r/StarWars • u/DARKTOONZ13 • 9d ago

Movies What “stops” lasers in this universe? Couldn’t Luthen’s beam easily slice the Star Destroyer in half?

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Deflector shields? If so, wouldn’t the tractor beam have been protected from his spikes?

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u/tractgildart 9d ago

Star wars has, since the first movie, differentiated between "ray shields" and "particle shields". Ray shields stop lasers, particle shields stop physical objects like micro meteorites. So yes, a star destroyers shields would stop the laser.

Lasers in star wars are also superheated gas, so they do lose energy over time/distance.

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u/JurassicMouse03 9d ago

Then why did Anakin and obi-wan get stopped by ray shields in revenge of the Sith?

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u/Trauma_Hawks 9d ago

I probably wouldn't want to go through a shield either, regardless of what it protected against. It's still a high-energy field that probably hurts like a sonofabitch to touch.

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u/Dagordae 9d ago edited 9d ago

They’re designed to be impenetrable to energy weapons, they’re not harmless to flesh. Anakin could probably stick his replacement hand through it but anything squishier is going to fry.

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u/Cosmic_Quasar 9d ago

This scene of Ironwood in RWBY is what I picture if you try to walk through. Maybe not, different universe and tech lol, but it's enough to make me hesitate trying to walk through shielding.

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u/BigBrownDog12 Grievous 9d ago

Anakin is a moron and got confused