This article contains spoilers for Ahsoka and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Look, everyone knows the real reason why Qui-Gon Jinn dies after getting stabbed by a lightsaber, while Sabine Wren survives in Ahsoka and Reva and the Grand Inquisitor seem to treat their stab wounds more like paper cuts in Obi-Wan Kenobi. (I can almost hear the Pitch Meeting guy going, “Super easy! Barely an inconvenience!”) What’s the reason? Because the story demands it, and Star Wars writing is delightfully inconsistent. In the Star Wars universe, the best medical care you can get is a crucial plot beat in the episode after you get stabbed.
But we sci-fi fans desperately want things to make sense! That’s why Dr. Tricia Pendergrast, anesthesiologist and Star Wars lover, took to TikTok to offer a theory as to why a lightsaber gut wound is only lethal some of the time.
Running down the middle of your body, Dr. Pendergrast explains, are two major blood vessels: the descending aorta, and the inferior vena cava. In The Phantom Menace, Darth Maul stabs Qui-Gon right in the center of his body, cutting off one or both of those vessels. Even if the lightsaber’s cauterization prevents Qui-Gon from bleeding out, the wound would still cut off the blood flow to his heart.
Dr. Pendergrast goes on to explain that when Reva’s stabbed in Obi-Wan Kenobi, she appears to get hit lower down in her abdomen, and to the side. While she might sustain some damage to her internal organs, the cauterization would prevent her from bleeding out. No longterm harm done!
The Grand Inquisitor’s survival is a little harder to explain, so I’ll let the good doctor handle it in her video (embedded above). Meanwhile, if you ever find yourself in a lightsaber battle, just duck to the side when that thing comes at you! You might have to do some time in a bacta tank, but you’ll be fine.
(featured image: Disney+)
