Mace Windu May Have Survived the 'Star Wars' Prequels, According to Some Fan Theories

In 2005, Mace Windu joined the ever-growing ranks of Star Wars characters who lose a hand in battle. Unfortunately, the character didn't live long enough to get a cool cybernetic replacement ... or is that just what the prequels want us to think?

The duel between Darth Sidious and Mace Windu didn't end great for either of them, but despite evidence suggesting otherwise, many Star Wars fans still aren't convinced it was the end for the purple lightsaber-wielding warrior.

Whether or not Mace Windu survived the Star Wars prequels is a fandom-wide debate that, unlike the character, will never die.

It's technically canon that Mace Windu died in Revenge of the Sith after the force of Darth Sidious's lightning strike propelled the Jedi Master out of a window looking out over a very tall building. It's widely accepted that even a Jedi as skilled and tactical as Mace couldn't have possibly survived a fall from such a great height.

However, the "but we didn't see a body" side of the argument is still convinced, over 20 years later, that he could have lived through the ordeal somehow. How exactly he may have survived and what he did with his time after the fact is a matter of fanfiction.

Losing Mace Windu in the prequels also meant the loss of his one-of-a-kind purple lightsaber. To this day, he is the only character in Star Wars to wield a purple-bladed weapon of this type in a movie or show set in a galaxy far, far away. But the color choice didn't officially symbolize anything in-universe.

Actually, the reason Mace Windu's lightsaber is purple in Star Wars is quite simple: It's what Samuel L. Jackson wanted.

Appearing on The Graham Norton Show, the actor explained: "We had this big arena, this fight scene with all these Jedi and they’re fightin’ or whatever. And I was like ... I wanna be able to find myself in this big ol’ scene. So I said to George [Lucas], 'You think maybe I can get a purple lightsaber?'"

Ultimately, George said yes.

While fans have their theories about the true meaning of a purple lightsaber in Star Wars, the true origins of the blade are obviously far less complicated.

There are some Star Wars actors who may have been glad to leave the franchise behind after their final films ended. Samuel L. Jackson is not one of them.

The actor has said many times — because everyone keeps asking him the same question, to which he always has the same answer — that he would be open to playing Mace Windu in Star Wars again.

He most recently mentioned his interest while appearing on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. He said: “There’s a huge history of people with one hand returning in Star Wars." Why not him?

Because he's dead, Sam. That's why — if you don't subscribe to the theories saying otherwise, that is.