So. Anybody had a look-see?

I noticed something ... interesting? Intriguing? Cool? On one of the first pages you see a kyber crystal, well, you see three of them. One just glowing, one glowing and with a lightsaber handle-hilt-thingy around it and a third one with rope tied around it, kind of like a handle. The accompanying picture text suggests that the hilt is mostly cosmetic and for protective purposes... implying that you only need the crystal and the force? Albeit with some risk of ... well... you know.

I'm not sure it means much, it's a concept art book, so I guess it's not canon as such, since it didn't appear to be any hiltless lightsabers in the duels in TFA...

Thoughts on the matter?

Like you said, it's a concept art book, so anything in there that didn't make it to the movie should probably be taken with a grain of salt.

Rest of the canon is pretty firm in how lightsabers work, which is similar, if not the same, as it did in Legends/EU, so it's unlikely to be treated as canon. It's likely somebody came up with the idea, tossed it to the art people to make a mock-up, and the idea got shut down somewhere along the way since, again, lightsaber insides have already been solidified in canon (not to mention the general idea is a little, well, dumb).

For those curious, here's a tweet with the page in question. And here's the inside of Kylo Ren's lightsaber (minor spoiler warning, since there's other stuff relating to Kylo on the page) for comparison.

Speaking of Kylo Ren's lightsaber, It's funny how Stephen Colbert turned out to be right or close enough.

So. Anybody had a look-see?

I noticed something ... interesting? Intriguing? Cool? On one of the first pages you see a kyber crystal, well, you see three of them. One just glowing, one glowing and with a lightsaber handle-hilt-thingy around it and a third one with rope tied around it, kind of like a handle. The accompanying picture text suggests that the hilt is mostly cosmetic and for protective purposes... implying that you only need the crystal and the force? Albeit with some risk of ... well... you know.

I'm not sure it means much, it's a concept art book, so I guess it's not canon as such, since it didn't appear to be any hiltless lightsabers in the duels in TFA...

Thoughts on the matter?

Actually it seemed to imply that a lightsaber blade is generated by touching two crystals together. (Seriously does everyone forget that Han used a saber in the original trilogy?)

Fan-freaking-tastic book though. I love those art-of books if for no other reason then all the neat ideas they present.

I'm totally trying to figure out how to work scuba diving on the death start into my campaign...

It's a really cool looking design, although it seems to contradict what is established about how lightsabers work - it's something I'd maybe use if I wanted to add a flair of ancient mystique to a significant NPC.

There's some really evocative artwork in the book. I like the bar on p. 144, I could see my PCs hanging out there.

I'm totally trying to figure out how to work scuba diving on the death start into my campaign...

Flicking through this book really makes me want to game right now!

A mainly crystal-powered weapon could be akin to the Forcesaber from the Dawn of the Jedi comics. It's a weapon that channels the users own force power into a blade.

In the comic they are only powered by dark side emotions, but the principle could apply equally to a light side version.