A thought about lightsabers

[cnoocy]

It's official canon that a lightsaber is a short beam of very powerful destructive force, like a chainsaw or a blowtorch. Only Jedi (or Sith) can use them because you need the skills of a Jedi not to injure yourself or someone else with such a powerful weapon.

But what if it's the opposite?

It actually makes more sense to me if the blade of a lightsaber is an extraordinarily weak, but extremely precise force. The Jedi are so attuned to the Force that they can find the spaces between individual atoms and sever the bonds holding a wall or an arm together. Similarly, they can find the force of another lightsaber and block its passage. But a non-Jedi like me or Admiral Ackbar would find it easier to injure someone with a laser pointer.


This idea is based on the Taoist text Cutting Up an Ox in which a butcher explains that his skill at ox-dividing is due to the Way. He sees the "spaces in the joints" and makes so little effort that his blade is still sharp after 19 years of use.

Comments

[cnoocy]

I think so. The end of that book upset me so much that I don't remember it as well as I might. (It's the only book I've ever actually thrown across the room.) But if I recall, it's a very similar sort of concept.

[nerdranting.livejournal.com]

Which book upset you, The Subtle Knife or the Amber Spyglass?

I know a lot of people were upset by the early part of the Subtle Knife, and a lot of people (arguably including me) who were disappointed by the end of The Amber Spyglass, but if it was The Subtle Knife's Ending that upset you, that's the first I've heard of that happening. (And my books have yet to be unpacked, so I can't go look to see what happened right at the end.)

[cnoocy]

The end of The Subtle Knife contains an event that the entire book has been leading up to, only to deny it in a particularly "the universe is a cruel place" way.

[nerdranting.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, that. :-/

I felt that the retconning of the background of that event was annoying enough that the event you refer to almost felt like it cleaned up the loose plot threads.

[cerebralpaladin.livejournal.com]

I don't remember why I had this reaction, but when I read The Subtle Knife, I turned to my wife and said something like, "I would throw this book across the room, except that it's your book and I don't want to damage somebody else's book." But I was really tempted.

I suspect I may have been reacting to the same thing, but I don't recall much of anything about the plot/events of the book, and I can't see it benefiting me to try to remind myself.