Everyone knows Jedi and Sith build their lightsabers using two main things: a hilt and a kyber crystal, just like we saw during the “The Gathering” episode in The Clone Wars. Usually, how strong a lightsaber is depends mostly on the user’s skills. But there’s actually one special type of kyber crystal that’s weaker than the usual ones, meaning the lightsaber it creates isn’t as powerful, no matter how skilled the Jedi or Sith might be.
The Real Reason Orange Lightsabers Are the Weakest
At first glance, it’s easy to assume all kyber crystals are basically the same, just different colors, right? After all, every lightsaber can deflect blaster bolts or slice through metal like Qui-Gon Jinn’s did in The Phantom Menace. But there’s actually something fundamentally different about the orange kyber crystal that makes it weaker.
We get some interesting details about this from Claudia Gray’s canon novel, Master & Apprentice. The book follows Qui-Gon Jinn during the early days of training Obi-Wan Kenobi, and along the way, there’s a key scene involving these orange crystals.
Basically, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are sent to the planet Pijal to investigate terrorist threats, but instead they first bump into two locals named Pax Maripher and Rahara Wick. Pax discovered a whole mine filled with what seemed like regular kyber crystals, hoping to cash in big-time. But when Qui-Gon examines the crystals, he immediately notices they’re off. He says something like, “It looks almost exactly like kyber. The same heft. It even possesses some vibration with the Force. The differences are incredibly subtle. I see why you were fooled.”
Turns out these are actually called kohlen crystals, a sort of weaker, artificial version of regular kyber. And here’s the key detail: they’re not actual kyber from sacred places like the caves on Ilum. Pax even explains it in the book, saying, “On the macro level, this stuff is identical to kyber, but if you get down into the microscopic, they’ve got about as much in common as Coruscant and Ceiran.”
In other words, they might look the same on the surface, but at a deeper level, they’re totally different. It’s like comparing a galactic capital like Coruscant—tech-heavy, urban, massive—to a small Outer Rim planet like Ceiran.
Later on, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan face off against a group called the Blackguards, who have weaponized kohlen crystals by turning them into specialized energy shields.
As the story progresses, we get solid confirmation that lightsabers powered by kohlen crystals are weaker than the standard ones. At one point, Obi-Wan ends up using a saber with a kohlen crystal, and Qui-Gon notes that “the crystals were able to project a sort of blade, even if it was less powerful—except, that is, against shields also powered by kohlen.” Obi-Wan even points it out himself with a dry comment: “Thank the Force it’s less powerful.”
Even Though They’re Weaker, These Crystals Were Mentioned in an Ancient Jedi Prophecy
Now, putting aside the fact that this orange “kyber” crystal is weaker than the real thing, there’s actually a deeper reason why it matters. It’s not just some off-brand crystal—there’s prophecy tied to it.
In Master & Apprentice, one of the Jedi mystics once wrote:
“When the kyber that is not kyber shines forth, the time of prophecy will be at hand.”
Yeah, that line sounds cryptic as hell, but it’s not just random. It actually ties directly into one of the bigger Jedi prophecies we hear about in the book. The first time this comes up is when Obi-Wan is reading through a collection of old Jedi writings, kind of overwhelmed by how vague and wild they all sound. Here’s the bit from the book where he’s reacting to a bunch of them:
“One of these prophecies says something about ‘She who will be born to darkness will give birth to darkness.’ It gives no hint at all as to who that is, or what kind of darkness this is, or when it will happen.
Or ‘When the kyber that is not kyber shines forth, the time of prophecy will be at hand.’
How can there be a prophecy about the time of prophecy?
Then there’s this one— ‘When the righteous lose the light, evil once dead shall return.’ That’s so vague it could refer to anything or anyone!
And then the whole ‘Chosen One’ nonsense—”
Later in the book, we finally get a more complete version of the prophecy tied to the Chosen One. And it goes like this:
“Only through sacrifice of many Jedi will the Order cleanse the sin done to the nameless.
The danger of the past is not past, but sleeps in an egg. When the egg cracks, it will threaten the galaxy entire.
When the Force itself sickens, past and future must split and combine.
A Chosen One shall come, born of no father, and through him will ultimate balance in the Force be restored.”
So yeah—while kohlen crystals might be weak in combat, the moment one of them “shines forth,” as the prophecy puts it, it’s supposed to mark the beginning of a major turning point in the galaxy.