I'm quite new to the Star Wars Universe. I really didn't get into it much until I began playing the Knights of the Old Republic games and then finally into the movies. It really sparked a good curiousity. I have a few general questions to ask about some of the history, I cannot seem to locate some of the information... not even on the official site. I hope maybe some long time fans may be of help. (Please also feel free to move this if need be, these questions have more to do with general history than the actual movies.)

What is the true meaning of "Darth"? Where did the name originate and how did the title come into being such a high rank?

Most Dark Lords obtained a Darth name, Examples being, Vader of course.. Revan, Malak and so on. How do they actually name them? As far as Vader went, he was just automatically named that, and I wondered where the name Vader came from. Is it just a name that the Master likes and gives it to his apprentice?

I found out that the lightsaber colors don't really seem to pertain to anything rank wise. But it does seem that most ranks do hold certain colors. It also goes for the Light and Dark side.. Blue/Green for the Light and Red for the Dark. I was just curious to know if there is anything really behind the lightsabers besides what Lucas said about them and the effects in the movies.

That should about do it, I would appreciate any comments.

The Purple light saber seems to be only used by masters, but I've seen plenty of masters use crystal and green lightsabers too like Yoda.

As for Darth, I think your looking to much into it, Darth is probably just a word associated with a master of the Darkside, same as Padwan is the word for 'Jedi Apprentice' or it could have been the name of the original sith and all sith have taken it since, could be anything. Darth doesn't seem to be associated with rank though, as all the Aprentices have it also i.e. Dath Maul, Darth Tyranus, and Darth Vader.

I think 'Darth' is simply a title given to those who are powerful with the dark side of the force. Isn't Palpatines sith name 'Darth Sidious'?

As for lightsabers, it seems almost a personal preferance more than anything. The only one to use a purple lightsaber i've seen was of course Mace Windu. While it is common for Jedi to use greens/blues and Sith to use red of course..
Maybe it has to do with the power of the force behind the user of the saber... i dunno.

I just found a site saying that Darth was the first name for the Sith lord Darth Bane and all Sith sinse took it as there's, before this there was no Darth's e.g. Exar Kun

http://forums.starwars.com/thread.jspa?threadID=72897

"Darth Bane took up the name Darth to mark the five principles of the Sith:

Deception
Anger
Rage
Terror
Hate "


Interesting

Ahhh, that explains alot. Awesome!

The reason behind the purple lightsaber was because he asked for it. Purple is his favorite color... it was on one of thise interview shows.

hahah that's it? The actor said 'i want to be different and completely change the star wars lightsaber structure'.

made him stand out though

Sure did, and started probably millions of discussions like this.

In the games, their are hundreds of millions of different colours for the jedi and sith, but i heard of pensarri lightsabres. Is that a confirmed thing or is SuperShadow being an ass again?

yeah... sorry for ruining the magic for all of you guys.

Well he could've chosen a zebra light saber, that would defenitely be a change!

That was made up by a creative hack long after the movie came out. The real deal is that lucas was inspired by the works of many cultures, and "darth" is a contraction of the words DARk siTH and "vader" is swedish for "father"

I heard that the words jedi and sith come from an albanian religion. Google anyone? Ive already tried.

Great information everyone. I especially found it interesting about what Darth stands for. This helps greatly.

Check this out...it will give you more info on Lightsabers...hope it helps.