A perfectly good explanation for the lightsaber color changes!

[El Chuxter]

I'm not sure if this is more a AOTC or EU thread, so I'll drop it here.

I know the question of why so many lightsabers seemed to change color (like Mace's going from blue to purple, Ki-Adi's going from purple to blue, etc) before AOTC has come up several times.

Of course, from a film point of view, the good guys are all blue and green (except Mace, whose purple definitel means something), and bad guys are all red. I'd imagine this is in large part to make it easier to see onscreen who's who.

We know from previous EU sources that lightsabers are primarily built from adegan crystals, which focus the light into the "blade" and determine its color. We also know from the AOTC Visual Dictionary that Mace's standing on the council allows him to have the gold-plated hilt (but, I believe, says nothing about the color), and that Sith use red blades due to the artificial (slightly unstable) adegan crystals they use.

Since no one with any official say seems to have addressed the sudden shift from all colors of the rainbow (pre-AOTC) to the standard four (AOTC - ROTJ), and back again (post-ROTJ), here are my thoughts. Until I'm told they're wrong, I'll believe this explanation:

Various natural factors cause crystals from different planets to produce different color blades.

Prior to the turmoil surrounding the Battle of Naboo, lightsabers were a show of individuality among the Jedi. Although the most readily-available crystals produced blue and green blades, it was not uncommon for higher-ranking Jedi to seek out crystals from other planets so that they could have lightsabers with blades in nearly any color imaginable (including a red similar to that produced by the artificial crystals used by the Sith). Although the green and blue sabers generally lasted longer, many Jedi preferred the different colors.

Following the Council's realization that the Sith had returned, expeditions to less conveniently located worlds simply to obtain crystals of a different color were seen as frivolous and strongly discouraged. As worlds ceded from the Republic to join the Confederacy, crystals native to these worlds were absolutely unavailable to use. Consequently, as lightsabers were destroyed or simply wore out, they were replaced by crystals producing green or blue blades. Mace Windu was the last of the Jedi to take part in the Battle of Geonosis to have a differently-colored blade, as his was more recent in construction and still in proper working order.

Then came the Purge. For many years, the only known functioning lightsabers were those belonging to Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. (It's possible that Qui-Gon's also survived, though wasn't used.)

Some time after constructing a simple green-bladed saber, Luke Skywalker found evidence of varying blade colors and encouraged his students to use whatever crystals were available. As political climates on many planets had changed, the full spectrum was again available.

Corran Horn built a dual-phase saber with adegan crystals (producing a green blade) and a diamond (producing a white blade). However, diamonds typically produce weaker, less stable blades, so they were rarely used except as a last resort, even though they were readily available throughout the Clone Wars.

[JediTricks]

Interesting theory, mine from pre-TPM was that the Force-user who created the saber had to use their Force-powers to create a usable crystal, and that their specific Force attuning shaped the crystal in different ways that created different colors. I'm not way into the EU though, so it probably doesn't fit there that well.

[Rocketboy]

I figured in the Star Wars universe Hasbro actually listens to it's collectors and made new colors.

[Jay86]

In KOTOR ("Knights of the Old Republic" for the XBOX, which is a fantastic game by the way, one of the greatest I've ever played) which took place thousands of years before the films, the different colored blades had meaning...for example:

Jedi Guardian

The Jedi guardians are those Jedi who aren't afraid to take out their lightsaber when the situation demands it. They shouldn't be thought of as warriors, since "wars not make one great," after all. Indeed, the life of a Jedi guardian should be dedicated to peace, the minimization of bloodshed, and serene meditation on the meaning of the Jedi Code.

Jedi Sentinel

The sentinel class is supposedly a balanced, diplomatic class, involved in settling conflicts between parties and arbitrating grievances through negotiations. Given the nature of KOTOR, though, most of a Jedi sentinel's negotiations will be of the aggressive variety, but not to worry; Sentinels are quite adept at handling themselves in combat.

Jedi Consular

Jedi consulars seem to fit into the mold of the "crazy old wizard," since they are much more adept at channeling the Force than are the other two classes. They don't gain any special Force powers when compared to the other two classes, but do gain Force powers at a very slightly more rapid pace than do guardians and sentinels, and will have a deeper pool of Force points to draw upon when they need to unleash their powers in combat. They spend less time training for physical combat, however, and so are not going to be as appropriate as front-line combat troops. A good example of a Jedi consular, albeit a Dark side example, is the cronish Emperor Palpatine from Return of the Jedi.

Each of the different classes of Jedi had a different color blade for the Jedi's saber....I dont remember off the top of my head, but blue stood for one class, green for another, and yellow for the last remaining one. I'm not too sure how far this tradition carried into Episode 1 or the time thereof, but thats sort of an explanation, in the ancient history of it all however, of the colors of the blades changing color and whatnot. Though it is odd that they claim the Mace's purple blade stands for high-rank in the Jedi Order yet in the KOTOR game you can pick up a purple crystal and use it and put away your green/blue/yellow crystal......This, dare I say it, seems to be a situation where the EU and the movies collide, though I really wouldnt label any SW game "EU" material, maybe slightly, but I think of anything Lucas(insert division here) releases to be more "truth" than the EU stuff, since it seems any of the EU characters/whateverelsethereis can easily be tossed aside and replaced with something else (like Boba Fett's history being complicated with AOTC). Oh well, I've already discussed this topic before, so whoever reads this and possibly feels the need to discuss such a topic, dont even bother, I've done so before and I for one dont feel like arguing over the truth and validity of EU stuff.....so lets keep this topic to the lightsabers, that is after all what the topics about. So, any thoughts on this? I'm just as curious as anyone else is as to this whole lightsaber-and-what-the-meaning-behind-them-is situation really is. Seems as though we have many different 'facts' that seem to need some straightening out.