About Luke's/Anakin's lightsaber hilts

[Allsi Viwes]

Have you ever noticed that they all look different? If you compare Anakin's ROTS to Luke's ANH, they look different! I thought they were supposed to be the same lightsaber. Also, if you compare the ANH to the ESB hilt, they change again! Why do they do that? Just google pictures of all the hilts and see how they're different, like Anakin's to luke's. One of the differences I see is that Anakin's has some big bulge thing on the switch and they're both a bronze color, while Luke's is just plain silver. Anakin's also has a bunch of bumps around the switch. So why did they change the look in every episode?

[fenyxkell]

Because between ANH / ESB and ROTJ, Darth Vader/Anakin made some changes to his lightsaber (see wikipedia).

[RunningWild]

I think what Allsi is referring to is not Vader's Sith sabers, but Anakin's saber and how it changes in appearance from film to film.

Don't forget that after defeating Anakin at Mustafar, Obi Wan seized Anakin's lightsaber which ended up being kept safe in Obi Wan's desert shack on Tatooine and then given to Luke Skywalker.

The first difference is visible from Return of the Sith and A New Hope, where the lightsaber should be identical, but isnt. Then you have another change from Luke's lightsaber when we see it in Empire Strikes Back. It now has rivets holding the rubber grips aswell as a few other cosmetic changes.

The reason for this is practicality. They found that the lightsaber grips were coming apart from the actual handle itself in the cold and needed to take remedial action to prevent this. As for the massive difference between the lightsaber as seen in ROTS and ANH; it's anyone's guess. I suppose Lucas wanted it to look more elegant in the prequel to suit the time period.

I think Anakin's ROTS lightsaber is the most impressive and Luke's ANH one looks like sh*t in comparison, but that's just personal opinion.

[Allsi Viwes]

Yeah well, in my opinion, instead of MR making the Anakin's/Luke's lighsaber three times, they should of made Dooku's or Sidious', and don't forget Asajj Ventress

[Amuel Silan]

You guys seem to be forgetting the possibility of Obi Wan making modifications on Anakin's old hilt. I mean he had it for like, what, 20 years? What could stop him from changing the hilt?

[Allsi Viwes]

well...what exactly would he had changed to make it better?

[Adenn Corvick]

Who doesnt like a fatter hilt?

[Allsi Viwes]

durge said:

Who doesnt like a fatter hilt?

Yoda ;D XD

[darthetriganus]

The Luke hilt is much harder to wield than the Anakin. It's those metal clips (aiming sights??) that get in the way. Every spin is cut short because I can't get my fingers clear of the protuding clips.

The Anakin has the same design but the clips are on the opposite side of the hilt which makes it easier to manipulate between the fingers.

[RunningWild]

shuga said:

You guys seem to be forgetting the possibility of Obi Wan making modifications on Anakin's old hilt. I mean he had it for like, what, 20 years? What could stop him from changing the hilt?

My question is why would he? If anything, he kept the hilt to preserve the memory of his old friend and the old days before he fell to the Dark Side. Why would you tamper with a memory?

To me, it just seems like there wasn't that much attention to detail put towards the saber hilts because Lucas and his people may not have thought that people would become so obsessed and picky with continuity. How would they have guessed Star Wars would have become so huge?

[Cobalt60]

george lucas is all about merchandising rights.

the original 1977 lightsaber was a flashgun from an old 1930's camera, and thus, the design for it was owned by the Graflex Corporation. George thought that just adding rubber grips made it unique enough that it became his own design.. but that notion was tested in court when Parks Sabers was sued for turning graflex flashguns into 'EL' lightsabers. only, Parks never used the word "lightsaber" or "skywalker" or anything like that, he just called it a 'parksaber graflex EL' (or something like that) and the judge said, if anything, the copyrighted design for the hilt was owned by Graflex and not George. (parks won; george lost; how bout them apples?)

---> so George had his people redesign the hilt for ROTS and made it unique enough that there would be no question that he would now own the copyrighted design for hilt and nobody could interfere with his merchandising rights.

brushed aluminum became chrome, the length & diameter were changed, etc.. etc..
he changed enough details to ensure that he would own the merchandising rights.





thats the Real Reason (tm) that anakins saber in III is so different in materials/finish/details to the one which Luke is given in IV.

-============-

or if you like,

the saber was so badly damaged by lava after the duel of the fates in III that obiwan had to make a new "shell" for it before he could give it to Luke in IV. he took a section of tailpipe from harrison's yellow ford in "american graffitti" and slipped it over top of anakins damaged saber. thats why the graflex version is "Fatter". the knob for the covertec belt-clip was replaced with a common D-ring when he needed the covertec part to replace a button on his trousers, and when THAT didn't work, he started wearing his JeDi TAbbardz all the way to his ankles, with nothing underneath but his boxers.

(and that explains the saber change AND the costume change).

you're welcome

[Trojan Ragoon]

Luke and Anikans lightsaber look the same but Anikans my favorite ;D

[Darth Tryanas]

simple....over time in the story the hilt wears and changes over time. such as the switch its an off orange but its silver on lukes because the paint wears off you dont think tis be brand new forever?