The Acolyte has launched a lightsaber in the live stream but why doesn’t the Jedi use them more often?
In the comic Star Wars #95 by Joe Duffy and Cynthia Martin, the original lightsaber used by the Sith Dark Lady of the Lumiya was introduced. The modern version, the light whip, although similar, has minor differences. Introduced in Justina Ireland’s Trial of Courage, this weapon is an adaptation of an ordinary saber that allows it to transform into a whip. Jedi Master Vernestra Rwoh, played by Rebecca Henderson The Acolyte, uses this whip in Episode 6, quickly showing her brutality. So why don’t the Jedi use it more often?
Association with Sith
As Lumia explained in the Marvel Comics, the lightsaber is basically the same as a regular lightsaber, producing a blade of energy and powered by a Force-imbued crystal. The difference is that the lightsaber doesn’t stabilize their blade and some use more crystals to make the blade longer and more flexible. In combat, a light whip is far more lethal as an offensive weapon than a standard lightsaber, although Luke Skywalker knows that he can effectively counter a lightsaber using both a lightsaber and a short blade shot. On the defensive side, lightning strikes are more limited than lighting.
Lightwhips, being more offensive, are better suited to Sith than Jedi. Throughout the Legends universe, most light whip drivers are Sith, although some Dathomir Knights also use these weapons. Jedi can make simple whips and learn combat training with them in the temple, but the weapon’s poor defensive capabilities make it unusual among Jedi. For the Sith (and occasionally the Nightsters), the light whip has the added benefit of being a rare weapon. Few riders know how to handle light whips and deal with them, which makes them even more lethal.
The importance of light whip
One of the first appearances of the Lightning Bolt in the modern Star Wars canon was in Justina Ireland’s Trial of Courage novel. Jedi Knight Vernestra Rwoh has converted her standard lightsaber into a secondary lightsaber mode, making the weapon extremely versatile. Rwoh explains that the ancient knights used replays against the Sith as a defense against “forbidden forms”. This creates a new history for the lightsaber in the new timeline, as their origins were never revealed in the Legends universe, although the weapons were more common among the Sith than the Jedi.
In the modern Star Wars canon, there is still no mention of the Sith using screws; Test of Courage Some Nightcrashers use armor, just like their first incarnation in legend. Lightsaber’s new background differs dramatically from its original iteration.
While in the Legends universe lightwhips were favored by the Sith for their offensive capabilities, modern canon sees them as an anti-Sith weapon used by the Jedi. It’s not entirely clear what “forbidden forms” are in Star Wars history, but they proved dangerous enough to build the Jedi’s primarily offensive lightsaber variants.
Rejection of light whip
With the seeming destruction of the Sith and the peace of the Millennium, however, a light whip for the Jedi has become obsolete. Vernestra Rwoh was particularly concerned about how her fellow Jedi would react to her enhanced lightsaber’s lightsaber mode, so she kept this feature a secret after she set about changing her lightsaber with the Force. He finally told the Jedi Council, and they reluctantly approved.
Vernestra was able to create her lightsaber whip only after meditating deeply on its power, and ever-intelligent, she knew what she was doing from the stories. Many texts describing simple whips are unlikely to have survived from the Imperial period, meaning that this knowledge may have been lost. This probably means there won’t be another lightsaber in the future of Star Wars.