The Red Menace: When Lightsaber Colors Didn't Mean So Much
So you're telling me that a Sith Lord didn't wield a red lightsaber? Yeah, believe it or not, it happened in the olden days of the Star Wars universe, way before George Lucas started making red the color of the dark side.
If you were around before 1999, and maybe watched the first six Star Wars Movies without knowing the Expanded Universe, it wasn't clear that the Sith exclusively had red lightsabers. We just thought, 'cool lightsaber, cool colors!'. Even some Jedi had red blades! That changed in a flash when Darth Maul popped up with his menacing red blade. You could basically say Maul's red blade brought about the association of the color with the Sith.
Exar Kun, The Blue Sith?
Before all the Sith color association drama went down, a dude named Exar Kun existed in Legends, who had an awesome blue lightsaber. This Sith Lord even rocked a double-bladed lightsaber! Seriously, double lightsaber and a blue blade, Exar Kun was the coolest Sith Lord. Turns out, Exar Kun's blade was just as unique as he was, since before the 1999 events, lightsaber colors were as random as a bag of space rocks.
But it gets even more wild. Did you know even Leia, a total Jedi princess in the original Movies, used a red lightsaber for a minute? Apparently, Luke built it for her! Yeah, just imagine Leia with a crimson blade! That's some weird, out-of-this-world coolness we just don't get in the new movies.
Red Was For Bleeding Kyber Crystals, Not Jedi!
Fast forward to the newer Star Wars movies, like the prequels, Lucas decided it was time to create some more rules to the lightsaber color universe. Suddenly, red became the defining color of the Sith. Even those shiny kyber crystals became all dark and red like they bled a dark side juice!
Imagine how darth vader must've felt to get his dark side upgrade with a red lightsaber. Must've been a super powerful moment. I'd be proud if my lightsaber bled dark-side juices.
Canon Vs. Legends, The Red-Bladed Fight
I think you're seeing the problem here. Legends didn't have that 'red=Sith' thing, but Canon does. But, if we look at the prequels, they kind of took away some of the magic and uniqueness of the lightsaber. You could pick up any color before, but after they forced that whole dark side 'bleeding' thing, we kind of lost the mystery, y'know?
So, who won? Do red lightsabers belong to Sith, or can they just be a different kind of Jedi lightsaber? Maybe there's something better than just assuming 'Red=Sith'. That could be boring! I mean, red isn't always scary, is it? You can have red curtains and your favorite sports team, but they're not Sith!
