White lightsabers made their debut in the TV episode “Fire Across the Galaxy”, the season one finale of “Star Wars Rebels”. They are less common compared to other colors like blue, green and red.
In canon, Ahsoka Tano is the only character known to wield a white lightsaber. However, in Star Wars Legends, other characters have also used white lightsabers. In this article, we will explore the meaning of white lightsabers and discuss the characters who have used them.
White Lightsaber Meaning
The white lightsaber represents purity, neutrality, an independent spirit and a lack of affiliation.
- Purity: White lightsabers are typically created by purifying kyber crystals that have been corrupted by the dark side of the Force. This process balances the crystals, resulting in a white blade that represents a detachment from the traditional light-dark dichotomy and a commitment to using the Force for saving lives and protecting peace without being tied to any particular set of rules or affiliations.
- Neutrality: The white lightsaber shows that the wielder is neutral. They do not belong to any particular group. They help others without taking sides in conflicts.
- Independent Spirit and a lack of Affiliation: The choice to have a white lightsaber shows the wielder’s independent spirit. They follow their own path and make their own decisions.
Who Has a White Lightsaber in Star Wars?
The users of the white lightsaber in Star Wars are:
- Ahsoka Tano
- Imperial Knights
- Orla Jareni
- Jora Malli
- Lomi Plo
- Komat
1. Ahsoka Tano
Who is Ahsoka Tano?
Ahsoka Tano, a Togruta girl, was a Force-sensitive ex-Jedi who helped create a network of rebel groups against the Galactic Empire after the Clone Wars.
Jedi Master Plo Koon found her on her home planet Shili and brought her to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant to train. When the Clone Wars started, Jedi Grand Master Yoda made her the Padawan of Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker.
Ahsoka became a strong fighter before the Empire’s reign changed everything. Even though she left the Jedi Order, she kept helping those who fought for peace and justice in the galaxy long after the Republic fell.
Over a year after the Clone Wars, Ahsoka Tano used a pair of white lightsabers as her main weapons. These lightsabers replaced her old lightsabers that she left behind to fake her death and escape from the Galactic Empire after the Siege of Mandalore.
Ahsoka Tano’s White Lightsabers
Ahsoka Tano’s white lightsabers had curved hilts with a rectangular shape. When she first made them, the hilts were rough because she had to put them together quickly in the middle of a battle using scrap metal.
Like her original lightsabers, she had one regular saber and one shorter shoto saber. The blades were white, powered by two kyber crystals she took from the lightsaber of the Imperial Inquisitor known as the Sixth Brother, she purified the crystals of their dark side corruption before assembling her lightsabers.
Tano used various mechanical parts she found during her travels and special components from the Sixth Brother’s lightsaber, she believed the kyber crystals were originally taken from the Jedi Temple after the Jedi Order fell.
The Meaning Behind Ahsoka Tano’s White Lightsabers
Ahsoka Tano’s White Lightsabers represent an independent spirit, free from affiliation with either the Jedi or Sith.
Ahsoka used to be a Jedi but left the Order. When she wields a white lightsaber, it shows that she’s on her own path, not bound by Jedi rules or Sith teachings. It’s a symbol of her freedom to make her own choices and follow her own beliefs, separate from the strict codes of the Jedi or the dark ways of the Sith.
2. Imperial Knights
Who Are The Imperial Knights?
The Imperial Knights, also known as the Knights of the Empire or Imperial Jedi, were Force-users loyal to the Emperor during the Fel dynasty’s rule of the Galactic Empire. They were fully trained in the Force and rejected the dark side, unlike earlier Imperial Force groups.
Although they didn’t follow the dark side, they also didn’t strictly follow the light side. The New Jedi Order saw them as Gray, and the Imperial Knights considered the Jedi to be like family.
The Imperial Knights pledged their loyalty to the Emperor, serving the Force as represented by him. By 130 ABY, Emperor Roan Fel was a fully trained Imperial Knight and the leader of the group.
If the Emperor ever turned to the dark side, it was the Imperial Knights’ duty to either remove him from power, even if it meant killing him or to bring him back to the light. Their ultimate loyalty was to the Force.
After Darth Krayt took over the Empire in 130 ABY, the Imperial Knights fled the capital with their Emperor and became part of his Empire-in-exile.
By 137 ABY, Emperor Roan Fel regularly sent Imperial Knights on missions to form alliances with the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances and the Jedi Order. They often fought on the front lines of the Second Imperial Civil War against Darth Krayt’s forces on planets like Vendaxa, Mon Calamari and Had Abbadon.
The Imperial Knight Lightsaber
Each Imperial Knight carried a white lightsaber. The design showed their unity and the Empire’s control over each Knight. The lightsaber had a gray, tube-like handle with black ridges and typically had a slanted emitter that produced a white blade, unless customized.
Each Knight made their own lightsaber during training using synthetic crystals and techniques from Emperor Palpatine’s Book of Anger. The lightsaber could work both on land and underwater and was one of the tools the Knights used to protect their leader, which was their main job.
In fights, Imperial Knights used their lightsabers for attacks and wore special cortosis gauntlets for defense, which could turn off an enemy’s lightsaber and allow the Knight to strike. When not in use, the lightsaber was usually clipped to the Knight’s belt.
Imperial Knight lightsabers were used by the order starting around 130 ABY. They were heavily used in 137 and 138 ABY during the Second Imperial Civil War when the Empire-in-exile fought against Darth Krayt’s Galactic Empire.
