Star Wars Lightsaber Lethality (Spoilers for Ahsoka)
- Thread starter TheRejectionist
- Start date
Doomsought
Well-known member
All of these videos about light sabers completely ignore the other, arguably more important, half of the light-saber's blade: the containment field. Unfortunately we don't know much about the containment field beyond the use of magic crystals in its projection. It likely re-absorbs heat among other things, which is why we don't get plasma explosions when light sabers are turned off. Also would explain why light sabers have any battery life at all. Alternately it could function via an energy debt mechanic, borrowing heat from the future in order to produce the intense plasma, that would explain why it is fail safe.
DarthOne
☦️
Your going way to into it for the average person to care about.
I mean...it's not like the members of this board reside within the 'average person' category.
This.
There's little doubt that Disney basically downgraded lightsaber wound lethality, though. If TPM was made today, QGJ likely would've survived being stabbed by Maul by Disney's own logic (except for the straight White male thing probably leading him to die anyway).
By old Wars' logic? Sabine -- dead. Reeva? Dead twice over, once as a kid during Order 66 and again when Vader gutted her. The Grand Inquisitor? Dead when Reeva stabbed him.
Lord Sovereign
The resident Britbong
Notice how in the Lucas era films, the massive but survivable wounds were almost always lopping limbs off? George had a faint idea of how injuries worked.
Bear Ribs
Well-known member
Yeah, I just don't feel like the lightsaber thing is a real issue here. Plenty of people in real life have died to a bullet to the chest while other people recover from several rounds through their bodies. I normally like the Critical Drinker but I think he's doing a disservice here by implying characters are just walking off a lightsaber to the chest when we see them waking up in what looks like a hospital.
And overall I don't find this any more egregious than Leia taking a blaster bolt to the shoulder than doesn't leave a wound worse than a papercut, certainly not enough to keep her from using that same arm to headshot two guys a second later. Heroes in Star Wars can soak a ridiculous amount of damage until the plot says they can't anymore.
And overall I don't find this any more egregious than Leia taking a blaster bolt to the shoulder than doesn't leave a wound worse than a papercut, certainly not enough to keep her from using that same arm to headshot two guys a second later. Heroes in Star Wars can soak a ridiculous amount of damage until the plot says they can't anymore.
Quo Gon was laying on the floor for 20 minutes while Maul and Obe Won were fighting. Sabine got rushed to the hospital in a freaking shuttle. People are misremembering the Duel of the Fates.
Also, Sabine looks like her wound was likely in the region of her lower right lung, more than in the gut/solar plexus like Qui-Gonn.
Far less damage to begin with, and far fewer critical bits that could be damaged in proximity to the wound.
Plus, no stomach acid messing with her insides like Qui-Gonn would have suffered; cauterizing blood vessels won't stop acid from flowing out of a gut/stomach puncture.
Okay, it's plausible that Sabine could've survived under Old Wars' rules. But I'm still not holding my breath on that.
But Reeva both times? The Grand Inquisitor? Nope. Those were chest thrusts.
Fact is Disney Wars basically trivializes lightsaber wounds.
Um the crew on that Republic Ship are dead as Disco from lightsaber strikes. None of them not even the female XO . Survived that encounter with Baylen and Shin Hottie.
Skallagrim
Well-known member
It's all somewhere in between.
The Drinker's argument here is pretty farcical. Sure, a light-sabre to the gut should make someone explode. Of course, by that logic, the mere presence of a light-sabre should ignite anything in its vicinity, and any light-sabre should be brighter than the sun-- instantly blinding anyone who sees it. Light-sabres are simply not realistic, and aren't meant to be. Case in point: I distinctly recall Qui-Gon not exploding in TPM, and I don't hear the Drinker complaining about that.
On the other hand, the tendency to trivialise light-sabre wounds is there. Sure, mooks get cut down, but that's not an argument. Mooks are basically irrelevant to the plot. If the important characters can just survive a gruesome injury with no lasting effects -- healing in very short time-spans -- then the light-sabre becomes increasingly less impressive. Narratively, that's a shit decision. And most of the Disney-era decisions can be decribed that way.
