Wasn't the insipration for lightsabers the katana? I'm slightly confused by this because a lightsaber was orginally so heavy you had to use two hands to use it(though later it is lightened). Aren't katanas pretty light and the blades shorter than what a lightsaber is? Of course, it seems obvious to me that in style, the lightsaber definitely mimics the asian styles much more than the european styles. What is considered the real-world inspiration or equivilent of the lightsabers?

The flashlight.

The saber?

I mean, they weren't called lightkatanas, now were they?

so true

I read somewhere that a lot of the original inspiration elements for the Jedi came from Japanese culture, especially the Samurai. Things like the name Obi-wan Kenobi(in fact, George Lucas briefly considered a Japaese actor for the role), and the two-handed style of lightsaber combat.

I'm just confused on how everything can be based on asian influences, but then the sword seems to be more european than anything. Multi-edged straight blade that is long and heavy(originally). Also, the sword fighting in the OT is more European style, but I suppose that could be explained away by pointing out you only saw lightsaber skills from an old man, a half robot, and a novice.

Not sure they were actually heavy originally, were they?

The people fighting with them were either really old or really crippled or total newbs. They were hilts with energy flying out of them.

I remeber Lucas wanted the lightsabers to be very heavy in the OT, but he made them lighter in the NT to allow for faster fighting and more acrobatics.

I think I need to pose my question again, though more detailed. What is the real-world equivilent of the lightsaber? Would it be the katana, depite a lightsaber being multi-edged and straight? Or would it be more like a bas.tard sword*, despite being heavier than what the lightsaber ultimately ended up being?

*I'm only dodging the filter in this one instance where the word is a classification and not derogatory.

I watched a documentry about this, and apparently Lightsabers wern't spose to light up and buzz and stuff at all, at first. Lucas decided to make that stuff happen after Luke powered up his blue saber for the first time in the movie. The Lightsaber its self does come from a japenese source, and its fighting style is related to a japenese katana martial art called "Kendo".

I think the saber its self is inspired by a longsword, as a katana is slightly curved.

One must also consider the different types of sabers in the movie. Two handed sabers are strongly related to Kendo fighting, requires two hands to work with, and has a lot of movements Kendo students use (from what I see).

One handed/off hand/light lightsabers do not resemble Kendo at all, they're more it's own art.

Darth Maul's Double-bladed Lightsaber does not resemble any sword fighting styles, but a bo staff or okinawan staff fighting style.

In Episode III, I hated the lightsaber cordinater director person, as he made Yoda and Palpatine carry their sabers really, really strange.

*blink* So are there actually two-handed and one-handed varieties to lightsabers(not talking about the short lightsabers) or were you just referencing to the methods that were used in wielding them in NT and OT?

I just have a hard time fully accepting lightsabers as katanas because of the length issue. Lightsabers seem to be sizably longer than katanas to me. Maybe lightsabers are meant to be a mix of katanas and longswords.

That brings me to my second question: Are bas.tard swords and longswords different types of weapons or is the former just a sub-type of the latter?

[QUOTE=Kieran Horn]*blink* So are there actually two-handed and one-handed varieties to lightsabers(not talking about the short lightsabers) or were you just referencing to the methods that were used in wielding them in NT and OT?

I just have a hard time fully accepting lightsabers as katanas because of the length issue. Lightsabers seem to be sizably longer than katanas to me. Maybe lightsabers are meant to be a mix of katanas and longswords.

That brings me to my second question: Are bas.tard swords and longswords different types of weapons or is the former just a sub-type of the latter?[/QUOTE]

I'm talking about both style and lightsaber varieties. It's foolish to fight a 1 handed lightsaber (or you know it as a short lightsaber from KOTOR) in a two handed method. So, I'm talking about both essentially. There are different varieties of lightsabers and styles.

Lightsabers are approximatly the same length as katanas, but a lightsaber's length can also be adjusted.

******* Swords are heavy and two handed. You can't fight with one hand with them. Long swords can be one or two handed, but probably be best with one handed. Long swords are shorter and lighter than ******* swords. They also sell to merchants for 2 gold.

>.>

(last sentance is a joke)

Erm...couple problems in your last post(was just looking stuff up on wikipedia). First, normal lightsabers can be used 1-handed, hence dual wielding and certain moves that require one-handed swipes. This is due to lacking weight, however, not its size. Katanas are 65 cm, Lightsabers are 100cm. Bas.tard swords are called the hand-and-a-half sword because they can be used both one handed and two handed. If I remember correctly, Longswords were also used one-handed and two-handed depending on the situation*, hence my question about them. Evidently, longswords started out shorter, but eventually evolved into bas.tard sword length. Early longsword = 76 cm, Later longswords/bas.tard swords = 91 cm. btw, I'm only counting blade length. So, lightsabers are even longer than bas.tard swords. : /

Again, at wikipedia, seems the closest thing to the lightsaber measurement wise is a claymore/greatsword at a 100 cm blade and 33 cm grip. Anyone know how long a typical lightsaber hilt is?

