Star Wars Lightsaber Lethality (Spoilers for Ahsoka)

[Skallagrim]

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

Not at all! I'm glad you pointed it out. I'm just saying-- these kinds of slip-ups are common, for me. My brain is wired to not see it.

 

[Lord Sovereign]

Not at all! I'm glad you pointed it out. I'm just saying-- these kinds of slip-ups are common, for me. My brain is wired to not see it.

I would never have guessed you are dyslexic. You write very well.

 

[Hlaalu Agent]

"His head was cut off by a lightsaber!"
"Ya'll remember bacta or kolto exists, right?"

To be fair they are an interstellar civilization, they should have some capacity to reattach heads. We here on Earth already have made strides towards that, reattaching not-quite-decapitated-heads- that is they recently reattached a kid's head in Israel after he suffered an internal decapitation.

 

[Jormungandr]

To be fair they are an interstellar civilization, they should have some capacity to reattach heads. We here on Earth already have made strides towards that, reattaching not-quite-decapitated-heads- that is they recently reattached a kid's head in Israel after he suffered an internal decapitation.

Yeah, but there's a difference between an internal decapitation, a decapitation from a blade or exterior blunt force, and decapitation from a lightning hot blade of magnetically-contained plasma.

 

[Sailor.X]

Yeah, but there's a difference between an internal decapitation, a decapitation from a blade or exterior blunt force, and decapitation from a lightning hot blade of magnetically-contained plasma.

Did not stop Darth Sion. Lightsaber strikes could not kill him. And that included slicing and poking with a Lightsaber. The Force is one Helluva drug after all.

 

[Jormungandr]

Did not stop Darth Sion. Lightsaber strikes could not kill him. And that included slicing and poking with a Lightsaber. The Force is one Helluva drug after all.

Semantics. Sion was a special case, especially since he was a result of special circumstances (Malachor V, Traya, et cetera; same deal with Nihilus, Traya herself, and Meetra Surik/Exile).

It's pretty much a surety that unless given plot armour, a character, Jedi, Sith, or normie, having their head chopped off by a searing blade of superheated plasma is dead, and no amount of bacta/kolto will reverse that.

They might hang around as a Force ghost or vengeful spirit, especially in the Sith's case, but they're still as dead as Disney Wars.

 

[Hlaalu Agent]

Yeah, but there's a difference between an internal decapitation, a decapitation from a blade or exterior blunt force, and decapitation from a lightning hot blade of magnetically-contained plasma.

And there is a difference between an information age civilization and a millennia old spacefaring one. You'd think they'd actually crack it by then, given the fact that they have the technology to support disembodied heads and support the headless bodies in both canons. Given you have Grevious, the Roboheads, the monks who had Jabba squat in their cribs, people being brought back from being frozen in facilities meant to freeze-dry fuel...

I'd say that they definitely have the technology to save people from lightsaber wounds, they just need the chance and the willingness. Even with all your organs vapourized they can probably stick you on life support until they can clone you replacements and/or fill you up with cybernetics...

 

[Jormungandr]

And there is a difference between an information age civilization and a millennia old spacefaring one. You'd think they'd actually crack it by then, given the fact that they have the technology to support disembodied heads and support the headless bodies in both canons. Given you have Grevious, the Roboheads, the monks who had Jabba squat in their cribs, people being brought back from being frozen in facilities meant to freeze-dry fuel...

I'd say that they definitely have the technology to save people from lightsaber wounds, they just need the chance and the willingness. Even with all your organs vapourized they can probably stick you on life support until they can clone you replacements and/or fill you up with cybernetics...

Dude, there is a vast difference between the examples you've listed there and someone's head being removed by a searing hot blade of plasma. You're being pedantic.

 

[Typhonis]

Two minutes AT most. You have two minutes to save the head, probobly much less due to the fact the brain is an oxygen hog. After 2 minutes? You are toast brain cells are dying and I do not know if SW has the technology to repair those.

 

[Jormungandr]

Two minutes AT most. You have two minutes to save the head, probobly much less due to the fact the brain is an oxygen hog. After 2 minutes? You are toast brain cells are dying and I do not know if SW has the technology to repair those.

4--6 minutes until the brain starts degrading, apparently. But, I guess that's a best case scenario, since brain cells would be dying by the second the moment your head takes skydiving lessons?

 

[Typhonis]

Well given no new blood is being transported into the brain plus the stuff already in it would be sitting there since the heart won't be able to pump it. I'd say yes.

 

[Karmic Acumen]

This talk is pointless ultimately. If Qui-Gon Jin didn't get to live after a sticker through the gut, nobody else short of Anakin Skywalker should. Especially since technology doesn't get better in Star Wars, it only stagnates or gets worse. This has always been a thing, the only exception being capital ships during (very brief) wars.

Remember, people, lightsabers are three times hotter than the sun. The sudden vaporization of the blood is a much worse thing than the hole. Realistically, people should explode in red mist when struck. Arguing blood flow to the brain is completely pointless since there would be none left.

Or the brain itself. The brain is very soggy bacon gelatin. It would fare much worse than the blood.

 

[Jormungandr]

This talk is pointless ultimately. If Qui-Gon Jin didn't get to live after a sticker through the gut, nobody else short of Anakin Skywalker should. Especially since technology doesn't get better in Star Wars, it only stagnates or gets worse. This has always been a thing, the only exception being capital ships during (very brief) wars.

