The crystal is the heart of the blade.\
The heart is the crystal of the Jedi.\
The Jedi is the crystal of the Force.\
The Force is the blade of the heart.\
All are intertwined.\
The crystal, the blade, the Jedi—\
You are one.
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OBI-WAN hands ANAKIN the lightsaber.\
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OBI-WAN\
Here. Next time try not to lose it.\
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ANAKIN\
Sorry, Master.
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ANAKIN reaches for the lightsaber, but OBI-WAN holds it back.\
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OBI-WAN\
A Jedi's saber is his most precious possession.\
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ANAKIN\
Yes, Master.
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He reaches for the lightsaber, OBI-WAN pulls it back.\
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OBI-WAN\
He must keep it with him at all times.\
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ANAKIN\
I know, Master.\
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OBI-WAN\
This weapon is your life!\
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ANAKIN\
I've heard this lesson before...
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OBI-WAN finally holds out the lightsaber and ANAKIN grabs it.\
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OBI-WAN\
But, you haven't learned anything, Anakin.\
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ANAKIN\
I try, Master.
\
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(complete draft of Episode II script)\
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The Anakin lightsaber. Obi-wan, it seems, is the only one capable, and in his mind, perhaps, worthy, of hanging on to it. "Attachment is forbidden" to the Jedi, but Obi-wan preaches it regarding the saber. Anakin drops his while clinging to the cockpit of Zam Wesell's speeder and looses it in the droid factory on Geonosis. He drops it again when Dooku blasts him with Force lightning, and has it cut in two just before the same happens to his arm. He drops it while fighting Asajj, and will loose it in his fight with Obi-wan in episode III. These last two occasions are of particular import. I will not speculate on the events of Ep III, but the former is worth discussing.\
The best moment of the micro-series Clone Wars on Cartoon Network came at the end of episode 18. (I think it was episode 18, but I can't double-check because the entire Clone Wars section of their website is just *poof* gone, replaced by an error message. My condolences, especially to those of you who have not seen them.) Actually there were two best moments, both in that episode. (Okay, it was pretty great seeing the saber crystal cave, too, but where were the red crystals? And I'm sure they'd find some orange ones if they looked real hard.) The first is when Anakin enters the ruins, chasing Asajj. Water drips from the ceiling and makes faint Vader-breath-like sounds. Very cool. But even better is right at the end. Atop a bleak precipice, Anakin manages to beat Asajj down with one of her own lightsabers after loosing his. He stands over her, striking vicious blows until the ground until Asajj gives way, dropping her into the chasm. He screams primally, clutching the red lightsaber still. He then stands calmly for a moment, staring into the abyss, and throws away the lightsaber in a sign that he is not yet fully given over to the dark side. Even so, he all but claps his hands in a well-that's-that fashion. He feels no remorse for this display of aggression—Asajj was no innocent Sandperson. Moreover, he enjoyed it. It was a spectacular battle. He has a penchant for 'aggressive negotiations' to rival Mace Windu's. \
It's a turning point, but not the turning point. That will come in Episode III, hopefully in a manner that will mirror Luke's enragement in Ep VI. Anakin would know best how to provoke his son's aggression. (I say 'hopefully,' of course, in the sense that that would make for the most powerful storytelling.)\
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Obi-wan catches Anakin's lightsaber twice: first, during the speeder chase in Clones and again after the emotional battle we're promised in Ep III. He then manages to hang on to it for 16 years until he gives it to Luke in Ep IV. Luke has as much difficulty as his father with handling the blade. It falls from his waist in the wampa's cave. It gets knocked out of his hand early in his fight with Vader on Bespin, and he looses it, of course, when Vader cuts off his hand. The last we see of the blue Anakin lightsaber is when it disappears into the clouds below the city to find stasis at the center of gravity's pull. The workings of time and the forces of nature have taken it to keep where it can be dropped no further.\
We might regard Anakin's and Luke's difficulties maintaining their blue lightsabers as the subconscious mind's rejection of the ego's identifying with and reliance on the weapons. By the time Anakin becomes Vader and commits to the red Sith lightsaber, he has settled the conflict within him and he is at last one with the blade. His mechanical hands then have no difficulty hanging on to it until Luke disarms him at the end of Return of the Jedi. \
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"A Jedi's saber is his most precious possession. He must keep it with him at all times. This weapon is your life!" The key difference between Anakin and his son is that Luke is not beholden to his lightsaber the way Obi-wan admonishes Anakin to be. Luke's healthier attitude is probably a credit to Yoda's tutelage.\
By the time he begins to train Luke, the "great warrior," General Yoda, has had time to rethink the role of the lightsaber in a Jedi's life and declares, "Wars not make on great." I think it's fair to assume that Yoda never imparts any of Obi-wan's earlier hogwash to Luke. Luke is still able to be one with his weapon and wield it as an extension of his body, but he does not attribute a false sense of self to it, thanks to his Jedi master.\
