Curved bladed lightsabers?

[The BFJ]

Do you think a lightsaber could have a curved blade(in canon)?

[Taegin Roan]

Most people would say no. The people at Disney would probably say "why not?". The closest thing to a curved bladed saber we have in canon is the Darksaber, and nobody knows why that one has a blade the shape that it does.

[The BFJ]

When I think of the reasons for curved steel blades, very few of those reasons carry over to lightsabers. The reason why they would be rarer than honest politicians is because there really isn't a need to curve a lightsaber blade. I can only think of three:

1) Aesthetics.

2) Unpredictability.

and

3) Easier to use from horseback(speederback?)

[Darth Tepes]

Most people would say no. The people at Disney would probably say "why not?". The closest thing to a curved bladed saber we have in canon is the Darksaber, and nobody knows why that one has a blade the shape that it does.

Real Life, its because it was supposed to be a VibroSword but Lucas didn't want anything other than a lightsaber to stand up to another lightsaber but they already had the animation done.

Within the Universe I have a theory.  Now this will go against real world science and drive Logos crazy....  but the blade of a Lightsaber is contained in a electromagnetic field of sorts.  The emitters of lightsabers all have round holes for the blade to emit from so the field takes that shape.  But the Darksaber has a line-slit emitter..so the field takes that shape.  Still doesn't explain the tip but Lucas really screwed them with that.

[scifidude79]

Light whips are a thing in Star Wars. (expanded universe) If those exist and function like a whip, which they do, then the blade has to do a lot more than just curve. So, a curved blade wouldn't be much of a stretch.

[DarthProdigal]

Light whips are a thing in Star Wars. (expanded universe) If those exist and function like a whip, which they do, then the blade has to do a lot more than just curve. So, a curved blade wouldn't be much of a stretch.

Point for that, because I was going to say exactly the same thing. I believe it falls under Legends in the EU but in the first Darth Bane book is where they are first mentioned (if I remember correctly). And my word would that be a fearsome weapon, if people view double bladed lightsabers as unpredictable and dangerous to the user a whip is like the 10x BigBang Kamehameha of that in terms of craziness. I'd love to watch a fight with a user of the light whip, even if it's VS multiple opponents. Now I just wonder if anyone has done a real life variant? I'd kill to see someone using an UltraSabers version of a customized bull whip. I honestly have no idea how to even approach practically fighting this type of weapon 1 v 1. Without use of 2 blades and Jar Kai, good luck. Maybe a Kylo Ren style saber in one hand to try and block then tangle and lock up the whip on one side, and then a Force guided lightsaber throw with the one in your other hand for a coupe-de-grais. Truly terrifying to behold.

[SirLiftaLot]

Point for that, because I was going to say exactly the same thing. I believe it falls under Legends in the EU but in the first Darth Bane book is where they are first mentioned (if I remember correctly). And my word would that be a fearsome weapon, if people view double bladed lightsabers as unpredictable and dangerous to the user a whip is like the 10x BigBang Kamehameha of that in terms of craziness. I'd love to watch a fight with a user of the light whip, even if it's VS multiple opponents. Now I just wonder if anyone has done a real life variant? I'd kill to see someone using an UltraSabers version of a customized bull whip. I honestly have no idea how to even approach practically fighting this type of weapon 1 v 1. Without use of 2 blades and Jar Kai, good luck. Maybe a Kylo Ren style saber in one hand to try and block then tangle and lock up the whip on one side, and then a Force guided lightsaber throw with the one in your other hand for a coupe-de-grais. Truly terrifying to behold.

I would also be curious to see what an UltraSaber version of a whip would be like. If I had to guess, I'd have assumed that some EDM/flow/light/etc. vendors would likely sell some form of LED whip or another, although I'd be doubtful of their durability for sparring with, but for purposes of pure exhibition, I'd bet they'd look pretty cool. So I did look it up, and apparently they are a thing for the EDM/flow people. It looks like most all of the ones I've seen so far have many, many very thin tendrils (even more so than Lumiya's lightwhip) to the point where I doubt it would function similarly, but then again I know very little of whips.

