Just how strong are lightsabre's?
We see powerful scene's where Qui Gon is cutting through a blast door with his lightsabre and doing so with ease, but then there's the scene where Luke fight's darth and his lightsabre hit's darth on the arm and doesn't really do anything to him (and I think that bit of his arm wasn't even metal, it was just flesh). So I'm just wondering how powerful is a lightsabre?
Vader's shoulder hit was just a glancing blow.
Actually I think that blow was the reason Vader's armor changed in TESB to add the shoulder pads! (In ANH, he's just got the front breastbone cover down to all the red & green buttons... I think those ANH Vader shoulders are actually David Prowse's.)
It wouldn't make much sense for a glancing blow to make a direct hit on the shoulders and not lose an arm, so Lucas added the big black shoulder pads to the Vader suit.
Funny, the ROTS Vader *has* the shoulder pads.
A) I think that a lightsaber can cut through nearly anything (not other lightsabers and not the staffs of General Grievious's Bodyguards)
B) There has always been a debate about the fact that Luke only nicked him. The best explaination I've ever heard was that Luke wasn't expecting to hit him so easily so he was already swinging back ready to block Vader's counter attack. Plus, he didn't have all his strength in it because he was too tired probably already- considering he wasn't even a real Jedi. Qui-Gon had to use a lot of strength to thrust it into the blast doors. I think that strength of the user is just as important as the strength of the saber.
And to be honest, it IS a plot hole I think. But hey, if that's the only thing that stinks about that fight that's okay- at least compared to the mild conversation called "The Episode IV Duel". That was pathetic!
The strength of a lightsaber can be adjusted. I'm guessing that Jedi use a low to medium intensity adjustment for combat, because the highest setting would be dangerous to even keep the blade near you. However, the highest setting is useful for cutting down strong doors, like Qui-Gon does in TPM or Exar Kun does in Tales of the Sith Lords.
I'm not exactly sure about how a lightsaber works, but this is from www.starwars.com
Once unleashed, the power channels through a positively charged continuous energy lens at the center of the handle. The beam then arcs circumferentially back to a negatively charged high energy flux aperture. A superconductor transfers the power from the flux aperture to the power cell. As a result, a lightsaber only expends power when its blade cuts through something. So efficient is the blade, that it does not radiate heat unless it comes into contact with something.
Anyway, yeah the blade probably only glanced Vader's suit, which was padded and probably cortis lined. It was probably made like this for Vader to hunt down the remaining Jedi with high degree of protection.
Would have been funny if Luke just chopped Vader right across and the movie ended right there haha.
I just like that scene, regardless of the flaw.
The bit where Luke nicks Vader tells us a lot about the situation: Vader let his guard down and Luke capitalises, only for Vader to get pissed right off and ends the game quickly.
I also thinkthe so-called "crappy" choreography in that scene makes it look more like a fight that is actually happening, rather than a special choregraphed dance (like the PTs fights). I'd rather have Luke do a dodgy sabre blow than watch him do some camp twirl and a backflip. The fight is raw, and it's part of its charm.
I like the idea Luke was already on the dodge before he cut any further into Vader. If Luke didn't swing back and defend, Vader would have hit him just as he'd kill Vader, meaning they'd both likely be dead.
It's also just a fight. The meaning and emotion of that fight, what that scene is ultimately telling us about the situation is ten times more important than the accuracy of the "physics" at play there, despite the fact lightsabers can cut anything apart from another saber or equivalent type of energy (Grievous' guard staffs).
Cortosis is also a load of bullshit.
I like ANH's fight.
But whilst I appreicate the emotion in the ESB fight, it looked like two people swinging baseball bats at each other. I can't begin to compare it to the very high quality design and execution of the PT fights.
Luke was meant to nick Vader ever so slightly. At no point was it meant to look like Vader was going to lose his arm (and it is only repeated analysis since it came out on video that has given the game away there). Vader's armour is rather obviously not sabre resistant, to judge by ROTJ, where it didn;t even slow Luke down.