Kenobi's Key to Victory over Maul

One thing I haven't seen discussed here yet are "keys to victory". I think Kenobi's most important move during the Maul battle was to disable his double bladed lightsaber. If you think about it, Maul was less effective with the single blade. He couldn't beat Qui-Gon one on one with the single blade. But when he got both blades going, he was unstoppable. If Kenobi hadn't slashed his double blade in half, I think Maul would have been able to defend against Kenobi just by putting one side of the lightsaber behind him, even if Kenobi's flip would have still worked. I think Maul wins the longer that fight goes on, just like with Qui-Gon, so it's a good think Obi-Wan was able to cut his saber in half and then slash Maul in half at the end.

 

All the duels you ever see in Star Wars have a mental component as well. Darth Maul was too overconfident and focused on FINALLY being able to kill Jedi. He forgot about Jinn's lightsaber which I'd have thrown back into the laser grid hallway, and he underestimated Kenobi. Never underestimate a desperate and motivated person, least of all a Jedi. And never, ever assume victory before it's actually accomplished. Have only the amount of pride in yourself that is needed, never more. Maul just had to be a little more careful, show a bit more caution and tie up his loose ends, and he'd have beat both of them. Of course, it was lucky for him that Obi-Wan never made it through the laser gates to join Qui-Gon to begin with since the two Jedi complimented each other so well. But that's another thread altogether citing the what ifs.

 

The key to victory was that Maul was too arrogant, once he had beaten Obi-wan. He did quite well with one blade, as he used Obi-wan's uncontrolled anger against him. What defeated Maul was the fact that he toyed with Obi-wan, lording over the fact that he had the advantage now. Instead of Force shoving him over the side or tossing his saber at Obi-wan to cut off his hands or the device that he was holding on to, he instead taunted Obi-wan. Which lead to Obi-wan calming down and getting it together to claim victory.

 

I think that sums it up very well. Maul, instead of qucikly defeating Obi-Wan, decided to gloat and bask in his victory. Obi-Wan realized the he needed to calm himself as he did he gathered the strength to escape the pit and defeat Maul. Simply put, Maul was too arrogant and confident at that stage of the battle and it cost him his life.

 

After rewatching that scene again, Maul is completely stunned that Obi-Wan could jump out of the pit like that. Obviously, Palps never showed Maul a move like that. Even if Mauls dual saber had been intact, he would have still stood there stunned. That hesistation is what gave Obi-Wan the victory.

 

I would have to say that Obi-Wan's key to victory is luck, although he dosent belive in it, this Jedi Master has a lot of it.

Obi-Wan vs. Darth Maul
Obi-Wan is lucky in the fact that Maul is over confident, he gloats thuse alloing Obi to surprise him, as well Obi is lucky Maul didnt kick Qui-Gon's lightsaber down teh shaft too. Thus he wins.

Obi-Wan vs. Count Dooku
Completly outschooled by Dooku, recives cuts to arms adn legs, not luck.
Thus he looses.

Obi-Wan vs. Count Dooku (round two)
Still completly outschooled in lightsaber combat, thrown into wall adn crushed with platform. Very unlucky.
Thus he looses.

Obi-Wan vs Grevious
Obi-Wan was getting his ass handed to him once he lost his lightsaber, but gets lucky, gets a blaster and takes grevious out at a distance.
Thus he wins.

Obi-Wan vs. Anakin
Gets lucky in teh fact that Anakin becomes extreamly over confident in battle and acts stupidly (ie jumping when obi-wan manages to get the high ground) Obi gets lucky.
Thus he wins.

Obi-Wan vs. Anakin (round two)
Feels he must sacrifice himself to save luke. Very unlucky position to be in.
Thus he looses.

The above comments are a bit sarcastic, but they pretty much say it, Obi-Wan never really won a battle through skill or exceptionaly saber skills, all he did was get lucky or hold his opponet off until they made a mistake.
"In my experiance there is no such thing as luck." Obi to Han
If so then u would have died on Naboo.
Thats my opinion

~Azure_Angel

 

Nice post, AA. It's interesting when you think of it that way. His experiences with Jango weren't exactly skillful either.

Loses his saber and almost falls into the ocean. Almost gets blasted by ship lasers. Almost gets taken out by seismic charges. Almost gets blasted by ship lasers again. If cats have 9 lives, then Obi Wan has about 90.

 

All I can say is that Darth Maul is incredibly stupid. Arrogant or not, he had plenty of time to kill Obi-Wan in the middle of his leap, and even afterwards. Considering that the outcomes of lightsaber duels are determined in fractions of a second, Obi-Wan's little stunt took nothing less than an eternity. But even then, he just stands there watching.... watching..... watching..... "Oops! I got cut in half!"

 

hmm is it really likely one person can be that lucky that often?
I doubt it. No one has that good of a lucky streak.
So, given that, Obi-Wan must have some skill dontcha think?

