The 7 Forms of Lightsaber combat in the Saga

I hope this forum is the appropriate place for this topic.

While the 7 forms was a concept developed during the creation of the PT, it has been used as a means of explaining the different styles in the OT, such as Vader not being able to defeat Obi-Wan in ANH because Obi-Wan is a master of Form 3, a defensive style.

My question is, do these forms serve as an appropriate explanation of lightsaber combat in the movies or are they merely a retcon and not a very good explanation? A third option may lie somewhere in the middle.

Discuss

 

A quick link to Wookiepedia for those who may be unfamiliar with the lightsaber combat and the 7 forms that have been shown in the PT and explain outside the movies.
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lightsaber_combat

 

I often see these mentioned. Are they based on something Nic Gillard came up with, or a post-facto rationalization/extrapolation of the various actors' fighting styles?

 

Sounds very EU to me. Heard them mentioned. The "dark" one starts with a V (Vapood or something) which Mace supposedly uses.

 

That is really the main point of my question. I have heard both sides, that Nic Gillard designed it a little, but I have also seen the other styles applied to Luke, Vader and Obi-Wan in the OT.

It depends on whether you considered the movie novelizations to be EU or closer to the movies in terms of SW canon. The ROTS novelization relies very heavily on the 7 form terms, referring often to Dooku's Makashi, Obi-Wan's Soresu, Anakin's D'Jem So and Mace's Vaapad.

However, I agree that the terms are never used in the films, as so might be more of an EU or retcon in terms of describing movie physics.

Doing a quick Google searched revealed this article that highlights the following:

 

Basically the 7 Forms were developed to make Lightsaber combat more of an art form or martial art if you will. To be more than simple sword swinging. You have 7 Forms. 7 different fighting styles for using the Lightsaber.

Think of it, it's more elegant or mysterious if you give it a name. By that quote you provided, it sounds like fans wanted more and Lucas and others came up with this to feed their enthusiasm. Not a bad thing. It got me more interested.

But I think it's more of a product of the prequel films that just got an EU explanation. A way to explain why the fights in the PT are so different from the OT. That's my take on it.

So, I think it's a mixture of both: retcon & explanation.

 

Thanks for the response. I am glad I am not the only one who finds the names and styles interesting and imaginative.

I agree that it is a mix of both rather than a straight explanation or retcon. Obviously, with a fictional weapon you have to design a fictional style.

One of the aspects of the PT is the choreography, and Nic Gillard deserves much credit for its development. I would love to see his notes on designing the fights.

The one thing about the 7 forms that I have a more difficult time accepting is applying them to the OT. If you read the article I linked to, much of the pictures show OT scenes being described in the terms of the forms.

I think it works in the PT, but I am not as sure about the OT. It feels a little more forced to me.

 

Well, therin lies the retcon part. If they are using the 7 Forms to explain the PT version of lightsaber combat, then it would be only a matter of time b4 fans started asking " What Forms were Luke & Vader using?" So they had to apply it to the OT.

My question is how long does it take to learn a Form? Luke's training looked pretty short, yet he did pretty well in the Bespin fight. Did he just learn the basics then went on from there?

 

Luke's been officially explained as a born natural learner-you can see some shadowing of Vader in his TESB and ROTJ duels, for example; particularly when he defeats Vader in ROTJ. He just straight muscles Vader around there, which is definitely what Vader was doing with him in TESB.