I can't tell if this Star Wars Jedi: Survivor lightsaber is a massive canon revelation or completely meaningless

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
(Image credit: EA)

Fans have taken note of what appears to be an orange lightsaber in the Star Wars Jedi: Survivor trailer, which would be a first in the canon of Star Wars - if the blade were actually orange, that is.

If you're not familiar with the history of Star Wars canon, a multitude of lightsaber blade colors, including orange, appeared in older books, comics, and video games. However, following Disney's acquisition of the Star Wars franchise in 2012, all that old material - except for the movies and the Clone Wars series - was stricken from the record, so that the new owners of Star Wars could create a (theoretically) more consistent Star Wars canon.

In the new canon, lightsaber colors are much more limited. The vast majority of Jedi carry blue or green blades, except Mace Windu - when you're portrayed by Sam Jackson, you get whatever color you want. That's why, when a mysterious helmeted figure appeared in the early moments of the Jedi: Survivor trailer wielding an unusually colored blade.

As one highly-upvoted Reddit post asks, "Is this the first canon appearance of an orange lightsaber?" You can follow that link for a whole lot of debate, but the short answer is: yes. Orange blades have not previously appeared in modern Star Wars canon, outside of some very, very specialized circumstances - never in a proper, normal lightsaber. Orange was an unlockable color for Cal Kestis's blade in Jedi: Fallen Order, but canonically, that laser sword is blue. Other non-canon unlockables in that game include cyan, indigo, and magenta blades.

But take another look at that Jedi: Survivor trailer above, when the blade in question appears at the 0:21 mark. Is that sword really orange? Or is it yellow? Compare it to Rey's lightsaber from the end of Rise of Skywalker, which is very definitely and very canonically yellow.

If that blade is indeed yellow, and I'm fairly confident it is, that means this whole thing is old news. Rey's blade is yellow. Asajj Ventress takes up a yellow lightsaber after she parted with Count Dooku. Even the Jedi Temple guards carry yellow-bladed lightsaber pikes.

The truth of the matter? Well, it's that none of this is important - but I did get to spend an afternoon browsing Wookieepedia for work, so I'm calling it a worthwhile exercise.

The Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Collector's Edition is $300 and has a lightsaber that comes in any color you want - because the blade's not included.

Dustin Bailey
Staff Writer

Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.