Reeva should have died from getting skewered, and -- you know what? -- Sabine should have died, too. That would have been a ballsy move. Put a major character in there (since it's a Filoni series, one of his own characters), and kill that character off without any warning. That would've been impressive. Failing that: if she does get stabbed through the torso, have her out of commission for several episodes. Chop chop, right in the bacta tank! This shit will take a while to get better!
(Not that Disney is uniquely guilty of this shit. Filoni was doing it before the Disney take-over, with Maul somehow coming back from getting cut in half, and George Lucas was fine with that. It was still a dumb-ass decision. Light-sabres should just be way more fatal. Getting stabbed through the torso should be deadly unless you get very, very lucky...)
The Drinker's argument here is pretty farcical. Sure, a light-sabre to the gut should make someone explode. Of course, by that logic, the mere presence of a light-sabre should ignite anything in its vicinity, and any light-sabre should be brighter than the sun-- instantly blinding anyone who sees it. Light-sabres are simply not realistic, and aren't meant to be. Case in point: I distinctly recall Qui-Gon not exploding in TPM, and I don't hear the Drinker complaining about that.
On the other hand, the tendency to trivialise light-sabre wounds is there. Sure, mooks get cut down, but that's not an argument. Mooks are basically irrelevant to the plot. If the important characters can just survive a gruesome injury with no lasting effects -- healing in very short time-spans -- then the light-sabre becomes increasingly less impressive. Narratively, that's a shit decision. And most of the Disney-era decisions can be decribed that way.
Reeva should have died from getting skewered, and -- you know what? -- Sabine should have died, too. That would have been a ballsy move. Put a major character in there (since it's a Filoni series, one of his own characters), and kill that character off without any warning. That would've been impressive. Failing that: if she does get stabbed through the torso, have her out of commission for several episodes. Chop chop, right in the bacta tank! This shit will take a while to get better!
(Not that Disney is uniquely guilty of this shit. Filoni was doing it before the Disney take-over, with Maul somehow coming back from getting cut in half, and George Lucas was fine with that. It was still a dumb-ass decision. Light-sabres should just be way more fatal. Getting stabbed through the torso should be deadly unless you get very, very lucky...)
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Lord Sovereign
The resident Britbong
Where Sabine got stabbed was through the upper intestine, liver, and perhaps right lung. If that had been a normal blade, she’d be dead very quickly, let alone a super heated plasma sword that’s going to frazzle anything nearby.
And if by some miracle the doctors could save her, she wouldn’t be walking around again for a very long time.
Why didn’t they just chop off her sword hand? That would end the fight and cripple her nicely.
And if by some miracle the doctors could save her, she wouldn’t be walking around again for a very long time.
Why didn’t they just chop off her sword hand? That would end the fight and cripple her nicely.
Cue jokes from Ahsoka that "she now knows three people that have a prosthetic hand" (Luke and Anakin/Vader). That'd be very in character for her, lol.
Bigking321
Well-known member
It's just stupid.
They don't have to write people surviving lightsabers to the gut. There are nearly a unlimited number of other injuries and situations that can happen to a character.
It's their own laziness and incompetence that is making this a very noticeable issue.
They don't have to write people surviving lightsabers to the gut. There are nearly a unlimited number of other injuries and situations that can happen to a character.
It's their own laziness and incompetence that is making this a very noticeable issue.
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TheRejectionist
TheRejectionist
I swear I would have probably read your first sentence as
"facial"
Skallagrim
Well-known member
Some words are just particularly difficult for my dyslexic brain. I try to edit my posts when I see obvious errors after posting, but some mistakes will just remain practically invisible to me.
Anyway, I fixed that one.
"His head was cut off by a lightsaber!"
"Ya'll remember bacta or kolto exists, right?"
TheRejectionist
TheRejectionist
Dude, I wasn't trying to be bitching about your grammar (though being an Italian, Spanish and English educator that would technically be me job) I thought it was hilarious
but I didn't give you any indication of that being so... so the fault it's on me @Skallagrim