An High Republic-era Star Wars comic will depict the Kyber Arch, a formation of Kyber crystals with fascinating implications for Jedi lightsabers. In both the canon and Legends continuities, lightsabers are powered by Force-imbued crystals of different colors. Purple lightsaber crystals are considered rare, but the Kyber Arch challenges this notion in its first visual depiction.
Although the Kyber Arch has already appeared in the Star Wars: The High Republic multimedia project, it will finally be visually depicted in Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures: Quest of the Jedi #1, by Claudia Gray and Fico Ossio. The arch - which commemoriates fallen Jedi - is seen in a preview shared by Dark Horse Comics. Curiously, the Kyber Arch appears to be comprised of a large number of purple lightsaber crystals and many yellow, indicating that during the High Republic era, both colors were way more common.
Purple Lightsabers Were Way More Common Than Fans Know
In current canon continuity, Kyber crystals have no color until they bond with a Force (or are turned red by a dark side ). While blue and green are the most common Kyber crystal colors, the gems can turn purple, yellow, or orange on rare occasions. When the canon iteration of Mace Windu obtained his Kyber crystal, it turned purple once it bonded with him. The construction of Mace Windu’s lightsaber in the canon continuity is shown via a flashback in Star Wars: Age of Republic.
The Kyber Arch Could Introduce a New Source of Lightsabers
It's clear from the prevalence and balance of colors in the Jedi's Kyber arch that color distribution used to be far more even, suggesting something key was different during the High Republic. It may be that the Jedi got their Kyber from multiple or different sources. This is how things worked in the now defunct Legends continuity. Purple lightsaber crystals were not typically found on Illum (the traditional source of Jedi lightsaber crystals), but they did occur on worlds such as Hurrikaine. The Legends timeline also includes synthetic lightsaber crystals, generated by the Force or its dark side and allowing their to make the gems any color, including purple.
If the franchise is returning to any of these ideas, this would be huge, as Ilum's transformation into Starkiller base by the First Order robbed any future Jedi of the essential material. The Kyber arch could be a huge clue that there are other sources of Kyber out in the galaxy for post-sequel trilogy Jedi to tap - sources which tend towards less traditional colors.
Star Wars' Past Is Full of Purple Lightsabers
While purple-bladed lightsabers are rare, both in the films and canon and Legends non-movie materials, they seem to have been more common among High Republic-era Jedi than their prequel-era successors. In addition to Bly, other Jedi of the High Republic era who wield purple-bladed weapons include Sav Malagan, Ty Yorrick, and Vernestra Rwoh. Star Wars' Kyber Arch shows that more diverse lightsaber colors used to be the norm - and as the franchise looks to the future, they could be again.
Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures: Quest of the Jedi #1 is available from Dark Horse comics April 26.
