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To be fair to Star Wars, the your saber off and on was already a thing according to wookiepedia.

skilled users would deactivate and active their saber to go through an opponent’s block.

 
I'm more surprised that nobody is bothered by lightsabers not having crossguards sans Kylo. So many scenes where the opponents lock saber blades and could just slide their blades towards the hilt and there goes a hand.
 
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I would think turning off your lighsaber to 'pass through' a block would leave you open for a quick counter attack. Plus lightsabers (post ANH) extend and retract too slowly for such a move to work anyway.
Dual phase lightsabers were sometimes supposedly used in the midst of combat to instantly extend a lightsaber when already ignited for a surprise attack so I assume they could do the opposite from a standard length to a shoto blade for the purpose of allowing a blade to pass through. I'm relatively sure Darth Vader used his saber for the surprise extension method in canon somewhere but it could've just been in the EU. I know the EU doesn't really count lol...but just a thought. I agree with you about the counter attack.
 
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I'm more surprised that nobody is bothered by lightsabers not having crossguards sans Kylo. So many scenes where the opponents lock saber blades and could just slide their blades towards the hilt and there goes a hand.

I think lightsabers have this “stickiness” where the beams sort of connect when pressed against each other to prevent that sliding. When Obi Wan and Anakin clash their sabers in their duel in 3, the sabers don’t slide.

I do think lightsabers are quite mysterious as weapons and arnt just beams of plasma.
 
Speaking of lightsaber tactics, why (other than lessening violence in the movies) have we not seen pommel strikes? In medieval combat they would use all parts of their sword to block or strike with. You could trap the enemy's lightsaber arm with one arm then clock him with your pommel. That's assuming the Jedi is trying to not flat out kill the other person.
 
Speaking of lightsaber tactics, why (other than lessening violence in the movies) have we not seen pommel strikes? In medieval combat they would use all parts of their sword to block or strike with. You could trap the enemy's lightsaber arm with one arm then clock him with your pommel. That's assuming the Jedi is trying to not flat out kill the other person.

I wondered that too. The closest we ever got was seeing Maul use his hilt to bash Qui-Gon in the face before he stabs him. Which still to this day is such an unexpected and cool move in that duel.

Weirdly, one of the only instances I can recall seeing (well, reading about) this type of action was in a Legends EU novel where Luke chose to refrain from killing a Chiss soldier by shutting his blade down and using the hilt to knock him out instead. I believe it was Vision of the Future.
 
Speaking of lightsaber tactics, why (other than lessening violence in the movies) have we not seen pommel strikes? In medieval combat they would use all parts of their sword to block or strike with. You could trap the enemy's lightsaber arm with one arm then clock him with your pommel. That's assuming the Jedi is trying to not flat out kill the other person.
We got Maul striking Qui Gon but I think the answer is 2 things:

1) in universe: the Jedi were trained more to block blaster shots vs dueling due to rise of blasters as a threat and decreasing threat of the Sith by the prequels so many traditional dueling techniques likely fell out of favor. I think Obi Wan’s form IV was made to be defensive and block lasers for days and Dooku’s was also a threat because he was a master of form II, proper dueling which few Jedi really learned to mastery. Luke obviously learned from Obi Wan so proper dueling was lost.

2) film making: the hilts are relatively small so wouldn’t look good on film and could break. The stunts were made from wood iirc so may not last through several practice bashings unscathed.
 
We got Maul striking Qui Gon but I think the answer is 2 things:

1) in universe: the Jedi were trained more to block blaster shots vs dueling due to rise of blasters as a threat and decreasing threat of the Sith by the prequels so many traditional dueling techniques likely fell out of favor. I think Obi Wan’s form IV was made to be defensive and block lasers for days and Dooku’s was also a threat because he was a master of form II, proper dueling which few Jedi really learned to mastery. Luke obviously learned from Obi Wan so proper dueling was lost.

That would be a good explanation. I think that in the Prequel movie era, supposedly only Mace, Anakin, Dooku, and the Jedi swordmaster guy that Nick Gillard played (forgot the character name) were supposedly the few Jedi who focused on dueling and forms that were specific to dueling.

ThreadSketch said:
Weirdly, one of the only instances I can recall seeing (well, reading about) this type of action was in a Legends EU novel where Luke chose to refrain from killing a Chiss soldier by shutting his blade down and using the hilt to knock him out instead. I believe it was Vision of the Future.

I vaguely remember that now that you mention it.
 
That would be a good explanation. I think that in the Prequel movie era, supposedly only Mace, Anakin, Dooku, and the Jedi swordmaster guy that Nick Gillard played (forgot the character name) were supposedly the few Jedi who focused on dueling and forms that were specific to dueling.

nerdy post but yeah, I remember reading somewhere that the Sith were better duelists than Jedi because the Jedi believed saber to saber combat was antiquated (since they believed the Sith were gone for good) and didn’t practice in it which makes a lot of sense. Jedi would only face another force proficient lightsaber wielder during training in the temple so dueling was likely seen as a hobby as opposed to an essential skill, meaning only hobbyists and the dueling master who taught the students really had any incentive to learn dueling.

Dooku stuck with form 2 because he really liked the form and was good enough with it that he could defect blaster bolts. Mace Windu was a prodigy and the best swordsman in the order so he created his own form 8 which is unique to him. Since it relies on tapping into the dark side, Windu was the only one to master it which is why he was such a powerful fighter.

Also thinking about it, Sheev was a damn Marty Sue. He is one of the most proficient force users in the series and was good enough to rival Yoda. He is also one of the best saber duelists, only losing to Windu (which could have been intentional). He is definitely one of the smartest characters in the galaxy. He also technically has never lost a fight which his “loss” to Vader being a backstab/throw.

I guess the OP Sue lineage runs strong in the Palpatine bloodline...
 
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Two things came to mind the other day regarding the Jedi Order in the films.

They have no core beliefs that are explicitly stated as being central to their faith. Perhaps their weirdly vague idea that emotional attachment is dangerous could be considered one, but that seems too far removed from their role in the Republic, which is also not clearly defined either. They aren't spiritual advisors to anyone but their own so it's not as though they go around spreading the word to the galaxy to not get attached to one another.

They have no ceremonies or rituals. We did see Anakin's knighting ceremony in the Clone Wars micro series, but this is the only instance I can think of in any of the material. Any other action is done by an individual and not as a group in a ritual specific to the Force. Which is perhaps why the Jedi of the Prequels come across as some strange cult who abduct children to train them to levitate objects and fight with lightsabers, despite up until AOTC they aren't soldiers? It doesn't make much sense.

Perhaps the lack of both is why any new addition, whether it's a new ability, or a new idea introduced into the concept of the Force are often considered to be breaking the Canon because fans cling to whatever thin idea we're given as though it were gospel because the Jedi as an Order have no clearly defined role in the galaxy.

You'd think that the original trilogy never had to delve into it mostly because we only ever saw two Jedi and two Sith so the idea of knowing their core tenents wouldn't matter as much in context to the story especially when Luke was the protagonist and outside all of that. But when you go back to the prequels you'd think those two ideas would inform most of the Council's decisions and as such would impact the story in some significant way.
 
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