Star Wars Story Editor Explains Why Jedi Don’t Name Their Lightsabers

Here’s a really good question about the Star Wars universe that you might not have considered before: why don’t the Jedi name their lightsabers? After all, Jedi Knights are essentially a space-age version of medieval knights, with mythology full of special swords and weapons that have suitably dramatic-sounding names. This question was posed to a pretty official source – Star Wars story editor Matt Martin – and he provided an answer to the mystery.

In a now deleted tweet, which was screen-grabbed and shared on r/starwarsspeculation, one fan questioned why the Darksaber is the only lightsaber in the SW canon, to date, which has a specific name. It turns out Martin’s answer is to do with the famed rule about the Jedi being discouraged from forming emotional attachments.

“I would attribute it to the Jedi’s attempts to avoid attachment. The sabers are just tools. Not something to be revered and named.”

In a follow-up response, Martin further clarified what he meant, comparing the Jedi to tradesman rather than classical knights.

“It is a very rare tradesperson that names their tools. For they know that even the best tools will wear down and break eventually. If anything, the name of the creator would matter more.”

It seems that this is merely Martin’s informed, personal opinion, but given his position as a member of the Lucasfilm Story Group, this counts as as good an explanation as any, based around a smart extrapolation of the Jedi’s no-attachments rule.

As pointed out above, the Darksaber is the outlier, but then this legendary Mandalorian artifact has passed through many hands over the centuries so it can be described as being more important than any single Force-user. The weapon was first introduced into continuity in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, before making a shock appearance in The Mandalorian‘s season 1 finale. This revealed that, by the post-Return of the Jedi period, Moff Gideon has come into possession of it.

Expect much more of the Darksaber in The Mandalorian season 2 when that arrives this fall. As for now, you can enjoy Star Wars: The Clone Wars season 7 Fridays on Disney Plus.