Lightsaber dueling skills

During the PT, how much does the average Jedi really know about lightsaber dueling? Considering the Sith were supposedly extinct, the likelihood of going up against another lightsaber-wielding opponent was pretty much zero. But when Darth Maul showed up, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan seemed to know exactly what to do.

Also, how practical would lightsaber dueling have been during the Clone Wars? There weren't that many Separatist figures that used lightsabers. There's Grievous, Assaj, Dooku...and a few MagnaGuards here and there. What was the likelihood of actually running into them? And if you did run into them, wouldn't it be a much better idea just to high-tail it out of there?

 

I'm sure they spar each other in the temple with training sabers and do other lightsaber exercisses. But because they had never fought a true Sith who had the motives to kill them Maul took them offguard. They still knew what to do but it was more of a shock than anything else.

 

I agree. I'd like to add that I believe Qui-Gon's exhaustion after his initial confrontation with Maul expresses this shock.

 

They train with both each other and various bad guys.

The Lost 20. Just cause they arent Sith doesnt mean they cant be dark jedi.

If you want to go into EU (which many of you probably dont) then Xanatos- Qui-Gon's first Padawan- went to the darkside and dueled with Qui and Obi.

But I guess they just train alot with each other to keep on their game.

 

If you notice when Obi-Wan and Anakin/Vader duel they have similar styles and moves. I'm sure that makes sense if Anakin was tought by him.

 

Yeah. I love the part where they twirl their lightsabers around very quickly and try to Force push each other at the same time. I believe Nick Gillard said the idea of that sequence is that they're so in tune to what the other is trying to do that they essentially mirror each other, and neither can get through the other's defenses.

 

Since the Sith were thought extinct, many Jedi were masters of lightsabre styles that were not the best for duels, but rather for fighting droids.

That partially explains their inability to handle the likes of Maul and especially Dooku and his style.

Many Jedi fell to Assaj Ventress and Grevious for that reason, they were not trained to fight other sabre users.

 

Live by the sword, die by the sword...

Didn't someone say that once?

I find it hard to believe the Jedi, who are symbolized by
their lightsabers, would be unable to defend against
their own weapon.

However, I have a longstanding theory that the Jedi cannot
defend against any form that involves sticking the pointy
part through the Jedi.

 

They are not "unable" to defend against their own weapon. You have to remember that with the Sith thought extinct, most enemies of the Jedi would attack using blasters etc. In such times it would be more sensible to learn lightsaber tecniques that's better at fighting attackers with guns (reflecting) etc. So most Jedi would naturally focus on the tecniques most likely to keep them alive when fighting enemies.
While the Sith Lords, operating in secret, preparing to eventually overthrow the Jedi would surely focus mainly on lightsaber-styles meant to fight other lightsaber-users (fencing).

 

Almost every jedi learned Form 6 lightsaber combat which focused on enemies with Blasters and thats why they all died, only the important jedis mastered other styles and had no problem when the clone wars stirred.

 

That shows in ROTS when mace and his posse confront sids.
mace had a different style so was able to defend himself. The others just stood there shocked while trying to block as if it was someone with a baster

 

It is what make's their duel the best of all six film's IMO , Obi-Wan v. Vader in Episode III the best thing I have seen on film as far as fighting goes.

 

Remember that when Luke first met Obi-wan, the old man said that at one time lightsabers were in common use in times past; that may have referred to the PT era. Also, there were a number of instances when, in books and comics, dark Jedi were referred to or depicted. So even if there were no known Sith, there may have been a number of lightsaber-wielding, force-using opponents. Also, their use of lightsabers to fend off blaster bolts would condition them to react and defend themselves from a great many angles, even if they were not experienced duelers.

 

I don't remember him saying that.

 

He never said that.

Even if some Jedi ran into a Dark Jedi now and then in the thousand years the Sith were tought to be extinct that would probably be seldom. No reason for all Jedi to focus on Lightsaber vs Lightsaber because of that.
But you are right that the experience of fighting other enemies would also make them better at fighting lightsaber combat. Experience is experience after all. And of course the Jedi would also work on lightsaber vs lightsaber it's just that this would not be their main focus, as they would not likely get any use of it.

 

Well my point is even after the Clone Wars started, the Jedi are still mostly fighting battle droids. On Geonosis, most of the Jedi who died got mowed down from tons of Super Battle Droids, so it's not htat Form 6 was bad, it just wasn't enough.

 

My bad. I read that in the novel version, I believe.

 

Oh hmm....I found this on the starwars.com databank:

"As the Jedi had not faced the Sith for centuries, lightsaber dueling had become a lost art. To focus their training and their skill, Jedi still partake in practice duels and sparring contests, but to face an actual saber-wielding opponent was not something any Jedi expected before the Naboo crisis."

http://starwars.com/databank/technology/sithlightsaber/?id=eu

 

Jedi's are very familiar with lightsabers,its their weapon. Even as a youngling they are introduced to the concept of the saber,and learn the basics.

Pretty much, to use a lightsaber you need to know how to call upon the force.Then you just kinda let your actions flow throughout the force and keep concentration...

Yea sith were thought to be extinct,but they still tried to train just incase. They go up against eachother in a training room,use the training remotes ect...

They are well trained with a saber,but because both are Jedi they aren't exactly as aggressive as a Sith or dark Jedi would be.

 

That's what bugged me about that fight. According to "non-movie" LFL-authorized sources, Kit, Saesee and Agen were the best swordbeings in the order and they all went down without a fight.

 

This is very interesting theme. I have been training kendo for 7 years and I know how much difficult is to learn the different style. Anyway, I want to say something for the question about Mace. His confrontation with Palpatine was a curious and interesting example of using and transforming the jedi style into a specific defend dark style. This is an intersting theory. We saw that Palpatine killed all of the jedis except Mace. This obviously according to Palpatine's plan - to make the fight long, and to play the scene how Mace is ready to kill him. In the beginning Mace used his usual style, his main purpose was to defend himself. When he saw that Palpatine becomes much stronget. In this moment Windu decided to use some elements of Palpatine's style - fast strikes, agressive movements, the sword up to the head, etc. Anyway Palpatine succeeded in his plan.

 

That was Jesus.

 

Couldn't it just be that there are top-jedi's as there are top-sith's? The lesser siths are dead though

Look at OBW and Qui-Gon vs Maul, none of them fought badly. Qui-Gon was not on the defensive against Maul. He actually pushed him back. They way he died seems bizarre at its best. OBW showed great agility when fighting Maul. And, let's not forget that he was only a padawan at the time.

We think of Dooku as a sith. However, he probably adopted his fighting skills with a saber when he was a Jedi. The credit will thereby go to the Jedi in his respect, not to the sith. Palpatine was an excellent swordsman. However, he didn't manage to defeat either Mace or Yoda with a lightsaber, rather it was the other way around. If you ask me, the Jedi did pretty good with a saber - it was all the other stuff that went down the drain

 

I think everyone is also forgetting Cin Drallig, the saber teacher at the academy. Every youngling was taught by him about lightsaber combat, so they obviously knew what they were doing.