Star Wars: What Color Lightsaber Leia Should Have, According To Carrie Fisher

carrie fisher star wars

No matter how you look at it, Star Wars is everywhere. With Disney how leading the franchise and releasing one a blockbuster every December for the foreseeable future, the galaxy far, far away has never felt closer. Part of what makes this so exciting is the return of fan favorites Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and Leia (Carrie Fisher). Fans were thrilled to see franchise favorite back on the silver screen, and are eager to see how their abilities with The Force have developed. Unfortunately, it appears that Leia hadn't been training in The Force, and never got herself a lightsaber of her very own. But if she were to have one, what color would it be?

Carrie Fisher recently did an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in order to promote her new book The Princess Diarist. When asked about what type of lightsaber she'd like, she revealed the following:

Purple. That's in the book, too.

Of course, this was said in Carrie Fisher's typical sardonic and irreverent tone. She doesn't seem to actually give much of a crap what her hypothetical lightsaber would be- mostly because she probably won't ever get one. While sensitive to The Force, Leia never trained to use cool tricks like telekinesis and lightsaber dueling.

Many fans were disappointed to see that General Leia wasn't a bonafide Jedi by the time the events of The Force Awakens happened. The reveal that she was Luke's sister was a major twist in Return of the Jedi, and it was also revealed that she had some powers, like sensing Luke had survived the final battle with Darth Vader. Luke ended up taking on a bunch of padawans, but never got around to teaching his sister how to use his powers. So lame.

Leia's utter lack of Jedi training made for a stark transition from the Star Wars novels, which are now no longer canon. In the books, Leia eventually was trained and able to wield a lightsaber of her very own. She would become a Jedi Knight in New Jedi Order, and was seen using various colored lightsabers including blue and yellow. But now it appears that Carrie Fisher would prefer that Leia had a purple lightsaber, just like Mace Windu.

mace windu

As of late, Samuel L. Jackson's Mace Windu is the only Jedi seen using a purple lightsaber. This actually happened at Jackson's request, asking George Lucas himself if he might have a special lightsaber to help him stand out. This request was approved, and the badass Jedi got his iconic weapon.

It should be interesting to see how Leia continued to grow in future Star Wars movies. She didn't have a ton of screen time in The Force Awakes, but that may change for Episode VIII; the Rebellion is helping a recovering Finn, and Poe is her right hand man. Could she eventually chose to use her Force powers? Let's hope so.

The next adventure in a galaxy far, far away is Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which will fly into theaters December 16h.

Corey Chichizola
Movies Editor

Corey was born and raised in New Jersey. Graduated with degrees theater and literature from Ramapo College of New Jersey. After working in administrative theater for a year in New York, he started as the Weekend Editor at CinemaBlend. He's since been able to work himself up to reviews, phoners, and press junkets-- and is now able to appear on camera with some of his favorite actors... just not as he would have predicted as a kid. He's particularly proud of covering horror franchises like Scream and Halloween, as well as movie musicals like West Side Story. Favorite interviews include Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, Jamie Lee Curtis, and more.