LucasfilmLightsaber canon is not set in stone. In current, post-2016 Star Wars canon, we know that the crystals in lightsabers can bleed and change, which is a nice metaphor for lightsaber and Force canon over the years. In early drafts of The Empire Strikes Back, a magical kyber crystal was a huge part of the plot, but not directly connected to how the lightsabers worked. Luke’s green lightsaber color was only picked in post-production of Return of the Jedi, because the blue color didn’t look right with the Tatooine sand. Red wasn’t always specifically Sith-coded either; even in the prequel era, heroic Jedi like Adi Gallia had red lightsabers in the comics and in the toys. Just like the blades could be deployed and then shrink back, lightsabers have always been a malleable and dynamic part of Star Wars history. And now, with The Ninth Jedi, a new profound interpretation of lightsabers has again redefined the nature of the iconic sci-fi weapon. Like the 2021 Star Wars: Visions short which started the concept, the series version of The Ninth Jedi (just released on Disney+ on August 5), focuses much of its plotting on the coloring — or lack of color — of lightsaber blades, and how a specific attunement to the Force can change these elegant weapons. Technically, The Ninth Jedi doesn’t assert that all lightsabers have the ability to reflect the heart of the wielder, and yet there’s a sense of truth in the series that this is how lightsabers should always have functioned. And, for Ninth Jedi creator Kenji Kamiyama, the reasons to present lightsabers as dynamic, changing objects within the narrative were both a spiritual and cultural choice.Ninth Jedi lightsabers take inspiration from Japanese swords “The Jedi and lightsaber are [the] identity of Star Wars,” Kamiyama tells Inverse, via a translator. “But, particularly in Japan, the Japanese sword is not just a weapon. It reflects the mind and the spirit of the forger, and also the person who uses it.”Sabersmith Lah Zhima, in a flashback in The Ninth Jedi. | LucasfilmThis notion, that Lah Zhima’s lightsabers specifically can change color and power based on the user’s feelings, helps to chart pretty much the entire plot of the series. Young Kara generally wields a green lightsaber, but when she strays too far into taking revenge midway through the series, she looks down in horror to see that her lightsaber has turned red. On the flipside, early in the series, the big bad, General Nawaam, is shown in Kylo Ren/Darth Vader-esque garb, rocking a blue lightsaber. This detail is at the heart of what makes The Ninth Jedi so smart. The saber doesn’t change red because Nawaam is doing evil and is unaware of it; it stays blue because he thinks he’s doing the right thing, and he thinks of himself as the good guy. The Ninth Jedi’s lightsaber matches prequel-era Star WarsIn a sense, the way The Ninth Jedi deals with lightsabers feels a bit closer to the 2005-ish era of Star Wars canon. Back then, before The Clone Wars, before the Disney buyout of Lucasfilm, Anakin’s lightsaber remained blue, regardless of the fact that he’d already taken on the name “Darth Vader” and used said blue-bladed lightsaber to murder countless innocents. When The Acolyte depicted true lightsaber bleeding on screen for the first time, many fans discussed why this wouldn’t have happened with Anakin, which yielded lots of mental gymnastics. The simple fact is that the reason it didn’t happen in Revenge of the Sith is because that concept hadn’t been invented yet.But The Ninth Jedi lightsabers provide a much better retcon for the Anakin question in Revenge of the Sith, and, at the same time, honor The Acolyte's take on lightsaber color change in a specific moment. Kara and her lightsaber in ‘The Ninth Jedi.’ This is just one of several colors Kara’s lightsabers turns throughout the series. | Lucasfilm“The sword can be a bad thing and a good thing,” Kamiyama explains. “It reflects the mind and the spirit.” What The Ninth Jedi does well is to present the notion that the mind and the spirit can change, and thus, the lightsaber can change. Kara’s lightsaber goes on a full journey, from green to red, to the clear/silver blade that seems to signify nothingness. Eventually, she arrives back at green, which feels like her ideal state as a certain kind of Jedi.But what’s cool about all of this is that The Ninth Jedi’s canon explorations of lightsabers allow all previous lightsaber interpretations to sort of work together in harmony. In a sense, The Ninth Jedi brings balance to the lightsaber canon debate, in a way no previous Star Wars project ever has.Star Wars: The Ninth Jedi streams on Disney+.