One of Luke Skywalker's most controversial lines in Star Wars movie for quite a few reasons. From the ways it changed Luke's character after Return of the Jedi to the ways it diverged from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi stepped on quite a few toes. Many viewers had problems with the movie, but one line in particular caused a lot of those issues.

After Rey Skywalker found Luke on Ahch-To in The Last Jedi, she asked him to the Resistance. Luke responded by saying "I'm going to walk out with a laser sword and face down the whole First Order?" which caused a bit of uproar. Many viewers thought that it was strange that Luke would call lightsabers "laser swords," given all the knowledge he had of the various lightsaber types and his experience using them. Though many thought the line was disrespectful to one of the most iconic weapons in sci-fi history, it actually paid off a big part of the early script for A New Hope.

The Term "Laser Sword" Was Used In A New Hope's Earliest Drafts

In the early drafts for A New Hope, the iconic Jedi and Sith weapon wasn't called a lightsaber. In fact, George Lucas didn't come up with the term lightsaber: it was Alan Dean Foster, the ghostwriter of the novelization of A New Hope. Both Lucas and early versions of the script for A New Hope called them laser swords instead, and Foster began using the term lightsaber to better explain how they work. Luke's use of the term "laser sword" in The Last Jedi is a tribute to the earliest origins of lightsabers, but it wasn't the first - or last - time that term would be used.

Laser Sword Is Becoming A More Common Term In Star Wars

Since The Last Jedi, the term "laser sword" has become increasingly common. Since The Last Jedi, two other characters have called a lightsaber a laser sword: Din Djarin in The Mandalorian and Hunter in Star Wars: The Bad Batch. Based on the fact that both Din and Hunter weren't very familiar with the Jedi or the Sith, "laser sword" seems to be a sort of slang term that the franchise has introduced. It would make sense for there to be slang about lightsabers as well, given the legendary status the Jedi had in Star Wars, especially after Order 66.

The term "laser sword" hasn't just recently been introduced to Star Wars canon, though. The first time anyone referred to a lightsaber as a laser sword on-screen was when Anakin Skywalker first met Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. Since The Phantom Menace was released in 1999, it predated Luke's use of "laser sword" by over a decade in both real life and in the Star Wars timeline. It also serves as further proof that "laser sword" was a slang term used by people with little experience with the Jedi, as Anakin was still just a child at the time.

Though "laser sword" seemed like an ignorant term in The Last Jedi, it actually has some deep roots both within and without Star Wars canon. It's also exactly the kind of deep-cut reference that should have served as a love letter to longtime fans, yet it wasn't received that way. In that way, Luke's reference to laser swords works as an example of both the backlash The Last Jedi received and the ways it was misunderstood. A reference as deep as Luke's "laser sword" line proves how much love Star Wars: The Last Jedi had for Star Wars.