What kind of lightsaber hilt would you like?

[Darth Petpeeve]

How come you can control most anything about being a Jedi from appearance to performance except the hilt of the lightsaber? Hell, in Jedi Academy you choose the hilt! What kind of hilt would you choose? Ever since I saw Luke Skywalker's green saber, I've always thought, "a cheap flashlight looks better designed that thing!" Then in the Ep. I-III, it seemed odd to me that an organization like the Jedi that recruits beings from across the galaxy, who all make their own lightsabers, end up making, more or less the same lightsaber. I know there are differences, I have the Visual Dictionary series, but Dooku's blade is the only one I could describe as being "different".

[MasterJediConsular]

That's because Dooku practices Makashi, a light saber form that is greatly aided by a hilt that can be easily manipulated.

Almost no one who appears in the movies other than Dooku practices this form. The reason behind the conventional hilt shape being almost universal throughout the universe is probably because it is necessary in maintaining form consistency. Besides, blade quality would be more important, and from other media you see jedi who change the characteristics of their blade such as length, volitility etc.

[Darth Mortis]

The hilt of a lightsabre is mostly designed for holding, and for a two handed species the best shape for that is a long straight tube. Duku's sabre was intended only to be held in one hand-as noted this is because he was using a rare lightsabre form-while most Jedi and Sith tend to use sabres in a two handed grip for better control. The diameter of the hilt is based on what will grant the best grip-to narrow or two thick and a sudden jolt (ie-by deflecting/parrying something else be it a blaster-bolt or another sabre) could knock it out of the hand. The length of the hilt is likewise dictated by being able to hold it with two hands with ease. If its too short again it could be knocked out of the hands, if it is to long it could also result in less control as well as getting in the way. Duel bladed sabres have much longer hilts simply because you need to keep the hands further apart when fighting with them.

 

It is funny that the reasons most Sabres in the SWU have hilts the size and shape they are is also the real world reasons too. Namely that the sabre hilts are intended to be used in fighting. Given that they had fencing champions helping with all the lightsabre fights it can be safely assumed that the current dimensions of hilts-approx 30cm long and 2-3cm in diameter-were chosen because they give the best control. Duku's sabre is the exception in being shorter and curved, but from listening to Christ Lee's comments on it it would seem that it gave loads of problems during filming as it was hard to keep a good grip on it during the fight scenes. By the same token the hilt of Mauls duel-bladed sabre was being used by someone who really does know how to fight. I would assume that the dimensions of Mauls sabre was also chosen as the best for the style of fighting that it was used with.

[SamuraiGaijin]

You don't see too much variation between most lightsaber hilts (aside from the obvious two - Dooku and Maul) other than cosmetic (Palpatine's flashy gold hilt) or comfort/utility (different gripping surface styles).

 

When comparing lightsabers to swords - the overlying themes in most sword hilts are comfort/balance (how does it feel in the hand), reliability (how well does it stay in the hand and keep the blade aligned - the latter is not a problem for lightsabers), and defense (how well does it protect the hand - also not a problem for lightsabers in the movies where the "cortosis weave" blade is not an issue).

 

Incorporating the cortosis weave into some form of handguard would be interesting and would probably lead to different lightsaber styles (especially those that use two blades - one to catch an opponent's lightsaber and one to attack with, for example). As most of the opponents a Jedi faces do not use a lightsaber, defense against blasters is at least as important, if not more so.

 

While I would have liked to have seen some variation in the hilts available for the lightsaber you build (especially) and find in the game, it wouldn't have changed my decision to purchase the game. That level of customization would be nice, but it's not necessary - the development team had bigger things to fix than this.

[ghosta]

Just use a MOD!

 

 

 

Sarry for the out burst but if you really want a difrent hilt then you should ethier downlode a mod or make one yourself.

[darth bandon]

I like the Zez Kai Ell double saber and the Alora from the USM mod

[sithlord78]

Incorporating the cortosis weave into some form of handguard would be interesting and would probably lead to different lightsaber styles (especially those that use two blades - one to catch an opponent's lightsaber and one to attack with, for example). As most of the opponents a Jedi faces do not use a lightsaber, defense against blasters is at least as important, if not more so.

