To quote Kanan Jarrus, “Having a laser sword (lightsaber) doesn’t make you a Jedi.” Nor does it make the user Force-sensitive. The trailers and television spots for the upcoming Ahsoka series give some fans the impression that Sabine Wren can wield the Force.
This post’ll review whether wielding a lightsaber means someone is Force-sensitive and whether it means instant Jedi.
Kyber Crystals Are Needed To Operate A Lightsaber
Anyone following Star Wars knows Jedi Younglings are taken to Ilum to construct their first lightsabers. The kyber crystals are invisible and call to their potential users. They later become coloured when the younglings find them.
However, as seen with Anakin upgrading Ahsoka’s lightsabers, he removed her green crystals with blue ones. So, the Jedi who uses the weapons doesn’t necessarily have to choose the crystals. It’s the same when a Dark Side user bleeds someone else’s crystals. They channel their range and rage into their defeated enemy’s kyber crystals.
There is also such a thing as healing where a light-side user can “heal” dark-side affected crystals. However, the process doesn’t revert the crystals to their original colouring. Instead, it turns them white, as seen with Ahsoka’s weapons later in her life.
However, there have been other ways kyber crystals have been found. Ezra found his first crystal in the Lothal Jedi Temple after he went on a quest.
If A Non-Force User Uses A Lightsaber, Does That Mean They’re Force-Sensitive?
A simple answer to this is no, they’re not. In The Clone Wars Season 1 finale, ‘Hostage Crisis,’ Padmé Amidala uses Anakin’s lightsaber to free him from his bindings after Cad Bane knocks him out. There is a background to this which we don’t go over here as it’s not essential to this explainer.
Because Padmé uses her husband’s lightsaber, it does NOT mean she is Force-Sensitive. The same can be said for Han Solo in Return of the Jedi when Luke asks him to use his [Luke] lightsaber to free them and the droids, R2-D2 and C-3PO, from the Ewok net trap.
However, we all know what happened there. R2 cuts the net, despite 3PO telling him not to do it.
Some fans believe that Han is Force-sensitive because he appeared to his son, Ben, in The Rise of Skywalker when there is no indication anywhere in Star Wars canon to suggest he is. There is always some way to explain how this is possible. Han did not have the same blue glow Luke and Yoda had when they appeared as Force Ghosts. It is entirely possible Ben’s mind was making his father appear before him rather than the Force.
What We’ve Established
Okay, so we’ve established that you must be Force-Sensitive to construct a lightsaber. However, you don’t need to have a Force connection to be able to use a lightsaber. This is where Sabine comes into it.
Sabine has wielded the darksaber, which the Mandalorian Jedi, Tarre Vizsla, created. The weapon was then passed down amongst the Mandalorian people as a symbol of power. Sabine trained with it before turning it over to Bo-Katan Kryze.
Wielding Ezra’s lightsaber is in the same vein as the darksaber.
