An upcomingStar Warsvideo game will fix a 24-year-old continuity issue in the franchise’s original timeline. In 2000,Star Warsnon-movie materials were part of what was once called theExpanded Universe, though these materials now comprise theStar WarsLegends continuity after the franchise’s partial reboot in 2014. In the pre-Disney era, the Expanded Universe was officially canon, with comics, video games, and other forms of media maintaining a consistent continuity with the original six saga movies. Continuity snarls did happen, of course, but the overwhelming majority were cleared up with retcons.
Star WarsLegends and the modern canon that supplanted it have significantly different approaches to continuity.Star WarsLegends – which had a tier system that was never actually necessary – held every property to the same standard as the main saga films, ensuring that new lore fit organically alongside the movies to create a vast universe in which every story mattered. The modern canon treatsStar Warsmore like folklore, treating continuity snarls as benign inevitabilities instead of issues to correct. Fascinatingly, even ten years after its discontinuation,Star WarsLegends is still occasionally deploying retcons to maintain a consistent continuity.
Jedi: Power Battle’s Continuity Problems Explained
One of the few uncorrected continuity issues inStar WarsLegends concerns the lightsaber blade colors of the prequel-era Jedi. Comic books, merchandise, and video games released surroundingStar Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menaceportrayed the Jedi as using lightsabers with a variety of blade colors.Mace Windu had a blue-bladed lightsaber, Plo Koon used a yellow-bladed weapon, Ki-Adi-Mundi and Saesee Tiin had purple-bladed weapons, and Adi Gallia even wielded a red-bladed lightsaber– a color usually associated with Sith. The blade colors were notably depicted in the 2000 video gameStar Wars: Episode I Jedi Power Battles.
From 1998 to 2000, these blade colors caused no continuity issues, as lightsaber blade colors and their respective associations with the Jedi and Sith had not yet been established. During production ofStar Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, however, George Lucas mandated that red-bladed lightsabers be the traditional color of Sith weapons, while Jedi almost exclusively use blue or green blades, though blade colors other than blue, green, or red would occasionally be used. Thus,the prequel-era Jedi had their blade colors retroactively changed, thoughMace Windu would use a purple-bladed lightsaberat Samuel L. Jackson’s request.
In the Legends continuity, Luke Skywalker constructed a red-bladed lightsaber shoto as a secondary weapon, and its blade color was never retroactively changed from red, even in its appearances in theLegacy of the Forcenovels from the late 2000s.
Star Wars' Jedi Power Battle Update Actually Fixes This Problem
TheStar WarsLegends continuity never offered an explanation for the abrupt change to so many Jedi lightsabers in the decade betweenThe Phantom MenaceandAttack of the Clones, though arguably, one was never necessary, since the lightsaber blade color lore had not been established at the time ofThe Phantom Menace’srelease. Notably, a remaster ofJedi Power Battleswas announced in 2024 with a planned release in late January 2025. In addition to updated visuals, new playable characters, and new game modes,theJedi Power Battlesremaster will also correct the blade colors of its playable Jedi.
Star Wars: How A Jedi Gets Their Lightsaber Color
The Star Wars franchise’s lightsabers are the signature weapons of the Jedi and Sith, but what gives the weapons their various blade colors?
Players will have the option to give the playable Jedi their canonical Legends-era blade colors or use the original – and retroactively incorrect – blade colors, thanks to an option in the forthcoming game. Nostalgic players can return to the visuals of the pre-Attack of the ClonesJedi or play the game according to the retconned Legends-era lore. This feature, notably, highlights the fact thatthe lightsaber blade color discrepancy was never a major issue in the first place, especially considering that it is not the first of its kind in the Legends continuity.
What Does Jedi: Power Battle’s Update Mean For Star Wars?
Simply put, the different lightsaber blade colors of characters like Mace Windu, Plo Koon, and Adi Gallia betweenThe Phantom MenaceandAttack of the Cloneswere never a major continuity problem in the first place. It is simply an understandable error in depiction. Retroactively, the Jedi always used theirAttack of the Clonesblade colors, with aStar Wars Talescomic showing that Mace Windu’s purple-bladed weapon was the first lightsaber he constructed and the one he would use for the rest of his life – outside a concordance of fealty with Eeth Koth.
This discrepancy is notably present in the comic adaptation ofHeir to the Empire, which gave Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber a blue blade, whileDark Force RisingandThe Last Commandcorrectly gave it a green blade. A retconexplainingLuke’s changing lightsaber colorwas never necessary, nor was a retcon explaining the prequel-era Jedi’s weapons. Fascinatingly, the 2001 video gameStar Wars: Obi-Wan, which, likeJedi Power Battles, takes place concurrently withThe Phantom Menace, depicts theStar Warsprequel-era Jedi with their canonical blade colors, proving that their previous incorrect depictions were simply retroactive errors, not true continuity issues.
June 25, 2025
Star Wars
Star Wars is a multimedia franchise that started in 1977 by creator George Lucas. After the release of Star Wars: Episode IV- A New Hope (originally just titled Star Wars), the franchise quickly exploded, spawning multiple sequels, prequels, TV shows, video games, comics, and much more. After Disney acquired the rights to the franchise, they quickly expanded the universe on Disney+, starting with The Mandalorian.
