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Thread: Why are lightsaber blades straight?

  1. #1
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    Default Why are lightsaber blades straight?

    This might seem like a silly question some elementary school children might ask. But if they were to ask it, how would you answer?

    Einstein said that gravity can bend light.

    It's not inconceivable a lightsaber could bend its laser blade just the same to give it a slight curvature.

    I thought that GL wanted to imitate the Samurai weaponry as close as possible.

    So why are lightsaber blades straight?

    $this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://ultraforcesabers.com/files/1861163/uploaded/Obi-Wan_Kenobi_I_Dark%20(small).jpg')
    Last edited by hirobo2; 05-17-17 at 12:05 PM.

  2. #2
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    Japanese katana:

    $this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yPy0U55nmRM/UZiJUmTvNNI/AAAAAAAAADo/FvL_ruf9Y4E/s1600/tumblr_m4hiqxUXli1r10ux5o1_1280.jpg')
    $this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://www.swords24.eu/images/products/en/Samurai_Katana-Dragon_Tsuba_Black_SW-941BK.jpg')
    Last edited by hirobo2; 05-17-17 at 12:07 PM.

  3. #3
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    This Samurai bamboo practice weapon is straight. But it doesn't cut thru anything! And there is a huge bulge near the hillt:

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    $this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://d3d71ba2asa5oz.cloudfront.net/13000332/images/lp-ay100-0.jpg')

    (Would be the joke of the century if something as bad-arse as a lightsaber was trying to imitate a practice weapon, let alone a piece of stitched together bamboo...)
    Last edited by hirobo2; 05-17-17 at 11:53 AM.

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    In the OT, a lightsaber blade was slender and straight. It didn't have any bulge near the beginning, nor any kind of diffuse light refraction to give an optical illusion of a bulge:

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    Answer: Since I have explained multiple times here how everything in STAR WARS, aside from Vader's Shogun warlord armory with hightech twist, derives from Jin Yong wuxia,

    perhaps, GL was trying to imitate a Chinese (Tang) sword, which have rather straight blades, rather than a curvy Samurai katana:

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    Note how the lightsaber blade just comes out without any kind of hand shield, or separator like the Tang sword above:

    $this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://th09.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/f/2010/359/4/4/obi_wan__s_lightsaber_blade_by_hardcoredrummer-d35muq9.jpg')


    Meanwhile, a Samurai katana always has that round/oval ring piece to keep the hand from sliding into the blade:

    $this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://www.swordsofmight.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/p-56140-Red_Samurai_Katana__26111.jpg')
    Last edited by hirobo2; 05-17-17 at 12:00 PM.

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    Bottom line is, STAR WARS had always been more Hong Kong-nese than Japanese, that's why the lightsaber blade is straight like a Chinese sword rather than the fanciful Japanese katana.

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    Q: Why are lightsaber blades straight?

    A: Have ye ever thought that maybe it wasn't a Japanese katana that GL was trying to imitate, but a Chinese sword (with straight blade [and esp. like those from the Tang dynasty -- see posts after]?)

    Last edited by hirobo2; 05-17-17 at 04:40 PM.

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    Ninja-like Chinese Tang sword:

    $this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://ryansword.com/rs/r31001.jpg')

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    $this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://i01.i.aliimg.com/wsphoto/v0/1941885279/New-Handmade-Folded-steel-Samurai-font-b-sword-b-font-Christmas-gift-Chinese-font-b-sword.jpg')

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