Remember, people, lightsabers are three times hotter than the sun. The sudden vaporization of the blood is a much worse thing than the hole. Realistically, people should explode in red mist when struck. Arguing blood flow to the brain is completely pointless since there would be none left.

Or the brain itself. The brain is very soggy bacon gelatin. It would fare much worse than the blood.

...I'm laughing at the mental imagery of a Jedi or Sith or some poor sod just going "pop" when a lightsaber grazes their flesh.

Sith: "Ah damn, I burned my eyebrows off again."

Or when their apprentices "off" themselves during training.

"sigh Looks like I'll need another apprentice. Next!"

 

[Hlaalu Agent]

Dude, there is a vast difference between the examples you've listed there and someone's head being removed by a searing hot blade of plasma. You're being pedantic.

No, I am not. This is a minor disagreement on the internet, you don't need to result to petty name calling. I am literally not being pedantic, since I am not obsessing over minor details or hair splitting. And, if we are talking about difference- I think the main one is that the Big G's body was much less intact. He literally had to have his heat stopped by space magic so he wouldn't go into cardiac arrest. He was pretty much Darth Matt at that point. We, also have Darth Maul getting bisected and then going on a bizarre adventure and somehow surviving, because he was salty enough at Obi-wan (and then going on another series of bizarre adventures). Speaking of which, the whole Darth Maul surviving was pretty stupid.

And, I am pretty sure that light sabers don't quite work the way you are implying. If they did, I am pretty sure Qui Gon's robes would catch on fire, and maybe Anakin's and Luke's clothing would too. After all Anakin went full gender reveal on Mustafar and I am pretty sure lava is cooler than the sun. So, there probably is another factor preventing people from getting full on toasted by it. Though, there is still the issue of the wound instantly being cauterized.

Two minutes AT most. You have two minutes to save the head, probobly much less due to the fact the brain is an oxygen hog. After 2 minutes? You are toast brain cells are dying and I do not know if SW has the technology to repair those.

Which is why I said that you need the chance. I am thinking that it is only practically possible in a narrow sense of cases, such as Darth Sensibilius who has an elaborate set up for such a scenario. Probably involving droids saving his head/brain and scurrying away with it, and then also saving his body or having a clone body...

Wait, that gives me an idea for an in-universe B-Movie, "THEY SAVED PALPATINE'S BRAIN!"

This talk is pointless ultimately. If Qui-Gon Jin didn't get to live after a sticker through the gut, nobody else short of Anakin Skywalker should. Especially since technology doesn't get better in Star Wars, it only stagnates or gets worse. This has always been a thing, the only exception being capital ships during (very brief) wars.

Remember, people, lightsabers are three times hotter than the sun. The sudden vaporization of the blood is a much worse thing than the hole. Realistically, people should explode in red mist when struck.

I blame space magic.

 

[Karmic Acumen]

I blame space magic.

Then you can't argue based on Earth science.

 

[Hlaalu Agent]

Then you can't argue based on Earth science.

I was joking, though there probably could be a serious in-universe explanation and not just "space magic". One that would not preclude Earth science.

However, I did have an explanation rattling in the back of my head for clothes not catching fire- a rather simple one. Fire retardant clothing. Which I am pretty sure would be a scientifically viable reason for Qui-gon's robes not singing...but that doesn't explain Anakin going full overcooked marshmallow... Maybe, it is how the heat was being transferred? Or maybe it was Anakin that caught fire...but I am pretty sure humans are not that flammable (in most cases).

 

[Karmic Acumen]

I was joking, though there probably could be a serious in-universe explanation and not just "space magic". One that would not preclude Earth science.

However, I did have an explanation rattling in the back of my head for clothes not catching fire- a rather simple one. Fire retardant clothing. Which I am pretty sure would be a scientifically viable reason for Qui-gon's robes not singing...but that doesn't explain Anakin going full overcooked marshmallow... Maybe, it is how the heat was being transferred? Or maybe it was Anakin that caught fire...but I am pretty sure humans are not that flammable (in most cases).

Pretty sure clothes not catching fire is the least of this debate's problems.

 

[Hlaalu Agent]

Pretty sure clothes not catching fire is the least of this debate's problems.

Probably.

Anyways, to be clear, what I was trying to do was establish a small carve out so that we could have people survive getting skewered with light sabers without impacting the gravitas of light sabers. Something less stupid than what we had with Sabine, and probably less stupid than what we had with Maul.

It should be stressed that surviving this is contingent on a number of factors going right for them, and it was a mixture of luck and the fact that they prepared for such a scenario. Or, maybe an implausible number of things went right and they survived when they shouldn't have, as if something was looking out for them and they still had a purpose to fulfill...

You know an explanation in the story, as opposed to them simply surviving since they are an important character.

 

[Bigking321]

Pretty sure the plasma contained in the magnetic shell of the lightsaber (or whatever) only interacts with whatever matter enters the magnetic shell.

So wave it around whatever. Nothing happens.

Touch something with it. Whatever matter goes inside the blade is burnt by the sun.

So a blade stabbed in someone would cut through and vaporize what it touched but wouldn't pop them like a balloon.

 

[DarthOne]

Did not stop Darth Sion. Lightsaber strikes could not kill him. And that included slicing and poking with a Lightsaber. The Force is one Helluva drug after all.

True but Sion was an outlier even in Legends.

Well, him and Darth Nilhius who was a cross between one of the Nazgûl and Galacticus.