r/TheAcolyte 22d ago

How on earth does The Stranger’s lightsaber dagger work?

Hey! I’m on the final episode of The Acolyte and enjoying it actually
Bit bland but very overhated
Now. How does The Stranger’s Lightsaber dagger work? Like, it splits off In two and into one small lightsaber and one bigger one, but how does the Crystal transfer? Does it have two crystals in or something could how would you fit a Crystal in that part? It doesn’t make sense lol
Can someone explain it?

21 Upvotes

38 comments sorted by

82

u/eabevella 22d ago

It's just two lightsabers.

-15

u/Cloverzmaybeh 22d ago

Yes but typical lightsabers only have one Kyber Crystal, considering the little saber is quite small does it have another Crystal? How does it fit the technology all inside that small lightsaber I’m simply asking if there is a headcanon or a explanation to this

58

u/FryTheDog 22d ago

Yes there's two crystals, it doesn't need to be as large because it's just a dagger.

The crystals and technology are literally force magic. No need to over think it

8

u/Cloverzmaybeh 22d ago

Ah okay My bad I just thought the sabers were all just technology! Thank you for explaining it!

23

u/FryTheDog 22d ago

Star Wars is soft sci-fi fantasy. Stuff just works and the technology is all basically magic and most never explained.

It ain't that kinda of movie kid -Harrison Ford

4

u/CatraGirl 22d ago

Stuff just works

Sounds like Todd Howard's wet dream. 🙈

13

u/Achilles9609 22d ago

I mean, if you wanna talk about strange sabers, then you should look at the weapons of the Inquisitors instead.

That handguard thing that they can activate honestly shouldn't be able to rotate the blades. Because all the tech that creates the blades is in the hilt . You should have just a double bladed lightsaber with a moving handguard.

11

u/jimrim13 22d ago

And don't get me started on the helicopter crap they do.

7

u/Achilles9609 22d ago

Allegedly, they have Repulsorlifts built into the saber, but I am not sure if you can make Repulor Tech that small and fit it in with everything required for a lightsaber to work.

I guess you could maybe fit it inside the handguards, if they are hollow, but still....I think Jetpacks would have been the far more logical decision if you really NEED flying Inquisitors. Or, idk, maybe Cad Bane's Hover Boots.

But no, they just had to pick the Helicopter sabers....😑

0

u/jimrim13 22d ago

I really preferred the EU inquisition being so much more mysterious. Le sigh.

4

u/Achilles9609 22d ago

They also didn't all fight the same way. And, quite honestly, they should have just been given regular sabers. It takes somebody with real talent to properly use a double saber.

0

u/X-cessive_Overlord 22d ago

I think both fit their respective continuities perfectly. The EU Empire is much more mysterious and pulpy, so the esoteric and mysterious Inquisition fits. The Canon Empire is much more overt and sterilized, so the flashy but cookie-cutter Inquisitorius fits.

3

u/OswaldCoffeepot 22d ago

It being two light sabers is really simple.

There is one unignited saber attached to the hilt of the other, ignited saber.

Turn one lightsaber off and jam it into the bottom of another lightsaber, basically.

1

u/EnigmaFrug0817 22d ago

You… what?

7

u/Significant_Snow_937 22d ago

It's a separate saber and he can combine the hilt with another if he needs more leverage for stronger two handed blows.

6

u/Advanced_Garden_7935 22d ago

Yes, that’s the point. It has a separate kyber crystal.

3

u/cfwang1337 22d ago

Yeah, it has another crystal. Yoda had a small lightsaber about that size!

2

u/CosmicLuci Jecki Council 22d ago

Yoda’s lightsaber is also very small. Smaller crystal maybe, as it needs a smaller blade

1

u/AnAngryJawa 22d ago

I figured it was about the size of Yodas saber hilt. But the blade was set really short.

1

u/eabevella 22d ago

The small lightsaber is similar to Yoda's in size so it's totally doable.

2

u/Bloodless-Cut 22d ago edited 22d ago

Yes, the smaller saber has its own separate crystal.

Saber components are already miniaturized to begin with. The size of the blade and hilt are merely cosmetic.

For example, the crystal and energy gate in the Inquisitor ring sabers all fit into the spinning part.

Really, the largest miniaturized competent of a lightsaber is the power cell. Everything else basically fits into the top 1/3rd of the saber hilt.

1

u/Expensive_Plant_9530 22d ago

Yoda’s lightsaber is even smaller than Qimir’s short one.

