Summary

• Luke Skywalker’s red-shaded shoto lightsaber was a unique choice due to a lack of established blade color conventions in the 80s.
• In a battle against Lumiya, Luke wielded a red-colored shoto to counter her lightwhip, not necessarily indicating a dark side affiliation.
• The synthetic crystal used to construct Luke’s shoto likely resulted in its red hue, a rarity among Jedi.

Luke Skywalker used a red-bladed lightsaber shoto in the Star Wars Legends continuity, and there may be a good reason for the weapon’s unusual hue. In the modern Star Wars canon, red-bladed lightsabers come from Kyber crystals that have been “bled” by the dark side of the Force, a process traditionally performed by Sith Lords. In the Legends timeline, however, red lightsaber crystals are traditionally used by Sith and other dark side users, but the lightsaber color does not necessarily indicate a dark side affiliation, as there are instances of Jedi and other Force-users wielding red-bladed weapons.

Less than a year after the events of Return of the Jedi, Luke Skywalker battled Lumiya, the Dark Lady of the Sith and the first true successor to Palpatine and Darth Vader. Luke Skywalker was soundly defeated in his first duel with the Sith Lady, who used a lightwhip to devastating effect. Before their next bout, however, Luke constructed a shoto lightsaber to give him an edge against Lumiya’s signature weapon. Luke’s shoto helped him best Lumiya, but its red blade may confuse Star Wars viewers, given Luke’s status as the first of a new generation of Jedi.

Lumiya established the next iteration of the Sith Order after Darth Bane’s dynasty.

Luke Skywalker’s Red-Bladed Lightsaber Was Made Before Colors Were Decided

There is a simple real-world explanation for Luke Skywalker’s shoto having a red blade. In 1985 – when the weapon debuted – red had not been established as the dark side-affiliated blade color, just as blue and green were not necessarily confirmed as Jedi colors yet. It wasn’t until the early 2000s that these parameters were established, as many lightsaber wielders – be they Sith, unaffiliated, or even council members of the prequel-era Jedi Order – used a variety of blade colors, with dark side-users having blue-bladed weapons and Jedi using red bladed lightsabers.

The Prophet of the Dark Side, known as Sariss, used a blue-bladed lightsaber, and the Jedi Master Adi Gallia is sometimes depicted as wielding a red-bladed lightsaber.

In-Universe, Was There Ever A Reasonable Explanation For Luke’s Red Lightsaber?

Notably, the prequel trilogy-era Jedi who used blade colors other than blue or green (or purple, in Mace Windu’s case) were retconned to have always used these two common hues by the release of Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones. Yet, perplexingly, Luke Skywalker’s shoto never underwent such a retcon, even when it reappeared in the Legacy of the Force novels. For this reason, there must be an in-universe explanation for the shoto’s red blade. The context surrounding the weapon’s construction may provide an answer.

Luke Skywalker’s shoto was most likely constructed using a synthetic lightsaber crystal, just like his green-bladed weapon. Unlike the green lightsaber, however, Luke did not spend over a month meticulously crafting the weapon. In his haste to face Lumiya again, Luke most likely built his shoto hurriedly, creating another synth-crystal and not taking the time to choose a specific hue. This most likely resulted in a red gem, as was usually the case for synth-crystals. Despite this, most members of the New Jedi Order in Star Wars Legends used synth-crystals, yet red-bladed lightsabers were extremely rare among Luke’s students.