The Lightsaber Blade

Once active, the blade of a lightsaber can be used in four different ways.

The most common use, of course, is slicing. A lightsaber is like a sword on steroids. Cutting through any human limb -- even an entire torso -- is trivial. It's like cutting through a banana with a machete.

A lightsaber can help convince an assailant that no means no.

With practice you can also use a lightsaber like a knife. For example, if you need to cut open the belly of a large domestic animal like a horse or a tauntaun, the lightsaber is the perfect tool. Simply use the tip of the blade and control the depth of your cut just like you would with a scalpel.

Well, that's how they would work. Lightsabers are only a figment of George Lucas' imagination, of course. This is an entirely fictional article, based on information in Star Wars movies and books. Learn more about lightsabers as a special effect.

Nearly anything you would normally find around the home or office is easy to cut with a lightsaber, including steel pipes, reinforcing beams, mounting struts and so on. If you happen to find yourself hanging upside down in a cave, a lightsaber is the perfect tool to use to cut the rope.

Another common use is melting. For example, if you come upon a three-foot-thick blast door, you cannot "slice" your way through it like you can with a normal steel or concrete partition. But you can plunge the blade of your lightsaber straight into the door and then melt your way through it to cut out an opening. This normally takes several minutes, but the results are most impressive to anyone on the other side of the blast door.

Another important use of a lightsaber is deflection, in two different ways:

1. A lightsaber blade can deflect another lightsaber blade and block its path.

2. A lightsaber blade can deflect blaster bolts. In most cases you will want to deflect the bolts back at the person who shot them at you in the first place, but it is also possible to deflect them toward other objects and people in the room.

A lightsaber user with a strong affinity for the Force has a distinct advantage in the latter situation. By using the Force, the wielder can anticipate the path of the blaster bolt and align the blade with that path prior to the bolt's arrival. Using normal visual tracking to accomplish the same effect can be far more difficult.