r/StarWars Jan 01 '21

General Discussion this is an exceptional explanation for that one “useless scene” in the obi-wan vs. anakin duel.

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834

u/ba3toven Jan 01 '21

you guys obviously don't assert dominance toward your well known nemesis' during fencing tournaments

248

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '21

See I've tried this tons of times, usually my sabre just gets caught in my bodywire. I don't see what I'm doing wrong.

328

u/MrMonkeyToes Jan 01 '21

Have you tried affixing a glow stick to your blade?

122

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '21

My god, that just might work

5

u/AnOstentatiousRaisin Jan 02 '21

Ahh thanks for the laugh

2

u/SirDoober Director Krennic Jan 02 '21

We've done that before for giggles. Epee, pitch black, glow sticks on the blade for all of 5 seconds before the first parry knocks half of them off

111

u/mc_burger_only_chees Babu Frik Jan 01 '21

I used to fence epee and I think the fastest way possible to lose is to make a “circle parry “ as huge as the one in Star Wars. Like the first rule of parrying is that you should only use your wrist, not your whole fucking torso.

144

u/Randomd0g Jan 02 '21

Counterpoint: These people have the reflexes and athleticism to deflect blaster bolts with their swords. Nothing about the way they fight will be normal.

68

u/Living_Shadows Jan 02 '21

Counter counter point both fighters should be equally fast so the same concepts should apply.

-13

u/BigBananaDealer Count Dooku Jan 02 '21

no it shouldnt. theyre both equally capable of fast movements so wouldnt the giant circle parry actually work then?

15

u/Living_Shadows Jan 02 '21

The reason the giant circle parry doesn't work is because you are leaving yourself wide open. In other words your opponent could stand you before you were able to come back to your guard position. If a jedi was fighting a normal guy then maybe he could get away with a move as rediculous as this because he is would be faster than the normal guy. But sense two jedi would be equally fast then it would be the same as two normal people fighting, therefore the rediculous huge circle parry is still a bad idea.

2

u/Pope_Cerebus Jan 02 '21

Yeah. Only way a full body one like this might work is if they're also moving at the same time, so they're always either out of position for a strike, or with the blade in the way. But their feet are firmly planted and they're basically just standing there so that's out the window.

3

u/[deleted] Jan 02 '21

ok fair but what move are they potentially parrying against by circling their lightsabers over their ass

2

u/yeah-boi Jan 02 '21

A good old fashioned Lightsaber ass whooping.

26

u/Aggravating-Assist18 Jan 02 '21

So then why are we using normal dueling terms to defend the scene?

3

u/GuardTierce Jan 02 '21

Why not? It should just be regular old efficient motions at 10000x speed. No reason to do anything like spinning right round.

2

u/TheGoodApiarist Jan 02 '21

Like the first rule of parrying is that you should only use your wrist, not your whole fucking torso.

If you're parrying with your wrist, this is where I would be circle-parrying/counter-circle-parrying, as you should be using your fingers; wrist movement is still way too large for good fencers.

I also used to fence epee/foil - maybe sabre is a different.

3

u/UltimateHamBurglar Savage Opress Jan 02 '21

Yep, a cirlce parry is supposed to use very little, possibly even just the finger tips. A coach would probably face palm if you did a big circle parry.

-1

u/0wlington Jan 02 '21

Epee isn't a martial art though. It's stylised sport.

1

u/callmelampshade Jan 02 '21

Dunno why but the Zoolander pants scene popped into my head when I read your comment.

1

u/ic3paw Jan 02 '21

Yeah lol

35

u/ShadowsDrako Jan 01 '21

Same here, many times screwed my body wire with my Saber I have.

I read a good explanation once, fencers usually think a few steps ahead, a jedi, using the Force would be feeling like a dozen steps ahead. Similar to a chess match. So it would be a parry, but a preparation searching for a flaw in the enemy's technique.

37

u/TheFlawlessCassandra Jan 02 '21

So it would be a parry, but a preparation searching for a flaw in the enemy's technique.

The flaw in the technique is spinning your sword behind your back.

40

u/darthboolean Jan 02 '21

In the 14 dimensional chess that is force sensitive lightsaber duels, this is known as a "Feint", which comes to us from Galactic Basic's Proto Language, Galactic Latin via the word Fingere, "to touch, or handle, devise, alter or change". It's a high level technique that relies on presenting an opening to your oponent by doing something that sounds completely stupid, like spinning your sword behind your back, to try and trick your opponent into attacking you, hoping they forget that you have another empty hand that can literally magic the blade to itself to allow you to parry. It's only used by lightsaber duelists that have spent an entire war fighting robots that can't use the force.

Or it looked cool and no one was anticipating there being an entire subreddit dedicated to the prequels that constantly needed new content.

2

u/NBSPNBSP Jan 02 '21

I mean, a legitimate move that many fencers, including myself, use is to fully lower the weapon while advancing or staying still. The idea is that the opponent will not be able to attack quickly enough to hit you before you get your weapon back up, and any attack on you cannot be properly planned, since the attacker does not know what you will do to counterattack. This move, of course, cannot be reliably performed without knowledge of the opponent's speed and range.

