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May the 4th be with you! There are a lot of things I love about the Star Wars franchise like creature design and worldbuilding, but at some point every fan has tried their hand at "building a better mouse trap" - a.k.a., designing their own lightsaber. I drew this little atrocity against all known canon while mourning the fact that my console's too old to play Jedi: Survivor, and seeing as it looks semi-presentable (unlike many of my other drawings) I decided to share it with the internet and risk ridicule.
The classic saber shape is cylindrical, somewhat akin to a flashlight, and I was in the mood to make something different so I began thinking of ways to buck the trend. I remembered the hilt of Ezra Bridger's first lightsaber and its integrated blaster, and then began thinking about the forcefield barriers shown in the Maul fight in The Phantom Menace (which made a reappearance in The Mandalorian). Kylo Ren's saber had exhaust ports to redirect energy into a different shape, so I decided to design something similar: instead of one long beam of energy, my design would be configured to be narrower, more like an actual blade. By shortening the plasma blade to a knife-like length, excess energy is rerouted along the finger guard in the handle, making a knuckle-duster or providing defense when another lightsaber-armed opponent tries to attack the welder's hands. This also means the blade technically has a larger cutting surface due to the energy running down the hilt.
I realized after designing one of these things that it didn't have the range to outdo the standard lightsaber, and that bringing one knife to a sword fight was a great way to create blind spots, so I came up with a compromise. By wielding two of these blades, a combatant in a galaxy far, far, away can use both hands to defend against attack, or use one blade to block while the other counterattacks. The wider side-profile of the plasma dagger means it can also be used to block blaster fire more reliably than a thin saber blade, making it the ideal weapon for inexperienced Jedi or those facing massed firepower. Having two blades with knuckle guards also means boxing techniques become a viable option, and if you don't think seeing a Jedi go full Mike Tyson on a Mandalorian in full beskar plate armor is cool you're lying to yourself.
You might be wondering how the small issue of the light daggers' reach is solved, and don't worry - I've got you. There are several examples of lightsabers being concealed as part of a walking stick, only to be removed and turned on for combat. I decided to take a different approach, and have a walking stick that becomes a part of the weapon to increase its utility. Basically, I designed a long walking stick, beautifully forged with a spiraling pattern of beskar and cortosis (I looked it up, it's still canon) with hand grips of rancor hide. I was considering zillo beast leather, but that seemed to be pushing it. The staff is resistant to lightsaber blades and about as tall as an adult human, so it makes a decent weapon on its own if you need a blunt instrument. There's no technology inside it, and while crazy expensive it doesn't require khyber crystals or anything you specifically need to kill a force-sensitive to attain. The big rectangular bit at the top has nice little ridges on it though, that when combined with the hilts of the two light daggers creates a whole new weapon. Those ridges tell the emitter in the daggers to redirect most of the energy from the blades at the top to the guards, turning the knuckle-duster portion into a larger blade... an axe blade. There are still points to the main dagger emitters for those times you need a bident for stabbing, but if you just need reach there's nothing like a double-headed energy axe. You're going to lose a lot of the blocking potential when it comes to blaster fire, but in many ways sheer rule of cool makes up for that.

So, that's my crazy design for Star Wars day. It's lame, somewhat self-indulgent, and flawed to heck, but I'm still sharing it. May the 4th be with you always.

Description
May the 4th be with you! There are a lot of things I love about the Star Wars franchise like creature design and worldbuilding, but at some point every fan has tried their hand at "building a better mouse trap" - a.k.a., designing their own lightsaber. I drew this little atrocity against all known canon while mourning the fact that my console's too old to play Jedi: Survivor, and seeing as it looks semi-presentable (unlike many of my other drawings) I decided to share it with the internet and risk ridicule.
The classic saber shape is cylindrical, somewhat akin to a flashlight, and I was in the mood to make something different so I began thinking of ways to buck the trend. I remembered the hilt of Ezra Bridger's first lightsaber and its integrated blaster, and then began thinking about the forcefield barriers shown in the Maul fight in The Phantom Menace (which made a reappearance in The Mandalorian). Kylo Ren's saber had exhaust ports to redirect energy into a different shape, so I decided to design something similar: instead of one long beam of energy, my design would be configured to be narrower, more like an actual blade. By shortening the plasma blade to a knife-like length, excess energy is rerouted along the finger guard in the handle, making a knuckle-duster or providing defense when another lightsaber-armed opponent tries to attack the welder's hands. This also means the blade technically has a larger cutting surface due to the energy running down the hilt.
I realized after designing one of these things that it didn't have the range to outdo the standard lightsaber, and that bringing one knife to a sword fight was a great way to create blind spots, so I came up with a compromise. By wielding two of these blades, a combatant in a galaxy far, far, away can use both hands to defend against attack, or use one blade to block while the other counterattacks. The wider side-profile of the plasma dagger means it can also be used to block blaster fire more reliably than a thin saber blade, making it the ideal weapon for inexperienced Jedi or those facing massed firepower. Having two blades with knuckle guards also means boxing techniques become a viable option, and if you don't think seeing a Jedi go full Mike Tyson on a Mandalorian in full beskar plate armor is cool you're lying to yourself.
You might be wondering how the small issue of the light daggers' reach is solved, and don't worry - I've got you. There are several examples of lightsabers being concealed as part of a walking stick, only to be removed and turned on for combat. I decided to take a different approach, and have a walking stick that becomes a part of the weapon to increase its utility. Basically, I designed a long walking stick, beautifully forged with a spiraling pattern of beskar and cortosis (I looked it up, it's still canon) with hand grips of rancor hide. I was considering zillo beast leather, but that seemed to be pushing it. The staff is resistant to lightsaber blades and about as tall as an adult human, so it makes a decent weapon on its own if you need a blunt instrument. There's no technology inside it, and while crazy expensive it doesn't require khyber crystals or anything you specifically need to kill a force-sensitive to attain. The big rectangular bit at the top has nice little ridges on it though, that when combined with the hilts of the two light daggers creates a whole new weapon. Those ridges tell the emitter in the daggers to redirect most of the energy from the blades at the top to the guards, turning the knuckle-duster portion into a larger blade... an axe blade. There are still points to the main dagger emitters for those times you need a bident for stabbing, but if you just need reach there's nothing like a double-headed energy axe. You're going to lose a lot of the blocking potential when it comes to blaster fire, but in many ways sheer rule of cool makes up for that.

So, that's my crazy design for Star Wars day. It's lame, somewhat self-indulgent, and flawed to heck, but I'm still sharing it. May the 4th be with you always.