Game Theory - Star Wars Lightsaber Vs. Halo Energy Sword

Episode Date: April 7, 2023

Two EPIC weapons in the ULTIMATE showdown: The Star Wars light saber and the Halo energy sword! Fans of both franchises know that these are iconic weapons on both sides, but that they also have some pretty interesting similarities. Researching how these weapons would be made and what kind of damage they could really do led me to ask just one question: Which one would win in a fight?!

Not as clumsy or random as a blast. An elegant weapon for a more civilized age. Well, what do you have to say about that, video games? What, what, work, work! Hello, internet. Welcome to game theory, where my mind has been swimming in Jedi battles and galactic terrorism as of late. Which leads us to today's episode. Because as I was researching the physics of the lightsaber,

I couldn't help but think about another iconic weapon, One we all know and love from gaming, the Halo Energy Sword. And once I really started thinking about it, I couldn't shake how similar these two weapons actually are. I mean, seriously, these aren't just two iconic laser sword weapons. They're more like brothers from different mothers. But, as it is with all twin brothers, now that they've finally been reunited, we're gonna have to decide right here and right now, which one would win in a fight. Right? That's a thing that siblings do?

I'm an only child, so I don't really know. I'm assuming it's a thing, though. And before we get too far, I want to make it absolutely clear that this theory is exclusively focused on the weapons alone, not the characters who wield them. Were we to open the door to that? Well, then we'd have to talk about midichlorians. And no one wants to talk about midichlorians. Not even Star Wars, apparently.

So, in order to start comparing the weapons and decide which one would win in a fight, we need to understand how they would potentially work in the real world. When it comes to the energy sword, Halo has already done most of the work for us. According to the Halo Encyclopedia, the Blades of the Weapons are made of plasma, contained around the edge of the sword by magnetic fields. Now, we've talked about plasma before on film theory since it's the closest real-world basis for all of Dragon Ball's energy attacks. But just to catch everyone up, plasma is the most abundant form of matter, making up 99% of the universe. But what is it? You know how when you heat up a solid, it melts and becomes a liquid?

And then you heat it up a bit more and it becomes a gas? Well, if you heat the gas even more, it becomes plasma. We're most familiar with it in the form of lightning, stars, and fluorescent, bulbs. But basically by heating the gas, the electrons and the atoms get so excited that they break away. This creates a soup of negatively charged electrons floating around alongside positively charged ions. The Halo Energy Sword, then, at its most basic level, takes this soup and controls it using magnets, shaping the superheated gas around the blades of the weapon. But what's an energy sword without energy?

Well, it's actually just a sword. Yeah. And that's why batteries are included. Uh-huh, puberty. And that's why batteries are included in each new weapon. Suck on that, Mattel! The future is now! Changing a gas to a plasma takes a lot of energy. So the battery enables this to happen by shooting an electric current through the gas,

allowing it to change its state, in much the same way that a plasma cutter works. And thus, you have your battery operate a death sword. A pretty cool thing to look forward to in the future, right? Not really. Plasma blades are something being rolled out in medicine for things like surgery as we speak. So this idea isn't so much science fiction, as it is just plain old science. Explaining the lightsaber though is actually a bit trickier, since, well, it's neither light nor saber.

Let's take it one at a time. Light is made up of particles known as photons. They're constantly flying all over the universe, they have no mass, and generally don't react with one another. That's why you can cross flashlight beams with no difference in the light that's being produced. Sure, I suppose you could shoot light through a cloud of super cold rubidium gas, which gets the photons to act more like molecules, creating a new state of matter called photonic molecules, but it's a fringe case that's still being tested by science and seriously Who do we think we are? German experimental physicist Gustav Ludwig Hearst? Come on, we're not The other problem with lightsaber's made of light is that currently science has a hard time telling photons when to stop moving

So if a lightsaber were truly made of light and without a mirror or something at the end of the sword to stop the beam It would extend a much longer distance than a few feet I guess in that case you wouldn't have to compare sizes though And I see your Schwartz is as big as mine! And again, just like high-powered flashlights or lasers, a lightsaber of light wouldn't actually clash with another lightsaber. They would just pass through each other, and you would shine it in each other's eyes hoping to cause like, night blindness.