 

I always wondered why the sabers never had hand-guards. A deadly move would obviously clash sabers, gain inside control, and step into your opponent while dragging the blade down over the hilt and through your opponent's fingers. This would then lead to longer and longer blades as the danger of getting your own fingers cut-off while doing this move is lessened with the longer blade. Just hypothesizing though...

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

I don't particularly care for the hilt as long as the damn blade cuts.

[Swxpert]

I don't particularly care for the hilt as long as the damn blade cuts.

 

 

dooku's sabre is the only one I want, and while were at it did anyone actually notice a difernce in the "styles" in the game cause to me it looked like a wack, was wack was a wack was wack, no matter if it was makashi (my favorite, in real life), sorusu, or any other form for that matter, am I just missing somthing or what?

[ghosta]

I don't particularly care for the hilt as long as the damn blade cuts.

 

 

dooku's sabre is the only one I want, and while were at it did anyone actually notice a difernce in the "styles" in the game cause to me it looked like a wack, was wack was a wack was wack, no matter if it was makashi (my favorite, in real life), sorusu, or any other form for that matter, am I just missing somthing or what?

 

 

There is no difference in animations for the different lightsaber forms.

[Swxpert]

I don't particularly care for the hilt as long as the damn blade cuts.

 

 

dooku's sabre is the only one I want, and while were at it did anyone actually notice a difernce in the "styles" in the game cause to me it looked like a wack, was wack was a wack was wack, no matter if it was makashi (my favorite, in real life), sorusu, or any other form for that matter, am I just missing somthing or what?

 

 

There is no difference in animations for the different lightsaber forms.

 

 

so waht is the point of the forms then?

[wildace]

they offer either defensive or offensive bonuses to diffrent situations, or enhance the force power/regen

[Watchman]

I don't particularly care for the hilt as long as the damn blade cuts.

 

Same. I used a bunch of saber Mods that changed the appearances and soon found I really didn't care what the hilt looked like. I just wanted a lightsaber's blade. Not some glowing stick to beat ppl with.

[RrawrR]

some one should mod in light wips

like lumiya uses in the lotf books

that'd be sick

[Eclipse]

Wasn't there some Sith apprentice, I think Asajji Ventress, or something like that who used two curved hilted lightsaber that could make a double bladed lightsaber when put together? I think she was in the comic books from during the Clone Wars. There was a big thing going on between her and Obi-wan if I remember right.

[Darth Mortis]

You'd be quite right, Ventris was in the Clone wars animated series, and I assume the comics as well. Her lightsabre consisted of two sabres with curved hilts, which could be joined together at the base to form a duel-bladed sabre with an 'S' shaped hilt.

[Eclipse]

Do you know if there was any specific reason she used a lightsaber like that? Like it went with her style, had significant importance to her? or did she just like it like that?

[zephyrus17]

Probably because her master taught her that way.

[Darth Mortis]

Do you know if there was any specific reason she used a lightsaber like that? Like it went with her style, had significant importance to her? or did she just like it like that?

 

In universe; This would be a flexable setup, since she could choose to fight with either a single sabre, twin sabres or with a duel-blade sabre as the situation dictated-each style has its strengths, but also weaknesses so if she had some idea of how she was going to have to fight she could pick the best style; For example a duel blade is probably not the best thing to use in confined areas, and two sabres probebly have less control when it comes to deflecting blasters. It would also be an agressive choise, since it would probably require a lot more combat training to learn to use each style effectivley-If I'm remembering correctly she used the Vaapad lightsabre form, which was the most agressive form known at the time, so this would all fit with an agressive lightsabre setup. The curved handgrips on each sabre would, probably, allow for better grip and control when fighting with a sabre in each hand. The 'S' shape when the sabres are joined is simply because if the grip was in a more 'M' shape it would be very difficult to control.

 

Out of Universe; The writers were looking for something different to make her stand out, and having two sabres you could join together to form a duel bladed sabre is an idea that has been around as long as Darth Maul's duel bladed sabre. (I had the same idea after seeing that film). The sabres are, in effect, a mixture of Dooku's curved sabre and Mauls duel blade.

 

Unlike most of the alternate types of sabre hilts I'd imagine this set up would really work, if require a fair amount of skill to use to best effect.