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The whole "high ground" thing was 100% Obi-Wan trolling Anakin to get him to make a mistake. Obi-Wan's true force strength was trolling his opponents to literal death.
Obi wan is actually the master of the low ground . . . let me explain. He kills maul from being under him He takes the high ground to bait anakin into jumping over, in turn giving obi wan the low ground and allowing him to defeat anakin.
The theory about the 17:30 bit is that they're both predicting the other one's move, and readjusting for it, over and over again. Not only are they force sensitive, so they have insanely fast reflexes, but they're also basically brothers. They've been sparring together for years and years during Anakin's apprenticeship and the Clone Wars, putting in thousands of hours of fighting each other, so on top of their reflexes and the force, they know each others moves very well.
18:00 Actually if you didn't know, they also use the force to help predict where the enemy is going to strike next! So with that in mind, I'd have to guess they were stuck in a ridiculous loop of trying to get through the other's defense.
@@damainmane4765. Maul was too arrogant and impatient in the moment so he was caught completely off guard. Anakin was blinded by rage, he overestimated his abilities, Obi-Wan knew him very well and Obi-Wan had replayed the moment he jumped over Darth Maul in his head a lot so that he could know how to defend against such an attack, meaning that the battle was over as soon as Obi-Wan got the high ground.
@@AverageCommentor makes me wonder if Obi-Wan had told Anakin the story of how he killed Darth Maul and advised his apprentice never to do that, as it would’ve been easy to defeat. And so maybe Anakin was thinking of that as the ultimate proving moment (his whole life was spent obsessed with proving his capabilities) “Watch me, I’ll do something you told me NEVER to do and I’ll still win.” Kind of thing, adding some more context to both the line about underestimating his power, and Obi-Wan’s “Don’t try it” line
@@damainmane4765 Sith give in to aggression; the force guides them but the Sith’s whole thing is to impose their will on the force. With Obi Wan and Anakin, it’s a mix of them having trained together for a decade, the force guiding them, and a sort of “immovable force vs unstoppable object” thing as Obi Wan has an impenetrable defense while Anakin has a irresistible attack (hence the entire battle shows Obi Wan successfully defend against the onslaught but only by constantly retreating).
9:00 Christopher Lee didn't ask specifically for a curved handle. He brought his rapier, showed how he could use it and asked for a lightsaber that would allow him to fight as such.
@MortalGamerDC1 85 No they're not, the three classes of fencing, the olympic sport, is foil, rapier, and sabre, and modern foils and rapiers use pistol grip. Several of my friends from high school have fenced in the Olympics for my country.
@@DaDunge It is epee in Olympic fencing, not rapier, a rapier is a very different beast. Often three times the weight, longer, clumsier, and with more hand protection.
He probably meant in the context of the prequel trilogy (regardless of whether or not he knows about Maul's revival) which is a statement that still holds.
My favorite aspect of Darth Maul wasn't his fighting. It was how convincingly PREDATORY he came across. He had like 3 lines the entire movie, but his body language, his facial expressions, his snarls, they all said "don't...fuck...with...me".
Regarding lightsabers being cutty or thrusty, it's probably worth remembering that with steel weapons, one advantage of the thrust is that it's easier to get through to vital organs while cuts can often be more superficial unless they are really committed to, but with lightsabers going clean through limbs or bodies with no resistance, they can be _more_ effective in a cut than a sword would be.
@@bedallsmith190 Yeah there isn't any blood when people lose hands to lightsabers. Though it's painful enough to put even a Jedi out of the fight, and Jedi are _insanely_ tough.
@@bedallsmith190 Absolutely, and they use this attention to detail in the prequel movies. In the original it's one of my only critiques of the effects is when Luke cuts the guys arm off and blood goes everywhere. In every other Star Wars media since then that's not the case. Look at the fight where Anakin loses his arm to Dooku, or even when Qui Gon gets impaled. No blood, they even have a burnt effect on the surrounding area. However, have you ever had a bad burn? the spot of the burn itself doesn't hurt but the area around where the damaged nerves are is one of the most painful things you can experience due to the body's response to burn wounds. They hurt much more than a clean cut, which often doesn't even hurt that bad comparatively if it's a clean cut with a very sharp blade.
@@MJ-mi9qcI think the blood thing was actually due to movie ratings becoming more strict and not the “cauterizing the wound” thing people keep repeating like a broken record
A small background information for Matt on Dookus curved handle: When Dooku was a Padawan, there weren't any other lightsaber users then the Jedi in the Republic. The Sith thought to be extinct and the Jedi trained more for Blaster Defense. But because Dooku always wanted to be the best, he decided to make this kind of handle to be better prepared for duels. His whole fighting form was designed to fight sword wielders.
ish, dooku warned that the sith would come back and the jedi ignored him, so he focused on being able to fight against lightsabre wielding people which scared the council.
@@flannaz3769 if only the council listened to him and Qui Gonn. Anakin would have been brought up better and the Empire never would have existed, but the story kinda has to happen soooooo. Yeah.
You also have to understand that Obi Wan didn’t want to kill Anakin. He really wanted to save him. Bring him back to the light side. And Anakin didn’t really want to kill Obi Wan either. Really enjoyed your analytics, but it would also be interesting to see what your opinions are concerning the emotional factors involved in a fight, and the motivations of two people engaged in combat.
Pretty sure Anakin was out to kill Obi Wan but he fought so blinded by rage that he lost all form and was looking for massive kill shots instead of taking advantages of openings.
It's not that Anakin didn't want to kill Obi-Wan (he did), but to me it seems that he was trying to prove to Obi-Wan (and probably himself) how much better he was than him. To dominate him basically
Anakin was in a hurry, if padme was awake he wouldn’t defy her. He goes at it harder then we have ever seen him, he strangles obi wan like he did to dooku and does the same disarmament move he did against dooku about 3 times to no avail. Obi wan parries and shrugs off about everything and anakin becomes increasingly more frustrated.
@@cm275 Not really, you should read up on Anakin's backstory and what turned him other than a 'miscommunication' like it showed in the movie. Dude got the short end of the stick due to his immaturity rather than skill, thus living a life to prove and fulfill what he thought he deserved.
From my point of view they twirl the swords so much because as many times was explained these guys can slightly predict the actions of their rivals due to the force. Imaging two guys constantly knowing what the rival is going to do. If they stop enough to think about it (as Anakin and Obi Wan do in Mustafar) that can be an endless loop.
In the book (yes there's a book, go read it) it mentions that both Anakin and Obi Wan knew each other fighting style so much that the first to attack would be parryed and lost, and at the same time, both knew they were adept at improvising, so they could not afford to let any oppenins of any kind.
Then it would still make sense to use far quicker stabs from various angles. There is no logical reason to slowly flail around with a blade in either universe. :)
@@MrBottlecapBill Why? If the other person knew a stab was coming it could be easily deflected or dodged. Stabs aren't quick, the more stabs you try to fit into a short time the easier they would be to deflect since there wouldn't be much power behind them. Flailing the blade is meant to throw the other off guard and basically play mind-games. It's just a Star Wars version of a juke.
The reason why (in universe) there is a bunch of twirling with the lightsabers is because all force sensitives have such attuned senses that they can pretty much see into the future slightly with the opponents' next move. The twirling helps make the next move be more unpredictable
The “twirling” thing can be viewed as an aesthetic stunt but I’m pretty sure it comes from the defensive technique against blaster shots. It’s very useful when being surrounded and shot from different angles.
yeah but the real reason is the jedi with force reflex can predict opponent next move so the twirling of sabres is prertty much faking their opponent out till they drop their guard
Plus the thing is - which is not a thing in sword fighting or fencing in real world - that opponents in lightsaber fights literally predict/know each other moves, they use the force to predict and prepare defence sometimes before the opponent makes his attack. This is especially in the case of Obi-Wan vs Anakin, as they know each other as no other know them, so they are not only at similar level in power and combat, they also know each other's tricks and both use the force for their advantage.
@@azk9218 Absolutely! Not to mention that Anakin trained all his life with Obi-Wan. He has his own fighting style but he was definitely influenced by Kenobi.
@@ronaghan1392 A feint that won't land if completed isn't a convincing feint. The problem with the twirling in their fight is that they clearly aren't trying to hit each other. Indeed, as Matt Easton points out at 17:32, *they're literally twirling their weapons around each other!*
Fun fact: The high ground statement Obi-Wan made was a bait to get Anakin to make the jump. When Anakin attempted the exact move Obi-Wan used when Darth Maul had the high ground.
@@MichaelJohnson-mt6ey who cares??? Lmao there is so much more than just the movies that matters. There not going to serve the lore on a platter in the movies.
@@evansanchez8722 that just means they're badly written. If a film requires an external source to explain why a pivotal moment happens the way it does, that's poor writing.
Obi-wan and the high ground; in the phantom menace obi-wan jumped over maul, while maul had the high ground. That move he made haunted him for the next decade, he always came back to how it could have failed. Then in revenge of the sith, Anakin tried the same move on him, that he did to maul. This is why Obi-wan won over Anakin with the high ground. It was all he thought about.
8:47 To answer this, this is intentional. Darth Maul let his overconfidence get to him, thus Obi-Wan returning to kill him caught Maul off guard. This happens with a lot of Sith, such as Anakin fighting Obi-Wan
Yes exactly. Darth Maul had just killed a Jedi Master while fighting his apprentice at the same time. Now that the master was out of the way, and the apprentice was all but finished, he began to gloat, not with words, but with his body language, and with his facial expressions. The fight was over, victory was imminent, and as all sith do, he lowered his guard due to hubris. Maul had also kicked obi-wan's lightsaber down the hole, so in his mind, his opponent was unarmed (once again due to hubris). He had no idea Obi-wan would be so resourceful and use his Master's lightsaber to fight with.
No, sorry but it doesn't work. Overconfidence doesn't make you wait 5 seconds for your opponent to hit you while he's still in the air. He should've at least blocked and then Obi wan would've kicked his lightsaber away or chopped his hand. It would've made way more sense both from choreography and swordfighting points of view.
