Epic Lightsaber Battle On "Hoth" Has These Two Going Viral
Colorado, February 2021. It was about 30 degrees outside. Snowflakes scattered down from the sky, covering the ground with a thick white blanket. While most people huddled indoors by the fire, sipping on hot chocolate, struggling against the shivering cold, a different battle continued. In a different sort of "Duel of the Fates," two men engaged in a battle of good versus evil. No, they were not having a snowball fight. No, they were not having a one-on-one hockey game. No, they were not in a “who can shovel the driveway the fastest” competition. Two men reenacted a fight that started a long time ago, in the galaxy far far away.
“Only in Colorado can I stand on my balcony and see two men fighting with lightsabers, in 30 degree weather while it’s snowing outside.”
A local Colorado woman Anghelie Elizabeth recently posted a video of two men in a lightsaber fight in the middle of a snowstorm. We would never know how long they have been fighting in the freezing snow as she began filming close to the fight’s climatic end. Nevertheless, this short clip had gone viral, appearing on many media outlets. Jimmy Fallon shared the video on The Tonight Show, commenting “One of the guys was like, ‘Join me and together we can rule Beaver Creek, Colorado.’”
Star Wars purists, before you get upset, this author knows there was no lightsaber duel on Hoth. In Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back, the lightsaber fight between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker occurred on Bespin. The last snowy lightsaber duel we saw on the live-action screen was in Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens, when Rey fought Kylo Ren in a similar snowy condition such as this. Incidentally, this particular scene was filmed in Iceland. The exteriors of Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back were shot in Norway. Perhaps future Star Wars production teams need not look too far outside of the United States when scouting for a wintery backdrop.
Despite not having real Jedi training, these men’s lightsaber skills were spectacular (and nothing like the Star Wars Kid video from the early 2000s). One fought with the blue bladed lightsaber akin to the one used by Anakin Skywalker. The other fought with a yellow-orange bladed lightsaber like the one Rey wielded at the end of Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker. Their exceptional skills were evident as they spun into combat and their blades made contact. Perhaps they had martial arts training. Perhaps they learned their moves from hours of YouTube videos like this author did in her college days. We would never know for sure as no one knew the identity of these two.
This video reminds this author of her younger years, when her friends would film themselves skateboarding down to the elementary school after hours and have a lightsaber fight on the baseball field. One would flip from the skateboard while wielding Darth Maul’s red double-bladed lightsaber, no less. We would then spend hours on Photoshop coloring each frame to make the lightsabers as realistic as possible.
For those inspired by this video to pick up a lightsaber, here is a guide to the different lightsabers that you can find. One can start with an extremely low budget version by decorating leftover wrapping paper tubes from the holidays with color duct tapes. This would last about two to three minutes of solid hits, or a little longer if you only limit yourselves to the lightest of taps. If you are very handy with tools, you can construct one from a polycarbonate tube, LED lights, and parts you can get from a hardware store.
For those who would rather purchase one, there is always the toy version or a more durable version (and hence more expensive) made by KYBERS. You can also travel to Disney World (or Disneyland when it opens up again) and visit Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge to build your own custom lightsaber (among other Star Wars themed attractions). Ultra Sabers also offer high quality single bladed and double bladed lightsabers.
In addition to snowball fights, sledding, building a snowman, and making snow angels, we can add lightsaber duels to the list of fun things to do in the snow. This author hopes to see this become a new winter tradition for some.