PT Who Really Won The Sidious Yoda Duel?

Everyone knows that Mace Windu curbstomped Palpatine in ROTS, but what about the Yoda/Palpatine fight? That one was much less conclusive.

Personally, I think the following video makes an extremely compelling case for why Yoda won the fight:



We have Sidious running from Yoda to start the fight:



Then he groans in frustration when Yoda begins his assault:



Yoda consistently has him on the defensive in lightsaber fighting:



So much so that we see Sidious has FLED from Yoda in the following scene, opting for a Force Duel instead:



When Yoda opts to play his game, he suprises Sidious and sends a pod straight at him, scaring him:



And when Sidious attacks the Grand Master with Force Lightning, Yoda absorbs it all and overpowers him:



Thoughts from the PT Forum?

 

The fight itself is a draw, but Yoda turns it into a victory for Sidious by retreating (because they are evenly matched and there is nothing more he can do then and there).

 

Did you seriously have to start a whole new thread just to mock some opinions in another thread? You could have kept all this in the same thread if you wanted to make a comparison.

 

It was an impossible fight for Yoda to win. Retreating was the only way Yoda could survive.

If Darth Sidious had won the fight Yoda would be killed. If Yoda killed Darth Sidious - the hoard of souls of the former and defeated Sith Lords that resided inside of Darth Sidious would have transferred to Yoda instantly corrupting Yoda and turning him to the Dark Side as the new Sith Lord Master.

This is what the Squelquil Trilogy lay this all out for us.You can clearly see in image six of this opening post the moment Yoda senses the full power fueling the Sith Master and how the Sith cheat death, and why they were killed but survived 1,000 years earlier.

Yoda can not kill the Sith.

 

Yoda wouldn't have killed him in anger and hate (which is what Sidious needed Rey to do), so no, he would not have been corrupted.

 

How much anger and hate is needed? Does it have to be zero? If Yoda was acting just 1% in anger - is he vulnerable? Can Yoda really have no anger, hate, or fear knowing what the Sith are and after seeing what happened at the Jedi Temple and knowing what is at stake if the Sith take power?

Is the act of killing in and of itself enough for Yoda to be vulnerable to corruption by the process Palpatine describes to Rey?

 

Yoda could win... but that would require betraying everything the Jedi stood. He would have to use the Dark Side of the Force to give him the edge over Sidious, and he's already holding back a lot of his raw anger towards the Emperor for slaughtering countless Jedi in the purge.

 

Wouldn't Palpatine's essence have transferred into Vader when he tossed him down the reactor shaft, then? I mean, if there was anger in Yoda, there MUST be some residual anger left in Vader. Lucasfilm really needs to think these things through.

 

I’ve been fascinated by this question for a long time. I actually love debating lightsaber fights. Plus this is possibly my favorite scene in the movies.

 

The fall killed Palpatine not Vader.

Palpatine wanted Rey to strike him close range with a lightsaber.

 

Couldn't the rebuttal to this claim be, "The lightsaber killed Palpatine, not the person holding the saber."? I'm pretty sure chucking someone into the abyss counts as killing them.

 

I'd say the reason Palpatine didn't possess Vader is partly the fact that he already has a clone available to possess on Exegol, partly "Vader's going to die soon anyway from all that lightning damage", and partly "Vader is not related to me, so possession will be more difficult".

 

The lightsaber is a physical extension of the person holding it that physically connects them to the person cut by the blade.

 

So, if I throw the saber at you, then I didn't kill you?

Or, if I throw you at an already ignited saber, that's not me either?

 

But Vader knew the fall would kill Palpatine when he threw him.

 

This means the Death Star reactor shaft was the prophesized Chosen One of Jedi lore?

No, this is why Palpatine is still alive in IX. The Jedi prophesy specifically states that the Chosen One cannot bring an end to Sith by tossing them down a shaft because then the fall kills them, not the Chosen One. Anakin screwed everything up.

 

Did he really die? Or did he cheat death?

 

He died.

 

I suppose if you want to be meta...

any man who can walk away or survive a sword fight walking is a winner

 

No, you didn’t kill me because I’m the Sith Master in this scenario and the Sith Master isn’t going to die by a thrown lightsaber, we are far too skilled. You just threw away your lightsaber my friend, leaving you weaponless against a Sith Lord. There’s not going to be any Sith essence transfer today.

 

Depends on the objective of the combatants. Both parties wanted to kill the other, and neither succeeded, so on that note it was an inconclusive draw.

On the other hand, Yoda was forced to retreat. Having lost his lightsaber and having been overpowered in the force duel. So arguably sidious won on the grounds he didn’t have to flee the rotunda. Whereas Yoda did proving that Sidious was (somewhat) stronger in the force.

So I’d say Sidious won. A tactical victory, but not a strategic one.

 

This is why I wish Disney had never taken control of the franchise in the first place. This is such bad writing.

 

Mace Windu did not stomp Sidious. Not even close. But back to the topic at hand.
Yoda was winning in the lightsaber contest. It's possible he outright disarmed Sidious.
Sidious seemed to have the upper hand for a lot of the force usage. The struggle came more or less to a draw, with a slight edge for Sidious. He only was knocked back slightly to a railing. Yoda's tiny body was knocked down, and then he lost his grip. Yoda then chose to retreat. He seemed to choose this because the fight was an impasse at best, a slight majority for Sidious at worst. Not to mention more guards would likely show up eventually if Sidious needed them.
So, Sidious won, if only because Yoda fled. But even if Yoda didn't flee, I still favor Sidious about 6/10.

 

the clear winner is still palpatine, because yoda retreated after falling. because of the fall damage, i doubt yoda was able to win the fight.
its a win by opponent cant fight anymore (yoda fall damage and loss of his weapon)

 

Yes but in terms of power, Yoda can arguably be said to hold the edge.