To be fair, in defense of the "twirling" (aside for the sake of visual show/flair), Force users have precognitive reflexes and abilities. So they aren't just regular swordsmen looking for simple openings, they basically have a "Spidey-sense" that predicts where they'll receive strikes. That's how they're able to deflect blaster fire. So when we see them twirling and turning they're actually trying to outwit each other's precognition and confuse their respective opponent to make a mistake. That's why Grievous ( a non Force-sensitive fighter) used 4 arms and furiously twirled all 4 of his sabers like a fan, to creative a cognitive load on his Jedi opponents and disarming them from that advantage. We also see it in the Naboo hangar duel, where Obi-Wan feigns a strike to trick Maul into parrying his side to give Qui Gon an opening, but Maul saw through it and parried Qui Gon instead. So the silly moment where Kenobi and Skywalker are twirling their lightsabers without striking each other, they're actually battling each other's Force senses. Still meme worthy though!
Pretty sure the whole point of the "twirling" and 2 handed fighting is meant to be providing whole body momentum given that lightsaber blades are weightless and provide zero resistance until cutting something that provides electromagnetic resistance (hence the blast doors, other lightsabers etc)
@@_Syned_ it's a plasma sword, isn't it? It should cut through people like butter even if they just gently walked into it. And if it doesn't, then they should just use normal swords since clearly they'd be better since they don't need this twirling to kill people.
So here's the thing about the infamous high ground situation, Anakin has to make a jump to engage Obi Wan no matter what. He could choose to land above or below him on the bank but both are losing positions due to the area they are fighting in and the abilities of the universe they are in. If Anakin jumps lower on the bank, Obi Wan simply has to give him a solid force push while he is trying to gain his footing and he'll be thrown into the lava. No chance of winning that way at all. However, he can try to jump over Obi Wan both avoiding that pitfall and placing Obi Wan into it. This won't work though because unlike a lot of the other times they do a flip over their opponent it is completely predictable. After all, it is the only move Anakin has open to him. Obi Wan knows what's coming and is ready to take his opportunity to strike Anakin while he is relatively defenseless. While it can be argued, and rightfully so, that this could have happened during any of the flips in the prequels. The main difference is that they had other options in other duels, meaning their opponent might not have expected it, but in this fight Obi Wan knows exactly what's coming and is essentially just waiting to swat Anakin out of the air. At least that's my take on it.
Another option available to Anakin would have been to jump to the side of Obi-Wan, which would have been considerably safer, or wait for his droid to move down the bank a little and disembark there. I'd also argue that jumping below Obi-wan would have been safer than jumping over him, as Jedi do seem to be able to block force pushes somewhat. I've always seen the scene as Obi-wan taunting Anakin into jumping over him, and blinded by his pride, Anakin falls right for it.
I’d like to say the choreography took into account the philosophies of both combatants. Obi-Wan being incredibly defensive and Anakin overtly aggressive
a very important thing to remember about force users in a lightsaber fight is that both users are attempting to read the future of their opponents moves. Seeing things JUST before they happen is a Jedi and Sith trait that they continue to use through out their lives. So the bit where Obi Wan and Anakin are "twirling their swords around each other" they are trying to see an opening in the near future and making a move only to see that its blocked and another opening is there and then its blocked and so on until they strike yet again. Most all light saber duels are also being fought in the force. Knowing also the different lightsaber forms 1-7 and their variants could inform a lot of their moves as well, such as Obi Wans affinity to form 3 which is more of a defensive form and Anakin's affinity to form 5 was characterized by power attacks and defense immediately followed by a counterstrike. So they were very well suited to fight each other in that one is very reserved yet not as powerful but also more defensive and the other is powerful, and attack forward with little defense. You will notice that the major majority of the Obi Wan and Anakin fight is Obi Wan backing up and Anakin pushing forward.
Exactly! People criticize the twirling moment so much but don't realize what you have stated. Also, they both get stuck in the twirl because they are attempting the same moves against each other since they have trained together for years. They both went to attempt the same move, but because they both did the same move they got "stuck" in this game of who is going to bite first and attempt to strike.
@@SkepticalCaveman Calling Matt a HEMA is a a but unfair really. Yes he's does HEMA but more importantly he's also a trained historian of medieval history. Which is what makes the difference between him and the other HEMA youtubers.
@@Duchess_Van_Hoof Had to do that for a fan film competition; at least the last part against the armored Jedi. Lotta openings from the Jedi's perspective and some odd excessive acrobatics that made me want to poke my smaller, more agile opponent even in rehearsal.
The impressive thing about the ObiAni twirly scene is how they DON'T accidentally hit each other. If you look at the awkward angle Obi has to bring his blade across at the bottom, you can tell they are going out of their way not to hit each other while standing so close. The scene feels a bit like they practiced their twirls and someone thought "we GOT to put this into the movie somehow".
@Xd Dx all of that is cool to know but the fight scenes would still be better if they were more visceral and it looked like they were actually trying to kill each other imo.
In the bane novels, it was explained that the Double Bladed Lightsaber is supposed to give the look of having multiple options, when in reality, you have fewer options, which is meant to confuse the opponent kinda, as they're expecting to be attacked in a large variety of ways, when it isn't the case
Not only that, but your opponent knows where the other blade is if it is a 1v1 fight. If you are blocking one side, you know where the other one is, which, when the Sith blademaster split his blade in 2, Bane could only defend at that point, even being driven back. One of my favourite fights from the Bane trilogy alongside Bane and Zannah vs 4 Jedi Masters, including one using Battle Meditation.
@@Lightning_Lance So funny story, starwars doesn't have swords or swordfighting manuals or even history of such an art cause it's a sc-fi story set in the future were they have lighsabers and lightsaber fighting styles just a funny little fact.
There's a factor in Jedi/Sith lightsaber fights that sword experts NEVER take into consideration. The fact that Both Jedi and Sith are using the Force to sense their opponents movements and position. You see it with the first TWO attacks from Obi Wan. Darth Maul blocks them without even looking at him. This is meant to show that even though he may SEEM outnumbered or outgunned HIS movements are supposed to be precognitive, so he's in position to block WHILE they are swinging at him.
With knowing more of the subtext of the characters in the prequel trilogy, the body language and how they carry themselves, this gave me an extra layer of understanding. Anakin moves his feet more because he was SUPPOSED to be the better fighter. Qui-Gon's lightsaber form actually IS a real martial form for swordplay. There's alot of foreshadowing done in these lightsaber battles. Some of it was showy, but some was placed there on purpose.
A point people always seem to forget when criticizing Obi-wan's lack of taking advantage of openings is that Obi-wan as a jedi doesn't necessarily just want to murder Anakin unless absolutely necessary Was also hoping to see Matt comment on one of the grappling moves in the RotS fight that was left out here but oh well
@@nemou4985 Not to mention that Jedi principle is to not kill a defenseless, unarmed opponent. Anakin even says so after he kills Dooku. Now, Obi still could have done it as a mercy, but his heart was too heavy and he figured Anakin was, figuratively, dead already.
@@ellissmith2909 Anakin still killed dooku and he wasn't even reproached by Obi-Wan, less so the other jedi. Plus Obi Wan believed anakin was going to die anyways, not like "burning from lava" is better...
Interestingly enough in the legends book Darth Bane, they pretty much say the exact same thing you did about the double-bladed lightsaber. With the Saber instructor giving the lesson basically concluding that the only real strength of a dual bladed saber was that is made most opponents "think" the wielder had more combat options; when in fact if you know where one end is, you know where the other blade is as well.
@fee foo At least the prequels looked like they had actual force users using the weapon who have been training with sabers for years unlike the sequels who look like they threw 25 pound weights on their sabers and start swinging them around with no control what so ever. The fights In the sequels look like two kids playing at the park.
For the record, every fight in the prequel trilogy is for spectacle. The last fight between Obi Wan and Anakin is more about positioning than anything else. The “High Ground” is about where Anakin can land safely more than battle tactics. And Anakin’s hubris is what ultimately defeats him. It’s ultimately all for storytelling purposes and near entirely unrealistic. But it looks so damn cool!
The sole purpose is story/plot progression and emotional context, no fight in the movies is purely for spectacle. You can’t take out any of the fights and have the same movie.
It's also a subtle taunt. Anakin has been driving Obi-Wan back throuhout the fight and it's clear Obi-Wan can barely hold on. By baiting Anakin, playing on his newfound arrogance (though there was plenty of that already), Obi-Wan makes sure Anakin doesn't just step onto that landing and rush like before.
@@corruptangel6793 Agreed. I've always said that Obi-Wan was baiting into Anakin's ego when he said that line. You can see Anakin hesitate before eventually leaping right into the trap.
8:51 Well here his arrogance have blinded Darth Maul. He did not expect apprentice who on top of that is unarmed and in such dangerous position to counter him like that. He underestimated Obi-Wan
There’s actually a reason for the twirling in lightsaber combat. Lightsabers blades are weightless therefore gravity is no longer a factor, because of this twirling your blade is extremely easy. Furthermore with how bright lightsabers are and the fact that they leave a light trail behind them it makes it very difficult for the opponent to find an opening in your gaurd. With the combination of it’s weightlessness and blinding beam the lightsaber becomes a much more versatile weapon, so during a lightsaber duel you must remember you’re opponents weapon is just as light and versatile as yours. You can change gaurds and position in a tenth of a second with a lightsaber. The twirling is a way of not only guarding but using it as a distraction while you find an opening. The first of the two opponents to stop twirling there lightsaber would be the one to get hit unless they choose to go on the offensive and in this case they both did. Edit: a lot of times professional swordsman forget a few factors about lightsaber blades 1. They have no weight 2. They’re very bright 3. They’re very hot 4. They can cut from any angle
You know what they don’t forget? That they actually know arms and have knowledge about real weapons as opposed to the imaginary ones you’re an expert in.
22:30 Obi-Wan had time to react because of the distance of the jump and Anakin's fatigue meant he couldn't use the Force to it's fullest extent. The other times we see Obi-Wan jump over his opponent it's from close range and at the start of the fight, when Obi-Wan isn't fatigued and can still use the Force to speed up his movements properly.
