User blog comment:Brandon Rhea/Countdown to THE CHOSEN ONE/@comment-31421-20120925151049/@comment-20644-20120925152422

The exposed skin is metaphorical. Part of the story is about exposing oneself to what the secrets of the desert and the tests that the desert can bring&mdash;not physically, of course, but the exposed arms serve the metaphor. The arms are a bit rough too, which shows the roughness of the desert and shows that the journey will not be easy.

It’s also not the sand that the arms and lightsaber are rising out of. That’s representative of a sandstorm, hence why it’s so high up and in front of the suns. It's also the metaphorical idea of rising above the storm.