Yellow-bladed lightsabers are somewhat of a rare sight in the Star Wars franchise, but their in-universe history and meanings are nevertheless fascinating. The Star Wars sequel trilogy ends with Rey igniting her newly-crafted, yellow-bladed lightsaber, and Asajj Ventress will use such a weapon when she returns in Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 3. In both the modern Star Wars canon and its predecessor continuity, Legends, yellow lightsabers have a variety of meanings and are, more often than not, associated with the Jedi Knights.
Yellow lightsabers are a familiar sight to Star Wars gamers, who might recognize such weapons in the Jedi Knight series, the Knights of the Old Republic franchise, and the more recent Jedi video games. On TV, yellow-bladed lightsaber pikes are the signature weapons of a specific discipline of Jedi and, in the modern canon, Luke Skywalker himself used one between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Yellow lightsabers have gained even broader appeal, thanks to Rey, and will likely continue to do so through Ventress in The Bad Batch, adding to their fascinating history.
All 16 Lightsaber Types In Star Wars Canon Explained
The lightsaber is the signature weapon of the Jedi and the Sith – but there have actually been many different types in Star Wars canon.
Where Yellow Lightsabers Have Appeared Before In Star Wars Canon
Before Rey and Asajj Ventress unveiled their yellow lightsabers onscreen, the weapons were used by Jedi Temple Guards, of which the Grand Inquisitor of Star Wars Rebels was a member. In Star Wars canon, all lightsabers are powered by Force-imbued kyber crystals, which are initially clear before changing to a specific color upon bonding with a Force-user. In most cases, kyber crystals become blue or green but in rarer cases, take a purple or yellow hue. As revealed in Christie Golden’s Dark Disciple, Asajj Ventress’s yellow lightsaber was purchased, so its crystal did not become yellow upon bonding with her.
What Yellow Lightsabers Meant In Star Wars Legends
In the Legends continuity, crystals are a specific color before bonding with a Force user, so Jedi simply chose their lightsaber colors, with the most common Force-imbued gems being Adegan crystals from Ilum, which were typically blue or green. Rarer crystals from other worlds, such as Hurrikaine crystals, came in other colors, such as purple. Of course, lightsaber crystals could also be synthesized with machinery and the Force (or the dark side). Sith typically use synth-crystals, which are nearly always red, while Luke Skywalker and his Jedi Knights use other colors, with Luke synthesizing a green crystal for his lightsaber.
In Star Wars Legends, yellow lightsabers are simply a potential blade color choice, albeit an extremely rare one among prequel-era Jedi, due to their typical use of Ilum’s crystals. In the Old Sith Wars era, yellow lightsabers signified Jedi Sentinels (one of three major Jedi disciplines), but this fell out of favor by the prequel era. In Luke Skywalker’s New Jedi Order, yellow lightsabers were quite common due to his Order’s preference for synth-crystals. Fascinatingly, the live-action debut of yellow-bladed lightsabers in Star Wars is in Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II, with Yun (an unaffiliated dark side-user) wielding such a weapon.