"Sword expert" shocked to learn that medieval fighting manuals don't cover space-fantasy lightsabre duels between people with vaguely defined psionic/mystical powers.
Because fans felt that the character was wasted. At the time of the movie, he was dead without any plans to get back. Fans wanted him back, so writers got him back, and series did. Same as Boba Fett, who became a fan's favorite for some reason, and so writers found a way to have him alive, and it leaded to the whole Fett's stuff in AotC, Mandalorian, etc. But yeah, one of the prequels flaws is the lack of proper antagonist. Maul was interesting, and dies right away. Then Dooku appears from nowhere, gets interesting, then dies right away. Then Grievous appears from nowhere, don't gets interesting, and dies right away ; only the Clone Wars animation actually made him a threat.
Spoilerwarning for "Clone Wars"... . . . ... Maul did not die here and is part of that series (with a mechanical lower body half). And he fights in the end again with Obi Wan. The fight is really short because Obi Wan learned and quickly chops Mauls lightsaber in half!
As the novel stated "Blade-to-blade, Obi-Wan and Anakin were identical. After thousands of hours lightsaber sparring, they knew each other better than brothers, more intimately than lovers; they were the complementary halves of a single warrior."
Funny thing. The 1st point you made about darth mauls double blade and most people thinking he can take on 2 people because of that is also the point that was explained the darth bane in the first book of the trilogy! It gave his instructor an advantage because people THINK it does. But as you said the blades are connected. Great stuff
its a definate advantage even the "Lone Survivor" Marcus Lutrell said with a smaller force he was able to withstand a superior Taliban force because he said he had the "highground" in those words and tge opposite happened against him with the Taliban when he was on the run,he was in a valley and his team was getting chopped up because the Taliban had thhe highground in those exact words.This so called expert has obviously never been in a REAL fight to the death.
Not always, modern army combat uses reverse slop position rather than the high ground, because the high ground is too vulnerable. Soldiers are also taught to avoid the high ground when advancing due to this vulnerability. In a reverse slope position you concede the top of a slope to the enemy. And shoot them as the crest the slope.
In this special case you should take into consideration, that the swirling in ep.3 can be explained with the force sensitivity to feel where each others blow would hit, resulting in a rather psychological duel which is displayed greatly imho.
8:20 the thing about lightsabers is that even you hit another saber the sort of bind to each other like metal to another metal when welding. They aren't slippery like your traditional sword do that's why in my opinion you could sort of stand and just parry because the blade won't slip and you don't need to jockey for position on the blade.
Regarding the sabers "Stuck" moment. It actually is a thing in SW, that sometimes the blades can be physically locked. So they have to bend them loose again (or simply shut the blade off)
Matt says Qui gon should attack Darth mauls hands but then skips over the part where obi wan literally goes for mauls hands and cuts mauls hilt in half
Paused at 7:25 after the bit about "hit him in the hands" because that's exactly what Obi-Wan was thinking, and its how he finally kills Maul in Rebels. Cool that you caught that, because the choreographers also noticed.
the technique used by obi wan and jinn in the first fight consumes a lot of energy with continuous attacks so they alternate so that the other can catch his breath. in fact, after this battle, obi wan will abandon this technique to move to a more defensive one which is based on exploiting the opponent's mistakes and tiring them.
Yeah, but killing a guy from behind while he's defending against your buddy conserves WAY more energy. Because, y'know, the fight is over now instead of going on another 9 minutes. In a fight you don't try to "conserve" energy, you try to USE it as efficiently as possible to defeat the opponent.
Something important to point out about Obi-wan having the high ground is that he had thought about the battle with maul more than just about any aspect of his career as a jedi, he new every movement that happened like it was the back of his hand. He knew exactly what Anakin was about to try because he did it to maul all those years ago, and he knew how to exactly counter it, his entire fighting style was defensive (in canon maybe that is) based on his experience from that fight. So when he told Anakin it was over because he had the high ground it was because he had analyzed every possible outcome and knew exactly how to counter it
20:23 That is why Obi-Wan actually has the low ground and not the high ground, because Anakin jump over his head (Anakin has the high ground) gave Obi-Wan the advantage to cut off his limbs. 🤷♂️
To be fair, Anakin was very obvious with his high jump, with the clip of Grievous for example, he went for more of a thrust while Obi Wan jumped over him, it looked like Grievous had to adjust to the jump and react to turn around. Obi Wan in the Mustafar clip had time to patiently wait for him to jump, but that’s just my view of it.
Interesting that he points out how Maul's reliance on flashy staff-twirls leaves him vulnerable, considering that is EXACTLY what led to both his and the Grand Inquisitor's deaths in "Star Wars: Rebels" at the hands of Obi-Wan and Kanan, respectively. For all the issues that these movies have, they do correct/fill-in the holes later on.
So the reason for the twirling and whatnot is actually due to FEELING for an opening as opposed to LOOKING for one. The whole premise is that Jedi, through the force, have a sort of precognition, some have it stronger than others (like anakin or yoda) but all jedi have it to some extent, so what's effectively happening is that all the twirls are essentially feints and redirects, where they are realizing that the attack would fail, feeling that through the force, and deciding to redirect, and FEELING for an opening, a point where things get muddied to their force-related senses and an attack could potentially land, and that's when they strike, and at THAT point it simply comes down to who has the better reactions and skills. In particular the reason he was able to get the opening at the end, when anakin jumped, was because his emotions and arrogance were clouding his connection to the force and created an opening for obi-wan to attack, at which point anakin didn't have the force to rely on and was also in a disadvantageous position. Most critiques on lightsaber duels are perfectly accurate for normal people using them, but for jedi using them specifically it makes sense, from a lore perspective, to be attacking predominantly through feints, redirects, and defensive motions, where every twirl was the START of an attack that they could feel, through the force, would fail, and move onto another motion, and sometimes will go through a series of many, many motions before sensing that opening (such as the standing still and twirling scene).
That exchange between anakin and obi wan where they don’t touch blades for a little bit was explained by one of the cast as a nod to how well anakin and obi wan know each other and their fighting styles
Huge factor in light saber fighting is that force users can predict/see future moves, so the e.g. pure twirling bit is them predicting each other's moves until they see a significant enough opening to try a strike.
The best part of this is that you give a nod to the fact that this is for film and therefore the flashy twirly moves aren’t practical but you acknowledge their “cool” factor
maybe Obi Wan held up in the fight due to his love towards his padawan... and that final moment he did the slash while Anakin jumped over could be because he has had enough with Anakin.
The fight between Obi-Wan and Anakin is literally the immovable object meets the irresistible force. Both their styles of fighting compliment and oppose each other. The only way a fight between them ends is if one of them makes a mistake (High Ground) or stops fighting (Death Star).
Its something a father figure always does, he had all the chances to strike but didn't. he still care for him up till the point he's done trying convince him.
They both had multiple oppurtinities to end the fight but didn't, because they don't want to kill each other; Anakin wants to assert his dominance over Obi-Wan and show Obi-Wan that he's better than him, and Obi-Wan wants to defeat Anakin so he can take him into custody even though his duty as a Jedi compels him to kill him. The acting is so brilliant here, there's barely any dialogue but you can see the point Obi-Wan decides he *must* kill Anakin; When Anakin says "This is the end for you my master." after an intense stare, Obi-Wan gives a defeated sigh and raises his lightsaber. Then the next time he has an opportunity to kill Anakin, he takes it and dismembered him.
@@freebandz4332 Anakin didn't just want to show Obi-Wan he was better, he wanted to eliminate him, because he believed Kenobi represented everything that was wrong with the Republic and the Jedi Order. He was giving it his all to kill him and vice versa. Once Obi-Wan realized their was no reasoning with Anakin, he convinced himself he had to end it for everyone's safety. He gave him one last chance to surrender at the end, but we all know how that went.
@@thewarner2139 Yes, but his personal attachment got in the way, as it does with everything. Kenobi went to Mustafar with the intent to kill him, but couldn't bring himself too when the opportunity was completely open. Anakin had opportunities to kill Kenobi and chose to just hurt him instead, for example, when Anakin kicks Obi-Wan in the face, he has lightsaber completely over Kenobi's, like it's pinned down, he could easily cut his hand off or impale him, but he chooses to boot him in the face. This is to show us he doesn't really want to kill him. Also, "Don't make me kill you" - literally expressing he doesn't wanna have to kill him.
This is the first time I've ever seen one of these IGN, Buzzfeed, etc, videos of 'expert talks about x' where they get an *actual* expert. Very well done IGN, you actually did your research on who to have on!
mentioning how mauls hands are vulnerable when he spins his lightsabers reminds me of Kanan destroying the grand inquisitors spinning blades by slicing through the handle
One of the best fight sequences was in Rebels the last fight between Obiwan as an old man and Darth Maul-it was only 3 moves in the entire fight but you have to know the history of them and you can understand the beauty of the fight.
7:39 That's exactly what Shad said. Others too. General concensus is that lightsabers should be used like rapiers for optimal effect. So it's no wonder Dooku was the best duelist of his time since Form 2 focuses on that sort of thing. Plus, Christopher Lee was a real fencer (as Matt pointed out later). So was Peter Cushing for that matter. 11:21 [insert Spaceballs reference]
In defense of 17:40, two things. 1: they were spinning it to gain more power in their swings and 2: they were trying to fake each other out. More of a Star Wars thing that makes sense in that universe then the real world.
Better excuse is that they were simply acting on practiced reflex and ended up doing the exact same flurry but from opposite sides which caused each motion to slip harmlessly throuh the other's gaurd. The moment they realized this (at the same time) then ended their flurry with a powerful strike to the center and ended up in that bind. A moment born as the result of years of fighting side-by-side.
@@italianwaffle5592 in the Star Wars universe it provides more strength. More of like trying to gain momentum to strike as hard and powerfully as they can with swiftness. Like if it were to clash with another saber, if the other person weren’t doing that the swing could be so strong it could knock them off balance or push their saber back when it clashed.
