Mace near NJO Luke? No...
Luke with a FLIC OF HIS WRIST destroyed a droid army, in DE! And Mace used the force for most of that battle, and his punches are either, a) Overrated, since he could punch through durasteel but not human flesh.
b) Affected by the force, meaning he did literally what we see him do on about 3 locations during that fight. Pushing at the same time he is striking....
Mace is still not near the level of NJO Luke, in either speed or skill. He took out a much better lightsaber duelling Sidious by the time of DE, where he only has more than a decade of traning, while Mace stalemated Sidious in a saber duel, but won through Shatterpoint....
Even though Luke might have been powered by Leia, as said before it couldn't have been very much, and by DE, Luke is not even near the power of NJO, since Luke has had many, many years to practise in...
Luke could for example move so fast he wasn't visible, his lightsaber looked like twenty, take out damn good saber duellists such as fighting and defeating Lomi Plo and Raynar at the same time, defeating DE Sidious, an army of Vong and 5 slayers (or 7, don't remember), and Darth Vader with only 6 months of traning. (Who by himself was better than most jedi masters of the PT).
His lightsaber never looked like twenty. He moved fast, I'll give him that, but that was only hard for people to see. Luke actually destroyed things ALL OVER A ROOM at the same time, while Mace was only punching really fast.
And Mace could only stalemate a weaker Sidious in pure saber combat, while Luke defeated a much stronger Sidious in a much weaker state than Luke was in NJO, much weaker.
Luke with a FLIC OF HIS WRIST destroyed a droid army, in DE!
And Mace used the force for most of that battle
and his punches are either, a) Overrated, since he could punch through durasteel but not human flesh.
He took out a much better lightsaber duelling Sidious by the time of DE, where he only has more than a decade of traning, while Mace stalemated Sidious in a saber duel, but won through Shatterpoint....
Luke could for example move so fast he wasn't visible, his lightsaber looked like twenty, take out damn good saber duellists such as fighting and defeating Lomi Plo and Raynar at the same time, defeating DE Sidious, an army of Vong and 5 slayers (or 7, don't remember), and Darth Vader with only 6 months of traning. (Who by himself was better than most jedi masters of the PT).
Originally posted by darthsith19
As for Luke with six months of training beating Vader, he had 3 years of training and he only won cause Vader wasn't trying to hurt Luke. In a real fight Luke would have been dead.
From the ROTJ novelization:
"His anger was layered, now - he did not want to win if the boy was not battling to the fullest. But if winning meant he had to kill a boy who wouldn't fight... then he could do that, too. Only he wanted Luke to be aware of those consequences. He wanted Luke to know this was no longer just a game. This was Darkness."
^
This is when Luke kicks the shit out of Vader, and he falls down some stairs, I believe (I had the quotes saved up for a day like this). He wasn't trying to hurt him, but he was willing to kill him? Makes sense.
Oh, wait. Nevermind.
"This accusation really made Vader angry. He could tolerate much from the insolent child, but this was insufferable. He must teach this boy a lesson he would never forget, or die learning."
^
This is when Luke accuses Vader of actually having a conflict within him. Obviously, he was willing to kill Luke. And Vader didn't just let Luke take strike out hits at him, Vader actually was trying to block the entire time. The novelization also comments on the fact that:
"The gladiators battled fiercely, sparks flying from the clash of their radiant weapons, but it was soon evident that the advantage was all Luke's. And he was pressing it."
Even if you want to take the premise Vader wasn't going all out, still impressive considering Vader wasn't just letting Luke kick his metallic ass all over the place. And Vader also realizes that Luke is "stronger than he imagined" and "powerful". So, it is obvious that Luke improved immensely - or at least more than expected - since their duel on Cloud City.
From the ROTJ novelization:"His anger was layered, now - he did not want to win if the boy was not battling to the fullest. But if winning meant he had to kill a boy who wouldn't fight... then he could do that, too. Only he wanted Luke to be aware of those consequences. He wanted Luke to know this was no longer just a game. This was Darkness."
^
This is when Luke kicks the shit out of Vader, and he falls down some stairs, I believe (I had the quotes saved up for a day like this). He wasn't trying to hurt him, but he was willing to kill him? Makes sense.
"This accusation really made Vader angry. He could tolerate much from the insolent child, but this was insufferable. He must teach this boy a lesson he would never forget, or die learning."^
This is when Luke accuses Vader of actually having a conflict within him. Obviously, he was willing to kill Luke. And Vader didn't just let Luke take strike out hits at him, Vader actually was trying to block the entire time. The novelization also comments on the fact that:
"The gladiators battled fiercely, sparks flying from the clash of their radiant weapons, but it was soon evident that the advantage was all Luke's. And he was pressing it."Even if you want to take the premise Vader wasn't going all out, still impressive considering Vader wasn't just letting Luke kick his metallic ass all over the place. And Vader also realizes that Luke is "stronger than he imagined" and "powerful". So, it is obvious that Luke improved immensely - or at least more than expected - since their duel on Cloud City.