‘The Acolyte’ Finally Showed a Lightsaber Secret We’ve Never Seen Onscreen

For the first time in Star Wars history, viewers witnessed the creation of a Sith lightsaber in real-time in The Acolyte.

It’s well-known that lightsaber colors are significant in the Star Wars universe. Lightsabers are the preferred weapon of the Jedi, and creating one’s first lightsaber is one of the most important rites of passage younglings complete. The weapons require a Kyber crystal to work, which are Force-attuned crystals. Jedi must find a Kyber crystal that bonds with them to utilize in their lightsabers. Although the crystals are originally clear, once they bond with a Jedi, they change color to reflect the nature of the weapon’s owner. The most common colors are blue and green, which are the colors of Sol’s (Lee Jung-jae) and Jecki’s (Dafne Keene) lightsabers in The Acolyte, respectively. Green represents a closer connection to the Force, while blue typically manifests for Jedi who rely more on physical skill than Force connection.

While green and blue are the most common, Jedi lightsabers come in many colors, including rarer ones like yellow, orange, white, and purple. However, the same isn’t true for the Sith. When a Sith wields a lightsaber, the color is always red. This is because Sith don’t bond with Kyber crystals like Jedi do. They have a much different method for creating lightsabers, and The Acolyte captures it beautifully.

The Acolyte shows a bleeding Kyber crystal

The thing about Kyber crystals is that they’re attuned to the Force, so they’re technically living crystals. When they are picked up by a Sith, they resist the Sith’s corruption. Hence, instead of bonding with them, the Sith desire to force the Kyber crystals to adhere to their will. To do this, they channel all their negative energy, such as hatred and anger, into the Kyber crystal. Through this negative energy overload, they violently break the Kyber crystal’s alignment with the Light Side of the Force. This causes the Kyber crystals to “bleed,” turning the lightsaber blade crimson.

While this process was known, we’ve never actually seen in live-action the moment a Sith bleeds a Kyber crystal. Fortunately, The Acolyte has remedied this issue. During the confrontation with Sol on Brendok, Osha (Amandla Stenberg) gets ahold of his blue lightsaber. She is so angry at this moment that she’s willing to kill him. Meanwhile, since she has the lightsaber in her hand, she begins channeling much of that anger, hatred, and distress into the lightsaber. Inside the hilt, viewers can see the blue Kyber crystal begin to sprout spots of blood as Osha holds it.

Finally, when Osha activates the lightsaber and aims it at Qimir, the bleeding process finishes its course. The red hue starts at the hilt and slowly travels up the blade until she’s wielding the crimson lightsaber exclusive to the Sith. It was a breathtaking and beautifully captured moment demonstrating the key difference between how the Jedi and Sith create and wield their lightsabers.