Star wars: Scythe lightsaber....And sith.

[Arugela]

I'm bored looking up random stuff and ran into star wars ideas on who snoke is and what not about the upcoming stories... I always thought a lightsaber scythe would be interesting and very dangerous. Started wondering if this is what sith comes from as they all dress like death who used a scythe... Reaping death etc. Death of society death reaping/culling it.

Then I looked up stuff on an actual scythe lightsaber. Not alot there. And what is there is a bunch of weird arguments on saying they would not be good based on how an actual metal bladed scythe would work... A 7 foot tall shaft with a 5 foot blade not being good for battle(assuming it wouldn't be realistically) even if the blade were changed to plasma taking away those disavantages... Arguments like it's unweildy and can't block. A 5 foot blad can be rotated and anything going into the blade goes into the advantage of the direction you can hold it. Directly into the shaft where you have handles to hold the force. It's ideal for stopping blows. If you need to block rotate it at the shaft like a clock hand and move back and fort. It has reach and the reach can specifically be adjust just like any stick weapon. Not to mention using one to cut down wheat creates alot of handeye coordination. It's part of using it as a tool. I mean insane ammount of hand eye coordination. Stick the point end would not be hard except for the fact it's probably designed to make that hard with angling to not hurt people accidently while cutting down grasses.. this was a natrual danger as people worked in rows. they had to spread out and stop when the guy in front of them stopped to be safe. There are alot of safety features build in naturally. it's also very hard to hurt yourself because of the design. the danger is to other people normally. But the changing of metal to a plasma blade takes off all safety and make it like it can be. dangerous if competent or incompetent. It is naturally lethal. No more safety from blade direction or curvature stopping the potential point end from hitting others. Not to mention the weight of the blade(depending on type of scythe) is literally in the blade. This create momentum to cut for some scythes. It's now light and agile.

As I said the natural length of the shaft and how you swing a scythe is not that dangerous to yourself except in really odd positions. Like if it leaned on your shoulder holding and rotated and the blade hit you(assuming it can physically). Normally being a slicing tool you don't take damage. And you can design it so it won't even touch you easily. the length makes just touching someone lethal which is easy with a very long pole with a very long blade perpendicular to the shaft... It would be very hard to block without it being able to be pushed into you. And unless you have a long sword you cannot use alot of sword techniques as you can be outreached. And it's design makes it very dangerous with a plasma blade to get in close as the long blade and it's angling can be easily brought closer to the weilder where it would be very hard not to be touched at some point by the blade. Unlike a metal blade where you would have to put some work into harming the other person but could probably put a hell of a defense and push them around or hit them. And with accuracy from using one enough in the field could probably hit the scythe blades tip with pinpoint accuracy anywhere you wanted.

One of the threads what this: http://www.thestarwarsrp.com/forum/index.php?threads/lightsaber-varients.65978/

They must not have ever used one for anything. As is likely now a days. But even outside of that they argue very simply and can't separate their arguments from the different versions of the tool as argue it like a physical bladed tool as opposed to the plasma one. which makes all direction of the blade dangerous. And don't understand the nature of one besides assuming from some pictures. Lets say someone who has used a scythe there whole life you would not want to risk them not swinging it and hitting you how they want to at will. It would be a big mistake. 8) And that is with one with a curved naturally safer metal blade. One designed to be as safe as possible to those around the user. Having a very long perpendicular blade gives you a lot of options. So does every aspect of the design of the handle. It is a complex reaching tool meant to do many things. If there were a plasma bladed scythe you would literally reap people like you do wheat and leave them lying on the ground in paths.

The only weakness is potentially in the shaft not being resistant to the plasma blade. But remove that and it's insanely dangerous. Let I don't know how hard or easy it would be to dodge the weapon taking damage. It is potentially a complex curved shaft. Meaning odd angles to employ to block parry twist and or attack with. Even without that you have alot of blade surface to avoid things and reach to make it dangerous to move in. Real scythes would be limited by the blade in some ways but have a lot of interesting things to do with them and not have to worry about the shaft.

