Marvel Comics’ new Star Wars comic picks up after the events of Empire Strikes Back and shows just what happened to Luke Skywalker’s blue lightsaber after it was lost during his fateful duel with Darth Vader. And while we know that Luke eventually builds a new, green lightsaber to replace it some time in the lead up to Return of the Jedi, apparently he also obtains a replacement during the interim in the form of a never-before-seen lightsaber with a yellow blade.
The new saber can be seen on the cover to May’s Star Wars #6 by writer Charles Soule and artist Jesus Saiz. The cover is drawn by R.B. Silva, check it out below:
Yellow-bladed lightsabers are a rarity in Star Wars lore, but the reveal of Rey’s new yellow saber at the end of The Rise of Skywalker has sparked an interest in their history. Aside from her, the only other canon users were the Jedi Temple Guards on Coruscant who wielded double-ended lightsaber pikes with yellow blades.
If you look closely at the hilt of Luke’s saber, it’s seemingly identical to those used by the Jedi Temple Guards, except for the coloring, so it’s a possibility that Luke somehow recovers one of their weapons to use as his own.
The reveal of Rey’s yellow lightsaber and now Luke’s may imply a link. It could be that the yellow kyber crystal in Luke’s saber somehow falls into Rey’s possession, and that’s how she’s able to build her saber using such an uncommon kyber crystal color. Star Wars is no stranger to such coincidences, like Rey stumbling across Luke’s saber in the basement of Maz Kanata’s castle, since the Force does work in mysterious ways.
It’s also worth remembering that several Luke action figures from Kenner’s Star Wars line included a retractable yellow lightsaber blade. This color choice could be an homage to those figures.
The story of Luke’s lost lightsaber took quite an unexpected turn in Star Wars #1 when we were shown what happened to the saber as it fell. A hand reached out and unexpectedly caught it, raising all manner of questions about their identity and how they knew to be there at that time to catch it. That’s not the only big Star Wars twist as of late: Marvel’s Darth Vader series revealed that Padme may have survived the events of Revenge of the Sith.
For more on the lightsabers of Star Wars, read our full primer on what the various lightsaber colors mean.
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Joshua is Senior Features Editor at IGN. If Pokemon, Green Lantern, or Game of Thrones are frequently used words in your vocabulary, you’ll want to follow him on Twitter @JoshuaYehl and IGN.
Source: IGN.com Luke Skywalker's Yellow-Bladed Lightsaber Revealed in New Star Wars Comic