Origin of the purple lightsaber?

[Deleted]

Hi,

I was reading some thread and there was a mention about lightsaber colors, and about the purple lightsaber. Someone pointed out that the purple lightsaber of Mace Windu was a request by Samuel L. Jackson from George Lucas to make his character stand out in the movie (info taken from Wikipedia, I guess).

Now... I'm pretty sure I've known about purple lightsabers long before episodes I-III of Star Wars, and namely due to a lovely girl called Mara Jade. So, I started to Google about this thing, read Mara's Wookiepedia page, and so forth, but didn't really find much information on where the purple lightsaber made it's first appearance. Just a lot of speculation about whether the purple lightsaber Mara Jade used was crafted from the crystal taken from Mace Windu's lightsaber, and so on.

Now, Episode I was released in 1999, so it's safe to say Sam Jackson wasn't signed on to do it, or didn't ask for the lightsaber very much before that. Perhaps 1998, or 1997 in the earliest.

Masters of Teräs Käsi, however, was released in 1997. Mara Jade, who was introduced earlier in a book, is also one of the characters in that game. If you look at this little video here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icLFiQPVRyc

...you'll see Mara Jade using a purple lightsaber. She draws it at around 0:35. I'm sure I've seen Mara Jade wielding a purple lightsaber in other places as well, but this would certainly put to rest the claim that the whole concept of a purple lightsaber was Sam Jackson asking Lucas "Hey could lightsabers be purple? Can I have one?".

What I'm interested, though, would be the first documented case of a purple lightsaber, whether described on the pages of a Star Wars book, or depicted on the cover of one, or something like that. We know it appears in MoTK in 1997 (which was in development at least in 1996, 1995 I'm sure), but are there earlier instances of a purple lightsaber?

Also as a side note, since Windu and Jade both were or at least ended up on the light side, I personally was a bit disappointed that the purple crystal was given to Imperials in SW:TOR, but oh well.

[moff]

I'm not sure if you're aware that Mara Jade is not from that game but from the novel "heir to the empire" which was released in '91, so purple lightsabers were mentioned there before that game. I wouldnt know where they were mentioned before.

[shadowkras]

On the video, it looks more like the magenta lightsaber than the purple one, the purple lightsaber had a distinct wave color aswell.
There are pictures (pre ep2) of mace windu with a blue lightsaber, so its safe to assume he requested the different saber between ep 1 and ep 2 filmings, after they showed him the script of the jedi battle.

[Deleted]

I'm not sure if you're aware that Mara Jade is not from that game but from the novel "heir to the empire" which was released in '91, so purple lightsabers were mentioned there before that game. I wouldnt know where they were mentioned before.

Yes, I'm aware. However, Mara used a red lightsaber when she was the Hand, as well as a blue one, so not having read the book, I couldn't say for a certainty that it is specifically stated there, in the book, that her lightsaber is purple. I can link the video of a game released at a certain point and show everyone the purple lightsaber, and that's not an unfounded claim.

I'm looking for proof, really, since I couldn't find any by searching.

On the video, it looks more like the magenta lightsaber than the purple one, the purple lightsaber had a distinct wave color aswell.
There are pictures (pre ep2) of mace windu with a blue lightsaber, so its safe to assume he requested the different saber between ep 1 and ep 2 filmings, after they showed him the script of the jedi battle.

Well, to me the saber Mara is using in Teräs Käsi looks like violet or purple, not magenta. Magenta is really just another pink if you ask me.

The "purple" lightsaber is actually more like a violet lightsaber, but nowhere near magenta.

[Kalcheus]

This is all from personal recollection as I was big on TF.N and the official site back when Ep 2 was being made, but I don't think the relevant info is still available on the interwebs so unfortunately it's unsupported.

During the filming of Episode 2 (not Episode 1, as he doesn't use a lightsaber in Episode 1) Samuel L Jackson requested a purple lightsaber to go along with his Mr. Glass character in Unbreakable (which had been released right before filming had started). Lucas initially balked, claiming that blue, green, and red were the only three colors used in the SW films, but he relented and gave him a purple one.

What happened in the EU (including toys) before that incident had no bearing on the discussion between SLJ and Lucas. And if I'm not mistaken, no other character in Episode 2 or 3 uses a lightsaber besides blue, green, and red.

