After watching certain movies, we often get struck by the tools or weapons used in that movie, like the Wand from the Harry Potter series, Wolverine’s claws from the X-Men, Thor’s hammer, or Wonder Woman’s Lasso of Truth.
Like these weapons, Star Wars utilized laser swords which are called lightsabers. They come in different colors like blue, green, red, and purple, among others. These lightsabers are used by the Jedi and their enemies on the battlefields.
Lightsaber colors can tell you about everything from a Jedi’s relation to the Living Force, to telling us whether they are most suited to be a warrior or an ambassador or a Guardian of the Jedi Temple. Blue and green lightsabers were used by different Jedi.
But there are still a few things that cannot be answered just by looking at lightsabers. After all these years, there are still some things that are not clear about the lightsabers.
Like a significant question that we often ponder about, can you stop a lightsaber with a force? And what we mean by that is that can a Jedi, or any other Force user block a lightsaber using the Force.
Luckily, in this blog, we will cover these questions that have been confusing Padawans for ages before us.
Table of Contents
Can anything stop a lightsaber?
It would have been too boring if Jedi were able to win all the fights that they stepped into. It would deprive us of all the drama and action that makes Star Wars what it is.
It is mandatory to have some suspense and action in the franchise. Let us look at all the other weapons or other miscellaneous items that can stop a lightsaber:
Mandalorian Iron
The first one is Mandalorian iron, also known as Beskar. It is one of the toughest competitors in line to answer whether anything can stop a lightsaber. The mineral was found and harvested exclusively on the war-torn planet of Mandalore.
Beskar can resist an attack by lightsabers and can even deflect indirect strikes. The Mandalorians used it for making their weapons, knives, or armors. They fittingly wear lightsaber-blocking armor since they have been at war with the Jedi for much of their history.
The Mandalorian iron can withstand large impacts of stress; hence it is damage tolerant. Moreover, it has high durability which allows it to withstand heavy strikes from a lightsaber. It is easily the biggest competitor against a lightsaber.
Phrik
Phrik is also a metallic substance that can resist the lightsaber. It was used for making armor and in designing melee weapons. And while its lightsaber-resistant qualities stayed in the Legends canon, we still count it on our list.
It was extremely durable and lightweight. Although it was not used much in battles due to it being expensive, this metallic substance was nearly impossible to destroy.
Phrik has had many uses over time, from the staff of the MagnaGuards used by General Grievous as backup, and as highly durable containers. A container made of Phrik holding a Jedi Holocron survived the destruction of Alderaan in A New Hope.
Songsteel
Songsteel is a substance that is considered lightsaber resistant. The fact that it is used only for weapons that are exquisite does expose a fact or two about its power.
It is a luminescent silver metal, used in masterwork swords and fights. If this lightweight metal were more attainable, anyone could craft anti-lightsaber objects with great effect.
It was famously wielded in a practice duel by Jedi Master Darrus Jhet to showcase its anti-lightsaber combat capabilities in the form of a Songsteel sword.
Cortosis
One of the more popular lightsaber-blocking materials in Star Wars is cortosis. It is rare and difficult to mine for viable use.
However, it was one of the weakest weapons to be used against lightsabers. In a battle between these two, the cortosis would never win because it only made a few sharp knockouts on the lightsaber that would temporarily stun it.
This impact made cortosis a valuable fabric for anti-lightsaber skirmish weapons, although with a few mean strikes, a lightsaber may still overpower the cortosis.
Cortosis was famously used as a Cortosis-weave in Vibroblades, which we talked about before. Go check that article out!
The Hide of The Zillo Beast
The Zillo Beast was one of the initial natives of the planet Malastare, the home of the Dugs. The Dugs had exterminated most of the Zillo Beast population when they harvested fuel from the planet’s core.
Famously featured in Season 2 of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, during their initial attempt to take the beast down, Anakin Skywalker and Mace Windu found out that its hide was impervious to lightsaber strikes.
Why couldn’t the Jedi block lightsabers with the Force?
The Force is a sort of essence that is carried through all living things. With suitable preparation and information, the force can be utilized and controlled to hold, square, and conjure one’s environment.
It is a mystical and pervasive control in the Star Wars fictional universe. It is used by “Force-sensitive” people like the Jedi.
The Jedi could not block the lightsabers with the Force until very recently in Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker. But then again, that was not the only blunder in that movie.
In simple terms, the Force should not (read: cannot) be used to stop a lightsaber because the Force in fact powers lightsabers.
Does the Force Power Lightsabers?
Okay wait, we know we said that the Force powers lightsabers, but that is not entirely true. What we meant was that lightsabers have certain components that utilize that Force to power the blade. Make sense? Don’t worry, let us explain even if it doesn’t.
So, lightsabers are powered by Kyber Crystals, but those Kyber Crystals act as nexus points for the living Force to power the lightsaber itself.
Hence, while a lightsaber is just a frozen laser beam using some really high-end technology, one of its major components is a nexus for the Force. This means that no matter where the energy is coming from, the Force is sustaining it.
The Final Word
So, now that we’ve looked at so many different aspects of the topic, it is time to finally decide whether a lightsaber can be stopped using the Force.
Despite what the movies say, or show, it should be impossible for a Jedi or Sith to be able to stop a lightsaber that is being swung at them using the Force. This is due to lightsabers being manifested using the Force.
Despite this, in The Rise of Skywalker, both Kylo Ren and Rey end up stopping each other’s lightsaber strikes using the Force, so perhaps there is more about lightsabers and the Force that we do not know.