Sith lightsabers (plothole)??

In canon it is explained that the sith take a Jedi's kyber crystal after they kill them in battle and "bleed" the crytsal to turn it red. That is how they create their lightsabers.

BUT the Jedi believed the Sith has been extinct for a millennia by the time of TPM, and the Sith themselves were staying well hidden from the Jedi. In other words, they definitely weren't encountering each other over this period,

So if Sith kyber crystals only come from slain Jedi lightsabers, HOW did all the eras of Sith before the PT still have functional lightsabers??

mmm

The Sith could have just passed their kyber crystals down over the years no?

Or maybe they went to planets like Illum and bled the crystals they found there?

People go missing all the time.

I think the Ahsoka novel also mentions that Sith could bleed random rocks and shit. Didn't necessarily have to be a Jedi's kyber(though that was obviously preferred.)

that's no plothole, one Jedi a generation goes missing wouldn't set off any red flags for the Council lol

Originally posted by Galan007
I think the Ahsoka novel also mentions that Sith could bleed random rocks and shit. Didn't necessarily have to be a Jedi's kyber(though that was obviously preferred.)

Originally posted by relentless1
that's no plothole, one Jedi a generation goes missing wouldn't set off any red flags for the Council lol

Originally posted by Eli Vanto
They could bleed rocks? That's just dumb, no? 😬

Dark crystals were made, too, but not in that holy place. They were plundered from their rightful bearers and corrupted by the hands that stole them. Even rock could be changed by the power of the Force, bleeding alterations until their color was the deepest red.

Originally posted by Galan007
Sure it's dumb, but yeah, the Ahsoka novel did reference it:

I don't think it meant literally any rocks could be bled. I think it's just a reference to the fact that kyber is technically "rock," and the dark side was able to corrupt it into changing.

As for the main topic at hand, there's many explanations.

First, we know the Sith didn't always follow this tradition. Maul had his double bladed lightsaber before fighting his first Jedi, and I believe Dooku had bled his own Jedi lightsaber before ever killing a Jedi as well, iirc. In that regard, you could argue Vader was the only true Sith of any of Palpatine's apprentices, since he was the only one to follow this tradition.

Second, as others have mentioned, it's not altogether uncommon for Jedi to die in action or go missing. A single Jedi being killed by the Sith per generation could definitely go unnoticed. This is especially true for the Banite Sith and their trademark paranoia. The sheer lengths they go to in order to cover their actions made them virtually undetectable to the Jedi.

Third, the Sith could easily pass along the kyber crystals of their slain masters to their apprentices, or collect kyber crystals from any number of the sites of historical conflict between the Jedi and the Sith. For example, we've seen in Rebels that Malachor is littered with the lightsabers of fallen Jedi and Sith (it's speculated that this is how Ezra got his green crystal, from the crossguard lightsaber he picked up in the Season 2 finale). We know Palpatine took Maul to Malachor at least once during his training. This may have also been when Maul picked out his kyber crystal off-screen.