The color of the sith blade and their black cloak looks like death and possibly a long sword like in the book of revelation possibly. So instead of death a red saber like the red horsemen with his double sided blade....(Which I believe some groups treat as a red sword) I forget what they represented. I think one is death the other famine and another disease and one war? It would fit the end of the world and the possible empire bringing punishment from god like the Assyrian and Babylonian empires did to the Jews and ten tribes in the old testament. Biblical comparisons are very easy and potentially likely to some extent in star wars.(The basic type of story of the jedi and the empire.) We even now have plageous. The sith in the movies could partially be a compilation of the four horsemen or something similar. Vader being war possibly, Sidious taxation or the selling and control of what for money during famine?! Might be a stretch but you can pull stuff from it. I say this because they use red swords and not scythes and look alot like how people think of death who is often pictures with a scythe. Not to mention the book of revelation can be interpreted to some point as an image of how societies change and go through natural decay...(This was the Roman period after all) The start of the book is speaking to churches conditions similar potentially to decay of a group through phases. Basically like the rise of fall of civilization from the perspective of a church. The jedi and sith easily comparable to churchs organization in many many ways in many many directions. They are depicted as monks after all and could be analogous to many similar things. Very easily the past of the jedi compared to things like the crusades. Although I don't know who wrote what or with what specific intent if any. Also, I think one of the reasons for the four horsemen is often believed to be literally what happens or happened during a siege of jerusalem. Hence the combination of war famine and whatnot... Not sure what might connect where besides Naboo obviously. But there could be a lot of connection to stuff in the various stories in the bible let alone any other part of history where these images can or have been historically connected. Even if they don't totally fit some of the important and traditionally emphasized parts could be and the beliefs/views surrounding them. Either way christianity(And also easily judaism or even Islam) has alot of connection to the roman period of history and can be easily connected to any use of it in a story. Especially if any western/european culture/perspective is meant to be seen through it.(And obviously greek, roman, and other middle easternish cultures relevant historically.)

Note the word Sith is a bit like scythe also. This was one of the original things getting me thinking. Hence the connection to the bibles death rider as these can also be potentially connected to empires during certain periods of time like the Romans or Babylonians or any other similar period of time. (and simultaneously greeks or other versions of death) The flaming sword(they "ignite" their sabers) or double edged sword is also highly religious imagery potentially. In the hands of monk like beings albeit...

I was also looking up stuff on the darth jar jar theory! 8d I've always like the drunken master idea.

(Tins of baked beans!! >< Now that needs a lightsaber and should be stuck into the movie!!)

These are shorter scythes(I think normal sizes) and show the downsides of a normal one. But I think there used to be much larger speciality ones. Either way with a plasma blade it would work a bit differently. Not to mention I'm thinking of something with a more substantial blade, which I think used to exist. I think they were designed with more reach and a longer blade to get bigger swaths of material in one swing letting one person do more work.

http://site.baryonyxknife.com/blog/category/manual-mowing/scythes/page/2/

Edited February 6, 2017 by Arugela

[p1t1o]

Whilst it would make a cool "starwars" character affectation, when it comes to IRL, there is a reason that swords are shaped like swords, and its not because people were too lazy to try other designs - they work.

Weapons are generally intended to be optimised for their chosen opponent. Scythes are optimised against...grass. Swords are pretty optimal against humans.

We could get into tactical specifics, but just from my gut - unarmed, I would far rather meet an opponent who had a scythe, than a more traditional longsword.

A lightsaber-scythe would be undeniably cool though

***

A scythe is only 90 degrees (and a few other important modifications, eg: blade curvature) away from being a pretty close approximation of a Naginata, a Japanese polearm resembling a long-handled sword/long-bladed spear, indeed it is handled kind of halfway between those two paradigms (sword/spear).

Looking at it, its not hard to imagine that this is what you would end up with if you properly weaponised a scythe.

 

[Arugela]

What about the tin of beans with a lightsaber on it? 8)

 

This shows some of how you use one in practice.

Edited February 6, 2017 by Arugela

[kerbiloid]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glaive

[Arugela]

Maybe I'm thinking of an english scythe:

 

I know there used to be american and other scythes with massive blades and long handles... I think for practical purposes and in some case as a display of your manhood. 8)

This might be convertable into a lightsaber. Obviously special case use though.(concealing the evidence. SHUUU!!)

Edited February 6, 2017 by Arugela