Obi-Wan's fighting stance ROTS

[Solinbeb Newau]

I think Liam Neeson was using that stance when teaching Olrando Bloom to fight in "Kingdom of Heaven" as well...

[jayden]

obi wan originally used form 1 of the lightsabers styles. in ep2 he used more of form 3. as it looks in ep3 he is using forms 1 and 3 together to make his own unique style. like mace windu being the only master/creater of form 7 lightsaber style vapaad.

[tanzanlinnear]

jayden said:

obi wan originally used form 1 of the lightsabers styles.

? ? ? No he didn't. Obi-Wan used to use Form IV, until he saw Qui-Gon get killed, and realized that it didn't offer much defense, so he then switched to Form III. That is the form he used through Ep II and III

[Primrodo]

gah...Visual Dictionary made up stuff... Even Gillard had to cater for stuff for teh DVD with "levels"

There is no Form fighting...no more than a screw head is a low power pulse indicator...

[Leda EmBorr]

Yeah, I noticed that. You remember what he said at CIII in one of his panels--- someone asked if he invented the 7 forms of lightsaber fighting and he said "Huh? I don't know what those are."

Forms are definitely an EU thing. Not a bad thing, just an EU thing. It's neat how game designers and authors and artists expand on the movies and the movies, in turn, incorporate bits of creativity from the EU.

[Ani-Chay Pinn]

The movies seem to only sample little bits from the EU, nothing major or obvious. But about the forms...the games/book/comics have been feeding off of each other for awhile and it's hard to tell without a lot of cross-checking where any idea came from. I guess the lightsaber forms came from the games?

There's nothing in the movies to indicate that Jedi have any fighting 'forms' though it's a reasonable idea. And lacking any other sources the EU is as good a place as any. But I wonder what will come up the the expected cartoon and TV show? If there are any Jedi in it, I wonder what would be changed or sampled from the EU?

[tanzanlinnear]

primrodo said:

gah...Visual Dictionary made up stuff... Even Gillard had to cater for stuff for teh DVD with "levels"

There is no Form fighting...no more than a screw head is a low power pulse indicator...

Okay, so the Forms might not be mentioned by name in the movies, but (and this is a Big But) it's pretty easy to distinguish between the different fighting styles of the actors, it's only natural that the EU would give names to those styles, even if that wasn't Nick Gillard's initial intention...

[himiko sabbrawrra]

I wish the movies went onto detailabout mentioning about the ofrms an ther meanings.

[Tolif Espen]

Yes, every time Obi-wan uses that stance I expect him to flex his fingers like Neo's Kung Fu signal of preparedness.

Han Solo used to be my favorite SW character, but after watching Ewan in the prequels and thinking about Obi-wan's arc over the entire saga, he usurped Han and cemented himself as my fav.

Still... it's hard to beat Harrison Ford's performance in Empire, but that has nothing to do with this thread.

[kivaanzion]

I have to agree that it is more of a taunt than anything else. It is a dare for his opponent to attack.

Funny enough, the stance is nothing new. A slight variation of it was seen in the martial arts movie "The Hunted" (a contemporary Samurai vs Ninjas movie from 1995).

I apologize for the incredibly poor quality of these pictures- I only have The Hunted on VHS, so I'm taking pictures of my tv screen with my digital camera.







The difference being the sword is held up behind the back of the fighter, rather than over his head, but you get the idea.

[Seda Navilli]

Am I the only one that was reminded of Neo from the Matrix?



Its probably inspired from a number of sources though...

[Aston Jor-Cello]

I think that the reason he did that against Grevious was to wholly prepare himself for the fight. If you notice, when he and Anakin fought Dooku, he didn't make that stance, or when he fought Anakin alone, on Mustafar.

This is what www.answers.com says about his style: "Form III: Soresu

Obi-Wan Kenobi, who was acknowledged by Mace Windu as "the Soresu master"Form III, the most defensive of all of the forms, was developed to counteract the advancing blaster technology throughout the galaxy. Most opponents that the Jedi faced during the prequel era carried blasters. Soresu utilizes motions occurring very close to the body to achieve near-total protection, efficiently expending as little energy as possible to execute these moves. This technique exposes as few target zones on the body as possible, making a well-trained practitioner nearly invincible. It borrows movements from Kendo, Wushu and Fencing, making it a very beautiful and graceful form. After Darth Maul's defeat on Naboo, Obi-Wan Kenobi decided to perfect his practice of Soresu since Qui-Gon Jinn, Kenobi's mentor and Form IV Ataru master, fell against Darth Maul. By the time of Revenge of The Sith, Obi-Wan Kenobi is acknowledged as The Master of Soresu, granted by Mace Windu in the novelization.

Unlike Form II combat, which was developed to work against another lightsaber, Form III was most effective in anticipating and deflecting blaster fire. It stressed quick reflexes and fast positional transition, in order to overcome the rapidity with which a blaster could be fired. It was essentially a defensive technique, emphasizing the non-aggressive Jedi philosophy while reducing the exposed areas of their bodies. In the wake of the death of Qui-Gon Jinn at the hands of Darth Maul, many Jedi turned away from the Form IV style of open, acrobatic fighting and took up Form III in order to minimize the risk of injury or death at the hands of an opportunistic opponent.

Though initially developed to deflect blaster fire, Soresu, if perfectly mastered, could act as a defense to any type of attack, including that of a lightsaber. Obi-Wan's performance of Soresu in Episode III is the prime example of the form.

Practitioners of Soresu comfortably remain on the defensive until their opponents make a mistake; only then do they strike offensively. It focuses heavily on counterattack and defensive strikes - there are no preemptive strikes in the form. Soresu can best be described as a passive form and one to be used by Masters who are extremely patient and passive. Soresu users do not wish to fight, or harm. Even during a fight they prefer to remain on the defensive, and they will strike only when absolutely necessary, or if their opponent drops his guard during battle. Luminara Unduli and Barriss Offee are also proficient in this form.

Known practitioners: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Barriss Offee, Luminara Unduli

For more info on the 7 styles: www.answers.com/topic/lightsaber-combat?hl=lightsaber&hl=forms

I don't how much of the info is accurate, but still it is good reading material.

[jedi12]

I agree it is very good reading,thanks for putting it up Aston

[Aston Jor-Cello]

No prob!

[Drago Lørdist]

I was about to bring up the forms as well - mace windu uses form 7 ( aka: vaapad - my favorite lol) which is the most agressive form and requires a full submersion into the force. I think it may have been something he picked up from mace. it would make sense that the jedi would quickly have to start learning from eachother...