The in-verse explanation for the turn-based attacks in the darth maul fight could be because obi-wan just waits until he could properly attck again and qui-gon is less of a straight up attacker, as seen when he had the opportunity he meditated so it's probably because he's trying to think for a strategy while not being useless
22:00 okay so this one is for the edditor. You managed to put the worst examples of what he said 1. When Greivous attacked with his 2 upper hand he couldnt sliced Obi-Wan because he was busy trying to cut him 2. Maul did try to slice Obi-Wan in half thats why he blocked
In the Maul Fight and in the Ani/Obi fight they did lift their weapons up when the opponent jumped over them. You can see the clash of their weapons, seeing as they do a flip over the top their head and weapons are closer to the enemy making it easier to block There are times they didn't do it but some of the examples shown they actually did so maybe it's just an editing miss
Or the 'surprise' move actually worked as a surprise, and the person being jumped over didn't react quickly enough to attack up effectively. (Or they were at a disadvantage in the 'invisible' duel of their Force powers to sense their opponent's intent, and cloak their own, yadda-yadda.) If Matt's gripe is just with the precise heights of these jumps that's an especially feeble attempt at a quibble.
But Darth Maul is also occasionally - actually very often - redirecting their lightsabers by sweeping one side of his double edged end over end. So I'm assuming THAT is his counter to their attacks. Like in one shot Gui Gon attacks and Darth Maul turns his lightsaber over into a more vulnerable position, by twisting his underside saber over. Surely that action is his counter to their constant offense.
Obi wan was expecting the jump in that scene, in all the other fight scenes it happened in a split second in the middle of a duel or when somone was of balance or dueling somone else while that person was jumping over
The in universe explanation for anakin and obi wan twirling is due to the use of the force. They’ve sparred against each-other so much and the use of the force helps them predict eachothers moves to the point where they just keep predicting. However in real life yeah it doesn’t make any sense. Love the video!
@IGN. - You have to keep in mind that many of these fights incorporated an amalgamation of force powers and physical prowess. This means that most actions are theoretically negotiated much faster than the eye can see. Try analyzing these over whilst incorporating that concept in your dynamic.
I'm not completely sure but when fighting Dooku, Anakin might be spinning due to the second saber being in his non dominant hand. If you don't train both equally, one might end up being only for defensive actions
to be fair, when obi wan jumped over maul's head in EP1, maul did raise his saber to strike and obi wan blocked it, which you saw him do in the video. That fight was the first fight between a jedi and sith in over 1000 years so the taking turns could be down to caution and fear. The jedi weren't even aware that siths still existed despite the short duel on tattoine. As for obi wan jumping over maul in EP1, maul did not expect it because obi wan was barely a jedi knight and not proficient in either lightsaber combat or the force itself. This surprised maul as he never expected such a move from a weak jedi like the young obi wan. As for obi wan jumping over grievious, we see grievous going for an attack and then obi wan jumps, surprising the general mid attack. That entire fight had terrible choreography unfortunately and it's sad because canon grievous is weak whereas 2003 clone wars grievous was a monster
@@90skidcultist except not really. Look how he was nerfed in the prequels. He was NEVER a threat to anyone and it was sad. He was a pure killing machine and would have taken obi wan out in seconds were it true to his cartoon abilities. Besides, Disney made it not canon in 2012
@@weavercs4014 Actually, as explained in the novelization, Obi-Wan was simply Grievous's worst match-up among the Jedi Masters. Obi-Wan uses a lightsaber style focused primarily on defense, which is exactly what was needed to beat a 4-armed cyborg with mechanically enhanced reflexes but can't use the Force. Grievous's fighting style focused on overwhelming the opponent with power and speed from multiple blades (while also having superhuman agility), but Obi-Wan was able to focus on simply defending himself from all those blows at first, and when Grievous sped up his movements to where even Obi-Wan couldn't keep up, Obi-Wan countered by finding holes in Grievous's mediocre defenses and used his quick defensive parry strokes to start chopping off the hands before the extra blades could reach him.
So the super twirly bad bit mentioned at 17:25 or so actually has an in lore description. That part of the fight is where they're both trying to use the force to predict and counter each other and that twirly bit is the part where they're both responding and coming up with new responses so ridiculously fast and the force is responding faster than they can actually execute an attack physically. Granted that's still an excuse but it's just a neat little tidbit
I hope you enjoyed our video, featuring the fantastic Matt Easton. Want to watch more of his videos? Here's the link: ruclips.net/channel/UCt14YOvYhd5FCGCwcjhrOdA
Just wondering but, why would they need to be further away than punching distance?
⚔
You guys should let him react to the Star Wars the Old Republic cinematic trailers. Especially the "Deceived" or "Return" trailers
Yeet
No one can stop teleportdinero
Next you should have "politician reacts to all senate scenes in Prequels"
Absolutely
OMFG YES!!!!!!!!!!!!
All palpatine scenes, got it
Please !!
Do it
The whole "high ground" thing was 100% Obi-Wan trolling Anakin to get him to make a mistake.
Obi-Wan's true force strength was trolling his opponents to literal death.
Hello there.
General kenobi!
Obi wan is actually the master of the low ground . . . let me explain.
He kills maul from being under him
He takes the high ground to bait anakin into jumping over, in turn giving obi wan the low ground and allowing him to defeat anakin.
Mind tricks are definitely one of his fortés
'These are not the droids you're looking for.'
@@micajango4177 that actually makes a lot of sense
Thanks for having me on! It's great fun doing these fight reviews.
Amazing insight into the prequel fights
I've been looking forward to this
context!!
just to say it for ep3. Obi Wan didn't want to kill Anakin until he gets the high ground.
@@jrv7346 My powers have doubled since the last time we met JRV.😂
The theory about the 17:30 bit is that they're both predicting the other one's move, and readjusting for it, over and over again. Not only are they force sensitive, so they have insanely fast reflexes, but they're also basically brothers. They've been sparring together for years and years during Anakin's apprenticeship and the Clone Wars, putting in thousands of hours of fighting each other, so on top of their reflexes and the force, they know each others moves very well.
Exactly. The whole fight is theoretically slowed down for us mere mortals to see what is going on.
Sounds reasonable. So what happened when they were spinning the lightsaber behind their backs though? What sort of move was that preparing against?
@@Kuzmorgo they looked to be baiting eachother
Thank you for saying this. I’m always annoyed that people don’t think of this.
Thats not a theory, thats literally whats happening
18:00 Actually if you didn't know, they also use the force to help predict where the enemy is going to strike next! So with that in mind, I'd have to guess they were stuck in a ridiculous loop of trying to get through the other's defense.
Lol where was the force when Maul and Anakin needed it the most?
@@damainmane4765.
Maul was too arrogant and impatient in the moment so he was caught completely off guard.
Anakin was blinded by rage, he overestimated his abilities, Obi-Wan knew him very well and Obi-Wan had replayed the moment he jumped over Darth Maul in his head a lot so that he could know how to defend against such an attack, meaning that the battle was over as soon as Obi-Wan got the high ground.
@@AverageCommentor makes me wonder if Obi-Wan had told Anakin the story of how he killed Darth Maul and advised his apprentice never to do that, as it would’ve been easy to defeat. And so maybe Anakin was thinking of that as the ultimate proving moment (his whole life was spent obsessed with proving his capabilities) “Watch me, I’ll do something you told me NEVER to do and I’ll still win.” Kind of thing, adding some more context to both the line about underestimating his power, and Obi-Wan’s “Don’t try it” line
@@reddillon8425 that's exactly what happened
@@damainmane4765 Sith give in to aggression; the force guides them but the Sith’s whole thing is to impose their will on the force. With Obi Wan and Anakin, it’s a mix of them having trained together for a decade, the force guiding them, and a sort of “immovable force vs unstoppable object” thing as Obi Wan has an impenetrable defense while Anakin has a irresistible attack (hence the entire battle shows Obi Wan successfully defend against the onslaught but only by constantly retreating).
9:00
Christopher Lee didn't ask specifically for a curved handle. He brought his rapier, showed how he could use it and asked for a lightsaber that would allow him to fight as such.
@MortalGamerDC1 85 apparently Christopher Lee is one of the last decendants of Charlemagne, and the swordbhe showed up with was his family heirloom.
@MortalGamerDC1 85 What are you talking about? Modern fencing rapiers tend to have a pistol grip.
@MortalGamerDC1 85 No they're not, the three classes of fencing, the olympic sport, is foil, rapier, and sabre, and modern foils and rapiers use pistol grip. Several of my friends from high school have fenced in the Olympics for my country.
@@DaDunge It is epee in Olympic fencing, not rapier, a rapier is a very different beast. Often three times the weight, longer, clumsier, and with more hand protection.
@@thomastucker7317 Oh those are the same word in my language, värja.
“Maul should of stayed around longer”
Me: ahh should we tell him?
If it means he reviews some of mails awesome fights in the clone wars and rebels, yes
No. Everything else they've done with him is the worst kind of fan service.
He probably meant in the context of the prequel trilogy (regardless of whether or not he knows about Maul's revival) which is a statement that still holds.
@@TechnologicallyTechnical Solo is technically a prequel, so there you go.
He included Ray Park footage from shooting fight for Clone Wars, so he knows.
You guys should have him react to the Old Republic trailers like Decieved, he will definitely like the movement in the Malgus fight
For sure!
They need to make it happen!!!!
Was looking for this comment. Didn't expect it to be this subtle/spoiler free
Absolutely!!!
100%
My favorite aspect of Darth Maul wasn't his fighting. It was how convincingly PREDATORY he came across. He had like 3 lines the entire movie, but his body language, his facial expressions, his snarls, they all said "don't...fuck...with...me".
He's the ultimate sith apprentice
@@MaMastoast "uh, actually he was a sith assassin not an apprentice because of the rule of 2" 🤓
@@samscorch8252 wrong, maul was sidious apprentice before count dooku. sidious even introduces him as his apprentice when he talks to the neimoidians
@@samscorch8252 Maul was Sidius's apprentice, he was replaced with Doku
@Samscorch82 ah the rule of two definetly a consistent rule that is not consistently and repeatedly broken through the star wars Canon and beyond
Regarding lightsabers being cutty or thrusty, it's probably worth remembering that with steel weapons, one advantage of the thrust is that it's easier to get through to vital organs while cuts can often be more superficial unless they are really committed to, but with lightsabers going clean through limbs or bodies with no resistance, they can be _more_ effective in a cut than a sword would be.