Beoboo, be you, shine it in your eyes! Oh, it's so bright! Ow, ow, ow, ow, oh! So anyway, it's not a light saber, nor is it a laser saber. Then what is it? Well, more likely than not, it's a plasma saber. But again, not a saver either, since a saber is a cavalry sword with a curved blade and one cutting edge. Curved? Nope, only one cutting edge. I dare you to touch that thing. So more like a short sword. No, that's not right. Plasma Wushu sword. Plasma Epe? Plasma rapier. Plasma katana. You know, there's really no sword-like equivalent to a lightsaber.

Honestly, it's more like plasma bludgeoning stick. But why plasma? Well, currently the same system operating the energy sword makes the most sense for the lightsaber. A magnetic field shaping a superheated tube of gas. Midichlorians or no, the behavior lines up. In Star Wars episode 1, the Phantom Menace, Quigon Jin uses his lightsaber to melt through a blast door, meaning the lightsaber is getting above 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit or 1370 degrees Celsius. Now look at the temperature of plasma. Even quote-unquote cold plasma is several thousand degrees Celsius, so it would have no problem accomplishing this task. What about different colors of lightsaber? Well, the different colors of gas used to form the plasma

could create the rainbow of colors you see in lightsabers, helium for Mace Windu to produce his purple color, Argon for Darth Moll and his dark red saber, and CF4 for Luke Skywalker's heroic blue. And because plasma is an actual state of matter, unlike a blade of light, here the sabers would clash, just like you see throughout the iconic sword battles in the movies and games. This idea is also supported by theoretical physicist and all-around scientific badass,

Dr. Michiokaku and if you needed any further proof, Although the movies don't ever mention plasma, the games do. To quote Star Wars the Old Republic, the weapon consists of a blade of pure plasma energy emitted from the metal hilt and suspended in a force-containment field. Boom! Decades of canon for this classic film series, and yet it's the games where we get the most information about how these iconic weapons would work. Video games for the win! Long story short, when you actually look at the science, the lightsaber and energy sword are one and the same. So if they're basically the same device, which one would win?

Well, as similar as the tech behind them is, these blades couldn't be designed any more differently. Unless your name is either Kylo, Wren, or Darth Maul, the lightsaber blade tends to be a relatively thin and modest rod of variable length. Well, the energy sword is actually two triangular blades with an opening that runs down into the center towards the quote-unquote hilt. So which design comes out on top? Because lightsabers have a more basic and variable design, it opens up a lot of different fighting styles. And since the blade is plasma, all the weight is in the hilt. According to the now legendary article called

Fight Saber from issue 62 of the Star Wars Insider and the Jedi Academy training manual, we know that there are seven main styles of lightsaber combat. Each style has its own emphasis on specific tactics or defensive techniques, but one commonality across nearly all of them is an emphasis on amputation moves, strokes that will sever limbs. Most notable of these is the Cho-My strike, which single-handedly resulted in so many single-hand in the Star Wars universe. Bedoumching.

Even the Wampa! Come on! The Wampa! Poor thing. For the Energy Sword, it's a bit more complicated because there's so much less information on the way elites actually use it to fight. But we can put together a good guess based on history and its design.

Firstly, let's look at the gap between the two sides of the blade. The gap always narrows, almost to the point of touching, just before you get to the area where your hand is, as if the opponent's blade is meant to slide right into that slot. And that's exactly right. This split structure allows the fighter to trap their opponent's blade so the elite can twist it, either disarming the enemy or leaving them open for the killing blow. It's an idea that's been proven throughout history, most notably by the parrying daggers from the late middle ages and early Renaissance. For instance, take a look at this 16th century German trident dagger, whose blade springs open into three precisely because trapping the opponent's blade is such a good idea.