In contrast to his father, when Luke builds his new lightsaber, his commitment allows him a freedom from the weapon. His oneness with the green crystal, the blade, the Force allows the understanding that he does not "must keep it with him at all times." From a certain point of view it may be said that the connection exists across space according to the quantum mechanics principle of non-locality. Unattached to his saber in this way, Luke gives it willingly into the hands of his enemies twice. Within the body of R2-D2 it auspiciously becomes the property of Jabba the Hut. On the forest moon of Endor he surrenders it to Darth Vader and the Emperor.\
It must be considered, however, that at least part of his smugness in relinquishing his saber is due to an arrogant confidence. Luke impudently tells the Emperor, "Your over-confidence is your weakness." In this case, the Emperor is rubber and Luke is glue. In a moment of crisis, reacting to the fear of loosing his friends (again) and, moreover, the undermining of his superior attitude, he responds from his comfort zone and retakes his weapon for attack. \
Luke overwhelms Vader in a scene reminiscent of Anakin's defeat of Asajj. Anakin sent his enemy's red lightsaber into free-fall; so does Luke. But for Luke, this is the turning point in his development. Whereas Anakin continued to attack until Asajj fell into oblivion, Luke relents after rendering Vader defenseless. Whereas Anakin stared blindly into the dark void that consumed his foe, Luke sees the emptiness in the void of Vader's eyes. These divergences allow space for the critical differences between father and son to present Luke with a new hope for the return of the Jedi—I mean, with an opportunity. \
"Compassion, which I would define as unconditional love, is essential to a Jedi's life. So you might say that we are encouraged to love." Faced with the stump of Vader's mechanical hand, he realizes he is very literally repeating a cycle. In that moment, Luke truly understands the closed-loop nature of the dark side. The opportunity he has is to transcend that pattern and save himself and, he hopes, rescue his father from that fate. "Now, fulfill your destiny and take your father's place at my side." At that, Luke halts the cycle by choosing compassion instead of hatred. He fulfills his mandate to confront Vader and the dark side, but without 'killing his own father,' as he had earlier assumed was meant by Obi-wan and Yoda when they told him he "must face Vader again."\
Finally and fully does Luke separate the lightsaber from his ego as he throws it away. His hate has made him powerful, but he doesn't want that power. He just lets it go. Luke turns to meet the Emperor and declares himself a Jedi. He surely knows what is at risk, and he must put his faith in the return of his father.\
"So be it,&mdash Jedi."\
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The most powerful Force-user never uses a lightsaber. This must allow him a certain calm approach to his study of the Force. Without spending time on the physical training, he can devote his practice to the more subtle philosophical aspects. He hones his abilities to where he is powerful enough to hide his Force sensitivity from the entire Jedi order. He maintains his superiority through manipulation, psychological control, and politicking. Whereas every other Force-wielding character has a lightsaber as their primary, if not their only, weapon, the Star Wars Online Databank lists "Darth Maul" as Darth Sidious' weapon.\
So far, Sidious has survived while his apprentices have fallen, but Luke's decision leads fate to catch up with the Sith Lord and complete the cycle with him, rather than coursing further through Anakin or Luke. In a very uncharacteristic moment of reckless abandon, Sidious lets himself be so absorbed in his torturing of Luke that he does not even put out a feeler to check if Luke's pleas to his father are having any effect. Anakin is, in fact, struggling with himself intensely.\
As traumatic as it would be for any young man of Anakin's age to go ten years without seeing his mother, Anakin's homesickness is compounded by the fact that... the Jedi code forbids him from seeing Shmi precisely because she means so much to him.\
...\
[R]easoning that the Jedi precept of compassion indicates that "we are encouraged to love"... [Anakin] search[es] for a loophole that will give him license to act according to his own will (3).
The memory of the anguish Anakin suffered at the loss of his mother is probably most acutely recalled to him on Endor when Luke entreats him, "Come with me. ... I feel the conflict within you; let go of your hate!" Luke has come to save his father, reliving Anakin's quest to rescue his mother. "It is too late for me, Son." Anakin is making it play out the same way all over again. He was too late for his mother then, and Luke is too late now. "Then my father is truly dead." Of course, he's not, which is what keeps Luke from reacting as Anakin did. "It is too late for me" is a concession that Luke is on the honorable side. "You don't know the power of the dark side. I must obey my master." Anakin isn't enticing Luke to 'join him, and together end this destructive conflict' this time. He's trapped, and he knows it. \
As he stands beside his master, watching the crucifixion of his son, Anakin does what anyone who's fought addiction or broken a life-long habit knows must be the hardest thing of his life. Whatever goes through his mind, or more importantly, his heart—Shmi, Padmè, Obi-wan, Luke, Leia—gives him the strength to save himself and rescue his son. "I wasn't strong enough to save you, Mom. But I promise, I won't fail again." It is this oath that he at last makes good on.\
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The Force is the blade of the heart.\
The Jedi is the crystal of the Force.\
The heart is the crystal of the Jedi.