Would it like cauterize the wound instantly?? Even tho your hand is gone your not bleeding out
@@bedallsmith190 Yeah there isn't any blood when people lose hands to lightsabers. Though it's painful enough to put even a Jedi out of the fight, and Jedi are _insanely_ tough.
Not when a thrust is easier to make contact with
@@bedallsmith190 Absolutely, and they use this attention to detail in the prequel movies. In the original it's one of my only critiques of the effects is when Luke cuts the guys arm off and blood goes everywhere. In every other Star Wars media since then that's not the case. Look at the fight where Anakin loses his arm to Dooku, or even when Qui Gon gets impaled. No blood, they even have a burnt effect on the surrounding area. However, have you ever had a bad burn? the spot of the burn itself doesn't hurt but the area around where the damaged nerves are is one of the most painful things you can experience due to the body's response to burn wounds. They hurt much more than a clean cut, which often doesn't even hurt that bad comparatively if it's a clean cut with a very sharp blade.
@@MJ-mi9qcI think the blood thing was actually due to movie ratings becoming more strict and not the “cauterizing the wound” thing people keep repeating like a broken record
A small background information for Matt on Dookus curved handle: When Dooku was a Padawan, there weren't any other lightsaber users then the Jedi in the Republic. The Sith thought to be extinct and the Jedi trained more for Blaster Defense. But because Dooku always wanted to be the best, he decided to make this kind of handle to be better prepared for duels. His whole fighting form was designed to fight sword wielders.
ish, dooku warned that the sith would come back and the jedi ignored him, so he focused on being able to fight against lightsabre wielding people which scared the council.
EU or Canon?
@@al112v4 canon
@@flannaz3769 if only the council listened to him and Qui Gonn. Anakin would have been brought up better and the Empire never would have existed, but the story kinda has to happen soooooo. Yeah.
Actual information:
Actor Christopher Lee had a wrist problem so they designed it like that.
You also have to understand that Obi Wan didn’t want to kill Anakin. He really wanted to save him. Bring him back to the light side. And Anakin didn’t really want to kill Obi Wan either. Really enjoyed your analytics, but it would also be interesting to see what your opinions are concerning the emotional factors involved in a fight, and the motivations of two people engaged in combat.
Pretty sure Anakin was out to kill Obi Wan but he fought so blinded by rage that he lost all form and was looking for massive kill shots instead of taking advantages of openings.
It's not that Anakin didn't want to kill Obi-Wan (he did), but to me it seems that he was trying to prove to Obi-Wan (and probably himself) how much better he was than him. To dominate him basically
Anakin was in a hurry, if padme was awake he wouldn’t defy her. He goes at it harder then we have ever seen him, he strangles obi wan like he did to dooku and does the same disarmament move he did against dooku about 3 times to no avail. Obi wan parries and shrugs off about everything and anakin becomes increasingly more frustrated.
@@cm275 Not really, you should read up on Anakin's backstory and what turned him other than a 'miscommunication' like it showed in the movie. Dude got the short end of the stick due to his immaturity rather than skill, thus living a life to prove and fulfill what he thought he deserved.
anakin wanted to kill obi wan, obi wan didnt want to kill anakin
From my point of view they twirl the swords so much because as many times was explained these guys can slightly predict the actions of their rivals due to the force. Imaging two guys constantly knowing what the rival is going to do. If they stop enough to think about it (as Anakin and Obi Wan do in Mustafar) that can be an endless loop.
In the book (yes there's a book, go read it) it mentions that both Anakin and Obi Wan knew each other fighting style so much that the first to attack would be parryed and lost, and at the same time, both knew they were adept at improvising, so they could not afford to let any oppenins of any kind.
Then it would still make sense to use far quicker stabs from various angles. There is no logical reason to slowly flail around with a blade in either universe. :)
@@MrBottlecapBill Why? If the other person knew a stab was coming it could be easily deflected or dodged. Stabs aren't quick, the more stabs you try to fit into a short time the easier they would be to deflect since there wouldn't be much power behind them. Flailing the blade is meant to throw the other off guard and basically play mind-games. It's just a Star Wars version of a juke.
From my point of view the Jedi are evil.
@@ForwardSynthesis THEN YOU ARE LOST!
The reason why (in universe) there is a bunch of twirling with the lightsabers is because all force sensitives have such attuned senses that they can pretty much see into the future slightly with the opponents' next move. The twirling helps make the next move be more unpredictable
The “twirling” thing can be viewed as an aesthetic stunt but I’m pretty sure it comes from the defensive technique against blaster shots. It’s very useful when being surrounded and shot from different angles.
It is also useful for amping up your strikes against an opponents block to try and break through their guard.
yeah but the real reason is the jedi with force reflex can predict opponent next move so the twirling of sabres is prertty much faking their opponent out till they drop their guard
Plus the thing is - which is not a thing in sword fighting or fencing in real world - that opponents in lightsaber fights literally predict/know each other moves, they use the force to predict and prepare defence sometimes before the opponent makes his attack. This is especially in the case of Obi-Wan vs Anakin, as they know each other as no other know them, so they are not only at similar level in power and combat, they also know each other's tricks and both use the force for their advantage.
@@azk9218
Absolutely!
Not to mention that Anakin trained all his life with Obi-Wan. He has his own fighting style but he was definitely influenced by Kenobi.
@@ronaghan1392 A feint that won't land if completed isn't a convincing feint. The problem with the twirling in their fight is that they clearly aren't trying to hit each other. Indeed, as Matt Easton points out at 17:32, *they're literally twirling their weapons around each other!*
If you want to see thrusting of blades, look at Chancellor Papatine, his fighting style is full of trusting.
And flying.
@@chadfurlong2919 and screaming
@@aesir1ases64 no wonder he was Rey's grandpa. The man likes his thrusts and screams.
And lightning
And unlimited power 😃
Fun fact: The high ground statement Obi-Wan made was a bait to get Anakin to make the jump. When Anakin attempted the exact move Obi-Wan used when Darth Maul had the high ground.
Where does it say that in the films?
@@MichaelJohnson-mt6ey not everything is said in the films lmao
@@evansanchez8722 exactly. that's the problem.
@@MichaelJohnson-mt6ey who cares??? Lmao there is so much more than just the movies that matters. There not going to serve the lore on a platter in the movies.
@@evansanchez8722 that just means they're badly written. If a film requires an external source to explain why a pivotal moment happens the way it does, that's poor writing.
Obi-wan and the high ground; in the phantom menace obi-wan jumped over maul, while maul had the high ground. That move he made haunted him for the next decade, he always came back to how it could have failed. Then in revenge of the sith, Anakin tried the same move on him, that he did to maul. This is why Obi-wan won over Anakin with the high ground. It was all he thought about.
"The high ground of the force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural"
And then in Return of the Jedi when Luke has the high ground, Vader knew better now and just throws his saber at him.
@@odeioenzos is it possible to learn this power
Obi Wam was never scared he knew he was the high ground master
@@Deathmare235 not from a low-ground
8:47
To answer this, this is intentional. Darth Maul let his overconfidence get to him, thus Obi-Wan returning to kill him caught Maul off guard. This happens with a lot of Sith, such as Anakin fighting Obi-Wan
Yes exactly. Darth Maul had just killed a Jedi Master while fighting his apprentice at the same time. Now that the master was out of the way, and the apprentice was all but finished, he began to gloat, not with words, but with his body language, and with his facial expressions. The fight was over, victory was imminent, and as all sith do, he lowered his guard due to hubris. Maul had also kicked obi-wan's lightsaber down the hole, so in his mind, his opponent was unarmed (once again due to hubris). He had no idea Obi-wan would be so resourceful and use his Master's lightsaber to fight with.
No, sorry but it doesn't work. Overconfidence doesn't make you wait 5 seconds for your opponent to hit you while he's still in the air. He should've at least blocked and then Obi wan would've kicked his lightsaber away or chopped his hand. It would've made way more sense both from choreography and swordfighting points of view.
…or maybe it happened faster than they portrayed it lol
@@魚-c3d would of worked better if Maul blocked Obi Wan's attack and then Obi Wan proceeded to force push Maul into the abyss, yeah?
0:37 - The Phantom Menance
9:07 - Attack of the Clones
14:10 - Revenge of the Sith
Thanks,this really helps. 😎👍🏻
To be fair, in defense of the "twirling" (aside for the sake of visual show/flair), Force users have precognitive reflexes and abilities. So they aren't just regular swordsmen looking for simple openings, they basically have a "Spidey-sense" that predicts where they'll receive strikes. That's how they're able to deflect blaster fire. So when we see them twirling and turning they're actually trying to outwit each other's precognition and confuse their respective opponent to make a mistake. That's why Grievous ( a non Force-sensitive fighter) used 4 arms and furiously twirled all 4 of his sabers like a fan, to creative a cognitive load on his Jedi opponents and disarming them from that advantage. We also see it in the Naboo hangar duel, where Obi-Wan feigns a strike to trick Maul into parrying his side to give Qui Gon an opening, but Maul saw through it and parried Qui Gon instead.
So the silly moment where Kenobi and Skywalker are twirling their lightsabers without striking each other, they're actually battling each other's Force senses. Still meme worthy though!
Confuse and strike. Nice thinking.
Pretty sure the whole point of the "twirling" and 2 handed fighting is meant to be providing whole body momentum given that lightsaber blades are weightless and provide zero resistance until cutting something that provides electromagnetic resistance (hence the blast doors, other lightsabers etc)
@@_Syned_ it's a plasma sword, isn't it? It should cut through people like butter even if they just gently walked into it. And if it doesn't, then they should just use normal swords since clearly they'd be better since they don't need this twirling to kill people.
that arguably just makes it even sillier
@@Lightning_Lance no but ok
Obi wan got over maul because from his point of view, he had the high ground
Obi-Wan "From a certain point of view" Kenobi
KENOBIII !!!!
