Happy Star Wars Day to all, although I’d argue that all of May can be considered Star Wars MONTH. There are many fans of the franchise celebrating one of the greatest and most iconic franchises in media history. The fans have different opinions of certain timelines of the story depending on which era they grew up with.
I know some people that may love or hate Rey from the sequel trilogy, there are some that say the originals are the best movies, but a lot seem to agree…they hate Jar-Jar. But the thing fans love is a good lightsaber duel. There seems to be an endless debate about which were good and which were great. As a Star Wars fan that loves every inch of the franchise, I have my own list of favorite lightsaber duels
5) OBI-WAN KENOBI VS GENERAL GRIEVOUS (STAR WARS EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH)
Now there might be some bias on my part as General Grievous is one of my favorite characters of the franchise. However, this was a pretty great duel, and it looks like the iconic Obi-Wan Kenobi is in over his head this time. Not only is Grievous much bigger than him…but he also has four arms! This was a first for Star Wars fans at the time and it looked like Grievous had a clear advantage. However, Obi-Wan used his intelligence to dismantle the wicked Droid leader.
4) REY VS KYLO REN (STAR WARS EPISODE VII: THE FORCE AWAKENS)
Alright, there is more bias to this pick, I will admit. Besides Grievous, Rey is one of my favorite characters. Rey and Kylo Ren had several duels in the sequel trilogy, so it was difficult to pick one. I liked them all, but I chose the first one because of one crucial factor. At this point in the story, Rey had never used a lightsaber and had just barely realized she could use the Force. She was up against an opponent who was trained from a young age to use the Force, including by his Uncle Luke Skywalker. Despite all of that, Rey still beat him. It had that David vs Goliath feel to it that should be inspiring to anyone whether they are fans of Star Wars or not.
3) OBI-WAN KENOBI VS DARTH VADER (STAR WARS: OBI-WAN KENOBI PART VI)
This fight didn’t happen in a movie; it was in a Disney+ miniseries that was set ten years after the events of Revenge of the Sith. Obi-Wan confronts his former apprentice turned Sith Lord, Darth Vader, in an epic rematch. The duel showed neither character lost their touch (even though it took Obi-Wan the entire series to reconnect to the Force), and Vader still having a lot of anger in him. It was epic and pretty thrilling, and it was definitely a bridge between their encounters in Episodes 3 and 4.
2) AHSOKA TANO VS DARTH MAUL (STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS SEASON 7)
Now, why am I ranking a lightsaber duel in a cartoon so high? Well, it’s for two reasons. One is the story behind it. Ahsoka Tano, who turned away from the Jedi Order, is reminded of the principles that the Jedi when she goes up against Darth Maul on the planet Mandalore. The second is because of the technology behind it. This wasn’t animators recreating a lightsaber duel, this was motion capture between two skilled stunt performers. Lauren Mary Kim preformed the actions of Ahsoka while Maul’s actions were recorded with Ray Park, the original actor that portrayed Maul in Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Those alone are why I am so high on this duel.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
There is a TON of duels that didn’t make the list, but I tried to limit myself to my top five. I wanted to put in one of the duels that Luke Skywalker had with his father, Darth Vader, so bad it hurt that none of them could make the list. I also could have included any of the other duels between Rey and Kylo Ren. There are even some fights with Darth Sidious I could have included, like his duel with either Mace Windu or his later one with Yoda.
Now you might be wondering why I didn’t include any of the fights with Obi-Wan and Anakin against Count Dooku, or even the fight from Episode I: The Phantom Menace with Obi-Wan and his master, Qui-Gon, against Maul. Well, I’d argue those are lightsaber FIGHTS, not DUELS. A duel is obviously between two people. So, while those are great fights, they were NOT a duel. So, what is my number one duel then?
1) OBI-WAN KENOBI VS ANAKIN SKYWALKER (STAR WARS EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH)
You know, looking at this list, you would think that Obi-Wan is my favorite character. He’s not my all-time favorite; he was just in a lot of great duels. This had to be the most epic duel I ever saw in the theater, and not just because of the fact they were on a volcano planet. Obi-Wan was fighting for Anakin’s sake before he could fully devote himself to the Sith and become the infamous Darth Vader. The words they have for each other cut almost as deep as any lightsaber. These two were brothers until Anakin fell to the dark side, and then it became a duel to the death. It was a fitting fight that led to the origin of the one of the most, if not the most, famous villains in cinematic history.
And with that, Happy Star Wars Day to you all!
