Janus Marius
Plo Koon Rulez!
Old thread is old.
Pretty much, Mace and Dooku would be one of the closest fights in history according to some. Others seem to apply vague traits like "Mace has more raw power" or "Mace's style is more dangerous" or "Mace is blacker and thus has inferior credit to Dooku". In this entire thread, only Faunus was actively applying objective points to the evidence, despite his own opinion on who should win. Kudos to him.
If you break this fight down to the basic level, you have to understand each fighter's strengths:
Mace's strengths lie in his Vaapad style, which is basically centered around his own primal subconscious and the Shatterpoint ability. Vaapad being a personal improvement on the master form Juyo, implies a broad range of lightsaber skills. Mace is described as being difficult to predict, wild, and yet having a semblance of control over himself just barely. This coupled with Shatterpoint makes him an incredibly dangerous and instinctive fighter.
Dooku's strength lies in his refined, competitive, saber-first fighting style and his incredible power in the Force. The first is pretty self-evident - he is able to fight with Yoda on even ground and -while unable to defeat the Jedi Master - is able to keep up with him in a way no one else can in the series. Dooku defeats the likes of Obi-Wan, Anakin, Assajj, and more using his blades. Dooku has defeated Mace before. It is interesting to note that his apprentice, Qui-Gon, apparently stalemated Mace according to EU. Dooku's lessons on both telekinesis and lightsaber training are mandatory in the Jedi Order, becoming both legendary and a staple of Jedi learning in his own lifetime. He's considered by Yoda to be the Order's greatest student in the Force, most powerful, and the most stressing loss. Mace, who is present, does not even reflect otherwise in his own personal thoughts, but remains silent during this.
When it comes to the Force, Dooku's mastery is glaringly apparent. He's noted for being a master of TK (Excepting of course Master Yoda) and shows a high level of casual Force mastery which few in the series enjoy. He has decades more experience than Mace, and he is one of the few duelists in the PT who actually uses the Force combined with his sword work to devastating effect.
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Even if Vaapad and Makashi cannot be equally explained away, there are some things I'd like to bring up:
1. Makashi is the ultimate refinement of saber fighting in the history of both the Jedi and the Sith. As such, its undisputed living master of the form in recent times is easily the best duelist by sheer technical capability alone. It is an archaic tradition that almost no one studies; Mace is never noted to have extensive knowledge of it.
2. Vaapad is never explicitly shown to be efficient and effective against sword users. If anything, the mental philosophy behind the form seems to enhance pre-existing talent and skill to a preternatural level. No Vaapad signature moves are noted to exist, and the entire basis of the form we have is rooted in one thing - Mace's own personal views on combat. It exploits his raw Force power (Which he admits he is not certain of at all times), his primal, almost dark inner nature, and his combat expertise. While this makes him one of the most dangerous men alive, it does not qualify him as the best duelist of his era.
3. Additionally, Vaapad's strengths against those who channel the Dark Side is moot; Dooku is not shown to embrace the darkness fully except when fighting Yoda in Dark Rendezvouz and (possibly) Anakin at some point. Because his fighting style relies on precision, balance, and control, he cannot embrace his inner self like Mace or Anakin can to further boost himself.
Looking at it this way, it's not clear to see the advantage Vaapad offers over Makashi. Considering a large bulk of Mace's strengths lie in his 'wild' style and Shatterpoint, it makes the idea of his winning to be on shaky ground. Shatterpoint itself is not a sure-fire guarantee of victory either; it simply (And rarely quickly) shows him a weakness in a given object or person. That weakness is not always physical; part of the weaknesses he exploited in the novel Shatterpoint were mental ones on behalf of his opponents, none of which were truly seasoned Jedi or Sith.
Examining the fight of RotS and accepting the existence of Vaapad here despite its apparent absence according to Nick G and GL, you see the style in motion. One of the most important points to notice about Mace's fighting style (And this can be inferred from AotC as well) is that it's a very direct and non-flashy style. There's no apparent haste, and Mace does not press the attack. It could be that he needs time to assess his foes before making the move, or that his Shatterpoint ability distracts him from the present fight, slowing him down as he searches for a way to exploit the visible weakness.
Some observations:
* Mace's fighting style is not nearly as quick as Dooku's. Dooku's style maintains a better defense than Mace's, and better controls the fight.
For a fine example of Mace's relative lack of adequate defense:
* Mace's "raw power" is nowhere to be seen. He even struggles to overpower Palpatine in a saber lock.
* Mace is an extremely cautious fighter, and doesn't commit his all to bumrushing his opponent. Considering his fighting style is the only thing he's got going for him in this fight, being dominated by Sidious early on illustrates how he could be potentially undone by a swift and efficient Dooku.