Phaser vs. Lightsaber

Airlocke_Jedi_Knight · Post by **Airlocke_Jedi_Knight** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 12:08 pm

I am new here and do not know if this has been covered, but...Can Lightsaber deflect a phaser blast just as it would a blaster bolt?

My initial thought would be yes, however I am unsure, whether or not this has been established here.

l33telboi · Post by **l33telboi** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 2:25 pm

I'd say no, not exactly like how they repel blaster bolts. The beam and the saber would undoubtedly interact in some fashion, but I'm not sure exactly how they would.

Mr. Oragahn · Post by **Mr. Oragahn** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 2:40 pm

As long as the beam remains a beam, doesn't change in trajectory, and as long as the blade retains its position from the moment the beam's head is intercepted, then there's no reason a lightsabre couldn't intercept a phaser beam.
That and eventually the small possibility that Jedi could focus the beam towards the blade, as they seem to do with Sith Lightning.

Now, if the beam makes circles faster than we've seen Jedi move their blade, the Jedi is toasted.
Same for wide beam settings.

But that's assuming the bottled blade of awesome energy of a lightsabre can deflect what looks to be a tight packet of particles.
It might actually spread them in all directions or create explosions.

The force field that surrounds the blade might deflect or redirect the particles, but the energy inside the blade might even energize the particles if they actually go through the field in question.

A lightsabre is capable of penetrating metal without breaking the whole containment field that makes a blade what it is.

Assuming of course that there is a containment field and that a blade is not something else entirely.

Airlocke_Jedi_Knight · Post by **Airlocke_Jedi_Knight** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 3:01 pm

So...there is no real answer. Okay, thanks.

Also, instead of possibly charging the particles, couldn't the lightsaber actually absorb them? It seems like a possibility to me. And, if a phaser beam is just a tight packet of particles is not also possible that the white, hot energy of the blade could disintegrate the particles.

Addressing the wide beam setting of a phaser, in the EU, Luke once deflects the blasts of a heavy laser canon utilized by an AT-AT, with his lightsaber. Judging by ESB, the AT-AT blast would be enormous compared to the lightsaber. If he could deflect those blasts, could he not deflect a wide beam?

Mr. Oragahn · Post by **Mr. Oragahn** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 6:06 pm

Airlocke_Jedi_Knight wrote:So...there is no real answer. Okay, thanks.

Also, instead of possibly charging the particles, couldn't the lightsaber actually absorb them? It seems like a possibility to me. And, if a phaser beam is just a tight packet of particles is not also possible that the white, hot energy of the blade could disintegrate the particles.

Addressing the wide beam setting of a phaser, in the EU, Luke once deflects the blasts of a heavy laser canon utilized by an AT-AT, with his lightsaber. Judging by ESB, the AT-AT blast would be enormous compared to the lightsaber. If he could deflect those blasts, could he not deflect a wide beam?

I can't really speak for the first points, but as for the AT-AT bolts, if you look at TESB, some of them hardly are any wider than some bolts fired from small vehicles or heavy rifles.

Cocytus · Post by **Cocytus** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 6:28 pm

I'm not aware of the event you're referencing, Airlocke, as my knowledge of the EU is sketchy at best. But on the one occasion we've seen a widebeam used, in "Cathexis," its angle looked to be close to 180 degrees dispersal, sufficient to stun five people at once.

Now, the large cannons of an AT-AT should put out a bolt with a wider cross-section than what you'd expect out of a hand blaster. Doing a very, very rough eyeball comparison of Luke to the AT-AT as he ascends with his tow-cable in TESB, the aperture of the main chin guns appears to be little wider than Luke's head. The widebeam setting on a phaser encompasses significantly more than that.

Mr. Oragahn · Post by **Mr. Oragahn** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 7:53 pm

Still, the Clone Wars notably repeatedly show bolts to be pointy on both ends, likely meaning that if you could hit the tip of a bolt, you may deflect the whole stuff with a lightsabre.

Airlocke_Jedi_Knight · Post by **Airlocke_Jedi_Knight** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 8:27 pm

What if the jedi was wielding a duel phase lightsaber? They can extend to make the blade up to 3 meters long, which should be able to deflect a wide beam. Also, stun blasts in Star Wars encompass an entire person, as is seen in ANH when Leia is stunned. These stun blasts can be deflected, However, I guess the widebeam would be larger.

Cocytus · Post by **Cocytus** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 10:59 pm

The blaster stun ring was about the size of Leia's shoulder when it struck her. The ring transferred its energy to her, as indicated by her briefly glowing when struck, but the discharge itself was not the size of a person. Remember we're looking right at the weapon when the trooper fires, so the drastic growth of the ring can be taken as perspectival distortion. Gauging the size of the ring is simply a matter of looking at it in relation to Leia when it hits her. The widebeam setting on a phaser is larger by a fair margin. However, if a Jedi aligned the lightsaber blade to the axis of the widebeam, he should be able to defect it, since the widebeam appears to put out a roughly two-dimensional plane of energy.

