.: shadowball2021 :.
Youngling
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 Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 6:13 pm Post subject: SW paper3 |
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Ok, Ok here's the last paper I did on SW of late. It is focused on the greatest concept thought of by man....the lightsaber. Enjoy! 
Lightsabers: One of the Coolest Weapons Ever
“A Lightsaber....the tool of a Jedi and the weapon of a Sith.”, this a line said to describe the object by the character Kreia in the video game, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic: The Sith Lords. Though the weapon is used by both sides, it has different meanings to its owners. In this paper, I will explain what the device is, how it is used(in combat) and what it is used for. The Lightsaber is a fictional weapon that is seen and used in the film trilogies of the Star Wars saga. It is also one of the most recognizable objects it pop culture and cinema alike.
One of the coolest and interesting concepts of the past century was the Lightsaber from the first Star Wars film. It has transcended into pop culture like that of the film itself; everybody knows what one is even if they’ve never seen any of the films. No one object has ever done that
in the world of cinema before or since. That is what makes it such a spacial object, it is has become the “official” symbol of the films themselves as well as the genre of Sci-fi. Which is way when most people think of the genre, they either think of the U.S.S. Enterprise form Star
Trek or the Lightsaber From Star Wars; its just the identifiable of an object.
Now, on to what exactly is a Lightsaber. The definition of a Lightsaber is a futuristic/flashier version of a traditional sword in the Star Wars films; the curved metal blade of a sword is replaced with a solid glowing bar of light the resembles a tubular fluorescent light bulb. Beyond its look, the weapon has been shown and described as a tool of great power that can cut through most solid objects with little or no resistance at all. The weapon can also deflect blaster bolts in the films, making it an almost unstoppable tool for those who wield them. It is
also the symbol of the Jedi and that of the Jedi Order in the Star Wars universe as well.
The Lightsaber is a very dangerous and powerful weapon and is very difficult to wield. In the hands of a novice, it is just as much a danger to the user as it is to those around them but in
the hands of a trained expert, it is a most elegant and precise tool. With proper training, a saber wielder can defend themselves with relative ease and control as well as with deadly accuracy. As shown in the Star Wars films; most noticeably the newer ones, well train users of these
weapons can attack/defend themselves with speed and power that would be look at by most as difficult if not impossible to the average person. Lightsabers function just like regular swords except that the blade is made of “pure light”energy and the blade can be turned on & off by a
switch on the hilt of the weapon.
The use of the Lightsaber is taught to Jedi and even Sith at an young age, around the age of six or seven. The training is continued(with a non-lethal blade) until the user is consider capable of using the weapon with great control and accuracy. Once the user is deemed competent
enough with the weapon, they are aloud to build their own real Lightsaber as a final lesson in their training. The parts of the Lightsaber consist of: a hand grip, a activation stud plate/button/switch
or internal Force-activated mechanism, a safety or dead man’s switch, a emitter matrix, a primary focusing crystal(which gives the weapon its blade hue: blue, green, red, etc.), up to two secondary crystals which produce different effects to the weapon blade, a lens assembly(focusing crystals), a power cell(for the most part, unlimited power, requires little
recharging), an energy gate, a power conduit, a recharge socket(for when the blade is off), cycling field energizers and a belt ring(optional). Each Lightsaber is constructed by its owner to reflect them as an individual from the saber hilt to the color of the blade itself.
There are many different kinds of Lightsaber colors in the Star Wars universe. Many are only seen in video games or are described in novels. The range of this colors is very large, many are: blue, green, yellow, purple, pink, silver, gold, black, white and orange. To go along with personal taste, make saber users use different forms of saber fighting. There are those who choose to fight with a single hilt(one Lightsaber, very standard), dual-sabers(two; one in each
hand) and the most difficult form of a double-bladed/edge Lightsaber(a saber that has a blade on both ends of the saber hilt).
Once the Lightsaber is made, the user can learn one of many forms of fighting. Out of the many forms, there are seven official forms, which are: form I:Shii-Cho, form II: Makashi, form III: Soresu, form IV: Ataru, form V: Shien/Djem So, form VI: Niman and form VII: Juyo/Vaapad. Each style has it’s strengths and weakness against one another and are used by Jedi characters as well as Sith characters too. Some are attack styles, some are defensive and some are a combination of both. They are also chosen by a user to reflect their personalities and their stand of force philosophies(aggressive, defensive or neutral).
The fighting styles breakdown like this: form I-the most basic and simplistic form; taught to all beginners, form II-most advantageous in saber vs saber dueling, mostly a one-handed style of fighting; elegant, effective and deadly, form III- strongly emphasizes on defense and blaster fire deflection, form IV: acrobatic form; emphasizes agility, relatively aggressive and tends to open defense, form V: takes some defensive powers from form III and channels them into offensive powers; very aggressive(also good at deflection too), form VI: a diplomatic form; very well rounded but does not excel anywhere, and form VII: the hardest and most dangerous form; its attacks are often overwhelming and unpredictable, lets the user to feed out their darker emotions-very closely associated with the darkside. The styles are shown very much in the new films and are each very unique. The main characters in the films use styles that are very closely linked to how they think, example: Obi-Wan Kenobi is a very non-aggressive person and uses form III while Anikin is very aggressive and uses form V. The Jedi are peace keepers and tend to use non-aggressive forms but some choose to. The Sith are all about aggression and then to fight as such.
Now that you know what it is and how they are used in combat, it’s time to understand how they are used by each side; the Lightside and the Darkside. As I have said before, Jedi don’t attack but defend, they help to keep the peace as well as protect people where ever they go in the galaxy. They do not believe in killing or harming any living thing, even if it is Sith. They try to negotiate rather then attack. A Jedi uses the force and their Lightsaber for knowledge and defense, not for personal gain or revenge.
On the other hand, Sith are all about power and aggression. They seek only to hurt and destroy, act only for themselves and not for others; even their own kind. They believe in the philosophy of “only the strongest survive”, which is why they use such anger and styles of
combat that they use. They use their power to bend others to their way of thinking as well as consume all resources that they can(people and material) until there is nothing left, then move on to the next target/victim. The Sith are aggressive and very cunning, they like to over-power as well as overwhelm their opponents to get to a quick and swift victory.
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