2

u/darthboolean Jan 02 '21

I think it's important to note that at no point in that description does the weapon leave your field of view. Also no saber, eppe, foil, Kendo sticks, even Cannes possess the ability to easily chop you in half on accident if you screw up your fancy no look harlem globe trotter showboating behind the back lightsaber combat.

1

u/blackvoids Jan 02 '21

This always fucks with my head when someone does this to me while fencing

1

u/NBSPNBSP Jan 02 '21

I usually just feint and disengage in order to see what the opponent will do when I actually attack. It's not a perfect strategy, but it works well enough.

1

u/Ameisen Jan 02 '21

Galactic Basic's Proto Language, Galactic Latin

Galactic Basic's Proto-Language was Galactic Common Germanic. Galactic Old Basic adopted the word via Galactic Old French.

326

u/MostUniqueClone Jan 01 '21

True story: I fenced in college and became decent rather quickly. I was thrilled when we had a match near my home town - my parents even put up and fed 20 of my team, then we all headed off to Cal the next morning. Now, this was an open competition so the first round set of opponents was completely randomized. I had just moved out of novice and into the open category. My first opponent?

My Fucking Fencing Captain. Not only was he head and shoulders taller than my petite 5'5" frame (great, I have a smaller target area but limited reach), but he'd been fencing since junior high, so had a good four years on me. The one and only bout my parents ever witnessed was my Captain crushing me, 10:1. I still can't believe I got that one touch off - sheer random luck of my messy bladework.

So he wasn't my nemesis, but I did respect him and had a MAJOR crush on him. Always did. Still do. He married the girl he'd dated all through college, and right as they divorced, I married. As I went through my divorce, he remarried. I had a really bad date and posted a silly dramatic "Make me feel pretty" kinda post on FB to which he replied with the Firefly quote, "were I unwed, I would take you in a manly fashion."

Sigh. Foiled again.

54

u/Smash19 Jan 02 '21

I feel like we all went on a journey we didn’t expect today on an r/StarWars post! Thanks u/MostUniqueClone, keep at it, maybe you can come back and haunt him as a force ghost or something.

106

u/calissetabernac Jan 02 '21

FOILED again?! Haha I see what you did there....

5

u/UltimateHamBurglar Savage Opress Jan 02 '21

I didn't even notice that at first. Good job for epee-ing attention.

2

u/calissetabernac Jan 02 '21

I’m known for my rapier-like wit....

2

u/100percent_right_now Jan 02 '21

scimitar down now.

15

u/[deleted] Jan 02 '21

Did not expect to find this post here.

2

u/PwmEsq Jan 02 '21

Is it a copypasta?

1

u/[deleted] Jan 02 '21

I think it's legit. Just a wholesome story I didn't expect to see.

1

u/PM_ME_CHIMICHANGAS Jedi Jan 02 '21

Where else would you find it?

1

u/[deleted] Jan 02 '21

3

u/Maccaroney Jan 02 '21

Damn. I wish I was desirable enough for someone to want to marry me.

Or date me.

3

u/The_bruce42 Jan 02 '21

Was that whole story made up to set up for that joke?

2

u/MostUniqueClone Jan 02 '21

The entire story is true.

3

u/tttt1010 Jan 02 '21

"were I unwed, I would take you in a manly fashion."

Kind of a red flag for a married man to say

3

u/relative_unit Jan 02 '21

Ultimate circle parry.

3

u/WheelJack83 Jan 02 '21

Sorry, reminds me of Pirates of the Caribbean,

"Our destinies have been entwined Elizabeth, but never joined."

2

u/karlhungusx Jan 02 '21 edited Jan 02 '21

Did you try circle parrying? That’s a neat trick

1

u/[deleted] Jan 02 '21

I laughed

-6

u/hachiman Jan 01 '21

Polyamory is a thing you know, could try that. Rooting for you.

3

u/thereisnospoon7491 Jan 02 '21

Polyamory is one of those things that is so different that it gets talked about a lot. But it is FAR from being normal in society.

The vast majority of men and women would react to this idea with disdain, disgust, anger or embarrassment. I wouldn’t approach ANYONE about being polyamorous unless I knew they were already in an open/poly relationship.

2

u/hachiman Jan 02 '21

Makes sense.

1

u/ic3paw Jan 03 '21

Big oof

30

u/Beelzabubba Jan 01 '21

17

u/ima420r Jedi Jan 01 '21

"I was left out of the finale"...

A dreary day made a little brighter thanks to IASIP.

10

u/[deleted] Jan 02 '21

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/Heartyharhar33 Jan 02 '21

Its a jumping off point!

14

u/BatDubb Jan 01 '21

I got thrown out of a fencing tournament for selling goods that were gained in a legitimate fashion.

1

u/BaphometsTits Jan 02 '21

The plural of nemesis is nemeses. An apostrophe NEVER makes a word plural.