Ilum crystal

"Why did the Jedi choose such a hazardous spot to keep the Ilum crystals?"
"The crystals grow in a cave at the top of this cliff. That is where we must gather them. The challenge is part of the reward."

―Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi^[1]

Ilum crystals were the most common lightsaber crystals used amongst the Jedi until up to the Great Jedi Purge. Found in crystal caves on the Unknown Regions planet of Ilum, they were similar in structure to the Adegan crystal variants of mephite and pontite, which produced the best lightsaber blades.^[2] However, while those crystals were rare even in the Adega system, Ilum presented to the Jedi Order entire caves full of high-quality crystals. Most Jedi Padawans underwent the ritual on construction of their first lightsaber at Ilum.

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Behind the scenes

The term "Ilum crystal" was created by comicbook writer Tom Veitch as a generic name for all naturally-formed lightsaber crystals, in the endnotes for the 1995 trade paperback of Dark Empire.^[3] The alternative name "Adegan crystal" was maintained from the previous edition, referring to the system in which these crystals were most commonly found, thus making the terms Adegan, Ilum and lightsaber crystal synonymous.^[3] However, with the later introduction of a crystal-rich planet called Ilum into continuity,^[4] an in-universe explanation was provided for the terms being used interchangably, namely that crystal variants from the Adegan system were so similar in structure to those from the planet Ilum, that the Jedi took them to be the same at first.^[2]