by Wayne Reeves

Created on: February 19, 2008

Harnessing the true power of the dark side of the force, Darth Vader was unsurpassed in his ability with the lightsaber. In the 'Return of the Jedi' film, emotions would ultimately get the better of him (the father and son confrontation in the throne room between Vader and Luke Skywalker). Lord Vader used experience, anticipation and guile to overcome his opponent, this compensated for any apparent lack of speed on his part.

In the new episodes, lightsaber duels were realized in a faster, more athletic approach, speed was a key factor here. The new Sith apprentice, Darth Maul, was a skilled lightsaber user, incorporating a double-edged blade with martial arts style body movement; this new style of fighting was a common theme throughout 'The Phantom Menace', 'Attack of the Clones' and 'Revenge of the Sith' films.

Anakin Skywalker trained in a similar way before becoming Darth Vader, speed combined with technique, but also coupled with a confident arrogance that he was one of the best. That is where the Sith are flawed, they believe they cannot be beaten under any circumstances and the dark side will prevail over everything else.

Vader's intuition in battle was always strong, almost always one step ahead of his adversary, this was witnessed in his confrontation with Obi-wan Kenobi on the Death Star in 'Star Wars'. Not only did he sense Ben on the station, he knew that he'd be facing his old master there as well. The battle itself was a master class in understatement, two colossal powers of the 'force' going head-to-head. Each strike in the battle was a carefully placed attack, both Vader and Obi-wan using their experience with the saber to get the most out each offensive move with minimum effort.

Their abilities were unquestioned, youngsters such as Darth Maul would be appear to be reckless in comparison, using over-elaborate attacks and wasting energy crucial in a battle situation. Maul succumbed to Obi-wan at the end of 'The Phantom Menace', again through over-confidence, all his training and undoubted abilities came undone in that last battle.

Vader was credited with being one of the very best students of the dark side, rising up to become one of the key figure-heads of the Empire. He repressed his past and his emotions to the very end, Maul on the other hand appeared to relish the position he held, getting swept up in all the propaganda of the Sith and doing whatever he was told without question.

Darth Vader was the epitome of the dark side, fueled by hate and rage of what happened to him in the past, he learned to channel those feelings into becoming the most feared Sith lord the Empire would ever know, and probably the best student of the lightsaber there was.

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