Fans Didn’t Like It, But Star Wars’ Lightsaber Retcon Was One Of The Disney Era’s Best Moments

One of the best Star Wars moments of the Disney era was a lightsaber retcon of sorts, meaning fans didn’t respond well. While it is safe to say there aren’t many who consider Disney’s installments to be among the best Star Wars movies, the House of Mouse has found a bit more luck on the small screen. Be it the success of The Mandalorian that has led to a theatrical resurgence or Andor, a series largely considered the best of all Star Wars TV shows, Lucasfilm has managed to create some true gems for Disney+.

Regardless, that has not stopped the division of the Star Wars fanbase, with one Disney+ show above all exemplifying this: The Acolyte. It would simply take too long to list all of the ways in which the show caused heated debate online upon its release, but one harsh reality of The Acolyte was its characters. More specifically, the show didn’t know which to focus on, with one underserved character being one of the two leads, Osha.

Osha’s transition from a former Jedi to a vengeful, dark side acolyte was at the core of the show. Overall, this journey was certainly a rocky one, but it ended in a compelling way that, sadly, won’t be shown after The Acolyte season 2’s cancelation. In fact, one of Osha’s final scenes is one of the coolest moments in all of Disney’s Star Wars productions, despite it being one of the many aforementioned aspects of The Acolyte that divided fans.

This moment came in the final episode after Osha killed her former master, Sol, in anger. Upon doing so, Osha funneled her anger into her lightsaber, turning it from blue to red.

Osha’s Bleeding Kyber Crystal Is One Of Star Wars’ Best Disney-Era Moments

Yes, The Acolyte had overall issues with its character arcs, but Osha’s pivotal moment of bleeding the kyber crystal inside her lightsaber was one of the coolest ways to depict her turn. The bleeding of a kyber crystal has long been known as a concept in Star Wars, be it Anakin’s lightsaber turning from blue to Darth Vader’s red or Ahsoka Tano “un-bleeding” a weapon by purifying an Inquisitor’s red color into a brilliant, bright white. However, The Acolyte was the first time this process had been shown on-screen, and it came after a badass lightsaber fight.

Osha’s turn was seeded just enough so that the bleeding of the lightsaber became a massive moment, bolstered by the fact that it had never been shown in a Star Wars movie or TV show before. To see something of such weight, that has only been hinted at or described in the past, happening in real time was an awesome moment, and one of Disney Star Wars‘ very best.

Why The Acolyte’s Bleeding Kyber Crystal Is So Controversial

Regardless of how great many thought this moment was, Osha bleeding her lightsaber proved to be yet another of The Acolyte‘s controversial moments. Firstly, it is worth addressing the fact that a certain sect of Star Wars went into The Acolyte having already decided on hating it. The belief from this group was that the show was too “woke” and too focused on embedding real-world politics into Star Wars. As a result, almost everything The Acolyte did, including a black woman bleeding a kyber crystal, was met with backlash.

Beyond this, though, from a story and franchise perspective, other Star Wars fans simply found the bleeding process to be too simple. As alluded to, major dark side villains like Darth Vader and Kylo Ren have bled kyber crystals in other areas of Star Wars canon. Both of these characters, despite their major power in the dark side, struggled to complete this process; Vader took several hours or even days to channel enough anger into the crystal to turn it red, while Kylo Ren’s process was so intense that it cracked the crystal, resulting in his unstable, red lightsaber.

Given how bleeding a kyber crystal has typically been shown in Star Wars canon before The Acolyte, the main controversy over the latter was that it happened too quickly. Osha killed her Jedi master, yes, but Anakin and Kylo have both done much worse than this. Nonetheless, Osha’s crystal bled almost instantaneously, while the other two characters struggled to achieve this. For this reason, among other, more undesirable attacks, one of Disney Star Wars‘ coolest moments was met with division.

Release Date

2024 – 2024-00-00

Showrunner

Leslye Headland

Directors

Leslye Headland, Alex Garcia Lopez

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