Evidently, lightsabers are really light claymores or japanese nodachi maybe. The other way of calling that japanese weapon is odachi, which is synonymous with katana, so it kind of fits in there. *confused* Anyone else know more on this subject?

*At the beginning of a fight, a fighter would use a shield and longsword, but as the fight wore on and he got tired, he'd discard the shield and use the longsword two-handed.

Lightsaber handles vary greatly in length. Obiwan uses lightsabers with big handles, while Vader's, for example, is relatively small. Kyle Katarn's handle in JO/JA is really big. Mace's is small. Sizes vary, really.

"I see your lightsaber is as big as mine."

Really wouldn't a light saber blade weigh next to nothing? If a fencer got his hands on a saber, he'd win over a Jedi, if the Jedi didn't resort to cheap force powers. It'd take about .5 seconds for a decent fencer to disarm a Jedi.

Kinda makes the stances in JO/JA knida pointless when it comes to damage. Really, what's the point in putting a lot of force into a swing when you consider that simply touching the blade is lethal on it's own?

The clothing the Jedi wore are similar to the clothing the Samurai wore when not in armor. However, the Samurai also carried short swords and some even did 2 weapon fighting.

Exactly why I thought that entire idea (of implementing those styles in JO) was bad. It's a massless energy blade. I mean look at Obiwan spinning it around his hand all the time. hehe

The sithsaber is the biggest pile of stupid I've ever seen.

For a staff weapon, it seemed pretty god damned useless if you ask me.

Part of the point of the staff is the reach, which you can't get WHEN EITHER END OF YOUR STAFF IS PURE ENERGY.

i liked Exar Kun's sithsaber and how it splits in half, HELLS YEA

[QUOTE=Kieran Horn]That brings me to my second question: Are bas.tard swords and longswords different types of weapons or is the former just a sub-type of the latter?[/QUOTE]They're the same.

I would argue that the OT lightsaber fighting style is the stereotypical recreation of the idiot moderner's and/or SCAer's dumb misconception of what longsword/hand-and-a-half swordfighting would have looked like. Had real broadswords weighed 30 lbs it might have looked a lot like it did in ESB; fortunately our ancestors weren't stupid enough to make a weapon like that.

The Claymore, a very large two-handed sword used by Scotsmen, weighed about 5.5 lbs. Fighting with one involved a lot of very quick overhead attacks and spinning. The main reason I never joined the SCA is because their idea of a "Claymore" weighs about 12 lbs. :downs:

If the blade were truly massless, lots of the stuff they do in the PT would be near impossible. Ala the spinning it around your hand. Trying spinning a metal ruler or something of that nature like that, it's damn hard, whereas spinning a pole by one end is quite easy.

Hehe, good point. I'm sure the explanation for it is "I'm using the force!".

I know. Also the heavy stance is stupid. A big wind up is one thing but a slow swing would really decrease your power. They should have reworked that.

For a staff, I agree. I think the point for a saber staff, though, isn't reach but is instead to get close to your enemy and deliver quick aggressive blows one after another so they have to stay on the defensive.

A light-naginata would have been better.

Obi-Wan was inspired by the leader Samurai in 7 Samurai.

The OT fighting is a lot like Kendo.

The PT trilogy is a lot like theatre troupe acrobatic dancing. It still looks cool though...

To the points made about kendo:

You're all correct. A lightsaber is most similar to a kendo stick because there is no specified edge on either weapon. Thus, in both fighting styles, there are no which-way-is-your-wrist-facing complications.

Hooray!

And now, to all the points on handling a massless energy blade:

Right. The only weight would be the hilt, but the NJO books claim that the lightsaber produces a gyroscopic effect when it's swung. So, either the handle is really heavy, or the blade itself does have some mass-like effect on the swing.

Or maybe NJO is just wrong. *shrug*

Is it that hard to believe that most of it is influenced by the asian culture when in reality the movies are themselves a ripoff? Surely you haven't forgotten that lightsabers are an idea ol' Georgie stole.

Actually, I did hear that somewhere. Thought it was just a rumor, though.

The biggest problem with the lightsabers is that they never modified the use of them in the movies to deal with the fact the props had poles running the length of the blade and were replaced by light. So in the movies we get light blades with weight and wind resistance.

Unless it could be explained that something happens in the core to where it actually has physical mass that explains for the massive heat output?

In the OT, yeah they were heavier (hell in the Vader v Kenobi on the DS, Kenobi actually used a lighted rod with a power cord for part of it. you can see the cord in his sleave), but in the PT the rods they used for the blades were much lighter, so they could actually do the complicated stuff. They didn't have the appropriate props to do the fancy moves the first time around.