Star Wars: The Clone Wars often explored and explained elements of the Star Wars franchise that the Skywalker Saga movies ignored, including key elements of the iconic lightsaber. While the Skywalker Saga constantly showed how useful and deadly the Jedi and Sith weapons are, they never explained how they’re made or how durable they are. These components of the famous weapons, particularly their durability and maintenance, are shown in The Clone Wars. Alongside humanizing the Jedi and Clone Troopers, the series often focused on the more mundane elements of the franchise, making the already immersive universe feel even more “real” for viewers.
Although they appear futuristic, lightsabers are ancient and traditional weapons of the Jedi and Sith. While they’re built with high-tech components, they are powered by the Force-connected kyber crystals. When a kyber bonds with a Force-user, it becomes a specific color (usually blue or green, but sometimes purple or yellow), giving the lightsaber its blade hue. For a dark side user, the crystals don’t bond with them naturally and are instead violently compelled to. This process, known as “bleeding,” results in the kyber crystals (and, subsequently their blades) turning red, which is why the Sith and the Knights of Ren exclusively use red-bladed weapons. Building a lightsaber is a sacred rite of passage for Jedi and Sith, so lightsaber maintenance is likely a vital skill for them, as the weapons are anything but disposable.
In the Clone Wars episode Dooku Captured, Obi-Wan and Anakin are pursuing the Sith Lord Count Dooku on the planet Vanqor. Dooku uses the dark side to collapse rocks on his Jedi pursuers, allowing him to escape. Anakin and Obi-Wan survive, but Kenobi’s lightsaber is damaged by falling rocks and is shown malfunctioning moments later. When the two Jedi encounter a gundark, Anakin (whose lightsaber was stolen by Dooku) distracts the beast while Obi-Wan disassembles and repairs his weapon. After removing the blade emitter and tapping the hilt against a boulder, Obi-Wan’s lightsaber is back in working condition.
Lightsaber hilts are shown to be quite durable in the films, with Obi-Wan’s first and third weapons continuing to function normally after being dropped from great heights in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. Anakin Skywalker’s lightsaber, when wielded by Luke, fell through the depths of Cloud City, but was next seen in working condition on Takodana. As shown in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: The Last Jedi, lightsabers hilts can be destroyed by other lightsaber blades or broken in half by the Force, but, in the latter’s case, they can be repaired.
Obi-Wan’s weapon being damaged was probably meant to create tension in the following action scene, not imply that lightsabers are by any means fragile. By showing that, in rare instances, that lightsabers can malfunction and require maintenance, The Clone Wars showed a mundane side of the otherwise mythical weapons. This is consistent with the way that the series humanized its Jedi and Clone characters, proving that, beneath their legend and grandeur, they’re ordinary beings in many regards. Lightsabers, like their wielders, had more commonplace moments left out of the Star Wars films but were shown in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
