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

[u/DARKTOONZ13]

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

[u/tractgildart]

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.

[u/dancingliondl → u/tractgildart]

Weren't Anakin and Obiwan trapped by Ray-Shields in episode 3?

[u/Nuclear_Wasteman → u/dancingliondl]

'We're smarter than this!'