The mishandling of Cal Kestis' double-bladed lightsaber in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order ruined what should have been a big moment for the character's personal growth. Although the reveal of the canon lightsaber's true capabilities in Fallen Order is a welcome one, the potential timing of the reveal takes away from its significance. Respawn Entertainment was unfortunately faced with a difficult decision, as placing the reveal too late in the game would have deprived players of a fun twist to the combat.
[Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.]
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, released in 2019, follows Jedi Padawan Cal Kestis and is set five years after Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. After inadvertently revealing himself as Force-sensitive, Cal becomes hunted by Imperial Inquisitors as he travels the galaxy to try and rebuild the Jedi Order. The game introduced a fresh cast of characters to the Star Wars universe, and the praise for it was generally high. The sequel to the game, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, is slated to release in 2023.
Throughout Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Cal uses the damaged lightsaber of Jaro Tapal, his former master who was killed during Order 66. Early on, either on Dathomir, Kashyyyk, or Bogano, Cal fixes the lightsaber to reveal that it's actually double-bladed. Getting to use a double-bladed lightsaber in a Star Wars game is never a bad thing, but the reveal would have been better suited at a later point in the story. Because of the way it's handled, it can be argued that Cal's big moment was not as strong as it could have been.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Needed To Save Cal's Lightsaber Reveal
During Cal's adventure across the galaxy, there are actually three possible times for him to get Jedi: Fallen Order's double-bladed lightsaber early: Bogano, Dathomir and Kashyyyk. However, if the player goes straight to Dathomir after the first trip to Bogano, it's possible to repair the lightsaber very early on. When it happens, it's nothing more than a 5-10 second animation of Cal tinkering with the lightsaber and then a second blade suddenly appears from the other end once he's done. While it's fun to use, the moment isn't really treated as something to remember.
A better moment from the reveal would have been toward the end of the game. After his lightsaber was damaged on Dathomir, Cal took it to Ilum to be rebuilt. There, the player is able to finally choose the color of the lightsaber as Cal makes it his own. It's around this time that a flashback is shown from the day Jaro died. During this sequence, Cal fled to an escape pod while Jaro fought off Imperial troopers with his lightsaber, which is then revealed to be double-bladed. When Cal rebuilds the lightsaber in Jedi: Fallen Order on Ilum, after seeing Jaro's original one in action, it would have made for a more fulfilling step in Cal's personal growth to see him use the double-bladed saber for the first time there. Throughout the story, he blames himself for the death of his master, with the damaged lightsaber being a constant reminder of the fateful day. Getting to rebuild it, and then finally using its full power with Cal's guilt relieved, simply makes more sense.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order promised the ultimate Jedi fantasy, so it makes sense for Respawn to put the double-bladed variant in players' hands as soon as possible. In doing so, however, an important story beat had to suffer. There seemed to be no right answers in how to approach it best, but most of the game was fortunately more than strong enough to overlook it.