Does Yoda’s Lightsaber In ‘The Book Of Boba Fett’ Create A Canon Inconsistency?
Wow, so Chapter 6 of The Book of Boba Fett is out and wow, was it a good episode. The return of Cobb Vanth, along with Grogu, Luke Skywalker, R2-D2, the surprise appearance of Ahsoka Tano, and to top it off, crossing from animation to live action, Cad Bane. Dave Filoni, you did well and the showrunners (Filoni and Favreau) did say that The Book of Boba Fett was going to be a bit like a Season 2.5 of The Mandalorian. Speaking of which, Chapter 6 ended on a choice, a choice which we may have to wait for the results of in Season 3 of The Mandalorian.
This choice? Grogu must choose between the way of the Jedi or the way of the Mandalorians. With each side being represented by a symbol of each others culture; a lightsaber or Mandalorian armor. We find out during this scene this lightsaber belonged to Yoda. But how?
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Yes, how? How does Luke come into possession of Yoda's lightsaber? We never saw it in the original trilogy (obvious reason, those were made first) and the last time we saw his lightsaber (on screen) was in Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, falling towards the Senate hall floor after being shocked out of his hands by Darth Sidious. When rescued by Bail Organa, Yoda doesn't have it on him. In the first Darth Vader comic by Charles Soule from 2017, we can see Mas Amedda conducting a ceremony, destroying the lightsabers of the Jedi that were slain during Order 66. Before melting them, we can see Mas hold a familiar looking one:
It looks practically the same as Yoda's, except for one small detail. Look at the position of Mas' hand, his middle finger. Do you see it? The sphere at the bottom of the hilt, well Yoda's lightsaber doesn't have a sphere at the bottom of the hilt.
No sphere. The comic doesn't address the lightsaber as Yoda's, it's not called Yoda's lightsaber nor is referred to as his in the comic. It just looks very similar. Now this may have been an aesthetic choice from the artist to add a sphere, and even though it's not addressed as Yoda's, the lore states it's his. Though it is possible to "retcon" that. As it wasn't addressed. So there is that little "get out of jail free card" there if need be.
In 2016, the reference book Star Wars: Complete Locations showed that Yoda had a lightsaber in his hut on Dagobah. You can make out the box with it in it to the right of Luke's head:
It's also worth mentioning that in the 2017 anthology book From A Certain Point Of View one of the short stories is about Yoda on Dagobah. Yoda brings up losing his "treasured" lightsaber in this duel with Sidious in the Senate, keyword: treasured. It's not a stretch to think Yoda, being 900 years old, could have had spares or even built a new one. Realistically most people will have a backup or spare item for something they use a lot. We have seen in the films, when a Jedi loses their lightsaber, they'll get a new one. It happened with Kenobi and Anakin in Episodes I & II. Does a Jedi have to return to Ilum every time they lose one to make a new one?
Since issue 1 of the Darth Vader comic series, Charles Soule has suggested that Yoda probably did have more than one lightsaber or even that Darth Sidious created a fake one to use as a symbol for the ceremony. Lucasfilm Story Group member Matt Martin stated that they are aware of this, but that it isn't an error and also suggested Yoda having multiple lightsabers in his time.
What is clear though is we are most likely going to see more of Yoda's old lightsaber, probably in the tiny hands of Grogu. But that will all depend on Grogu's choice.
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