It's like a shick razor commercial. Why have one blade when you can have seven? No one suspects the Trident dagger. Or look at the sword breakers, which had small teeth like a comb near the hilt Where an opponent's sword would slide in and get stuck. So it's an offensive weapon that also has defensive properties, but the other benefit of the energy sword is that both sides of the blades extend almost completely around the wielder's hand Even extending down beyond the wrist into sharpened points in a battle with a straight lightsaber used mostly for disarming or should I say dishanding the opponent this design detail is a huge huge benefit to the energy sword. It almost makes it seem like the energy sword was designed specifically as a counter to the chomai strikes of the lightsaber. So when it comes strictly to design, the win has to go to Halo. So then that's it, right? It would look like the Halo Energy sword is the winner based on its design.

Well, there's one big issue we haven't explored yet. Better check your CNET review score on that new plasma sword, my friends. Because just like most other portable electronics, in the end, it comes down to battery. You heard that right. Break out the charging stations for your bean swords. These things need some energy sources Deep in the extended universe lore it's revealed that during the ancient history of Star Wars Lightsabers had to be powered through an extension cord that was connected to a bulky battery pack worn on the Jedi's belt. These would go on to be known as proto-sabers. Man, can you think about how lame battles in the movies would be if they were still using these guys? I mean just cut the cord or force grab the battery

pack and all your opponent is left with is a handle. Eventually, the design evolved into what we know today, with the power source moving into the hilt. And now you've got fights like duel of the fates from phantom menace where Jedi are fighting for what seems like several hours at a time. But even still, Padawans wanted that proto-saber. According to the Jedi Academy Training Manual, a member of Luke Skywalker's Jedi Order actually went on to revive the proto-saber. That's right, it's the definition of a Jedi hipster. Oh, ah, the retro way was so much better. Let's bring this thing back, even though it's clearly inferior to what we currently have. This could potentially even show up in the new movies. This character was an order of Luke's Jedi Order after all. Wouldn't that be just, just so, so weird? I hope he also wears, like, flannel robes and thick-rimmed glasses that don't actually have a prescription in them. Maybe some tight Jedi leggings, jaggings.

Anyway, that said, even the most poultry battery life of a lightsaber would trounce that of the energy sword, which lasts, as all you Halo fans know, 10 whopping swings before you're left weaponless, holding the equivalent of a weird alien shake weight. So that makes it case closed then, right? Despite design superiority, the lackluster energy supply of the ironically named energy sword loses to even the most low tech of proto-saber. But hold on to your rat's tail, Quigon, because after doing the research, 10 swings may be more than enough time for our elite to finish off a saber-wielding ray. Remember our ground rules at the beginning that in this contest, no consideration would be given to any force powers.

We're talking strictly design and function of the blades. And though a 10-swing battery might sound like it sucks, in the real world without force powers or respawning, when two people fight each other with swords, the fight only ever lasts a minute or two. And most of that time isn't spent swinging swords around. frantically. It's meant poking each other at a distance. Just think about fencing. You guys clearly watch those, right? I mean, they're pretty awesome, so you should. Especially during the Olympics, they're incredible. Anyway, let me tell you, in fencing matches, rarely, if ever, are you getting to ten swings? Contact is made within one or two jabs usually. In fact, most experts out there today believe that most actual sword fights

never even get to the point where someone would try to do a two-handed swing because of how completely dangerous it is to do. It leaves you wide open. Instead, fights, if they did happen, had one or two clashes of steel at most before someone was on the ground bleeding out. And in this situation, under these rules, in the argument of lightsabers versus energy swords, it's actually halo that comes out on top. Yes, the battery life might suck, but design superiority wins the day. Although let me be clear, I love them both.

Don't pull a death battle and rain down a lot of hate on me. This was really just meant to be a thought experiment where I could teach you about plasma light energy and sword design. I'm not saying that one is like cooler than the other or whatever. I'm saying in the battle between two fictional swords that are basically the same but designed slightly differently. This one functions slightly better than this other one. Okay, I'm still gonna get a lot of hate for this episode, aren't I? But hey, that's just a theory. A game theory. Thanks for watching.