Sidious vs. Yoda/Mace- Conclusion/rematch?
I know that this has been probably done a million times already here (forgive my lack of experience. I'm not new to Star Wars, but new on this forum...), but I feel inclinded to post my opinion on the very controversial subject of Sidious vs. Mace and Sidious vs. Yoda- please, feel free to go aheead and debate with me on this argument, and add your opinions, please ^^.
Mace vs. Sidious- I think this is probably easier to conclude than Sidious vs. Yoda, but not the way most people see it likely. It's true, Mace appeared to win the fight, but I personally hold the opinion that Sidious purposefully threw the fight against Mace. Now, to my reasons:
At the beginning, there is the matter of Sidious "lashing out with blinding speed" against the four Jedi Masters who came to confront him... aside from the thing that Sidious pwned two of them before they could move and subsequently beat the third one after him blocking about three of his strikes, I would say that the scene is supposed to give us the first impression as to Sidious' power. Also, there is the matter of confidence here... Sidious was a planner. A mastermind. Naturally, if he would engage in a fight when he was unsure of the outcome, he would not fight at all... now, as Windu himself acknowledged, Sidious has complete control of the courts and the senate. Wouldn't it be simpler, if he could not defeat the jedi masters, to simply come quietly and worm himself out of the situation? As such, by actually lunging at them in that matter, he shows that he's not afraid to get killed.
After pwning the B-Team, Sidious moves on to dueling the man himself- Master Windu, and in the beginning, middle, and towards the end, Sidious' moves are done in an offensive manner, and has shown himself to overpower Windu (note: Windu fights aggressively, and so does Sidious... a good indication of the superiority of one of the combatants in an aggressive vs. aggressive fight is to see who actually has the offense), forcing him back and controlling the duel, as some would say. Moving on, suddenly, after a burst of force, pushing Mace back (I would have said that if the offense continued, Sidious would've gotten through Windu's defenses and down goes the jedi master), Sidious' speed (as clarified by the novel) suddenly dropped, and he stopped fighting as seriously, instead just defending against Windu's blows. Is that due to Windu overpowering Sidious, or due a purposeful bluff? I would say it's the latter- I simply find it odd that someone would be completely dominating a fight, and then suddenly lose power and get thrown back.
Anakin's arrival- either Sidious is one lucky bastard, or there is the thing that he is constantly 'saved' due to being 'lucky' on several occasions- if Sidious had lost thirty seconds before that, he would've been killed by Windu. Thirty seconds later- and Anakin would see his 'friend' trying to kill Master Windu, and the 'weak old man' thing would've been destroyed. Now then, the matter of Sidious suffering a kick to the face, something that seems unnecessary, is many times misunderstood. Some people think that 'letting someone win' is purposefully letting them strike the finishing blow. No, Sidious did not underestimate Mace, he knew that if he fought to a lower extent than his true capacity, someone as skilled as Mace would likely take advantage of that and win. And as the window shattering would provide and opportunity for Mace to relive Sidious of his lightsaber, Sidious knew that at about the time Anakin would come, Windu would've taken advantage of his superior position and would've beaten Sidious.
Sidious vs. Yoda- Overall, this is a much more complicated manner than the previous fight, due to the odd end which some can perceive to be a weird tie. Thus, we have to actually take a look at the FIGHT, rather than it's conclusion. So, a close look at the fight is necessary. Like the previous argument, I would break it down into parts, so as to better clarify my points.
The beginning of the battle is the 'little green friend' thing, Sidious frying Yoda and then taking a flight across the room. Now, this part actually shows Sidious more powerful. Sidious threw lightning at Yoda, and the force of the lightning was so powerful it KNOCKED YODA OUT. Did we ever see lightning doing that? No. Even when he used it against look in Ep 6, when Luke was wreathing with extreme pain, he was not knocked out (if briefly) by its power. I think Sidious could've continued the assault which would've led to Yoda's death, but, unfortunately, Sidious did not do it because of hubris and arrogance... instead of killing Yoda, he chose to gloat and laugh back. Now, Yoda got up, and pushed Sidious; Sidious flew a farther distance, true, but... Sidious got up effortlessly, and I don't remember him showing much pain as he did, simply getting up slowly and locking at Yoda. So yeah; Sidious, although he was probably hurt by the crash, was not hurt nearly as much as Yoda was by the lightning.
