Bleeding

This corruption, or bleeding, involved channeling intense emotions like rage, hate, fear, and pain into a kyber crystal through the dark side of the Force. This would change the crystal, ultimately producing the crimson blades of lightsabers uniquely wielded by dark side users. Given that kyber crystals naturally resonate with the light side of the Force, they might resist this forceful corruption. When Darth Vader initially attempted to bleed a kyber crystal, he was assailed by vivid light side Force visions, imploring him to return to the light. This procedure could also inflict damage on the crystal, as demonstrated by the kyber crystal within Ben Solo's Jedi lightsaber. Solo's attempt to bleed it resulted in the crystal fracturing, compelling Solo, now known as Kylo Ren, to modify his lightsaber with a crossguard design to manage the excess energy from the unstable crystal.

A dark side user could bleed any kyber [crystal](/article/crystal], even one they already possessed, perhaps from a previous association with the light side. However, some Sith held the belief that the correct method was to seize a kyber crystal from a Jedi's lightsaber and then bleed it.

The effects of bleeding on a kyber crystal could be reversed, essentially "healing" it, through the application of the light side of the Force, leading to a change in the crystal's color. This process usually resulted in a crystal that was white.

During the era of the High Republic Era, the Jedi named Jora Malli discovered an ancient Sith lightspear powered by a kyber crystal that had been bled. She healed the crystal, primarily out of curiosity to understand the process. However, she found herself deeply connected to the now-white crystal. Consequently, she incorporated the crystal into her lightsaber. In 132 BBY, during the High Republic Era, during a skirmish on Brendok, the lightsaber of the Jedi Master Sol sustained damage, exposing a portion of the kyber crystal. Osha Aniseya picked up the saber after hearing her former master's confession about killing her mother, in anger, she unknowingly bled the crystal.

Shortly following the establishment of the Galactic Empire, the Dark Lord of the Sith and Galactic Emperor Darth Sidious elucidated the process of bleeding to his Sith apprentice Darth Vader. Having lost his Jedi weapon on Mustafar, Vader required a new lightsaber. Sidious tasked his apprentice with locating and eliminating a member of the Jedi Order, as Sith tradition dictated that the kyber crystal for a Sith lightsaber must be acquired from a Jedi they had slain. Vader, accepting this 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.

Under his master's instructions, Vader journeyed to Mustafar, the site of his recent greatest defeat. Sidious desired the Sith Lord to bleed Master Infil'a's crystal on the planet's surface. Upon arriving, Vader entered a cave saturated with the dark side. He disassembled the curved-hilt lightsaber and placed the Jedi Master's kyber crystal on a rock.

Using the Force, Vader began to subject the crystal to the bleeding technique. However, the crystal resisted, throwing Vader against the wall and bombarding him with Force visions depicting an alternate life where he abandoned the dark side. In this vision, Vader returned to the light, killed his Sith Master, and sought forgiveness from his Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Despite being thrown against the cave wall by the sentient crystal, Vader regained his footing and refused to yield. Gripping the crystal with both hands, Vader relentlessly channeled his pain and regret into it. Vader screamed, and the cave erupted in a surge of Force energy. Volcanic activity intensified, and powerful storms raged across Mustafar in response to Vader's agony. Eventually, the Dark Lord shattered the crystal's will. Subsequently, Vader 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 within the double-bladed spinning lightsabers used by the members of the Inquisitorius had been subjected to the bleeding process. When the Inquisitor known as the Sixth Brother traveled to the moon Raada after hearing of Jedi activity there, the "Jedi" in question, the former Padawan Ahsoka Tano, had already escaped, ensuring her friends from the Raada resistance were hidden. The Sixth Brother discovered and attacked the hideout, killing several rebels and taking Tano's friend Kaeden Larte hostage to lure her back to the moon. When Tano, who had joined forces with Senator Bail Organa, learned of these events, she prepared to return to Raada. First, however, she traveled to the sacred planet Ilum to acquire new kyber crystals, but she was unable to land due to the Empire's strip-mining operations.

Tano sought guidance from the Force and heard a "song" that led her back to Raada. Upon arriving, Tano informed the moon's residents about the impending evacuation. During the battle, Tano confronted the unarmed Sixth Brother and killed him by using the Force to pull on the crystals in his lightsaber, causing the weapon to explode. Claiming the crystals, Tano purified them, noting their familiarity and suspecting they had been looted from the Jedi Temple. After assembling her new lightsabers, Tano rescued Larte and covered the evacuees as they fled to the waiting ships. She later showed Organa her new weapons aboard the Tantive IV, explaining the processes of 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. The 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, following a skirmish on the Minemoon of Mimban, the fallen Jedi and newly appointed Master of the Knights of Ren Ben Solo was traveling in realspace aboard the Night Buzzard. Having recently succumbed to the dark side of the Force, Solo extracted the Jedi kyber crystal from his previous Jedi weapon. Firmly holding the crystal in his left hand, Ben channeled all of his frustration and hatred towards his family legacy into it.

The Knights of Ren watched in awe as the Night Buzzard was enveloped in surges of dark energy. Recalling the faces of his former loved ones, Ben screamed as the crystal erupted in 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.

The concept of bleeding was initially introduced in the 2016 novel Ahsoka, penned by E. K. Johnston. Its first visual depiction occurred in Darth Vader (2017) 5, written by Charles Soule, with illustrations by Giuseppe Camuncoli, released on September 6, 2017.

Within Star Wars Legends, Jaden Korr transformed a red synthetic lightsaber crystal into a yellow one. He subsequently used this crystal for his third lightsaber. This process was referred to as cleansing.