Bleeding

Bleeding was accomplished by pouring rage, hate, fear and pain into a kyber crystal by means of the dark side of the Force, until the crystal changed, resulting in the crimson-bladed lightsabers associated exclusively with dark side adepts. Since kyber crystals were inherently aligned with the light side of the Force, they could attempt to resist the forced corruption. When Darth Vader first attempted to bleed a kyber crystal, he experienced intense light side Force visions urging him to return to the light side. The procedure could also damage the crystal as was the case with the kyber crystal at the heart of Ben Solo's Jedi lightsaber; Solo's attempt at bleeding it resulted in the crystal cracking and forced Solo, now going by Kylo Ren, to modify his lightsaber into a crossguard model in order to vent the excess energy from the unstable crystal.

Any kyber crystal could be bled by a Force user, including one's own, for example, if they were a former light side practitioner and kept their lightsaber. However, some Sith believed that the proper method was to take a kyber crystal from a Jedi's lightsaber and bleed it.

It was possible to "heal" the effects of bleeding on a kyber crystal, by using the light side of the Force, thus changing the crystal's color again. The process typically resulted in a white crystal.

During the High Republic Era, the Jedi Jora Malli found an ancient Sith lightspear powered by a bled kyber crystal. Malli healed the crystal primarily to see how it was done, but found herself tightly bound to the now-white crystal. She used the crystal in her lightsaber afterwards.

Shortly after the formation of the Galactic Empire, Dark Lord of the Sith and Galactic Emperor Darth Sidious explained the bleeding process to his Sith apprentice Darth Vader. Having lost his Jedi weapon on Mustafar, Vader was in need of a new lightsaber. Sidious tasked his apprentice with tracking down and killing a member of the Jedi Order, as Sith tradition dictated that the kyber crystal of a Sith lightsaber must be taken from a Jedi they killed. Vader, having accepted his mission, located Jedi Master Kirak Infil'a on the river moon of Al'doleem. After killing Infil'a, Vader took his lightsaber with him when he departed.

On his master's orders, Vader traveled to Mustafar, where he had recently suffered his greatest defeat. Sidious wanted the Sith Lord to bleed Master Infil'a's crystal on the surface of the planet. Upon reaching the planet's surface, Vader entered a cave that was strong with the dark side. He dismantled the curved-hilt lightsaber and placed the Jedi Master's kyber crystal on a rock.

Using the Force, Vader began subjecting the crystal to the bleeding technique. However, the crystal resisted, subjecting Vader to Force visions of what his life could be if he chose to abandon the dark. In a vision, Vader returned to the light side of the Force and killed his Sith Master, before returning to his Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and begging for forgiveness.

Vader, having been thrown against the wall of the cave by the living crystal, returned to his feet and refused to give in. Grasping the crystal with both hands, Vader unrelentingly subjected the crystal to his pain and regret. Vader screamed as the cave erupted in a stream of Force energy. Eventually, the crystal's will was shattered by the Dark Lord, who subsequently returned to Coruscant and presented his efforts to his master. Vader later traveled to Galen Erso's Office on Coruscant, where he found a stash of kyber crystals left behind by Erso and bled them.

The kyber crystals installed in the double-bladed spinning lightsabers wielded by members of the Inquisitorius had undergone the bleeding process. When the Inquisitor Sixth Brother traveled to the moon Raada after hearing of Jedi activity there, the "Jedi" in question, former Padawan Ahsoka Tano, had already fled, after ensuring her friends from the Raada resistance were in hiding. The Sixth Brother located and attacked the hideout, killing several rebels and taking Tano's friend Kaeden Larte hostage in order to draw her back to the moon. When Tano, who had by that point joined forces with Senator Bail Organa, learned what had been going on, she prepared to return to Raada. However, she first traveled to the sacred planet Ilum in an attempt to acquire new kyber crystals, but was unable to land after she discovered that the Empire was strip-mining the world.

Tano looked into the Force for a clue as to what to do next, and heard a song that led her back to Raada. Arriving, Tano informed the moon's residents of plans for the impending evacuation. During the battle, Tano confronted the Sixth Brother unarmed, and killed him when she pulled on the crystals in his lightsaber with the Force, which caused the weapon to explode. Claiming the crystals, Tano purified them, noting that they seemed familiar and suspecting them to have been looted from the Jedi Temple. After assembling her new lightsabers, Tano rescued Larte and covered the evacuees as they fled into the waiting ships. She later showed Organa her new weapons on board the Tantive IV, telling the Senator about bleeding and purification.

The High Republic Era Jedi Knight Dagan Gera removed the kyber crystal from his lightsaber returned to him by Cal Kestis and bled it following his release from stasis in 9 BBY. This resulted in the normally yellow blade turning a red hue.

After his lightsaber was damaged during a fight with Killdroids, Luke Skywalker traveled to find someone who could repair his lightsaber. Skywalker meet kyber crystal expert Cuata and Gretta. Cuata agreed to fix Skywalker's weapon if he purified a red kyber crystal. He and Gretta explained the process of both bleeding and purification. Luke tried to heal the crystal, but he ended up experiencing a Force vision where he was brought to a hall. A Sith who was sitting on a throne welcomed him and told him to approach and tell them his name. The individual then asked Skywalker how and why he had entered their hall. Skywalker was then transported to Mustafar, where he saw Fortress Vader and his father on top of the castle. Skywalker tried another crystal and spoke with Yoda. After waking up, Luke saw the blank crystal turned green.

The former member of the Acolytes of the Beyond named Komat had a lightsaber with a red blade. After Komat escaped from the Acolytes with the help of Luke Skywalker purified the kyber crystal in Komat's lightsaber, leaving the blade white, and symbolizing the purging of evil from Komat's mind and soul.

In 28 ABY, proceeding a skirmish on the Minemoon of Mimban, the fallen Jedi and newly minted Master of the Knights of Ren Ben Solo was traveling in realspace aboard the Night Buzzard. Having recently been seduced by the dark side of the Force, Solo removed his Jedi kyber crystal from his former Jedi weapon. Firmly grasping the crystal in his left hand, Ben poured all of his frustration and hatred towards his family legacy into the crystal.

The Knights of Ren watched in awe as the Night Buzzard was engulfed in charges of dark energy. Remembering the faces of his former loved ones, Ben screamed as the crystal burst into a torrent of fiery energy. Although the crystal was corrupted, turning a red-yellow hue, it cracked in the process. Solo placed the crystal in his old lightsaber and activated it, but the crack in the crystal made the weapon unstable, and it short-circuited. To counteract the instability of the crystal, Solo modified his lightsaber, making it into a crossguard lightsaber.

Bleeding was first mentioned in the 2016 novel Ahsoka, written by E. K. Johnston. Bleeding first appeared in Darth Vader (2017) 5, which was authored by Charles Soule, penciled by Giuseppe Camuncoli, and released on September 6, 2017.

In Star Wars Legends, Jaden Korr changed a red synthetic lightsaber crystal into a yellow one. He later used this for his third lightsaber. The process was called cleansing.

• Star Wars: Visions — "Aau's Song"

• Star Wars Helmet Collection 35
• Star Wars Helmet Collection 36
• Star Wars Super Graphic: A Visual Guide to a Galaxy Far, Far Away
• Star Wars Lightsabers: A Guide to Weapons of the Force
• Star Wars Helmet Collection 63
• Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition
• Star Wars: The Galactic Explorer's Guide
• Star Wars: The Lightsaber Collection
• Star Wars: The Secrets of the Sith
• Star Wars: Dawn of Rebellion: The Visual Guide