One could say Lightning is an intended-kill power, while push is merely means of knocking someone away, however, we've seen pushes capable of ripping someone apart and causing skeletal fragmentations, etc... and I believe that Yoda, the greatest jedi in the Order, would've honed his Force Push to the highest extent, as it was his only offensive weapon. Moving on.
Next came the lightsaber fight... in this, I would have to say that it was a stalemate, although Sidious actually appeared to be dominant, contradictory to common belief. Why is that? Because, Sidious was the one on the offensive, Yoda on the defensive... if you would closely monitor the fight, you would see that specifically in the parts that we saw well (meaning, not the far-away view... although we see Yoda launching two attacks against Sidious then, I doubt that this would compare to the attacks Sidious launched at him), you would see Sidious launching hundreds of attacks and still remaining in the same place, rather than Yoda, who was jumping around like a drunk muppet, attempting to block all of Sidious' attacks and overwhelm him with speed of movement... this already proves that Sidious was the one dominant in the fight. If one would say that the one would blocked all of the attacks was dominant, it would be like saying that Obi-Wan dominated the fight against Anakin. And Obi-Wan has more credibility, since unlike Yoda, he fights with a defensive style, while Yoda's style of choice is completely offensive. As such, Yoda's small size was actually an advantage there, as catching him with a blade would be tougher. I would say Sidious' speed of attacks is greater, but Yoda's movement is better and faster, as characteristic of his style. It's true Yoda ended the saberlocks, but if someone who threw saberlocks was automatically the better combatant, then Anakin would be the best saber duelist in the order.
A lot of people seem to think that Yoda disarmed Sidious. Somehow, I doubt that it was the result, as Yoda, who can move faster than Sidious (at least at the beginning of the fight), would probably catch him and kill him if he was disarmed. Think about; your opponent's weapon is down, he is in front of you... all Yoda needed was a quickly-timed strike and Sidious would've been killed. But that didn't happen, did it? More likely, Sidious understood that defeating Yoda in lightsaber combat would be more difficult than the alternative (they're probably dead equals in lightsaber combat), so he used the high ground to gain a TACTICAL ADVANTAGE. Using a tactical advantage, my friends, does not mean that you can't win without it- it just makes winning easier.
The force fight, later on, was also very similar in their strength... Sidious hurling pods at Yoda was a demonstration of Sidious' immense power and dominancy... the pods were thrown quickly and decisively, using powerful TK skills. Also, it requires SOME power to rip a pod from it's probable extemely strong metal attachment. Keeping them above his head effortlessly, Sidious rained downs pods on poor Yoda, who could dodge them, but, ultimately, I think Sidious' intention was more to demoralize Yoda than kill him... he knew that Yoda was extremely fast and agile, thanks to the force, so it was merely a tactic of destroying Yoda mentally. It didn't work- Yoda grabbed a pod and launched it back at Sidious, into the air, defying gravity... that does not make him superior to Sidious. Sidious hurled down more than one pod efforlessly, ripping them from powerful metal and holding them above his head, a defiance of gravity. Instead of blocking it, Sidious chose to jump, which would be easier. A lot easier.
Now then, taking a moment to check to see where Yoda is, Sidious saw him and launched lightning at him, knocking his saber away. Here comes the force struggle- Sidious was, at first, overpowering Yoda completely and entirely, causing Yoda to grimace in pain... and later, Sidious saw that Yoda recovered and launched the lightning back, gaining ground once again... the incredibly funny expression Sidious made then was of surprise, and fear, as he didn't expect Yoda to regain ground and pull off such a fight... so, the lightning exploded and sent both flying. Yoda was sent flying a lot farther than Sidious was, and although this may be due to his smaller weight, I highly doubt that it would make the difference between simply falling backwards and being hurled halfway across the hall. This meant that more force was generated in Yoda's end, meaning that the ball was ultimately closer to Yoda... indeed, this shows that Sidious' skill is at least equal, if not greater, than Yoda's in force expertise.
So, what do you think would happen in a rematch of Yoda vs. Sidious (on even ground) and Windu vs. Sidious (no Anakin included)? The above is my opinion, and if you disagree, please tell me why ^^.