 

Its not that Obi-Wan is lucky all the time, hes not look at his encounters with Dooku. Im merly saying that the only reason Obi-Wan ever wins is because of luck. If you count it up he only gets lucky three times.
~Azure_Angel

 

Focus was his key to victory. Disabling Maul's blade was a good idea, but it didn't really help him much in the combat department. He scored a kick on Maul immediately following the cut, but Maul continued to outpace him, fighting with both his physical skills, aided by the Force. Obi-Wan fights out of rage over the death of Qui-Gon, and almost loses his life. He regains his composure, listens to the Force, and overcomes his all-too-confident opponent.

 

To quote a wise man from somewhere in Star Wars lore, see if you know who, luck does not exist, it is simply applying one's knowledge and skills in a situation that suits them. Okay, so it's a paraphrase. Point of the matter, even though it's off topic, is that Obi-Wan is too good to always be lucky and too lucky to be devoid of skill. He didn't go toe to toe with all the foes he did without having some skill, goodly amounts actually. Anyone lesser would've simply been slashed, shot, or blown away way, way sooner.

 

Maul was shocked to see Obi-wan pull that off. And Obi-wan was far quicker than he was. Maul had forgotten about Qui-gon's saber, which also played a factor into his death. He had not thought Obi-wan capable of pulling off such a manuver, much less without his realizing what exactly it was he was doing.

 

Yep, he does seem to be a very slow thinker. Even his few lines in the movie would lead one to believe that. Hes arrogant too, yes. But the only thing he can be arrogant about is his gracefulness. Certainly not his mental prowess.

 

It's because Kenobi has the high ground and you're doomed if you try and jump over someone who has the high ground... No wait a moment, Darth Maul has the high ground.



I'm confused

 

In the battle with Maul O-W did the unexpected therefore he took Maul
by surprise and defeated him.
In the battle with Anakin O-W could see what Anakin was about to do,
he even warned him not to do it so when Anakin did O-W was prepared to
take action and use Anakin's poor judgement and over-confidence against him.

 

Darth Maul may have had the high ground but he foolishly forgot to mind his surroundings. Had he noticed that there was a lightsaber laying next to Qui-Gon's dead body, he would've finished off Obi-wan while he was in mid-air but his arrogance in thinking he had already won allowed Obi-wan to destroy him in the end.

EDIT: Oops, sorry, I didn't know that you were joking.

 

"It's over Maul, I have the low ground!"

 

It was a bit of an awkward situation for Maul, though. He couldn't reach Obi-Wan by lightsaber, so he really only had a direct force push as an option. No doubt, if Maul had remained focused, Obi-Wan wouldn't have had a chance, though. It's like a hockey goalie, let your guard down for a second and . . .

 

Maul COULD have reached him, turn off one blade, longer handle, neat little swipe, WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE, obi-1 falls

 

Better yet, and to truly show his arrogance, he should have just unzipped and peed on Kenobi.

 

I'd prefer him to peel Obi-Wan's grip away using the Force, one finger at a time. Kind of a "this little piggy..."

 

I actually have to disagree with the key to victory being the slicing of Maul's saber. Darth Maul just killed a Jedi Master. Here comes little Padawan trying to fight big tough Sith Lord that just killed his master. How quaint and pathetic, I am sure Maul thought. He was certainly going to toy with Kenobi. SLICE, Kenobi scores a hit that well, probably was a little too close for Maul to be happy with. Maul probably focused a tad more, realizing that even though Obi-wan was a Padawan, he was still really in a fight. Focus brought back to defeating enemy. He gets Obi-Wan in a compromising situation without a weapon. Ahhh, good. Now time to toy with him. Wrong again. Maul, you should have learned your lesson the first time.

I personally like to think of both Obi-Wan jumping and cutting Maul in half and Sidious attacking the posse to be filmed relative to what the aggressor (Obi-Wan or Sidious) is seeing. Obi-wan Moved very fast, Maul didn't know what he was sensing about Obi-Wan, and suddenly was cut in half. Sessee Tiin and Agen Koler.....They saw the chancellor sit up and draw his sword. Then....Death. When a Jedi/Sith knows what he is going to do and the other has no clue, I think they move so fast that there is no time for a countermeasure. Another "Time Dialation" as I think of them is Mace losing his arm. To Anakin, who knew what Mace was about to do, everything was slow....although Mace's strike was probably going to take a half a second. Anakin was well aware of the coming attack so it looked like Mace was slowly drawing back and measuring his blow carefully before delivering it. Kind of wild, but it fills in the "Why did X person just sit around and look stupid while they got killed" Gaps for me.

Carnage

 

I agree Sinister.

Maul beat Obi-Wan with a single saber. It was his over confidence that gave the victory to Kenobi.

 

"his abilities have made him, well, arrogant." Obi Wan
"A flaw more and more common among Jedi, even the older, more experienced ones" Yoda
"In my experience there's no such thing as luck" Old Ben