Here’s why Luke’s lightsaber was blue in “Last Jedi” — because he wanted to really eff with Kylo’s head

There were many, and we mean many things to love about The Last Jedi, but chances are you’re *still* recovering from that epic battle between Luke Skywalker and his nephew and former mentee Kylo Ren (née Ben Solo).

But during that Last Jedi confrontation on Crait, in which Luke challenges Kylo to battle — mentor vs. mentee — allowing for General Leia Organa (Luke’s twin sister and Kylo’s estranged mother) and the rest of the Resistance fighters to flee the surrounded outpost, true Star Wars fans probably noticed something a *little* off about the lightsaber fight.

While Kylo is sporting his iconic red (see: evil) crossguard lightsaber, Luke is not wielding the green one we’ve become accustomed to him carrying since Return of the Jedi.

Instead Luke — rather, the Force projection on Crait, since the real Luke was sitting atop a rock on Ahch-To the whole time — battled Kylo wielding Anakin Skywalker’s blue lightsaber. According to writer-director Rian Johnson, per IGN, that subtle detail is actually a pretty big deal as Luke’s whole game plan going into his final confrontation with Kylo was to severely rattle the young, angsty new Supreme Leader.

"[Luke] is basically tailoring this projection to have maximum effect on Kylo," Johnson revealed. "He knows that Kylo's Achilles' heel is his rage, and so that's why he kind of makes himself look younger, the way Kylo would've last seen him in their confrontation at the temple, and that's why he decided to bring Kylo's grandfather's lightsaber down there — the lightsaber that Kylo screamed at Rey, 'That's mine, that belongs to me.'"

This explanation makes a ton of sense because the moment Luke appears in front of Kylo — looking exactly as he did when Kylo last saw him — the Supreme Leader completely loses his cool, wasting a lot of ammunition and certainly not making the best impression as new leader of the First Order.

The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi have made it clear that Kylo idolizes his late grandfather to the point of obsession, so naturally, Kylo could be blinded by rage to the point where he completely forgets that Anakin’s lightsaber, which was previously wielded by Rey, was *potentially* destroyed.

Well played, Luke (and Rian Johnson, of course).