There are quite a few pop culture icons throughout the Star Wars Universe that have bled through into almost every aspect and form of media ever to exist. But out of all these, perhaps the most famous is the iconic weapon of the Jedi and the Sith.
If it is not obvious enough, we mean Lightsabers. While being single-handedly the most easily recognized weapon in all of pop culture from this century, the weapon still has a fair bit of mystery surrounding it.
The functioning of a lightsaber is something that fans have not understood no matter how hard they try. Ever since the initial release of Episode IV: A New Hope, fans have dissected the lightsaber down to its components.
Today, we come back to one of a lightsaber’s most integral components, the Kyber Crystal. Known more commonly as a Lightsaber Crystal; Kyber Crystals are, in a manner of speaking, the power sources for lightsabers.
But before we can discuss where Lightsaber Crystals come from, we will give you a short introduction about what exactly a Kyber Crystal is.
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What is a Kyber Crystal?
A Kyber Crystal is in simple terms a mineral that is found all through the Galaxy Far Far Away and is most popularly used in the construction of Lightsabers. The mineral closely resembles the earthly crystal ‘quartz’ in outward appearance.
The Crystal serves two purposes when it is used inside a lightsaber. While its major purpose is to act as a focusing point for the beam of energy that makes up the lightsaber’s blade, it also has a secondary purpose of determining the color of the blade.
The Kyber Crystal will determine the blade’s color because these crystals are connected to the Living Force and will form bonds with the user that harvests them. While this bond is being formed, the crystal develops a color according to the connection between the Jedi and the Force.
Now that we all know what Kyber Crystals are and how they work, let us get into the real questions.
Where do Kyber Crystals come from?
Kyber Crystals, as stated before, are a mineral found all throughout the Galaxy. This means that they can be found almost anywhere throughout the Star Wars Universe.
But that does not mean that they are easy to find. Kyber Crystals are among the rarest resources in the entire Galaxy, right up there with Beskar, Songsteel, and Phrik. They are usually formed under extreme pressure and tectonic movement on planetary surfaces.
But other than these two generalized conditions, these crystals are shrouded in mystery and doubt. In the millennia since the creation of the first Lightsaber, till the creation of Kyber Crystal-powered cannons attached to Star Destroyers in Episode IX, their mysteries have not been uncovered.
Over the years, many have tried to study Kyber Crystals. While they have been able to understand how to replicate their physical properties, their connection to the Force has been something that people can neither understand nor replicate.
Despite this, many attempts have been made at replicating their focusing properties to allow them to be used in lightsabers. Most of these attempts led to the creation of the synthetic Kyber Crystal, which the Sith would use in their Kyber Crystals. (We’ll talk about why in a bit)
Despite their rarity, Kyber Crystals can be found on any planet throughout the Galaxy, although with varying degrees of abundance. They are usually found in ore veins that occur naturally just below the planet’s surface.
But now that we know where Kyber Crystals come from, and where they can be found, let us talk about abundances throughout the Galaxy. And about which planet you should go to if you want to find one.
What planet do Lightsaber Crystals come from?
While Kyber Crystals can be found all over the Galaxy, and Lightsaber Crystals are in fact just Kyber Crystals, the answer to the question above is not the same as the answer to “Where to find a Kyber Crystal”.
This stems from the fact that the Jedi Order had turned the act of finding a crystal for your Lightsaber into a ritual, in the years before the rise of the Empire and the fall of the Galactic Republic. It became a rite of passage that each Padawan had to go through.
When the time came in every Padawan’s journey to build their lightsaber, they were taken by Master Yoda to the Crystal Caves on the planet Ilum. It was here that the Jedi would come to find the Kyber Crystals that they would use inside their lightsabers.
This ended up becoming the case due to how abundant Ilum was in Kyber Crystals. The surface of the planet was mostly crystalline, mainly consisting of Kyber and ice. The entrance of the caves was also a site for one of the many Jedi Temples throughout the Galaxy.
The Crystal Caves were discovered in 22,800 BBY and were home to a vein of Kyber that stretched through Ilum’s largest mountain range. The caves were later destroyed during the time of the Empire, as shown in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order when Cal Kestis visited them.
Due to the large amount of Kyber Crystals it housed, the planet was later converted into a weapon by the First Order. Then renamed to Starkiller Base, Ilum became host to perhaps the most devastating weapon that the Galaxy had ever seen.
But when it comes to Kyber Crystals, Ilum is not the only planet that they can be found on, the other planets include locations such as:
- Lothal (Shown in the show, Star Wars: Rebels)
- Exegol (Shown in the movie Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker)
- Jedha (Shown in the movie, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story)
- Utapau (Shown in the movie, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of The Sith)
But now that we know where Lightsaber Crystals come from, and how rare they are, we need to know which Kyber Crystal is the rarest.
Which Kyber Crystal is the rarest?
Kyber Crystals themselves are extremely rare and very difficult to find or harvest. But their rarity pales in comparison to a Kyber Crystal that has only been mentioned in myths throughout the Galaxy.
That is right, the crystal in question here is the Ghost Fire Crystal. This specific crystal is the only Kyber Crystal used in a lightsaber but has not been since it has never been found in recent history.
The Ghost Fire Crystal is unique for more than just how difficult it is to find. According to the legends it is mentioned in, the crystal will create a uniquely invisible blade when used in a lightsaber.
But why is the Ghost Fire Crystal so rare? The answer to this is that this specific variation of the Kyber Crystal can only be found in the Outer Rim regions of the Galaxy. And if getting to them was not hard enough, there is another level of difficulty.
Ghost Fire Crystals are only formed on the highest peaks on these Outer Rim planets. And even if one can find the highest peak and climb to the top, the crystal itself is invisible and can only be found by reaching out through the Force.
And while these Ghost Fire Crystals might be the rarest form of Kyber Crystal, there is a version that can never be found, because it does not occur naturally. So let us dive into red Kyber Crystals, and how they are made.
Where do Red Kyber Crystals come from?
Red Kyber Crystals are the only kind of Kyber Crystals that can never occur naturally. Kyber Crystals can go as far as to have pink or orange hues, but never red.
It is here that the connection that Kyber Crystals have with the Force comes into play. Kyber Crystals are considered semi-sentient. This means that they can react to emotions and can experience them in a basic manner by just feeling them.
But this also means that they are not entirely sentient and cannot think for themselves. This unique aspect allows them to form specific connections to whichever Jedi they belong to. But the ability to experience emotions means that these crystals can also experience pain.
Their ability to experience pain is what leads to the formation of a Red Kyber Crystal. Red Crystals have a unique formation process. They can only be forced into existence using the Dark Side of the Force and can only be created by a Sith.
The Sith consider creating a red Kyber Crystal a rite of passage in their own regard. This is because the act requires extreme amounts of attunement to the Dark Side of the Force. The act is forbidden to Jedi as it taints the Kyber Crystal’s connection to the Force.
The act itself is that of making a Kyber Crystal “bleed”. A Dark Side user will use their connection to the Force to invade the Kyber Crystal and twist it using their power until the crystal starts to bleed because of the pain inflicted on it.
This act of making a crystal bleed causes it to attain a red hue when used in a lightsaber. The entire act can be considered something of a pun on blood and its color.