Whose Lightsabers Are On Ahsoka's Ship In Episode 3?
While watching Episode 3 of "Ahsoka," a few eagle-eyed "Star Wars" fans may have spotted a lightsaber collection that would put General Grievous (Matthew Wood) to shame. The episode opens in the training room on Ahsoka Tano's (Rosario Dawson) starship, where she and Padawan Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) enjoy a brief sparring match.
In the background is an armory packed with a wide assortment of lightsabers, though oddly, neither Ahsoka nor Sabine ever mentions this collection. Plenty of fans online are no doubt wondering who these weapons belonged to before they wound up on Ahsoka's ship. Presumably, a few of them (or possibly all of them) were constructed by the Huyang (David Tennant) since the ancient droid aided several generations of Padawans in lightsaber construction at the Jedi Temple.
We know the lightsabers at the top of the collection are Huyang's work since he carries four identical sabers during his training session with Sabine — each sporting a distinctive circle crossguard and emitting an abnormally thick blade for practice. While these lightsabers are clearly for training only, it's worth noting they all bear a striking resemblance to the lightsaber of "Star Wars Rebels" staple Kanan Jarrus (Freddie Prinze Jr.), which also featured a unique circle crossguard but emitted a blue beam instead.
These new blades share some iconic features with other lightsabers
Far more interesting than the practice sabers are the more distinctive blades adorning the training facility's back wall. Each has an extremely unique design, which implies that they belonged to other Jedi before they wound up in Ahsoka Tano's armory.
While none of these lightsabers immediately jump out as belonging to any known Jedi, there are a few familiar characteristics among them. The top right saber and the leftmost saber on the second row sport a sleeve of black rings, which is an iconic design on Obi-Wan Kenobi's (Ewan McGregor) and Qui-Gon Jinn's (Liam Neeson) weapons in "The Phantom Menace." The middle right saber bears a sleeve with black, blocky protrusions like the lightsabers of Yoda (Frank Oz) and Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson), while the bottom right saber draws comparisons to blades of Saesee Tiin (Khan Bonfils) and Darth Vader (James Earl Jones) — both of which have large, protruding activation switches.
The most unique of all these sabers are the two on the top row. The top left lightsaber sports a thick black sleeve not unlike Vader's, though oddly, it opens up halfway up the hilt — like a mouth from which the rest of the blade emerges. The top right weapon is also strange, with an enormous emitter that juts out above the blade and seemingly has a chunk cut out. The overall effect is a group of lightsabers that look slightly familiar but have not been connected to any known Jedi (yet).
Who could these lightsabers belong to?
Unless Ahsoka Tano or Huyang go out of their way to identify who originally owned these lightsabers, viewers can only speculate on who they might have belonged to before the show's events.
If Huyang did not create these lightsabers, the most likely option is that they belonged to Jedi that escaped the massacre of Order 66. Ahsoka could have encountered these survivors at any point after the Clone Wars, though if this is the case, it begs the question of why she took their lightsabers for her own. More probable is that they were in the possession of non-Jedi who either stole them or found them after a fallen Jedi cast them aside.
In the event that Huyang did construct all these lightsabers, they were probably made in case Ahsoka took on another Padawan. If Ahsoka ever planned to teach other Force wielders the ways of the Jedi (something she almost agreed to do for Grogu in "The Mandalorian"), it stands to reason those new Jedi would need lightsabers. If this is the case, it's somewhat unfortunate that Ahsoka brought on Sabine Wren as an apprentice, as she already has a lightsaber courtesy of Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi). Regardless, Ahsoka and co. clearly have a huge number of lightsabers at their disposal, and one has to wonder if these extra blades will come in handy as the "Ahsoka" story moves forward.