So here's the thing about the infamous high ground situation, Anakin has to make a jump to engage Obi Wan no matter what. He could choose to land above or below him on the bank but both are losing positions due to the area they are fighting in and the abilities of the universe they are in. If Anakin jumps lower on the bank, Obi Wan simply has to give him a solid force push while he is trying to gain his footing and he'll be thrown into the lava. No chance of winning that way at all. However, he can try to jump over Obi Wan both avoiding that pitfall and placing Obi Wan into it. This won't work though because unlike a lot of the other times they do a flip over their opponent it is completely predictable. After all, it is the only move Anakin has open to him. Obi Wan knows what's coming and is ready to take his opportunity to strike Anakin while he is relatively defenseless. While it can be argued, and rightfully so, that this could have happened during any of the flips in the prequels. The main difference is that they had other options in other duels, meaning their opponent might not have expected it, but in this fight Obi Wan knows exactly what's coming and is essentially just waiting to swat Anakin out of the air. At least that's my take on it.
Another option available to Anakin would have been to jump to the side of Obi-Wan, which would have been considerably safer, or wait for his droid to move down the bank a little and disembark there. I'd also argue that jumping below Obi-wan would have been safer than jumping over him, as Jedi do seem to be able to block force pushes somewhat. I've always seen the scene as Obi-wan taunting Anakin into jumping over him, and blinded by his pride, Anakin falls right for it.
Its a movie. Anakin jumped because it was in the script
also what Anakin was doing was the move that obi-wan did to maul so when he says "dont try" it it's him saying you are gonna with my own move
@Alan MacCrae most inane movie critique known to man
the other option was to just walk away from the fight and own obi wan another day.
I’d like to say the choreography took into account the philosophies of both combatants. Obi-Wan being incredibly defensive and Anakin overtly aggressive
a very important thing to remember about force users in a lightsaber fight is that both users are attempting to read the future of their opponents moves. Seeing things JUST before they happen is a Jedi and Sith trait that they continue to use through out their lives. So the bit where Obi Wan and Anakin are "twirling their swords around each other" they are trying to see an opening in the near future and making a move only to see that its blocked and another opening is there and then its blocked and so on until they strike yet again. Most all light saber duels are also being fought in the force. Knowing also the different lightsaber forms 1-7 and their variants could inform a lot of their moves as well, such as Obi Wans affinity to form 3 which is more of a defensive form and Anakin's affinity to form 5 was characterized by power attacks and defense immediately followed by a counterstrike. So they were very well suited to fight each other in that one is very reserved yet not as powerful but also more defensive and the other is powerful, and attack forward with little defense. You will notice that the major majority of the Obi Wan and Anakin fight is Obi Wan backing up and Anakin pushing forward.
this is an underrated comment and it deserves more likes.
all of that is cool and fun to know about, but imo the movies would still be more fun if it looked like they trying to kill each other
@@Lightning_Lance you obviously still have no idea in even what you just read
Exactly! People criticize the twirling moment so much but don't realize what you have stated. Also, they both get stuck in the twirl because they are attempting the same moves against each other since they have trained together for years. They both went to attempt the same move, but because they both did the same move they got "stuck" in this game of who is going to bite first and attempt to strike.
This actually makes perfect sense
Qui-Gon's is stance is called hassō. Jodan stance is when you hold the sword above your head.
Well, Matt is a HEMA expert, not Japanese material arts expert, so he made a mistake.
@@SkepticalCaveman thanks captain obvious
@@SkepticalCaveman Calling Matt a HEMA is a a but unfair really. Yes he's does HEMA but more importantly he's also a trained historian of medieval history. Which is what makes the difference between him and the other HEMA youtubers.
thats also anakins stance in the rots game right?
Seriously, you should show him The Old Republic trailers fights.
Those are really awesome.
Especially Malgus in the temple.
@@Duchess_Van_Hoof Had to do that for a fan film competition; at least the last part against the armored Jedi. Lotta openings from the Jedi's perspective and some odd excessive acrobatics that made me want to poke my smaller, more agile opponent even in rehearsal.
The impressive thing about the ObiAni twirly scene is how they DON'T accidentally hit each other. If you look at the awkward angle Obi has to bring his blade across at the bottom, you can tell they are going out of their way not to hit each other while standing so close.
The scene feels a bit like they practiced their twirls and someone thought "we GOT to put this into the movie somehow".
"The scene feels like it wants to portray how they practiced together."
Who's gonna tell them?
@Xd Dx yeah but in the movie there isnt much to indicate the Lore reason behind it
@@Slashycent Lmfaooo right
@Xd Dx all of that is cool to know but the fight scenes would still be better if they were more visceral and it looked like they were actually trying to kill each other imo.
BINGO!!!
Every "fight" is just a series of hitting each others' lightsabers until the moment the script decides one of them wins for some reason.
In the bane novels, it was explained that the Double Bladed Lightsaber is supposed to give the look of having multiple options, when in reality, you have fewer options, which is meant to confuse the opponent kinda, as they're expecting to be attacked in a large variety of ways, when it isn't the case
Hello.
Not only that, but your opponent knows where the other blade is if it is a 1v1 fight. If you are blocking one side, you know where the other one is, which, when the Sith blademaster split his blade in 2, Bane could only defend at that point, even being driven back.
One of my favourite fights from the Bane trilogy alongside Bane and Zannah vs 4 Jedi Masters, including one using Battle Meditation.
but that wouldn't fool anyone who knows even the basics of swordfighting...
@@Lightning_Lance the jedi have a history of being dumbasses
@@Lightning_Lance So funny story, starwars doesn't have swords or swordfighting manuals or even history of such an art cause it's a sc-fi story set in the future were they have lighsabers and lightsaber fighting styles just a funny little fact.
There's a factor in Jedi/Sith lightsaber fights that sword experts NEVER take into consideration. The fact that Both Jedi and Sith are using the Force to sense their opponents movements and position. You see it with the first TWO attacks from Obi Wan. Darth Maul blocks them without even looking at him. This is meant to show that even though he may SEEM outnumbered or outgunned HIS movements are supposed to be precognitive, so he's in position to block WHILE they are swinging at him.
Would love to see his reaction to the rebels obi wan and maul fight
Yes that would be nice to see since he already saw Maul overcome Qui-gon with the same move
I’m pretty sure he’s done that on his channel already
All 8 seconds of it
With knowing more of the subtext of the characters in the prequel trilogy, the body language and how they carry themselves, this gave me an extra layer of understanding. Anakin moves his feet more because he was SUPPOSED to be the better fighter. Qui-Gon's lightsaber form actually IS a real martial form for swordplay. There's alot of foreshadowing done in these lightsaber battles. Some of it was showy, but some was placed there on purpose.
A point people always seem to forget when criticizing Obi-wan's lack of taking advantage of openings is that Obi-wan as a jedi doesn't necessarily just want to murder Anakin unless absolutely necessary
Was also hoping to see Matt comment on one of the grappling moves in the RotS fight that was left out here but oh well
Ummm he left him burning on lava instead of just taking him as a crippled man
Ummm he left him burning on lava instead of just taking him as a crippled man
@@nemou4985 He couldnt bring himself to kill anakin but couldnt save him either. He witnessed him killing younglings dude
@@nemou4985 Not to mention that Jedi principle is to not kill a defenseless, unarmed opponent. Anakin even says so after he kills Dooku.
Now, Obi still could have done it as a mercy, but his heart was too heavy and he figured Anakin was, figuratively, dead already.
@@ellissmith2909 Anakin still killed dooku and he wasn't even reproached by Obi-Wan, less so the other jedi. Plus Obi Wan believed anakin was going to die anyways, not like "burning from lava" is better...
Interestingly enough in the legends book Darth Bane, they pretty much say the exact same thing you did about the double-bladed lightsaber. With the Saber instructor giving the lesson basically concluding that the only real strength of a dual bladed saber was that is made most opponents "think" the wielder had more combat options; when in fact if you know where one end is, you know where the other blade is as well.
If this guy finds mistakes in the prequels’ duels, he would have a field day with the sequels’ choreography
nahh lmfao
@fee foo the jedi were also force users who were basically superhuman the sequels look like two kids having a lightsaber fight in the back yard
He does react to the sequel fights lol. Watch the next video
@fee foo At least the prequels looked like they had actual force users using the weapon who have been training with sabers for years unlike the sequels who look like they threw 25 pound weights on their sabers and start swinging them around with no control what so ever. The fights In the sequels look like two kids playing at the park.
fun fact: the combat choreography from the sequels are the ones that gets more closely to real fighting.
For the record, every fight in the prequel trilogy is for spectacle. The last fight between Obi Wan and Anakin is more about positioning than anything else. The “High Ground” is about where Anakin can land safely more than battle tactics. And Anakin’s hubris is what ultimately defeats him.
It’s ultimately all for storytelling purposes and near entirely unrealistic. But it looks so damn cool!
The sole purpose is story/plot progression and emotional context, no fight in the movies is purely for spectacle. You can’t take out any of the fights and have the same movie.
It's also a subtle taunt. Anakin has been driving Obi-Wan back throuhout the fight and it's clear Obi-Wan can barely hold on. By baiting Anakin, playing on his newfound arrogance (though there was plenty of that already), Obi-Wan makes sure Anakin doesn't just step onto that landing and rush like before.
@@corruptangel6793 Agreed. I've always said that Obi-Wan was baiting into Anakin's ego when he said that line. You can see Anakin hesitate before eventually leaping right into the trap.
We can all agree that a lightsaber has the best penetration
It's all about context and gripping the shaft properly...🤣
69 likes 👀
Just like Anakin’s
8:51 Well here his arrogance have blinded Darth Maul. He did not expect apprentice who on top of that is unarmed and in such dangerous position to counter him like that. He underestimated Obi-Wan
There’s actually a reason for the twirling in lightsaber combat. Lightsabers blades are weightless therefore gravity is no longer a factor, because of this twirling your blade is extremely easy. Furthermore with how bright lightsabers are and the fact that they leave a light trail behind them it makes it very difficult for the opponent to find an opening in your gaurd. With the combination of it’s weightlessness and blinding beam the lightsaber becomes a much more versatile weapon, so during a lightsaber duel you must remember you’re opponents weapon is just as light and versatile as yours. You can change gaurds and position in a tenth of a second with a lightsaber. The twirling is a way of not only guarding but using it as a distraction while you find an opening. The first of the two opponents to stop twirling there lightsaber would be the one to get hit unless they choose to go on the offensive and in this case they both did.
