Your Destination for Top Deals and High Quality Products – Welcome to M&H Vogue

What You Must Know About The Acolyte’s Lightsaber-Shorting Metallic

With a swing of a wrist gauntlet, and the head-butt of a sinister helmet, The Acolyte’s mysterious dark Stranger carved a path into Star Wars history this week with a single, stunning transfer: strikes that despatched the laser blades of his Jedi foes sputtering out of existence. However whereas we’ve seen lightsaber-resistant materials in Star Wars a lot already, what may trigger this unusual impact? An notorious materials from the Expanded Universe.

What Is Cortosis?

A really uncommon and really brittle materials, cortosis was first launched in 1998 novel I, Jedi by Michael Stackpole. On prime of its rarity, cortosis was extraordinarily tough to mine on account of its conductive properties. Like a number of different supplies within the galaxy far, far-off, it was able to resistance to plain power weapons like blasters—however not like others, cortosis discovered a distinct segment with the invention that it may additionally conduct the power of a lightsaber blade, shorting out the weapon for a interval of as much as a number of minutes.

Though cortosis featured closely within the Expanded Universe as a premiere anti-Jedi materials—though some interpretations of it handled it like every other energy-resistant metals—it did additionally make its approach again into present continuity fairly early on. After first being canonized within the 2015 Rebels prequel novel A New Daybreak, by John Jackson Miller, cortosis has made appearances in a number of comics, primarily Darth Vader and Aphra, however its most outstanding look previous to its use in The Acolyte as the fabric the Stranger’s helmet is made out of was in Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn: Alliances in 2018.

There, Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala, and the Chiss Expansionary Protection Pressure officer referred to as Mitth’uncooked’nuruodo—the long run Grand Admiral Thrawn—found a cortosis mine on the planet Mokivj, which was getting used to develop a spread of cortosis-enhanced Tremendous Battle Droids (in addition to, on the behest of Darth Sidious, cortosis-enhanced Clone Trooper armor for use throughout Order 66). The trio destroyed the mine, however at nice value to Mokivj itself, when Anakin didn’t account for cortosis’ distinctive energy-redirection properties, sparking volcanic exercise that finally radically remodeled a lot of the world’s ecosystem.

How Does Cortosis Work?

Screenshot: Lucasfilm

In each the outdated Expanded Universe and present continuity, cortosis fibers had excessive power absorption and conduction properties, making the directed power of a blaster bolt that struck the fabric dissipate throughout the fibers with minimal injury. Whereas this trait is widespread in different supplies within the galaxy far, far-off, cortosis’ excessive absorption and conduction is exclusive, to the purpose that placing it with an power blade like a lightsaber’s would trigger the power area sustaining the blade to dissipate, inflicting a suggestions loop that will briefly shut down the lightsaber itself. Earlier Star Wars materials has been inconsistent in simply how lengthy a lightsaber is disabled by cortosis—in some situations, it’s solely a stop-gap, and a de-activated lightsaber will be instantly re-activated; in others, the weapon is rendered inoperative for a number of minutes.

Whereas The Acolyte supplied our first on-screen have a look at cortosis in motion, it additionally seemingly launched a property it’s by no means had earlier than. Whereas dueling Jedi Grasp Sol, the Stranger implies that his cortosis masks additionally inhibits telepathy by some means, telling the Jedi that he refuses to take his masks off so Sol can’t learn his ideas. Whether or not that’s grandstanding on the Stranger’s half or an precise new property of cortosis itself, nonetheless, stays to be seen.

What Different Supplies Resist Lightsabers?

Image for article titled What You Need to Know About The Acolyte's Lightsaber-Shorting Metal

Picture: Lucasfilm

Like we mentioned, cortosis is way from the one materials in Star Wars able to blocking a lightsaber blade in both the Expanded Universe or present continuity. In fact, now we have the Mandalorian iron, beskar, however there’s additionally phrik—the metallic alloy used to assemble electrostaffs. Different metals able to resisting a lightsaber blade from each continuities embrace:

  • Neuranium, which the statue Palpatine hid his lightsabers in was made from
  • Songsteel, briefly canonized within the 2022 novel Shadow of the Sith as the fabric an amulet owned by Rey’s father, Dathan, was made out of
  • Armorweave, a kevlar-esque materials that might be long-established into garments and undergarments

The Expanded Universe additionally launched Vonduun crab armor, the spiked gear worn by the footsoldiers of the Yuuzhan Vong—which was described as having a crystalline construction that made it able to blocking blaster fireplace and lightsaber bolts—in addition to Ultrachrome, an historical metallic with excessive superconductive properties utilized in crafting starship armor that seems in Star Wars: The Outdated Republic and is talked about within the Mace Windu novel Shatterpoint.

Why Use Them Over Cortosis?

Image for article titled What You Need to Know About The Acolyte's Lightsaber-Shorting Metal

Picture: Douglas Wheatley, Michael David Thomas, and Ronda Pattison/Darkish Horse

But when cortosis may each dissipate blaster fireplace and disable a lightsaber for a time frame, why was it so occasionally used in comparison with different supplies? Nicely, like we mentioned, in each the EU and the present canon cortosis is an especially uncommon materials. However even when you can discover it, it’s very tough to develop right into a lightsaber-resistant materials at scale. Cortosis required cautious refining because it was additionally extraordinarily brittle—making it tough and infrequently ineffective to craft complete weapons or fits of armor out of it, in comparison with one thing like beskar or the extra widespread armorweave.

Small blades, or helmets and gauntlets like these utilized by the Stranger, have been the popular deployment of cortosis—particular person items that might be used for the fabric’s particular properties alongside common armor. Nevertheless, cortosis is also utilized in a smithing method referred to as cortosis-weave, the place a mesh of fibers of cortosis ore might be bonded to armor and weaponry created from different supplies. Whereas this could assist grant sufficient power conduction to dam a lightsaber blade, cortosis’ distinctive capacity to quick the weapon out could be reliant on the quantity of cortosis itself used within the weave—given its rarity and problem to make use of, extra typically cortosis-weave gear was solely able to resistance.


Need extra io9 information? Try when to anticipate the most recent Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s subsequent for the DC Universe on film and TV, and all the pieces it is advisable to find out about the way forward for Doctor Who.

Trending Merchandise

0
Add to compare
Corsair 5000D Airflow Tempered Glass Mid-Tower ATX PC Case – Black

Corsair 5000D Airflow Tempered Glass Mid-Tower ATX PC Case – Black

$134.99
0
Add to compare
CORSAIR 7000D AIRFLOW Full-Tower ATX PC Case, Black

CORSAIR 7000D AIRFLOW Full-Tower ATX PC Case, Black

$269.99
.

We will be happy to hear your thoughts

Leave a reply

M&H Vogue
Logo
Register New Account
Compare items
  • Total (0)
Compare
0
Shopping cart