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why is it that nobody drops their lightsabers turned on? luke got his hand cut off so its not like he could TURN it off as did vader but when it drops it turns off, same as Qui-Gon, and Obiwan when he dies. but i think i closed it down and THEN vader hit him. and General Grevious all his lightsabers turn off when they drop and count dukoo... and mace windu... DOES EVERY Jedi IN STAR WARS LOSE A LIMB OR 2 BESIDES YODA AND OBIWAN!!! sorry random.

This has always troubled me.

All of the sabers were supposed to be made differently, many turning off automatically when released from the hand of the user. It was supposed to be some sort of safety feature. That's EU of course, but it I still find it a bit absurd that a Jedi needs a safety feature on his saber.

The force.

That is the answer to yours, and every other question ever posoed about technical specifications in a galaxy far, far away.

It would be funny to see a lightsaber resting and burning on the floor at the same time..
Oh, wait! The lightsaber would burn through the ground and keep falling down thus causing holes in ships, thus causing wookies to be sucked in to space. That is not desirable.

not desirable? but funny, very funny, Kenobi gets cut down, or wait, my bad, becomes one with the force, and vader is doing his victory dance, and all the while, under old ben's cloak, obi's saber is burning its way through the floor, and through the death star, and an explosion, and down goes vader, death star, and the whole menace to the rebels.

Yeah, even a tiny hole would make the death star implode through the infinite pressure of space! smile1

You have to hold a swith on...

Originally posted by jollyjim311
You have to hold a swith on...
thats not right. If you have to hold on a switch, then Yoda couldn't have thrown his lightsaber into the chest of the stormtrooper in front of the temple.

Yes, I'm sure there is no one mystical energy field that surrounds all living things that allowed him to keep the switch held down or anything...

Well then, good for him, way to keep that old switch held down with the force. I was just trying to offer a simpler explanation. (the one that is in, a book (off the top of my head i can't remember which one, and i know saying "a book" at the end of a post is pathetic, but oh well...)

OMG! This thread makes my head hurt! You can throw it at someone without it turning off but according to other sources; it turns off when thrown to the ground!

Let's just take the movies example as accurate..
"Canonical"

The bigger question is this: Why does it really matter?

Didn't Maul's stay on when OB1 chopped it in half? I mean the one end that went flying...afterwards you see a brief scene in which behind OB and Maul, the wall is burning.

I've wondered about this too, Dirk Jade


It would be funny to see a burning saber on the ground, overlord

Originally posted by Talking_Owl
The bigger question is this: Why does it really matter? that's so true Originally posted by Tangible God
Didn't Maul's stay on when OB1 chopped it in half? I mean the one end that went flying...afterwards you see a brief scene in which behind OB and Maul, the wall is burning. all lightsabers are different. Some have a switch, some have a button to hold.

Seems kinda pointless to have to hold on to the button to keep it on, you're always having to spare some concentration to your hands so as not to let them move around too much on the hilt---also an obstacle.

Indeed, it doesn't sound plausible at all.

Originally posted by overlord
Indeed, it doesn't sound plausible at all. But have you seen them hold them? They have they're thumbs in roughly the same place. I think Luke's is the only one that's different.

It wouldn't be a very logical design if intended to fight with.
Go look up whether it's true or not, this doesn't sound logical at all.

Originally posted by xyz jedi
But have you seen them hold them? They have they're thumbs in roughly the same place. I think Luke's is the only one that's different.

Of course they do, they're griping the damn thing! Why not try out a few swords, huh? Your thumbs will probably be in the same place on the hilt no matter which sword..

Press button once to turn on. Press button a second time to turn off.

When released from the hand the lightsaber deactivates incase it was accidental and the Jedi doesnt get his legs cut off as it falls to the ground. Thus if you want to throw a saber, use the force to keep it active. It is classified as a force move after all.

^^ Yeah, pretty much.

Originally posted by The Ones
Press button once to turn on. Press button a second time to turn off.

When released from the hand the lightsaber deactivates incase it was accidental and the Jedi doesnt get his legs cut off as it falls to the ground. Thus if you want to throw a saber, use the force to keep it active. It is classified as a force move after all. Wow! What's your source?!

Read it somewhere but put it into my own words.

Another thing i forgot to mention is that its pressure sensitive. When the pressure releases it deactivates. Thats as a precaution

yeah and vader lobs his and it stays on but when he picks it up, its off. that confused me!

Wasn't it true that the button on the lightsaber had to be HELD DOWN to keep the blade on? It wasn't just a press and let go thing. Similar with the safteys on automatic weapons - you don't just press a button, but rather hold the switch for the saftey to be off, fire your gun, and then release the saftey which auto-engages.

Think of it that way.

no I remember that in a close-up Luke (maybe someone else) pressed the ignition and then let go of it.

i don't understand it ether, but my theroy is that they can use the force keeping it on ,but if they get knocked out then they loose all concentration of the force which causes it to turn of when the lightsaber is knocked out of his\her hand.

maybe it's because of the clashes...if you keep hitting the lightsaber against something it will stay on, if it just stays on while doing nothing it will deactivate after a period of time. (actually I think FX lightsabers do the same)

Obi1s saber glowed and hummed for quite some time in AOTC

maybe that's because he kept it pressed?

isnt it supposed to be something of an extension of the jedi, the jedi's concious thought is with the lightsaber so if they die its only natural the lightsaber would be turned off, The same applies if they simply lost concentration. How ever this could just apply to certain lightsabers i guess

I've uhm...well I have to say this WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have you forgotten ROTJ, Vader threw his lightsabre in a boomerang way and did it turn of as soon as it left his hand? No it was still on other wise it would've been stupid him just chucking a lightsabre handle at luke cause that is what it is when it is of.

The OT is defiantly different than the PT and games.

If a Force-user is killed and his saber falls from his hand, for some reason, it turns off. Frankly, having a saber which automatically shuts down when leaves its users grip is rather inconvenient for obvious reasons.

But if it IS true, then the Force-user would use the Force to hold down the switch while he threw the saber.

Both ways work, just one's more bothersome than the other.

It's probably just not well-thought-through by Lucas..

Along with many other things

No, that's just it. Lucas doesn't care and I can't blame him.

well, maybe it just turn off by the shock of hitting something, I mean when the hilt hits something, not the blade itself. Maybe that's why it shuts down. Cause when Vader threw his lightsaber only the blade touched the ramp Luke was standing on. But when the lightsaber hits the ground, it shuts off cause the hilt gets a shock.

That's actually quite a legit reason.

cause yeah after Luke falls, you hear Vader ingiting his lightsaber, altho the saber was still on when he threw it, probably because the hilt hit the ground.