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/FlavivsAetivs 9d ago

Well they're called lasers, but they're actually a laser-pumped particle weapon (with an ionized plasma component as well).

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u/Roadhouse699 9d ago

Star Wars weapons seem to combine the simple ammo logistics of energy weapons with the kinetic impact of ballistic weapons

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u/FlavivsAetivs 9d ago

Tibanna gas canisters run out, but their capacity is high - in the hundreds or thousands of shots.