[Deleted]

Yeah, that's the story that Sam Jackson has told in interviews... He asked for a purple lightsaber, and Lucas gave him one. I'm not disputing that.

A purple lightsaber has existed before that, though. That's the point. Sam Jackson didn't invent the purple lightsaber, and him using one isn't the first instance of it. Would be nice to know where the very first appearance of a purple lightsaber is, though.

---------- Post added 2012-01-25 at 04:49 PM ----------

Here's Mara wielding a clearly purple lightsaber as well: http://i44.tinypic.com/ehbww2.gif

That's a picture of the Star Wars CCG card for Mara Jade, from the expansion pack Enhanced Jabba's palace, published in 1999.

[reverendball]

Mara Jade had a purple sabre as far back as Jedi Knight Dark Forces II (released about a month before Teras Kasi) if i recall correctly.....

[Deleted]

They also wrote in some back story explaining Windu went to a planet called Hurrikane or something to get the rare crystal used for his lightsaber. Either that or he was given it as a gift on that planet, i can't remember off the top of my head.

[Deleted]

http://www.magisterrex.com/prodimages/MysteriesSithJC-h500.jpg

http://www.angelfire.com/tx/JetVega/images/MaraJade.jpg

That's the cover of "Mysteries of the Sith", expansion pack to the Dark Forces II, from the year 1998.

I think it's now well enough documented that Mara Jade did indeed use a true purple lightsaber before Mace Windu did in the movie. I'm still interested in knowing whether her lightsaber was described in the book from 1991, and whether purple lightsabers appear in any other SW book, game or such.

[Marked1]

Boc from Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight used two purple sabers.

[unholytestament]

http://www.magisterrex.com/prodimages/MysteriesSithJC-h500.jpg

http://www.angelfire.com/tx/JetVega/images/MaraJade.jpg

That's the cover of "Mysteries of the Sith", expansion pack to the Dark Forces II, from the year 1998.

Ah, Dark Forces. I LOVED the first game. Never played the second one though...

[openair]

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lightsaber_crystal

Mace Windu - Violet
Mara Jade - Magenta

But the first appearance of a violet/magenta/purple saber would propably be in one of the many comic books.

[Glorious Leader]

Ah, Dark Forces. I LOVED the first game. Never played the second one though...

Takes me back.... wayyyyy back. Kyle Katarn and the valley of the jedi.

[Saintphoenix]

Yeah tis confirmed MJ uses magenta not purple

[Narfwak]

The real takeaway from this is that Star Wars 'lore' should not be taken seriously.

[unholytestament]

Yeah tis confirmed MJ uses magenta not purple

I'm pretty sure if we weren't talking about lightsabers most people wouldn't care about the difference between purple and magenta.

[Deleted]

http://i43.tinypic.com/29ut81w.jpg

I personally see Mara Jade's lightsaber closer to violet and purple in every picture I see, rather than a bright pink like magenta is, and furthermore I see no difference between Windu's lightsaber and Jade's lightsaber. If either is pink, then both are pink.

Also, in Teräs Käsi, Jade's lightsaber is definitely a bluish violet color, and nowhere near a pinkish magenta.

I'm not sure where the information in Wookiepedia, stating Mara Jade's saber is magenta, is from, since there's no adequate source links in that particular part of the article, only a long list of sources at the end.

Somehow I feel like Mara Jade's violet/purple lightsaber is being retconned into being a pink one because of Mace Windu's lightsaber. Then again, if it's true that the story has been retconned so that the Emperor gave Jade a lightsaber constructed from Windu's saber's crystal, then both of them share the color, which should then be purple.

[FtC-Havox]

The Twi'lek Tott Doneeta from the Tales of the Jedi comic (1996) had a purple lightsaber.

I can't link a picture because I just registered, but you can google it.

[fruust]

Ah, Dark Forces. I LOVED the first game. Never played the second one though...

it was awesome back then but sadly almost unplayable now. the saber fighting mechanics and hit detection is horrible.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Honestly the limitation on colors still isn't very clear. So far we know of red (sith only), green, yellow, purple, blue (jedi only). There's talk that white and black colors may also exist. So really, seems any "basic" color is possible.