Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Anakin Skywalker. Yoda vs. Count Dooku. Luke Skywalker vs. Darth Vader. Rey vs. Kylo Ren. From the very first Star Wars in 1977, lightsaber duels have been part of the proceedings, with many of the classic confrontations duplicated in living rooms and backyards of kids around the world. That fascination with lightsabers and the elegance of their wielding inevitably carries over into adulthood, and Saber Guild was created as a way for fans to express both their love for Star Wars and fascination with the lightsaber as a result.
Like other Star War fan groups, the Saber Guild fills a specific niche within the greater Star Wars Universe. Whereas costuming charity organizations like the Rebel Legion and 501st Legion represent the “good guys” and the “bad guys” of Star War, and the Droidbuilders recreate such astromechs as R2-D2, the Saber Guild is a costuming performance group that choreographs live lightsaber demonstrations at charity events, pop culture conventions, and local community events.
Although the Saber Guild was founded in 2006, it wasn’t until 2021 that a chapter emerged close enough for Pittsburgh fans to participate. Malachor Temple started off with six members – one more than necessary to be officially recognized by the Saber Guild – and despite being in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic at the time, quickly began adding new members and expanding the region in which it operates. Although officially based in Harrisburg, it’s centralized location in Pennsylvania allows members to make the trip to the Steel City for performances, as well as assist local members until the formation of a standalone Pittsburgh chapter can be finalized.
“I’ve been a Saber Guild member for almost six years,” Malachor Temple Director Don Bickel explains of his involvement with the organization. “When I applied to Saber Guild, there were no temples in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, DC, Ohio, West Virginia or Virginia. I started as a ‘temple-less’ member in Pennsylvania looking to join a nearby temple. I joined my first temple when Zeffo Temple (South New Jersey) formed in late 2019. From there, I recruited several members from Central PA that formed the base membership to create Malachor Temple in 2021.”
Bickel was drawn to the Saber Guild for a variety of reason, including the international scope of the various temples and the support offered to local chapters from the main organization, especially regarding public relations and logistics. The fangroup has experienced tremendous growth in recent years as a result of those efforts. When Don Bickel first joined Saber Guild, for instance, he was member number 354. Six years later, the organization had tripled its membership and is poised to cross the one thousand mark in 2022.
“The second thing that drew me to Saber Guild is its unmatched ability to create interactive, positive experiences for both our members and the guests they entertain,” Bickel adds. “One of our popular shows are kid ‘trainings’ in the ways of the Force, which we locally call the Padawan Training Institute. It provides an interactive environment where our Jedi Masters train kids on how to become Padawans with some basic fighting techniques. After the training, the kids are provided their own personal training certificates by our Jedi Masters. Also, as part of the immersion into Star Wars lore, they get to choose their own kyber crystal to begin their force journey and the creation of their own lightsaber.”
The popularity of these Padawan training performances led to Lucasfilm collaborating with fourteen Saber Guild temples at the 2022 Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim, California, for live demonstrations. The initial sign-up sheet for participants had to be changed to a lottery system because of the large number of children interested in taking part. Saber Guild temples perform other shows as well – in 2021, Malachor Temple, for instance, teamed with other chapters at a Brooklyn Cyclones game in New York to stage over fourteen choreographed fight scenes.
“The third thing that drew me to Saber Guild is its ability to directly raise money and help many worthwhile causes in the area,” Don Bickel continues. “Saber Guild and its temples do not make a profit off of anything we do, from our practices to our performances. Everything we raise goes directly to the charity we’re supporting. April of this year, our temple created a one-of a kind lightsaber for a silent auction and donated it to the Lehigh Valley Phantom Charities, an awesome educational charity in the Lehigh Valley area. The lightsaber alone raised $500 for the Phantom Charities.”
Like many Star Wars afficionados, Don Bickel’s fandom involvement extends beyond Saber Guild. “I am in many different fan costuming clubs with many awesome and popular Star Wars costumes, including Darth Vader, Boba Fett, Greedo and Chewbacca approved to wear at special events,” he says. “Each group I’m in operates differently from other groups, with Saber Guild possibly being the most unique of them all. As a performance-focused group, our costumes are more practical and functional than others, as we have a necessity to move and perform stunts in our shows. Beyond costuming, our club is more of a time commitment than anything else for rehearsal reasons. Lightsaber choreography, or stage combat, is a fun experience, but requires a lot of weekly practice to ensure the safety of our members and guests watching or children participating in the shows. Unlike television shows and movies, we don’t get the benefit of editing and multiple takes. Everything we do is live and in the moment, requiring a bit of occasional improv.”
As with other costuming fan groups, there is a set procedure for joining Saber Guild. “The process for becoming an official member of Malachor Temple is relatively simple and the same process for all Saber Guild temples,” Don Bickel explains. “Saber Guild accepts both face character costumes as well as customized costumes who are force-wielding characters who use lightsabers from Star Wars lore that follow our costuming standards. Once you have created your costume, it is officially submitted for review. This is the most rigorous part of the application process, as we place a strong emphasis on our costuming standards and screen accuracy, as we strive to ensure our costumes look like we walked off the set of a show. This can be more challenging for animated characters in Star Wars from Rebels and Clone Wars, but we have local and global costuming judges who are there to help answer questions during the application process prior to costume creation. Once a person has completed their application process, they are granted a unique member ID number and are allowed to participate in Saber Guild events.”
The process can be long, and the choreography training intense, but for the members of Saber Guild, it is all worth it in the end. “The best thing about Saber Guild is that it provides an unparalleled interactive experience for both members and guests that combine live action theater, stage combat, and high-quality, realistic Star Wars costumes into an experience you can’t find anywhere else,” Don Bickel says.
Naturally, there are the memorable moments that inevitably go along with the experience as well. “Sometimes, they are funny mishaps that occur at practices and events,” Bickel elaborates. “Other moments are often interactions we have with attendees and special guests our members got to meet. Personally, it’s always funny to me when I see our member portraying the Seventh Sister ‘corrupt’ a newly trained Jedi Padawan by encouraging them to pick a red or orange (dark side) kyber crystal to begin their journey. Other memorable interactions I have involve watching the wonder on a kid’s face when they get to be trained as padawans with ‘real lightsaber hilts’ in the training shows.”
There are a number of Star Wars fangroups, and all of them inevitably intersect and connect to create a Star Wars Universe for the real world. From the 501st Legion to the Rebel Legion, the Mandalorian Mercs to the Dark Empire, Droidbuilders to the youth-oriented Galactic Academy, these organizations allow fans to build communities, participate in charity events, and share their love of Star Wars. Saber Guild compliments those fan groups, adding a new dimension to the overall fan experience in the process.
Anthony Letizia