The blue lightsaber secreted away in the basement of Maz Kanata’s bar might have called to Rey (Daisy Ridley) halfway through Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but she didn’t get the opportunity to wield it until she stared down Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). And, instead of responding to Kylo’s outstretched hand, the lightsaber distinctly chose the Star Wars universe’s new heroine. According to the powers that be over at Lucasfilm, there’s a very specific reason for that.
While many Star Wars fans keep referring to that blue lightsaber as either Anakin or Luke Skywalker’s property, that’s not how Lucasfilm, the company behind the Star Wars franchise, sees it anymore. Lucasfilm Story Group creative executive Pablo Hidalgo spoke with Vanity Fair about the fate of the blue lightsaber and its miraculous shift in loyalty.
Because, by all accounts, that lightsaber should have been more than happy to listen to Kylo’s beck and call. Lightsabers are notoriously known in the Star Wars universe as belonging to their creators. In the case of the blue lightsaber, its creator is none other than Anakin Skywalker, Kylo’s grandfather. Obi-Wan Kenobi kept the lightsaber safe for almost 20 years after all but beheading his former apprentice, and then Luke Skywalker famously inherited the lightsaber before losing it (and his hand) at the edge of Cloud City in The Empire Strikes Back. Then said lightsaber made its way, miraculously, to Maz’s basement.
A lot of Star Wars fans use this as evidence that Rey is related to one of the aforementioned Jedi, but there’s still no definitive proof for that. There is definitive proof, however, for the blue lightsaber officially being Rey’s.
“In general,” Hidalgo said, “a lightsaber belongs to the person who constructed it. In The Force Awakens, Maz says that the saber is calling to Rey now. Whether or not it’s literally calling to her to become hers or it’s calling to her because she knows it will be taken back to Luke—we’ll see.”
But the team over at Lucasfilm no longer refers to the blue lightsaber as Anakin’s. It is officially “Rey’s lightsaber,” a fact that has been hinted at in the first trailer for The Last Jedi, which features Rey training with the blue lightsaber and Luke standing off to the side, observing his new Padawan.
Something rare has happened to the blue lightsaber. It has switched owners, choosing a new allegiance for the oncoming action.
“We take to heart the lesson that Obi-Wan tried to impart to Anakin: ‘This weapon is your life,’” Hidalgo said. “We’re not ones to lose track of lightsabers.”
Star Wars: The Last Jedi premieres in theaters on December 15.
