Quote Originally Posted by Gez View Post
I'd say that lightsabers don't require having Force powers to wield them, but they do require them to become pertinent weapons when everybody else has blasters. So yeah, sure, Jedi can deflect blaster shots with their lightsabers. And that, I think, is both what requires having combat precognition and what makes lightsabers actually useful. Without this capacity, the Jedi knights would be better off with blasters.
This is the explanation that makes the most sense, I think, with what we see in the films (original, prequel, and sequel). Swinging something and keeping it away from one's own body is well within the bounds of normal human capability, but without the Force, you won't be able to do the specific things the Jedi do with a lightsaber and will be stuck holding a glowing melee-only weapon in a setting replete with ranged weapons. One could argue for the usefulness of lightsabers in utility contexts for common soldiers, but at that point, it becomes a question of utility versus cost and availability.