Kyber crystals don’t just make up the heart of a Jedi’s lightsaber, now they’re the focus of one of the best mysteries in Disneyland’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
In Star Wars mythology, kyber crystals are rare, powerful crystals that Jedi, Sith, and other Force users use to build lightsabers—and in some cases, massive weapons like the Death Star, too.
They have intense, mystical energy, and they’re available for purchase at Disney’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Which, on the surface, may seem kind of silly. A fake crystal? Who cares?
Well, it turns out that, like in Star Wars itself, the fake crystals each have their unique powers and enough variations to make them desirable for collectors too.
There are two places to get kyber crystals at the Black Spire Outpost on the planet of Batuu (aka Galaxy’s Edge). You get one when you build a custom lightsaber at Savi’s Workshop or you can buy one at the store called Dok-Ondar’s Den of Antiquities.
In Savi’s, you can choose either a blue, green, purple, or red crystal, which is included as part of creating your saber. Those are the main ones from the theatrical films. Then at Dok’s, you can buy those four individually, as well as a white crystal or a yellow crystal.
Primarily, these crystals merely change the colour of your custom lightsaber. Put in a green crystal, it turns your saber green. Put in a red, it turns red, etc. Simple. Some also give your saber slightly different sounds, which is also cool but, again, not super exciting. However, when a crystal is paired with another piece of merchandise in the park, that’s when things get much more interesting.
From the same shelf as the crystals inside Dok’s, you can also buy either a Jedi or Sith holocron. Holocrons are kind of the USB keys of the Star Wars universe: devices that hold ancient and secret knowledge and are usually activated by the Force.
The versions sold at Galaxy’s Edge look kind of like kiddie versions of the cube from Hellraiser. Slightly sinister looking, with a hint of Rubik’s. They also light up and make noises. Again, on their own, not particularly exciting. They really come to life, though, when you put a kyber crystal inside.
Put a kyber crystal in a holocron and the holocron turns that colour. Then, if you press two of the sides simultaneously, the holocron will speak to you as a famous Star Wars character associated with that particular crystal.
However, you don’t know which character will speak to you until you do this. Each colour of crystal has a handful of different characters that may be inside it, sometimes up to four or five.
Red has characters like the Emperor and Darth Maul, green has characters like the Yoda and Qui-Gon Jinn, blue has characters like the Obi-Wan Kenobi and Rey, white has characters like Ashoka, and yellow has characters like the Jedi Temple Guard, just to name a few.
Since the park has only been open for a few weeks, people are still discovering different characters in different crystals, and most people think some are more common than others.
“At the heart of every lightsaber is a kyber crystal. Guests at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge are discovering that this crystal is attuned to the Force.” That’s what Brad Schoeneberg, director of Merchandise Strategy & New Park Experience Development at Disneyland, told Gizmodo about the crystals.
Here’s a look at all of the Kyber Crystals you can get, including the rare black Kyber Crystal! #StarWarsGalaxysEdge #GalaxysEdge pic.twitter.com/DwMoD1RI0p
— BlogMickey.com (@Blog_Mickey) June 3, 2019
But there’s more. If you put a Jedi crystal in a Sith holocron, you’ll be warned about the dark side of the force. If you put a Sith crystal in a Jedi holocron, it will try to seduce you to the dark side.
The holocrons also interact with each other when placed together, revealing some words of wisdom by a Star Wars being who exists between the dark and the light. I don’t want to spoil it.
On top of that little hidden tidbit, for one in every 50 or 100 red crystal containers, Disney has placed a black one. This rare crystal has the voice of Supreme Leader Snoke in it. (It doesn’t turn your saber black, though…sorry, Darksaber fans.)
However, rumour has it, those may have been taken out of circulation because of the number of people trying to find them by a trick uncovered by internet sleuths (coupled with some very expensive sales on eBay). Disneyland would not confirm or deny this rumour.
Take all these different variations, combinations, and potential revelations, and you begin to see why the kyber crystals available at Galaxy’s Edge are so interesting. They’re like the baseball cards of Star Wars theme park collecting.
Fans want to collect them, hear them, and see all the possible combinations—plus it’s fun to experience and talk about with your friends. I myself already have three crystals and both holocrons, and will be continuing to bolster that collection as we move along.
In fact, I’ve been asking friends to grab me a white or yellow crystal and it seems like they’ve been sold out for weeks. It makes you wonder if Galaxy’s Edge has any other cool little mini-games like these waiting to be discovered, and what more is possible with kyber crystals and holocrons.
Kyber crystals and holocrons are only available in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, now open at Disneyland in California and opening August 29 at Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
The crystals are $US13 ($19) each, holocrons are $US50 ($73) each, and if you want a lightsaber to switch them in and out of, those cost $US200 ($291) each. However, crystals do not change in the Legacy lightsabers which are based on specific characters.
This article was briefly edited after publication to contexualise the official quote.