I was able to find one video of someone using an LED whip (or even two at once), and they seemed to each only have a single thicker tendril/strand, as non-light most whips tend to, which seems to be more akin to most lightwhips than the others I've seen. But it seemed that the light part of the whip was many small LED lights running down the length of the whip, as opposed to it appearing as a single beam of light, but I'd still say that's close enough to count, considering it seemed very functional in the videos. The person who posted the video does seem to be very skilled with whips, and has some pretty cool videos with normal whips as well. But based on the video descriptions, it seems that she made the whip herself, so a high-quality commercially available single-strand lightwhip may not be a thing I suppose, but I have not looked into it extensively enough to say this with any meaningful level of certainty.

There seems to have been a different lightsaber vendor who made a VERY long lightwhip at one time, but reviews I read in a cursory search didn't seem to be entirely satisfactory, and the video I saw of it it did seem very long and a bit unwieldy, which I'm honestly not sure if it's due to the insane length, the material's stiffness and/or weight, the user's experience with whips, or some combination of the above factors, and another super cursory search seems to indicate that 8' would be a more suitable length than 10' for a less experienced user. An issue I would imagine would only be exacerbated with an unorthodox material/weight whip like a lightwhip would be.

Either way, it would be quite a sight, and I'd imagine incredibly difficult to counter if you came across a skilled whip-wielder with no training against a whip and no game plan to counter it. Would a gauntlet and glove made of some lightsaber resistant material allow you to attempt to grab a single-stranded lightwhip, while using a single saber in the other hand to counter-attack after closing the distance while still holding the whip in your protected hand, since if your opponent only had a single whip, if you manage to grab it, they have no other weapon? This could perhaps allow users of a single saber to defend against a whip? Such lightsaber resistant material isn't unfounded in the Star Wars Expanded Universe with things like cortosis.

[DarthProdigal]

Excellent reply and researching Sir. Although EU and therefore (to the best of my knowledge) non-canon I love this from a combat perspective. A light whip might require an entirely different Form of lightsaber combat not only to use effectively/master it, but as you agree simply to fight against. It's hard to even conceptualize defending against let alone attacking it's wielder without specialized training or equipment.

Also commenting on the original idea of this topic, a lightsaber with a curve ignites the katana lover in me. With a lightsaber it would be less applicable in the realm of cutting but retain interesting aspects of deflecting/parrying enemy blades. To that end I suppose it would really need a guard as well.

[SirLiftaLot]

Excellent reply and researching Sir. Although EU and therefore (to the best of my knowledge) non-canon I love this from a combat perspective. A light whip might require an entirely different Form of lightsaber combat not only to use effectively/master it, but as you agree simply to fight against. It's hard to even conceptualize defending against let alone attacking it's wielder without specialized training or equipment.

Also commenting on the original idea of this topic, a lightsaber with a curve ignites the katana lover in me. With a lightsaber it would be less applicable in the realm of cutting but retain interesting aspects of deflecting/parrying enemy blades. To that end I suppose it would really need a guard as well.

Thank you. Here’s a video of the person with the home made light whip for reference. It’s very cool I’d say.
https://youtu.be/atW_y8wJWjI

And I don’t see why a katana saber wouldn’t work. You wouldn’t gain any benefits in terms of cutting as you said, but you also wouldn’t inherit any of the negatives it seems, in that there’s no “dull edge” so you could use it like a katana and only strike with the traditional blade edge, but also with the back edge, since a lightsaber really has no “edge.” The only thing I can think of would be that blocking/parrying opponents could be different depending on which side of the blade you strike with. But as was the case with the light whip, if you practice with it, and your opponent did not practice against it, that’s another advantage for you. So even if a curved blade isn’t objectively better, so long as it remains functional, which it should be, it may be just different enough to give you an edge in combat against an unprepared opponent with no training against that variant.

[DarthProdigal]

Oh yea, that video is cool, link is appreciated. The user obviously was doing it for demonstration purposes only, not (like in MA training) treating it like a weapon; at least not in the sense of it being a lightsaber. Being careful not to injure themselves or others in the literal sense. But some fingers would have been seared off on missing the hilt after the toss. And wrapping the blade around yourself obviously a no-go from our frame of reference. But in terms of a light whip type of Shien (I suppose), if you have the hilt above your head and spin the blade around yourself it'd probably deflect a crazy amount of incoming blaster fire. I love new weapons ability to inspire new shifts in combat mechanics. But it also just makes me want to see a Githany cosplay, but that's just me.

