ablative protection that is damaged thru use. The longer the fight, the less you have to use after repeated strikes. That and the shorting out is temporary. You have to move fast to take advantage of an opening so created.
You should analyze the Jedi fallen order/Survivor cut scenes Lightsaber fights
what about lightsaber giant swords, gauntlets that have lightsaber (kylo ren cross guard) spikes, the proto saber blade profile
The options for Lightsaber Proof and Resistant materials is quite an extensive list, each with pros and cons:
1. Beskar
2. Sith Alchemical Steel
3. Cortosis
4. Zillo Beast (and a rare few others) Scale
5. Magnetically Sealed
6. Energy Shield
7. Force Imbued
Anyone making a crossguard and/or a Saberstaff or SaberPike that does NOT utilize one of the above methods to protect the lightsaber are just an exercise in Darwinism waiting to happen.
If we're getting pedantic then why even bother useing a lightsaber, cross guard or no cross guard, as you could just use an imperial guard lightsaber spear thing for attack with range and a gungan shield for proper covered defence
did shad just say that acolite material would be great for a lightsaber crossguard, honestly no, just skip the lightsaber part and make a sword out of it, it disables lightsabers on contact so try making a blade with it
The metal version looks nicer.
I would say that in lore it makes perfect sense why lightsabers with crossguards are so rare in the canon. The main reason for a crossguard is to protect the hands in combat with other swords or lightsabers. However... Since the fall of the sith and the start of "the rule of two" with Darth Bane, a thousand years before the movies, the Jedi became the main users of lightsabers (and in some cases melee weapons in general) in the Galaxy... Sabers with crossguards were way more common in The Old Republic. But when the Jedi then had monopoly on the use of lightsabers and the fact that the vast majority of the threats they faced was blasterfire, it would stand to reason that the design of sabers with crossguards fell out of fashion over time and almost forgotten about because that they were not useful in defending against opponents at range.
Nailed it
This would make sense if not for Old Republic Jedi using the same design. But this might be just a modernism (modern game makers including anachronistic lightsaber design because they don't know any better).
I would say a part of it was likely for convenience. Jedi tended to do a lot of undercover work. A lightsaber with no guard is easier to hide and won't get caught on their robes as easily.
Yeah, I'd wager to say that it became nothing more than a ceremonial sword. It can do its job but why bother when the mere sight is enough to stop the majority of threats
@@dony2852good point
I have such specific thoughts on lightsabers it's kind of insane.
how about a lightsaber in one hand and a gungan shield in the other hand? That could be pretty useful
Here the real question: do the jedi get paid? 2nd if so, why not the republic provide the jedi cross guards opposed another fancy robe? 3rd, why not given the loss of hands, did the jedi not address this issue prior to the most major issues? 4th if kylo ren can figure out a crossguard , is he captain obvious genius?
Well, they don't.
Why not lightshield? Or light buckler
Since the lightsaber blade is omnidirectional **kicks the mandalorian darksaber down the Death Star Shaft** shouldn't they use a tsuba like handguard instead?
Perhaps or I agree with the idea of a complex hilted lightsaber like something like a swept Hill or even a Cutlass Hill. A tsuba might work but I think I wanted to be a little bit larger in diameter or if not that then perhaps some small projections out of the tsuba maybe ever so slightly curved upward from it. Bring up the fact that the blade is omnidirectional is an excellent point though.
I don't think the omni direction would make a tsuba more prefered. Regular crossguard is better and there is then an option to offend not on a dominate end.
A cross guard made of Beskar, perhaps ?
It does beg the question.... why do so many sword designs not have a cross guard of a similar size and design to European longswords?
My assumption is that many, but not all, might have been used alongside shields in earlier periods.
I also wonder how many cavalry swords from outside Europe had guards of any kind.
Would have thought the controversy about the guard hitting ones self would have been in battle situations not personal swings without hitting a target.
\it does not really make sense becuase it's also not a great secondary weapon... as there would be not other reason to have it unless there was a secondary weapon.
Although... what about a sword with a single edge blade as a blade either side as a guard?
Would there be good uses in battle of this?
Of course it's likely to be damaged and broken more easterly than a guard... could it be useful or at there more points of failure that benefits?
The in-universe problem with a lightsaber crossguard isn't so much the method or the materials themselves, but the accessibility to the latter and the practicality of the former.
On materials alone, Beskar is highly coveted by Mandalorians for improving their armor and they will fight for every scrap of the stuff. Not to mention they see Beskar weapons (even ones as simple as spears) as a form of blasphemy and will make every attempt to reclaim it on-principle.
Method-wise, an energy shield would be difficult to keep compact and still project what you need for defense or would have parts easy for an opposing lightsaber to cut, disabling that defense. Then again, if you have an energy shield to block lightsabers, why not just go whole-hog on the shield alone?
You could line the crossguard in some sort of ablative material that can only take two-three hits, which is still a considerable upgrade
In KotOR and Jedi Knight games you have shields all right.
Nevermind that in the Star Wars universe energy shields do exist, and Force users specifically have access to powers that absorb energy (preventing any slips or grazes from removing their hands).
Most hands getting cut off with lightsabers involve aimed strikes just below the wrist against an off-guard opponent as well - I don't think a guard would have helped in any of those cases.
Crossguards are kinda pointless on lightsabers IMO. Since all, if not all but a few, metals can be cut through with another lightsaber.
Im surprised you havent done a ranking of Baldurs gate 3 swords
A Curved Lightsaber with a swept hilt would look so good. And being what could be considered the Dueling Lightsaber it would make sense to have added hand protection
That would be cool I refer to Anja and her lightsaber from the young Jedi Knight series of books I believe the blade was straight though but I think it had a Cutlass or rapier Hill loved the idea of that as a kid reading those books
I've really got to hand it to you guys. You're a cut above the rest! 😂
Wouldnt you want a rapier-like guard? Considering that would be the optimal fighting style for light sabres, anyway?
Yes, but.
Yes, you could make a lightsaber with a cup/swept/clamshell hilt or maybe a basket hilt, but these have two major disadvantages:
They make it a lot bigger. A retracted lightsaber is usually incredibly compact. Add a big wide hilt and it stops being compact. A simple cross guard would at least be flat.
It needs a lot of lightsaber resistant material. Maybe you can barely afford the beskar to make a simple cross guard, but don't stand a chance to get enough beskar to make a swept hilt.
You forget that it happened long time ago, crossguards were not invented yet
After the OG wars they invented them because everyone started clowning on those old idiots getting their hands chopped off
The frustrating thing about these videos is that Shad never acknowledges that Jedi AREN'T fighting other sword users most of the time. Cross guards have NO utility for blocking blaster shots. Guns are the weapons Jedi fight against most of the time.
That's the real reason there's no crossguard lightsabers in the prequel films.
It’s great to have you on the dark side, guys.
Crossguards? On my lightstick? Heresy!
Practicality is a pathway to many things some might consider... unnatural.
It's a damn shame that Disney killed Star Wars, but there's still a lot of great old stuff to enjoy!
If you projected 2-4 beams forward at an angle of say 45-60 degrees, in such a way they crossed over the main beam slightly offset so they don't touch, you could have a kind of V or double V shaped cross guard, all made of lightsaber leaving nothing vulnerable above the hilt.