Strange and wild-looking lightsabers have become somewhat of a tradition in the Star Wars universe, one that Star Wars: The Force Awakens carried on from the prequels. In a scene very reminiscent of Maul igniting his double-bladed saber in the Phantom Menace, Kylo Ren ignites his unstable saber in the forest of Starkiller base. Furthermore, both lightsaber reveals were initially shown in the trailers of their respective movies in order to excite audiences before their theatrical debuts.
While The Force Awakens mostly ignored the prequels, it did borrow the idea of the modified lightsaber. The Phantom Menace struck a new chord with Star Wars fans by expanding on the idea of “an elegant weapon for a more civilized age.” When Darth Maul first ignited his double-bladed saber, it set a new precedent for combat in the Star Wars franchise. Similarly, The Force Awakens attempted a similar trick by creating another new style of saber for its villain Kylo Ren. But while Maul used his saber to its fullest extent in his dual with Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, there are some who believe that Kylo didn’t utilize his saber to its full potential.
Force Awakens Largely Dismissed The Star Wars Prequels
The Force Awakens rarely referenced anything from the prequels, and, for the most part, remained a carbonite copy of A New Hope. A common subplot in all the prequels revolved around the politics of the Senate on Coruscant. Meanwhile, The Force Awakens obliterated its galaxy’s capital planet within the first half of the film. Had the New Republic been given time, it could have been more fleshed out. Instead, the two warring powers in the sequels are left somewhat underdeveloped in The Force Awakens, though, some would argue that they were overdeveloped in the prequels. Regardless, both trilogies knew how to properly introduce a cool new lightsaber.
The prequels were certainly not perfect, but the sequels largely ignored the problems of the previous trilogy. In more ways than one, this led the sequels and prequels to have opposite problems. The ideas behind the prequels had depth and breadth to them, but their execution was less than perfect. The prequels got off to a rocky start with the Phantom Menace, but later proved their worth with Revenge of the Sith. Meanwhile, the ideas and plot of the sequels tended to be shallow and rushed, while the execution behind them was breathtaking. The Force Awakens was an enormous hit when it arrived in theaters, but the Rise of Skywalker ended up showing how little planning had been done.
Kylo Ren Fixed A Darth Maul Mistake
One of the biggest complaints about Darth Maul is that he was killed off too quickly in the Phantom Menace. The Clone Wars TV series rectified this mistake by resurrecting Maul and turning him into a complex and compelling character that wove his way into the story. But as far as live-action goes, Maul remains a flat villain with little depth to him. The Force Awakens avoided this mistake by not killing off its antagonist. Kylo’s redemption arc is one of the strongest aspects of the sequel trilogy as a whole. Either way, Star Wars: The Force Awakens proves that Star Wars fans love a villain with a cool new lightsaber.