[SirLiftaLot]

Oh yea, that video is cool, link is appreciated. The user obviously was doing it for demonstration purposes only, not (like in MA training) treating it like a weapon; at least not in the sense of it being a lightsaber. Being careful not to injure themselves or others in the literal sense. But some fingers would have been seared off on missing the hilt after the toss. And wrapping the blade around yourself obviously a no-go from our frame of reference. But in terms of a light whip type of Shien (I suppose), if you have the hilt above your head and spin the blade around yourself it'd probably deflect a crazy amount of incoming blaster fire. I love new weapons ability to inspire new shifts in combat mechanics. But it also just makes me want to see a Githany cosplay, but that's just me.

Exactly. She's not treating it as a light-whip, so she didn't have any intention of avoiding the "light" part of the whip. I have no doubt that she'd be excellent at using it as a light-whip if that was her intention though. She has a video where she whips an Aspirin capsule off a bottle with a whip, some videos whipping arrows out of the air (to her side, not heading straight at her, but still quite impressive), etc.

It is very intriguing how different light-weapons can majorly change things up, and how a given weapon can gain totally new qualities and drawbacks when it becomes adapted into a light-weapon. A Githany cosplay would be sweet, especially by someone skilled with a whip who actually treats their whip in the way they'd treat an actual light-whip.

[DarthProdigal]

No joke, that's the kind of person with skill and dedication to improve that I'd love to network with. On the off chance she's a SW fan, connecting her with the Masters here and possibly even ultrasabers would have sooo much possibility. Defining technique/style/Forms for a light whip, having mutual benefit from a serious design for a customized (and probably gorgeous) light whip that looks authentic. She might appreciate it and they could sell them, maybe corner the market for a while. I know it's all just theory, but such exciting possibilities for tech development, stage combat/sparring, even canonizing the weapon if it gained enough momentum. Guess these are the kind of things I live for. Guess I internalized Darth Traya's lessons on sending ripples through the Force. Topple the right domino and the result can be astounding.

[SirLiftaLot]

No joke, that's the kind of person with skill and dedication to improve that I'd love to network with. On the off chance she's a SW fan, connecting her with the Masters here and possibly even ultrasabers would have sooo much possibility. Defining technique/style/Forms for a light whip, having mutual benefit from a serious design for a customized (and probably gorgeous) light whip that looks authentic. She might appreciate it and they could sell them, maybe corner the market for a while. I know it's all just theory, but such exciting possibilities for tech development, stage combat/sparring, even canonizing the weapon if it gained enough momentum. Guess these are the kind of things I live for. Guess I internalized Darth Traya's lessons on sending ripples through the Force. Topple the right domino and the result can be astounding.

I completely agree with you. Someone like her would be a great asset to the community, and perhaps to saber vendors as well, by attracting a potential new audience of people who use whips and are Star Wars fans. I mean, I just recently ventured into the world of lightsabers by means of first using LED nunchucks, so the more different weapons and skills that can be branched out to include light-weapons, the more potential audience, and customer base, there is. I wonder if she is a Star Wars fan. If we're talking about the astounding ripples a single domino can make, who knows, maybe it even opens the door to a lightwhip wielding character in a live-action Star Wars show or movie? People seem to quite enjoy the exotic sabers we've seen in live-action so far, and saberstaffs, the crossguard saber, and the Dark Saber aren't nearly as exotic as a lightwhip would be.

[For Tyeth]

Hi there,

Well in regards to a light whip I did model a Zygerrian Electro whip a few months ago so a "realistic" hilt handle shouldn't be too hard for Ultrasabers to come up with.



If you want to see more pictures plus a short animation check out this link:
http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=40017.msg766696#msg766696

[SirLiftaLot]

Hi there,

Well in regards to a light whip I did model a Zygerrian Electro whip a few months ago so a "realistic" hilt handle shouldn't be too hard for Ultrasabers to come up with.



If you want to see more pictures plus a short animation check out this link:
http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=40017.msg766696#msg766696

Very nice. I think they could totally pull that hilt off. I know there was another vendor that had a lightwhip at one point, but I've heard it's quality and functionality as an actual whip wasn't exactly optimal, and I'd think that a HUGE part of making an awesome saberwhip would be it actually functioning as close to a real whip as possible, so it can be actually used for demonstrations and even sparring, as opposed to "just" mostly cosplay purposes.