Lightsaber Rattling: Wooden Lightsaber: Gungi's Rare Blade

Gungi

This website is named after one of the most iconic weapons ever imagined in fiction, the lightsaber. A weapon with the hilt of a sword and a blade made of laser. So from time to time I like to highlight unique and cool lightsabers that appear in Star Wars.

In season five of The Clone Wars we are introduced to a group of younglings who are constructing their first lightsabers. Among these Younglings is Gungi, a rarity among the Jedi because he is a Wookiee.

Gungi's blade fits into the Expanded Universe's tradition of the Wookiees blending organic and inorganic technology. They are a species not only are very skilled with technology but also in integrating wood into their technology.

At the heart of Gungi's lightsaber is a kyber crystal, collected from the Jedi's sacred cave on Ilum.

We now know more about the lightsaber crystal, courtesy of the Star Wars Encyclopedia:

"At the heart of every Jedi lighstaber is a kyber crystal harvested from the icebound caves of Ilum. This crystal is attuned to the Force, and connected to a Jedi Knight on a deeply personal level. In this way, a lightsaber is an extension of a Jedi's Force awareness. Because Jedi let the Force guide their selection of the crystal, the vibration that the crystal creates in the lightsaber blade helps Jedi center themselves and find balance in the Force. In this way, a Jedi can center his or her attention beyond the distractions of combat. A lightsaber crystal is colorless until first attuned and connected to a Jedi -- at which times it glows either blue or green, or in some rare instances, another shade. From that point on, it retains that hue."

Lightsaber components in detail.

There is a number of materials and variations in constructing the rest of the saber. The exterior of Gungi's lighsaber hilt is carved from the wood of a brylark tree. In constructing his lightsaber Gungi uses the Force to combine organic and inorganic components into a unified weapon, his lightsaber.