A Brief History Of Star Wars Characters Surviving Lightsaber Wounds
This article contains spoilers for "Ahsoka."
Who amongst us hasn't had a pretend lightsaber fight where we swing around fake versions of the iconic laser sword, all the while providing our own whooshing and whizzing sound effects? Even certain "Star Wars" actors can't always resist making the instantly recognizable noises of a lightsaber during rehearsal. Not as clumsy or random as a blaster, these elegant weapons for "a more civilized age" (to quote Obi-Wan Kenobi) are incredibly deadly ... sometimes. Other times, getting sliced with a lightsaber comes across as little more than an inconvenience on par with the world's worst paper cut.
Lightsaber-related injuries have certainly come a long way over the course of the history of the "Star Wars" franchise. Back in 1977's "Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope," the criminal Dr. Cornelius Evazan and his Aqualish buddy Ponda Baba learned the hard way not to tangle with a Jedi. Their brief yet memorable encounter with Luke Skywalker and Ob-Wan at the Mos Eisley Cantina on Tatooine ended with Evazan getting slashed across the chest, nearly killing him. Meanwhile, Ponda wound up with one of his arms lopped off and bleeding on the floor. Why didn't Obi-Wan's lightsaber instantly cauterize his severed arm? Because George Lucas hadn't quite nailed down the science of lightsabers just yet. Er, the Force.
Fast-forward to the premiere episode of "Ahsoka" and you've got the villainous Shin Hati stabbing the heroic Sabine Wren in the gut with her lightsaber, only for Sabine to shake it off a day or so later like the champ she is. Surprising as the moment was, it's far from unprecedented. Indeed, one's ability to survive getting skewered by a lightsaber appears to depend heavily on the needs of the plot at any given moment.
Tis but a scratch
If there's an upside to getting stabbed by a lightsaber rather than a regular sword (although ideally you wouldn't get stabbed by either of these things unless you're into that sort of thing), it's that the heat of the lightsaber instantly seals your wound and prevents you from bleeding out. It's why Obi-Wan was able to bounce back but a few minutes after Count Dooku grazed his shoulder and knee during their lightsaber duel in "Episode II — Attack of the Clones." Or how all it took was a nice cozy nap spent soaking in a bacta suit to get Finn back on his feet after Kylo Ren sliced him in the back with his lightsaber in "Episode VII — The Force Awakens."
Kylo himself was left with a rather long scar after getting hit in the face by the wrong side of Rey's lightsaber in "The Force Awakens." Rey would later stab him dead-center in his gut during "Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker," but he quickly got better after she used her conveniently newfound Force healing powers to repair the physical damage she'd caused. Meanwhile, poor Kit Fisto and the other Jedi who accompanied Mace Windu to arrest Palpatine in "Episode III — Revenge of the Sith" barely had a chance to lift their lightsabers before the wily Sith lord came at them with his light-blade, cutting each of them down with a single blow.
Naturally, where you get hit by a lightsaber makes all the difference in the world. When Shin stabbed Sabine in "Ahsoka," she failed to pierce any vital organs. When Darth Maul blinded Sabine's fellow Lothal Rebel, Kanan Jarrus, on "Star Wars Rebels," well, that injury proved a little more permanent, even for the advanced medical world of "Star Wars."
Limbs? Eh, who needs them anyway?
Remember how lightsabers cauterize severed limbs? Well, it's a good thing they do, because otherwise a whole lot of "Star Wars" characters would've met their maker much earlier than they did. It's not just Sabine and Finn who might've been toast had they been stabbed with knives instead of lightsabers. (Then again, if we've learned anything from the "Scream" films, it seems knife wounds aren't that big a deal either). Even Anakin Skywalker could've ended up six feet under after Dooku chopped his arm off during "Attack of the Clones," long before Obi-Wan cut off most of Anakin's remaining limbs during "Revenge of the Sith." Had that happened, Luke would've never been born in the first place, much less lived to see his own hand hacked off by Anakin/Darth Vader during "Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back." Like father, like son, as they say.
Of course, no history of "Star Wars" characters overcoming lightsaber-related injuries would be complete if we didn't talk about Darth Maul. After literally getting bisected at the waist by Obi-Wan and falling down a reactor pit during "Episode I — The Phantom Menace," our horned king managed to survive through the dark side of the Force, channeling all the hate and rage could muster into staying alive. He would eventually be rescued and equipped with a pair of prosthetic legs (much like Anakin and Luke replaced their severed limbs with artificial ones), allowing him to become a major player in the Clone Wars and even more or less seize control of the planet Mandalore for a period of time.
Let that be a lesson to all you kids out there: Never let something as insignificant as a lightsaber wound slow you down!