Happy Star Wars Day! May the force be with you

May the Force be with you, IT-Jedi. Today is a bright day for all fans of the Skywalker family, including the Black Lord Darth Vader, various exotic aliens and the Death Star. In other words, today is Star Wars Day. Just in case: the day of the series of science fiction films. By the way, in vain you grin, there are still people (from a generation of thirty-year-olds!) Who have not watched a single series!

May 4th was the day of Star Wars, not because someone was born that day. Neither the director nor the actors, nor even any of the characters. It's all a word game. Let us return to the very beginning of this post: "May the Force be with you." In the film, the phrase is pronounced “May the force be with you”. It is almost indistinguishable from “May the fourth be with you”. As you know, the fourth is translated as "fourth". And the word may means both “May” and “let”, which translates into literary “let it be”.
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It's hard to say how quickly Star Wars fans started using this pun. But probably soon after the release of the first series. In any case, May 4 has long been a full holiday for all fans of lightsabers and R2D2. On this day, all sorts of cosplay, theme parties and other festive events are usually held.




Speaking of lightsabers. Here are 13 facts that even many Star Wars fans don't know about:

1) Light swords were created by adherents of the Dark Side.
The first protomeche was called forcesaber (sword of force). It was a directional flow of dark energy (not to be confused with dark matter), formed into a blade with the help of crystals and alchemy. Therefore, if the Jedi took such a sword in his hands, then there was a great risk of his immediate transition to the Dark Side. Therefore, the Jedi created their own version of the lightsaber to resist the weapons of evil.

2) Light swords use compact energy sources.
The first swords had no built-in power source. Owners were forced to carry a supply of batteries in backpacks or belts, connected by a cable with a sword. The first to create a compact embedded energy source for lightsabers were Sith.

3) At first they were called "laser swords" (lazersword).
In the first drafts of the script, George Lucas used this particular term.

4) Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader’s swords were made of camera flashes.
And Obi-Wan's sword handle was made from parts from a Rolls-Royce Derwent Mk.8 / Mk.9 jet engine.



5) The lightsaber can be of any color.
The color of the blade is determined by the crystal focusing the energy. The Sith weapons were characterized by red color, the Jedi — blue and green, because they used crystals from the planet Ilum, on which only these two colors are found in nature.

6) The lightsaber may even be black.
There is only one copy, Darksaber (Dark Sword). This is an ancient Jedi weapon abducted by the Mandalore. The blade of the Dark Sword repeats the shape of a steel weapon - it is thinned to the edges. At the same time, the blade is slightly bent like a piece, and its upper cutting edge has a serrator (somehow ...).

7) Luke's green sword in Return of the Jedi was supposed to be blue.
However, during the filming, Lucas decided to make it green because during the battle in Sarlacc the blue blade was poorly visible against the sky.

8) In the Empire, lightsabers were illegal weapons.
In addition to the desire to destroy the Jedi, Emperor Palpatine outlawed the possession of light swords. It was even forbidden to trade in crystals for their manufacture. Darth Vader was granted special permission to own a lightsaber.

9) The animation of the blades of the light swords appeared due to the imperfection of the special effects of the 70s.
At first they tried to make swords from long triangular reflecting rods. The rods rotated around the axis of the motor, and their flicker should have merged into a long glow. In practice, it looked disgusting, so I had to add animation. At the same time, Lucas decided that the blades should be of different colors, although it was originally supposed to make them white.

10) Light swords are not the only weapons using a similar principle.
From the lightsabers you can make peaks, having planted them on long shafts. Such weapons were used by the Jedi guards, and then the guards of the emperor borrowed the idea. One of the killers in the service of the emperor, Lumiya, used a light whip, in which the deadly ray had several degrees of freedom. There were also swords of tonfa that had a special handle. Bilateral swords could be divided into two separate swords connected by a cord, receiving light nunchuck. There were even light clubs, which were simply huge swords.

11) There are seven fighting styles using light swords.
1) Shii-Cho, or "The Way of Sarlacc";
2) Makashi, or "The Path of Yasalamiri (Ysalamiri)":
3) Soresu, or "Way of Minok (Mynock)";
4) Ataru, or "The Way of the Hok-Bat (Hawk-Bat)";
5) Shien / Djem So, or "The Way of the Dragon Krayt (Krayt Dragon)";
6) Niman, or "The Path of Rancor (Rancor)";
7) Juyo / Vaapad, or "The Way of Vornskr (Vornskr)".

12) The lightsaber cannot cut everything.
There are several materials that are not susceptible to the blade of the lightsaber. They are often used to create protective armor. The most popular material is Cortosis. Unfortunately, natural cortosis is deadly to humans and needs to be pre-cleaned. Also, the skin of some creatures, like the lava dragon, is not subject to destruction by the lightsaber. Well, how can you not remember the Goblin with his “vest from the skin with ... the experience of the dragon."



13) Cutting off anyone's hand with a lightsaber is a combat technique.
It is called Cho Mai, and the essence of it is to chop off a significant part of the opponent's limb, usually a hand holding a sword. The Mou Kei technique is designed to chop off several enemy limbs in a single attack.

Some fans of the saga prefer to celebrate the Star Wars Day on May 25, because on this day in 1977 the premiere of Episode 4 was held. However, this is, in our opinion, too simple and trivial approach. We are for May 4th, and may Cila be with you!