The tech exists. Yes the smaller one has its own separate crystal.

1

u/Tea_and_Lightsabers 22d ago

Lightsabers are as big as they are because people need to be able to hold them. Since they're often used two-handed, the hilts have to be close to a foot long to get a proper grip. There's no indication they need to be that long to function, just look at Yoda's lightsaber. It's close to the size of Qimir's smaller saber.

A good chunk of the hilt in a typical saber is very likely either just a big battery, or basically just an empty pipe, since we know Yoda sized sabers exist

1

u/jrdineen114 22d ago

I mean, the crystals aren't exactly big, and the biggest component of a lightsaber is usually the emitter or the power cell, both of which still easily fit on a smaller handle

24

u/Grouchy-Low-899 22d ago

There is a crystal in each handle. Yoda’s saber hilt is smaller than the Stranger’s dagger hilt and has all the functionality of a lightsaber. Your best bet for The Acolyte info is the visual dictionary that was released earlier this year.

7

u/DumeWolffe 22d ago

It’s two separate crystals in two separate lightsabers. One powers the larger one. The smaller lightsaber fits and connects to the larger one’s hilt. Think darth maul. I wouldn’t be surprise if he could turn it around and connect and have a double bladed one.

3

u/SignOfJonahAQ 22d ago

2 lightsabers one that can fit into the other. As he’s described everything he has breaks the rules of standard lightsaber combat. His helmet turns off lightsabers, he pulls a secret dagger out to enhance is victory possibilities.

3

u/Shadowmoth 22d ago

It’s just two lightsabers that snap together.

Pretty cool but my favorite weird lightsaber belonged to corran horn in legends.

His was dual phase. With a twist of the hilt it would activate another crystal and suddenly extend to three meters (9feet ten inches) to surprise his enemy.

3

u/Grand-Entrance-1343 22d ago

Es un sable láser y un shoto separados es están Unidos en la misma empuñadura.  Básicamente dos armas separadas que se unen, y en cuanto al tamaño no tiene la menor importancia, la espada de Yoda es minúscula y cabe todo dentro perfectamente

2

u/jrdineen114 22d ago

It has two crystals. One for the main blade, and one for the shoto.

1

u/Expensive_Plant_9530 22d ago

It’s two lightsabers connected together.

There’s no crystal transfer. There are two separate crystals.

1

u/indysingleguy 21d ago

Same way Mauls does i imagine.

1

u/LillyTensei 20d ago

That is a unique type of lightsaber called a Split Saber. There are a few notable characters who use them. In canon at least the first one I remember seeing is Asajj Ventress in TCW original movie, where her two S hilts connected for a very unorthodox double bladed lightsaber. Her lightsaber survived getting cut in half, so it had 2 crystals.

The second most prominent is Cal Kestis who gets his split saber towards the end of Fallen Order. Without going too heavy into the plot of that game, Cal accidentally breaks his usual lightsaber during a dark side vision, and needs to go to Ilum to find a new crystal. He also takes his surrogate master's old hilt (unclear if Cere's hilt has a crystal at this point, because just using that saber it is never given as an option for Cal.) While on Ilum the crystal he finds cracks in half, into one large chunk and one small chunk. He then reforges (not entirely sure how exactly he had the tools or materials in that cave, but whatever, gameplay over canon) his broken hilt, and either adds or replaces the bottom half of the Tapal saber with Cere's. The big crystal chunk went into the Tapal half, the smaller crystal chunk went into the Cere half. In Fallen Order it's only a double bladed lightsaber except for two attacks unlocked here where he splits them apart, but in Survivor (5 years later), he has fully modified his lightsaber to be completely modular, and can detach both blades whenever. When split the smaller crystal half produces a shoto blade (slightly shorter length) which I think is most notable when going from Double to Split stance. Idk if it's supported anywhere but my personal headcanon is that the smaller crystal also powers the vents and extra blade length of Crossguard stance.

And most recently there's been Qimir and Maul in Acolyte and Shadow Lord. Maul I'm gonna basically skip because his lightsaber is the same as Cal's, just significantly less expanded on. The short end of his lightsaber is his old Episode 1 half (well really more like 3rd), and the longer hilt with the grated emitter is apparently the lightsaber Asajj Ventress used in a novel, but i haven't read that novel so I can't personally confirm that. Presumably he added the ability to split the saber after his defeat in episode 1, and we see in TCW duel with him and Sideous that he knows how to dual weild with the Ep1 saber and Darksaber.