Edit: a lot of times professional swordsman forget a few factors about lightsaber blades
1. They have no weight
2. They’re very bright
3. They’re very hot
4. They can cut from any angle
You know what they don’t forget? That they actually know arms and have knowledge about real weapons as opposed to the imaginary ones you’re an expert in.
Maybe lightsabers also overheat when they are powered and not moved around :D
22:30 Obi-Wan had time to react because of the distance of the jump and Anakin's fatigue meant he couldn't use the Force to it's fullest extent. The other times we see Obi-Wan jump over his opponent it's from close range and at the start of the fight, when Obi-Wan isn't fatigued and can still use the Force to speed up his movements properly.
Too fast for Maul to react.
You mean Sword Expert learns about the High Ground!
"Sword expert" shocked to learn that medieval fighting manuals don't cover space-fantasy lightsabre duels between people with vaguely defined psionic/mystical powers.
We need Matt to react to some of the Animated fights like the Old Republic trailers
Clone Wars, too!
Ooooo yes
Ahsoka vs Maul
@@ravengrey6874 took the words out of my mouth!
@@alex_spartan1805 eh. Clone Wars didn't really have any choreography worth talking about minus the Maul v Ahsoka fight, which was motion captured.
“They should’ve kept Maul around for longer”… sir, he’s still appearing in stuff to this day lol we still have an entire Obiwan series to get through.
Because fans felt that the character was wasted. At the time of the movie, he was dead without any plans to get back. Fans wanted him back, so writers got him back, and series did.
Same as Boba Fett, who became a fan's favorite for some reason, and so writers found a way to have him alive, and it leaded to the whole Fett's stuff in AotC, Mandalorian, etc.
But yeah, one of the prequels flaws is the lack of proper antagonist. Maul was interesting, and dies right away. Then Dooku appears from nowhere, gets interesting, then dies right away. Then Grievous appears from nowhere, don't gets interesting, and dies right away ; only the Clone Wars animation actually made him a threat.
@@EmmanuelB Uh yeah I’m aware but this review was made 3 days ago and we are well aware that boba fett and Maul still have more appearances to make.
Spoilerwarning for "Clone Wars"...
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.
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... Maul did not die here and is part of that series (with a mechanical lower body half). And he fights in the end again with Obi Wan. The fight is really short because Obi Wan learned and quickly chops Mauls lightsaber in half!
@@cab1stborn not every person who has seen the movies bothers with everything else that is Star Wars related.
clone wars is a kids cartoon show. enjoy your helicopter lightsabers though.
As the novel stated "Blade-to-blade, Obi-Wan and Anakin were identical. After thousands of hours lightsaber sparring, they knew each other better than brothers, more intimately than lovers; they were the complementary halves of a single warrior."
Funny thing. The 1st point you made about darth mauls double blade and most people thinking he can take on 2 people because of that is also the point that was explained the darth bane in the first book of the trilogy! It gave his instructor an advantage because people THINK it does. But as you said the blades are connected. Great stuff
Most of the jumping over the opponent was Obi Wan and that moment was Anakin bolding saying he was better than Obi Wan at his own move.
23:09 “Is highground an advantage ? For an army yes”
Napoleon at Austerlitz : don’t be so certain
its a definate advantage even the "Lone Survivor" Marcus Lutrell said with a smaller force he was able to withstand a superior Taliban force because he said he had the "highground" in those words and tge opposite happened against him with the Taliban when he was on the run,he was in a valley and his team was getting chopped up because the Taliban had thhe highground in those exact words.This so called expert has obviously never been in a REAL fight to the death.
@@mrnadeviant6320 Piano Man is referring to a specific instance where Napoleon ceded the high ground to the enemy and defeated them.
@@robertcapet9132 never use anecdotal evidence in anything because then you get into postmodernistic "my truth" nonsense
Not always, modern army combat uses reverse slop position rather than the high ground, because the high ground is too vulnerable. Soldiers are also taught to avoid the high ground when advancing due to this vulnerability.
In a reverse slope position you concede the top of a slope to the enemy. And shoot them as the crest the slope.
An advantage isn't a guarantee.
Deleted Maul dialogue: "hello boys. Care for a little turn-based combat?"
In this special case you should take into consideration, that the swirling in ep.3 can be explained with the force sensitivity to feel where each others blow would hit, resulting in a rather psychological duel which is displayed greatly imho.
The fight scenes in the Obi wan Kenobi series show can seriously be so much epic than ever.
8:20 the thing about lightsabers is that even you hit another saber the sort of bind to each other like metal to another metal when welding. They aren't slippery like your traditional sword do that's why in my opinion you could sort of stand and just parry because the blade won't slip and you don't need to jockey for position on the blade.
Sharp swords bind into eachother though
"should've kept Darth maul around for longer". Well.........
He never appeared in the movies and that’s what he meant
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@@selfishstockton6123 Well, he had a cameo in "Solo," although that probably confused more people than it served as fan service for.
This makes me want to go back and rewatch Shadiversity's 1 hour and 20 minute breakdown of the Anakin and Obi-Wan fight.
tbh it was far better than this one, he literally goes frame by frame and give it a better judgment.
Regarding the sabers "Stuck" moment. It actually is a thing in SW, that sometimes the blades can be physically locked. So they have to bend them loose again (or simply shut the blade off)
Just remember obi wasn't trying to hurt Vader, and was the master of the "deflective" style of combat.
Being fair, when Obi-Wan jumps over Maul, you can see he defended against Maul sticking out the back-end of his saberstaff.
Matt says Qui gon should attack Darth mauls hands but then skips over the part where obi wan literally goes for mauls hands and cuts mauls hilt in half
Yeah there is some obvious bias here
He also did the same thing to kill Maul some 30 years later when Maul attempted to repeat his pommel thrust trick.
Easton should cover the LOTR trilogy and its sword scenes!
YES PLEASE!
Me too.
He did on his channel
Why? He would do the same complains he does here with the exception of the spinnin and jumping.
@@aesir1ases64 Bro, that's what expert criticism is. Did you expect him to just compliment it non-stop the whole video?
Paused at 7:25 after the bit about "hit him in the hands" because that's exactly what Obi-Wan was thinking, and its how he finally kills Maul in Rebels. Cool that you caught that, because the choreographers also noticed.
Gotta love the entire segment dedicated to analyzing The High Ground. Every star wars fan appreciated that.
Next up: Meme Expert Reacts to Star Wars Prequel Memes
Not the video that we need but the video that we deserved.
yes
@@freddyjosereginomontalvo4667 we need it
"Please Don't"
Explaining to meme at large ruins it.
He should react about memes from the whole franchise, its what has left of it at this point.
He said often: "Missed opportunity from Obi-Wan!"
That's why he has the High Ground!
I’ve been looking forward to this
L
You wont be happy for so long, kayne. Kim has permanently called it quits.
@@Christrulesall2 aw man
This channel's powers have doubled since the last time you met
the technique used by obi wan and jinn in the first fight consumes a lot of energy with continuous attacks so they alternate so that the other can catch his breath.
in fact, after this battle, obi wan will abandon this technique to move to a more defensive one which is based on exploiting the opponent's mistakes and tiring them.
Yeah, but killing a guy from behind while he's defending against your buddy conserves WAY more energy. Because, y'know, the fight is over now instead of going on another 9 minutes.
In a fight you don't try to "conserve" energy, you try to USE it as efficiently as possible to defeat the opponent.
they should both work on their stamina then if they are exhausted and need to catch their breath after 2 sword swings lol
22:12 how you know they truly loved the Prequel trilogy.
Something important to point out about Obi-wan having the high ground is that he had thought about the battle with maul more than just about any aspect of his career as a jedi, he new every movement that happened like it was the back of his hand. He knew exactly what Anakin was about to try because he did it to maul all those years ago, and he knew how to exactly counter it, his entire fighting style was defensive (in canon maybe that is) based on his experience from that fight. So when he told Anakin it was over because he had the high ground it was because he had analyzed every possible outcome and knew exactly how to counter it
20:23
That is why Obi-Wan actually has the low ground and not the high ground, because Anakin jump over his head (Anakin has the high ground) gave Obi-Wan the advantage to cut off his limbs. 🤷♂️
He's in the air and has no support to block, not the high GROUND
Exactly Obi-Wan is master of Lower ground. Baiting enemies to try to high ground against him
Awesome to see more of Matt, he's got great insight and seems like a chill guy too. Combine that with Star Wars and we've got a great video! :)
12:50 Anakin doing this makes sense. He is a padawan after all, still learning.
To be fair, Anakin was very obvious with his high jump, with the clip of Grievous for example, he went for more of a thrust while Obi Wan jumped over him, it looked like Grievous had to adjust to the jump and react to turn around. Obi Wan in the Mustafar clip had time to patiently wait for him to jump, but that’s just my view of it.
You guys skipped the best light saber fight scene ever! Yoga vs Douku is dope as all hell! Unrealistic and amazing!
Yoda*
Lol Yoga
Did somebody say yoga!?
Grand master Yoga
@@redeyejedi17 He is focused in bending.
Interesting that he points out how Maul's reliance on flashy staff-twirls leaves him vulnerable, considering that is EXACTLY what led to both his and the Grand Inquisitor's deaths in "Star Wars: Rebels" at the hands of Obi-Wan and Kanan, respectively. For all the issues that these movies have, they do correct/fill-in the holes later on.
So the reason for the twirling and whatnot is actually due to FEELING for an opening as opposed to LOOKING for one. The whole premise is that Jedi, through the force, have a sort of precognition, some have it stronger than others (like anakin or yoda) but all jedi have it to some extent, so what's effectively happening is that all the twirls are essentially feints and redirects, where they are realizing that the attack would fail, feeling that through the force, and deciding to redirect, and FEELING for an opening, a point where things get muddied to their force-related senses and an attack could potentially land, and that's when they strike, and at THAT point it simply comes down to who has the better reactions and skills.