Here's a screencap. Copy and paste it, since Trekcore doesn't allow direct linking.
http://voy.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/ ... is_431.jpg

In any event, deflecting a phaser beam should be more difficult for a Jedi than deflecting a blaster bolt. As a bolt, from the Jedi's perspective he's intercepting a point. But the phaser beam can be dragged, necessitating more complicated motions on the Jedi's part. One illustrative example of this can be found in DS9 "The Adversary." Sisko and company are pursuing a changeling infiltrator through the Defiant, and at one point Sisko, trying to attack the changeling, drags a phaser beam up a wall. The result is a molten swath cut into it.

Copy and paste the following link to see it. http://ds9.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/ ... ry_503.jpg

Against phaser pulses, such as those fired by rifles in "First Contact" and "Insurrection," the mechanics of deflection should be no different than blaster bolt deflection.

Post by **Mike DiCenso** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 2:02 am

Airlocke_Jedi_Knight wrote:What if the jedi was wielding a duel phase lightsaber? They can extend to make the blade up to 3 meters long, which should be able to deflect a wide beam. Also, stun blasts in Star Wars encompass an entire person, as is seen in ANH when Leia is stunned. These stun blasts can be deflected, However, I guess the widebeam would be larger.

That's two-dimensional thinking. The widebeam phaser beam spreads outward into a conical shape as seen here in multiple examples. The Jedi (or Sith) would have to somehow make their lightsaber block that whole several meters wide area simultaneously... A feat unheard, even for the most skilled and talented Force users. As for the SW blaster stun beam, I know of no example where that was deflected. Can you cite an example?
-Mike

Post by **Mike DiCenso** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 2:06 am

Cocytus wrote:I'm not aware of the event you're referencing, Airlocke, as my knowledge of the EU is sketchy at best.

I believe he's refering to the incident in the Dark Horse series "Dark Empire" where Luke does indeed deflect blaster bolts from an AT-AT, though those bolts don't look very large.
-Mike

Airlocke_Jedi_Knight · Post by **Airlocke_Jedi_Knight** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 4:16 am

Mike DiCenso wrote:
Airlocke_Jedi_Knight wrote:What if the jedi was wielding a duel phase lightsaber? They can extend to make the blade up to 3 meters long, which should be able to deflect a wide beam. Also, stun blasts in Star Wars encompass an entire person, as is seen in ANH when Leia is stunned. These stun blasts can be deflected, However, I guess the widebeam would be larger.
That's two-dimensional thinking. The widebeam phaser beam spreads outward into a conical shape as seen here in multiple examples. The Jedi (or Sith) would have to somehow make their lightsaber block that whole several meters wide area simultaneously... A feat unheard, even for the most skilled and talented Force users. As for the SW blaster stun beam, I know of no example where that was deflected. Can you cite an example?
-Mike

Damnit, let me think, I'll have to go back over the entirety of what I have read for this one. I definitely remember it happening, I can't cite it as of yet. Let me get back to you on this.

Praeothmin · Post by **Praeothmin** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 3:20 pm

Mike, if the stun beam is made of excited electrons, or whatever particles, I have no issue with a Lightsabre deflecting it, since the sabre's got a forcefield keeping the blade toghether.

I don't believe that it would deflect a Phaser on wide-beam because the beam is continuous and the sabre's blade is to thin, just as you stated.

Post by **Mike DiCenso** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 4:10 pm

Praeothmin wrote:Mike, if the stun beam is made of excited electrons, or whatever particles, I have no issue with a Lightsabre deflecting it, since the sabre's got a forcefield keeping the blade toghether.

Okay, I re-watched ANH, The SW stun beam is not quite a wide field effect. The stormtrooper's blaster shoots out a ring-shaped beam not even half a meter wide. I realized that what we are seeing is not a wide beam per se, but the camera angles are such that when the beam is fired, it heads towards the camera, only appearing to get bigger because of perspective, and when the scene cuts to Leia being hit as she tries to run, the ring-bolt gets smaller, again due to perspective, but when we see it reach her, it is about the same size as when the ST fired it. So no, this is not actually a wide beam shot like what we see in Trek, but something else entirely different, and is indicative of some fundamental difference between the kill and stun settings for a blaster.
-Mike

Post by **Mike DiCenso** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 4:11 pm

Praeothmin wrote:Mike, if the stun beam is made of excited electrons, or whatever particles, I have no issue with a Lightsabre deflecting it, since the sabre's got a forcefield keeping the blade toghether.

Okay, I re-watched ANH, The SW stun beam is not quite a wide field effect. The stormtrooper's blaster shoots out a ring-shaped beam not even half a meter wide. I realized that what we are seeing is not a wide beam per se, but the camera angles are such that when the beam is fired, it heads towards the camera, only appearing to get bigger because of perspective, and when the scene cuts to Leia being hit as she tries to run, the ring-bolt gets smaller, again due to perspective, but when we see it reach her, it is about the same size as when the ST fired it. So no, this is not actually a wide beam shot like what we see in Trek, but something else entirely different, and is indicative of some fundamental difference between the kill and stun settings for a blaster.
-Mike