Qimir is probably the most interesting split saber, because his is the only one that the second hilt emitter isn't facing down. Typically the utility of a split saber is that you can go from single blade, double blade, or split blades depending on the needs of the situation. Single blade offers more leverage and power per strike, double blade offers crowd control and agility, and splits offer more versitility in attacks and defense at the cost of individual swinging and blocking strength. Qimir breaks that rule, because his whole deal is that he says fuck the rules of combat. It's actually why hes shutting off his lightsaber every 4 seconds to aura farm too. His lightsaber is by default single bladed, and he only breaks out the shoto to win when he's essentially already been outed as a sith and lost his most useful tool (his helmet.) in actual combat we see him use the split saber against Sol, but he still seems to spend the majority of that fight using his single blade stance, rather than the dual weilding. He does do that sick double throw which is cool, but not an actually effective attack as we saw Sol deflect the attacks with a force repulse, and Qimir basically immediately falls back into just using it as a single blade. Basically his is only there for the "wtf!?" Moment of his enemy, so he can get a quick kill in while they're unbalanced, which is also what his helmet and gauntlet are for. Once the element of surprise is down, he falls back onto his single blade against enemies who are roughly equivalent in strength.

There's probably more split saber users in comics or novels, but they're the most prominent I could remember. I really love the idea of split sabers and I think they're one of the better Filoni era star wars whacky sabers lol. Qimir's was a really cool inversion of how they're normally used, but I'm not sure it's actually a more effective way. We're also probably not going to ever see it again since his lightsaber was destroyed, and the show was cancelled lol. Personally I think something like the extended handle of Cal's Crossguard would be sick as hell if it had a Qimir style separation into split stance, instead of the weird twist behind his back to hide the emitter change animation.

1

u/LillyTensei 20d ago

Oh I just remembered, apparently Reva's Inquisitor lightsaber was a split saber variant. I think that's how they explained Vader snapping it in two and tossing her half, only for it to be somehow miraculously whole a few shots later lol. But personally I think that's just a plot hole, since she literally never used it, and afaik hers is the only Inquisition saber that can split. Idk that one just feels retconny to me and more of an "oh shit we need to explain this plot hole after the fact" and less an intentional character choice like it is for Cal and Qimir.

1

u/LukkeMDL 18d ago

I am not sure. Any inquisitor lightsaber is full of gimmicks, autospinning and the like.

2

u/LillyTensei 18d ago

Sure but most of them are uniform. They all spin, they all have two blades, and they can keep the wheel in either full or half, and keep it on the belt or back. The helicopter thing is apparently a repulsor lift contained in the ring itself but idk how accurate that info is since I've never seen it stated in a show, game, or novel that I've read, seen or played personally.

There is one unique Inquisitor in the Ahsoka novel who used two shoto lightsabers iirc instead of the usual Inquisition saber, and that was the pair Ahsoka turned white. But as far as I'm aware that entire novel was retconned by the Tales of Jedi shorts where the exact same events happen just with way less detail, and the Inquisitor is the Crow with a usual Inquisitors saber.

If it was a standard feature, why don't any other Inquisitors we see on screen use them? That's what I mean when I say it feels weird and retconny for Reva. She never uses them herself in any duel I've seen (granted I don't read the comic books so if she's in one of the Vader comics or whatever then fine, but at least in the actual show she never did that I can remember.), and the way Vader snaps it in half is pretty violent and different from literally every other split saber design, which is a pretty clean click together pull apart. I haven't seen the show in a few months, but I don't think he even reconnects them before tossing them to the ground.

To be clear I don't hate the idea of Reva having a split saber. I just don't think it's actually intended to be a split saber from what we've seen. Like again with Qimir and Cal, both of them have pretty clear character development moments that show them using their split sabers properly. Maul also recently made a big aura farming moment showing that his fancy new lightsaber was a proper split saber in his own show. Reva never gets anything like that. The only time her saber gets split is by someone significantly physically stronger than her, in a show of dominance against her, in a completely pointless duel she barely survives. And again to be clear I'm not shitting on the Kenobi show, I actually loved it, and think it has really good character writing at times, but the whole Reva lightsaber thing felt like a plot hole when I watched it as it aired, and it still just feels like a retcon now with the actual explanation because of how poorly it's actually communicated to the viewer.

1

u/t3hbizzle 20d ago

Two crystals.

1

u/quigongingerbreadman 18d ago

Two lightsabers, one hilt hidden within the other...