In particular the reason he was able to get the opening at the end, when anakin jumped, was because his emotions and arrogance were clouding his connection to the force and created an opening for obi-wan to attack, at which point anakin didn't have the force to rely on and was also in a disadvantageous position.
Most critiques on lightsaber duels are perfectly accurate for normal people using them, but for jedi using them specifically it makes sense, from a lore perspective, to be attacking predominantly through feints, redirects, and defensive motions, where every twirl was the START of an attack that they could feel, through the force, would fail, and move onto another motion, and sometimes will go through a series of many, many motions before sensing that opening (such as the standing still and twirling scene).
That exchange between anakin and obi wan where they don’t touch blades for a little bit was explained by one of the cast as a nod to how well anakin and obi wan know each other and their fighting styles
Huge factor in light saber fighting is that force users can predict/see future moves, so the e.g. pure twirling bit is them predicting each other's moves until they see a significant enough opening to try a strike.
The best part of this is that you give a nod to the fact that this is for film and therefore the flashy twirly moves aren’t practical but you acknowledge their “cool” factor
maybe Obi Wan held up in the fight due to his love towards his padawan... and that final moment he did the slash while Anakin jumped over could be because he has had enough with Anakin.
The fight between Obi-Wan and Anakin is literally the immovable object meets the irresistible force. Both their styles of fighting compliment and oppose each other. The only way a fight between them ends is if one of them makes a mistake (High Ground) or stops fighting (Death Star).
Its something a father figure always does, he had all the chances to strike but didn't. he still care for him up till the point he's done trying convince him.
They both had multiple oppurtinities to end the fight but didn't, because they don't want to kill each other; Anakin wants to assert his dominance over Obi-Wan and show Obi-Wan that he's better than him, and Obi-Wan wants to defeat Anakin so he can take him into custody even though his duty as a Jedi compels him to kill him. The acting is so brilliant here, there's barely any dialogue but you can see the point Obi-Wan decides he *must* kill Anakin; When Anakin says "This is the end for you my master." after an intense stare, Obi-Wan gives a defeated sigh and raises his lightsaber. Then the next time he has an opportunity to kill Anakin, he takes it and dismembered him.
@@freebandz4332 Anakin didn't just want to show Obi-Wan he was better, he wanted to eliminate him, because he believed Kenobi represented everything that was wrong with the Republic and the Jedi Order. He was giving it his all to kill him and vice versa. Once Obi-Wan realized their was no reasoning with Anakin, he convinced himself he had to end it for everyone's safety. He gave him one last chance to surrender at the end, but we all know how that went.
@@thewarner2139 Yes, but his personal attachment got in the way, as it does with everything. Kenobi went to Mustafar with the intent to kill him, but couldn't bring himself too when the opportunity was completely open. Anakin had opportunities to kill Kenobi and chose to just hurt him instead, for example, when Anakin kicks Obi-Wan in the face, he has lightsaber completely over Kenobi's, like it's pinned down, he could easily cut his hand off or impale him, but he chooses to boot him in the face. This is to show us he doesn't really want to kill him. Also, "Don't make me kill you" - literally expressing he doesn't wanna have to kill him.
This is the first time I've ever seen one of these IGN, Buzzfeed, etc, videos of 'expert talks about x' where they get an *actual* expert. Very well done IGN, you actually did your research on who to have on!
mentioning how mauls hands are vulnerable when he spins his lightsabers reminds me of Kanan destroying the grand inquisitors spinning blades by slicing through the handle
One of the best fight sequences was in Rebels the last fight between Obiwan as an old man and Darth Maul-it was only 3 moves in the entire fight but you have to know the history of them and you can understand the beauty of the fight.
7:39 That's exactly what Shad said. Others too. General concensus is that lightsabers should be used like rapiers for optimal effect. So it's no wonder Dooku was the best duelist of his time since Form 2 focuses on that sort of thing. Plus, Christopher Lee was a real fencer (as Matt pointed out later). So was Peter Cushing for that matter.
11:21 [insert Spaceballs reference]
In defense of 17:40, two things. 1: they were spinning it to gain more power in their swings and 2: they were trying to fake each other out. More of a Star Wars thing that makes sense in that universe then the real world.
Better excuse is that they were simply acting on practiced reflex and ended up doing the exact same flurry but from opposite sides which caused each motion to slip harmlessly throuh the other's gaurd. The moment they realized this (at the same time) then ended their flurry with a powerful strike to the center and ended up in that bind. A moment born as the result of years of fighting side-by-side.
Lightsabers cut through anything pretty much on contact, you don’t really need power in your swings it seems.
@@italianwaffle5592 in the Star Wars universe it provides more strength. More of like trying to gain momentum to strike as hard and powerfully as they can with swiftness. Like if it were to clash with another saber, if the other person weren’t doing that the swing could be so strong it could knock them off balance or push their saber back when it clashed.
The in-verse explanation for the turn-based attacks in the darth maul fight could be because obi-wan just waits until he could properly attck again and qui-gon is less of a straight up attacker, as seen when he had the opportunity he meditated so it's probably because he's trying to think for a strategy while not being useless
This was by far my favorite "Expert Reacts" expert I've seen
He’s absolutely correct. Still absolutely love these movies and these fights, and loved watching him talk about them.
22:00 okay so this one is for the edditor.
You managed to put the worst examples of what he said
1. When Greivous attacked with his 2 upper hand he couldnt sliced Obi-Wan because he was busy trying to cut him
2. Maul did try to slice Obi-Wan in half thats why he blocked
In the Maul Fight and in the Ani/Obi fight they did lift their weapons up when the opponent jumped over them. You can see the clash of their weapons, seeing as they do a flip over the top their head and weapons are closer to the enemy making it easier to block
There are times they didn't do it but some of the examples shown they actually did so maybe it's just an editing miss
Or the 'surprise' move actually worked as a surprise, and the person being jumped over didn't react quickly enough to attack up effectively. (Or they were at a disadvantage in the 'invisible' duel of their Force powers to sense their opponent's intent, and cloak their own, yadda-yadda.)
If Matt's gripe is just with the precise heights of these jumps that's an especially feeble attempt at a quibble.
It's so great seeing Matt Easton appreciated by a broader audience, and being used in programs like this.
But Darth Maul is also occasionally - actually very often - redirecting their lightsabers by sweeping one side of his double edged end over end. So I'm assuming THAT is his counter to their attacks. Like in one shot Gui Gon attacks and Darth Maul turns his lightsaber over into a more vulnerable position, by twisting his underside saber over. Surely that action is his counter to their constant offense.
Obi wan was expecting the jump in that scene, in all the other fight scenes it happened in a split second in the middle of a duel or when somone was of balance or dueling somone else while that person was jumping over
His reaction to the twirls had me in tears😂😂😂
The in universe explanation for anakin and obi wan twirling is due to the use of the force. They’ve sparred against each-other so much and the use of the force helps them predict eachothers moves to the point where they just keep predicting. However in real life yeah it doesn’t make any sense. Love the video!
@IGN. - You have to keep in mind that many of these fights incorporated an amalgamation of force powers and physical prowess. This means that most actions are theoretically negotiated much faster than the eye can see. Try analyzing these over whilst incorporating that concept in your dynamic.
Both of the opponents have that, so that doesn't change, anything.
Glad to see Matt in the video, being him on again
I'm not completely sure but when fighting Dooku, Anakin might be spinning due to the second saber being in his non dominant hand. If you don't train both equally, one might end up being only for defensive actions
to be fair, when obi wan jumped over maul's head in EP1, maul did raise his saber to strike and obi wan blocked it, which you saw him do in the video. That fight was the first fight between a jedi and sith in over 1000 years so the taking turns could be down to caution and fear. The jedi weren't even aware that siths still existed despite the short duel on tattoine. As for obi wan jumping over maul in EP1, maul did not expect it because obi wan was barely a jedi knight and not proficient in either lightsaber combat or the force itself. This surprised maul as he never expected such a move from a weak jedi like the young obi wan. As for obi wan jumping over grievious, we see grievous going for an attack and then obi wan jumps, surprising the general mid attack. That entire fight had terrible choreography unfortunately and it's sad because canon grievous is weak whereas 2003 clone wars grievous was a monster
2003 Grievous is cannon. The damage Mace did to him is also cannon.
@@90skidcultist except not really. Look how he was nerfed in the prequels. He was NEVER a threat to anyone and it was sad. He was a pure killing machine and would have taken obi wan out in seconds were it true to his cartoon abilities. Besides, Disney made it not canon in 2012
@@weavercs4014 Obi Wan is like the best duelist in the galaxy, how would grievous beat him?
@@Grivian no he's not..not at all. Lost to Maul 2 times, lost to dooku 3 times. Lost to Ventress. Grievous killed 49 Jedi in duels
@@weavercs4014 Actually, as explained in the novelization, Obi-Wan was simply Grievous's worst match-up among the Jedi Masters. Obi-Wan uses a lightsaber style focused primarily on defense, which is exactly what was needed to beat a 4-armed cyborg with mechanically enhanced reflexes but can't use the Force. Grievous's fighting style focused on overwhelming the opponent with power and speed from multiple blades (while also having superhuman agility), but Obi-Wan was able to focus on simply defending himself from all those blows at first, and when Grievous sped up his movements to where even Obi-Wan couldn't keep up, Obi-Wan countered by finding holes in Grievous's mediocre defenses and used his quick defensive parry strokes to start chopping off the hands before the extra blades could reach him.
So the super twirly bad bit mentioned at 17:25 or so actually has an in lore description. That part of the fight is where they're both trying to use the force to predict and counter each other and that twirly bit is the part where they're both responding and coming up with new responses so ridiculously fast and the force is responding faster than they can actually execute an attack physically.
Granted that's still an excuse but it's just a neat little tidbit
Ppl have no idea how cool it is that they got this guy to talk about this film
20:06 This is a happy moment. The happiest moment of my life.