Early in 137 ABY, Imperial Knights Antares Draco, Ganner Krieg and Marasiah Fel used their lightsabers in a fight against Darth Krayt’s Sith on the planet Vendaxa. During this battle, Cade Skywalker, a former Jedi turned bounty hunter, picked up Marasiah’s lightsaber and attacked the Sith. This marked the beginning of his return to the Jedi path.
Over the next year, Imperial Knights fought Krayt’s forces on planets like Bastion, Dac and Had Abbadon, with Sith being defeated on Taivas and Coruscant. During the battle on Coruscant, Roan Fel tried to use a bioweapon to destroy all life on the planet. Draco killed Fel with his white lightsaber to stop the Emperor from committing a dark side act.
3. Orla Jareni
Who is Orla Jareni?
Orla Jareni was an Umbaran female Jedi Master and Wayseeker during the High Republic era, working independently from the Jedi High Council. As a Padawan, she was involved in the Eiram–E’ronoh crisis. Twenty-five years later, she was one of four Jedi on the starship Vessel heading to the Starlight Beacon when the Great Hyperspace Disaster happened.
About a year later, she helped the Jedi at Starlight Beacon with personal issues and conflicts involving the Drengir and Nihil. She also helped Jedi Master Elzar Mann regain his mental balance after the Attack on Valo before returning to Starlight Beacon to hunt for a dangerous hidden threat, which ultimately led to her death.
Many years later, her role and life were forgotten by the Jedi Order until a young Obi-Wan Kenobi rediscovered her story in the Jedi Archives.
Orla Jareni’s White Lightsaber
During the High Republic Era, Orla Jareni used a white-bladed hinged double lightsaber. The hilt had a hinge in the middle allowing the weapon to fold and create two parallel blades.
4. Jora Malli
Who is Jora Malli?
Jora Malli was a female Togruta and a Jedi Master during the High Republic Era. She was on the Jedi High Council and trained Padawan Reath Silas. Before Silas, she trained two other apprentices including Jedi Knight Dez Rydan.
Malli was in charge of the Jedi section of the space station Starlight Beacon, with Master Sskeer as her second-in-command. Avar Kriss sensed their arrival when responding to the call to save the Hetzal system from the Great Hyperspace Disaster using the Force.
Malli was later killed in a battle with the Nihil at the Kur Nebula. Estala Maru thought Sskeer might blame himself for her death since Maru couldn’t find him before Starlight Beacon’s dedication ceremony. After her death, Ry Ki-Sakka took her place on the Council.
Jora wore white and gold Jedi robes and mainly used a white lightsaber, but she also had a blue lightsaber. She wore a headdress that was given to her by her master.
Jora Malli’s White Lightsaber
Jora Malli’s lightsaber had a white blade and a gold hilt with curved platinum guards that looked like wings. The lightsaber had a kyber crystal she got from an ancient Sith lightspear (an instrument used by the Sith that incorporated a kyber crystal). She purified the crystal, removing the anger and pain from it and felt a strong connection to it, so she put it in her lightsaber.
She once used this lightsaber to cut into a stolen airspeeder on Coruscant while chasing thieves with her Padawan Reath Silas. Malli also used it to activate her Vector’s weapons during the Battle of Kur where she died.
5. Lomi Plo
Who is Lomi Plo?
Lomi Plo was a human female Nightsister and a Sith Master who was active during the Yuuzhan Vong War.
She might have been connected to the Shadow Academy and the Second Imperium, but by the time she was captured by the Yuuzhan Vong, she had joined Darth Krayt’s One Sith.
After being rescued by the Myrkr strike team, she helped them in their mission against the voxyn. However, she and another Sith named Welk stole the Tachyon Flier with Raynar Thul on board. They fled to the Unknown Regions and created the Gorog, a hidden Killik nest. Lomi was behind the Dark Nest Crisis and the Swarm War.
At the end of the Swarm War, Jedi Grand Master Luke Skywalker killed her.
Lomi Plo’s Lightsabers
Besides her Force abilities, she was very good at fighting with a lightsaber. In her last two battles with Luke Skywalker, she used a style called Jar’Kai, fighting with two lightsabers: a white lightsaber and a purple shoto. She had also used Luke Skywalker’s green lightsaber before.
6. Komat
Who is Komat?
Komat was a human female and former member of the Acolytes of the Beyond. She was skilled at tracking starships exiting hyperspace and led raids to collect relics. She was present during an attack on a New Republic outpost on Devaron.
Her close bond with Kiza, another Acolyte, was broken when Kiza became possessed by a Sith mask. Komat tried to take the mask from Kiza resulting in a fight that left their leader Tashu dead and Kiza fleeing.
Believing Kiza was a danger, Komat sought a Sith lightsaber but instead met Luke Skywalker, who saved her. She then left the Acolytes and lived as a farmer on Polaar with her droid, pet and mouse droid.
In 21 ABY, Skywalker and Lando Calrissian visited Polaar looking for a luxury yacht. Komat helped track it and accompanied Calrissian to rescue a family from the Corporate Sector Authority and Jedi hunter Ochi. Komat and Skywalker then fought the Sith Lord Panshard, who was possessing Kiza. Skywalker defeated Panshard by destroying his mask.
After the fight, Komat traveled with Skywalker and Calrissian to bury two family members. She then returned to Polaar, suggested Calrissian recover before continuing his search for Ochi and gave him her armor and ship to help him.
Komat’s White Lightsaber
Komat’s lightsaber had a white blade. She got the saber while she was with the Acolytes, and its blade was originally red. After escaping from the Acolytes with help from Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, he purified the saber’s kyber crystal turning the blade white and symbolizing the removal of evil from Komat.
In 21 ABY, Komat used the lightsaber in a duel with the Sith Lord Exim Panshard, who had possessed the body of Kiza, another former Acolyte.
