Why Anakin's Kyber Crystal Didn't BLEED RED in Revenge of the Sith

Given the recent discourse surrounding the bleeding of kyber crystals in The Acolyte, I wanted to break down why Anakin Skywalker's crystal never turned red when he became Darth Vader in Revenge of the Sith!
Become a member to get access to perks:

[Beymaster]

I feel like bleeding the crystal is like a right of passage for a Sith apprentice. And making a crystal synthetically is to show how far they come in the dark side. Which is the best way to combine both ways.

[alecjackman]

The first issue of the 2017 Vader comics, they confirm that up until Sidious told Vader about “bleeding” kyber crystals, Vader didn’t know where red crystals came from. In his words it was forbidden knowledge that the Jedi kept secret. So in ROTS Anakin wouldn’t even have thought about bleeding his crystal because he hadn’t yet known that was a thing

[nadyaakins]

I like better the canon ideology of bleeding the crystal, you have to physically touch the crystal and pour the anger, hate and pain into it. That’s why one of my favorite moments in the last episode of The Acolyte (Spoiler alert 🚨) is Osha unintentional bleeding of the crystal, in the scene they made sure to show us Sol’s crystal was exposed after his lightsaber was tossed away and got broken, so Osha was physically touching it when she let her pain and anger poured into the crystal. In Anakin’s case, the crystal was safely inside the lightsaber.

[goddammitnappa]

Bro I haven’t even seen the video yet and yet Ik this was made mainly due to hordes of people you been arguing with on twitter. Keep up the good fight

[mkhudn]

Because it would be hard to see a red lightsaber against a lava background. Wouldn't look as cool.

[SkinnyEatWorld]

Kinda like how Exar Kun kept his blue lightsaber

[redwarrior]

3:21 "while he was chilling on mustafar crying" idk why but that had me laughing 😂

[jeanlukvolker]

Actually the canon explanation for why his blade didn’t become red was one
He just literally became a sith and immediately started killing the Jedi. He didn’t exactly have that as his first thought
2: bleeding a crystal is actually very time consuming even for someone as powerful as anakin
3: anakin actually wasn’t truly dedicated to the Sith. He didn’t even want to join. But killing mace by accident was already too far.
4: sidious and anakin actually talked about bleeding the crystal but sidious actually wanted anakin now Vader to keep his blue blade as a mockery to the Jedi to show even skywalker will never be fooled by the corruption of the Jedi.
5: and honestly sidious wanted the Jedi to know that their literal champion had turned to the dark side

[nathanaelcard]

5:28 YES! I literally screamed YES at hearing this because in the Acolyte, that’s NOT how bleeding works! This isn’t like that episode of Visions where the lightsaber can just change color on a whim, bleeding is more focused and complicated than that!

[CGoldmill-dzgk]

I don’t think anakin ever wanted to bleed his crystal… I don’t think he ever had fully intended to become a Sith Lord to begin with! His emotions got the best of him and after palpatine rebuilt him, he lost all hope and decided on a new saber with a red krystal… anakin wanted to rule the galaxy with padme as queen and kill emperor palps… I think he would have wanted his blue saber the whole time even when he was Vader…

[Dr.Kenobi]

I think you left out the most important part: Sith bleed crystals because a kyber crystal won't bond naturally with a dark sider. Anakin didn't have to bleed his crystal because he already had a strong bond with it. I think that eventually his connection with it would have weakened, and then he would have had to bleed it, but since it was already his, he didn't have to bleed it right away. Dagan Gera didn't have to bleed his crystal when he first turned to the Dark Side, but then when he woke up from 400 years of stasis and tried to connect with his crystal again, he couldn't and so he had to bleed it (This part is my head canon.)

[dionysisnance]

Here's a fun fact I think people are missing when it comes to bleeding a kyber crystal in TheAcolyte (a short explanation. The kyber bled red because of physical touch. Anakins kyber was still tucked safely into the hilt when he killed younglings. That is the short explanation.

[GazingTrandoshan]

BTW, Pablo posted that the bleeding lore was made back in the CW days when George was still in charge, so funny enough its not really Disney lore either, it was only put in practice when the vader comic started

[joakimareskoug]

Because it wouldnt fit with the metaphorical language in movies. He isnt Vader until the suit, iconically. Now we all know that he is technically Vader before that. But since Vader is an icon, the bad guy with the suit and red lightsaber, which are symbols - it wouldnt fit to have Ani wielding a red saber before the suit.

[alessandrobonati]

I think that his kyber didnt bleed because there still was some goodness to him

[deuce-dubya]

What were the benefits of bleeding it for the sith, did it make them more powerful? Seems it would be better to not do so in order to conceal the sith in accordance with Banes rule of 2!

[royz]

Because it didn’t exist back in the ROTS days

because there lightsaber and cybercrystal dont work and muse be open and and take out from saber and helps force then change color

[stevengrantofthegiftshop]

But what doesn't make sense is that Osha was using her anger, but NOT fully committed to the Dark Side and NOT intentionally trying to bleed her crystal!

[angelabrowne]

Because he didnt physically touch the crystal like Osha did