‘Andor's’ Lightsaber Ship
Image Source: YouTube
Ever since the Andor trailer dropped that showed the “Lightsaber Ship,” fan speculation has run rampant, trying to figure out what kind of ship it is and what kind of weapon it has. In the trailer, Luthen’s ship has two solid red beams extending from either side. The pilot executes a spinning maneuver, and the two beams take out two TIE fighters. In episode four, we learn that the ship is a Fondor Haul Craft, but we have not yet seen the “lightsabers” or whatever they are.
Before the fourth episode aired, a lot of the speculation was leaning towards the idea that the ship is a Lancer class pursuit craft. Since this spacecraft is an easily-modified ship, it could have had a new kind of weapon installed. This theory never sat well with me, though. All of the Lancer class ships I’ve seen have a rounded center, and the ship in the trailer is too rectangular. It’s good that we now have a name for it.
RELATED:
As for the weapon, there are two main theories going around. The first is that they are lightsabers, or at least use kyber crystals as their power source. The second is that they are the same technology as on the LAAT craft from Attack of the Clones. One thing that everyone agrees on is that they are not regular laser cannons, which shoot individual bolts instead of sustained beams.
Image Source: Cine Dope
There are problems with both theories. One of the things that is supposed to make Andor different is that there are no lightsabers and no Jedi. Given that billing, it would be strange to have two lightsabers installed on Luthen’s ship. The other problem is the red color. Sith lightsabers are red because the Sith who wields it makes the kyber crystal bleed. It would be strange, to say the least, to have one of the Rebel leaders make his crystals bleed. The problem with the LAAT theory is that in Attack of the Clones, it is seen quite clearly that the sustained laser used is a composite of many smaller beams. Nothing on Luthen’s ship appears to do that.
My best guess is that this is an entirely new type of tech being introduced to the Star Wars universe. It certainly has similarities to other ships, but that’s as far as it goes; we’ll have to wait and see when the big reveal happens. Hopefully, the tech will be a surprise to Andor, too, so we can get a canon cannon explanation.
READ NEXT:
SOURCES: CBR.com, Den of Geek, Wookieepedia