mattatom
It is possible 🙂
Not when DS says it isn't.
😐
This is what happens when certain individuals deem it necessary to cast aside certain situations and circumstances that don't portray their preferred character in the best of lights. He and I had this discussion elsewhere; he's gone on record saying Andeddu must have been weakened during his fight with Wyyrlok and that Ragnos must have also been weakened during his fight with Jaden Korr on Korriban. Why? Because Andeddu and Ragnos were ancient Sith and ancient Sith are clearly all powerful and better than everyone who comes after them (except for Palpatine and Luke). Period. Why? Because older is synonymous with better, in almost all cases. Like technology.
Oh, wait.
It's a tactic called "reaching" and it assumes facts not in evidence. It's baseless, it's asinine, and it's ultimately what caused me to block him. The constant scrambling and screaming of PIS! PIS! PIS! wears thin when one wishes to excuse certain feats on PIS without even attempting to rationally explain it.
The mythos has shown us that, when prepared, lesser combatants can frustrate the efforts of their superiors. From Leia Organa Solo's resistence to the more experienced Vader's mindprobes to Kas'im and Kenobi blocking telekinetic attacks from Bane and Vader, respectively. There is no reason to assume that Luke would have not had to exert more effort, especially when the narration specifically mentions the fact that Caedus was caught by surprise. Could Caedus have triumphed over Luke's attempts to restrain him? Possibly, but it is certain that he would have caused Luke to exert more effort to hold him.
Fortunately, the
Spoiler:
mind blowingly awesome concert
has cleared my head and has allowed me to approach this with more patience.
The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia makes abundantly clear the fact that a great attunement to the Force does
not inherently grant one a monumental mastery of the Force. That only comes through dedicated study, meditation, and intense training. The simple truth is that Luke hasn't enjoyed a thoroughly educated mentor in the ways of the Force since Yoda; his tenure with the likes of the Aing-Tii have only been recent and brief. He is largely self-taught, and it is only due to his prodigious learning rate that he is what he is. It's impressive, but the truth is that Skywalker is essentially a street-wise man being compared against those with classical educations. There are some techniques that he will undoubtably possess that many others do not, but in the case of Force users like Odan-Urr, Yoda, and Sidious? The breadth of their training is simply too vast and deep to compare with on a total level.
Consider that Luke's greatest feats -- his manipulation of the dovin basal and his duel against UnuThul -- weren't brought out of complex techniques, but simply a far greater form of common telekinesis. It was due to his strength in the Force, not his all encompassing mastery of it, that he was able to perform such feats.
It's a fine line. And there are circumstances in which greater experience does not yield one a superior command of the Force. I would argue, like the Encyclopedia suggests, that true proficiency is an application of both great training and a proficient raw connection to the Force. Consider Anakin Skywalker vs. Obi-Wan Kenobi; Kenobi is undoubtably the more experienced Jedi and, based on all accounts, the greater scholar. But Anakin's superior, raw attunement to the Force leads most sources to indicate that he is not only the greater combatant, but is also simply more powerful than Kenobi, despite Kenobi's superior training and experience. Then consider Darth Vader vs. Starkiller; Vader was the more experienced Sith and clearly maintained a knowledge of all that Starkiller knew, yet Starkiller's connection to the Force was -- due to the injuries Vader sustained on Mustafar and his psychological weaknesses -- greater than Vader's, allowing him to defeat his former Master in combat. Lastly, examine Caedus vs. Luke in combat. By all accounts, Caedus possessed knowledge of the Force that Luke simply did not have, but that didn't prevent Luke from defeating him in combat.
Experience alone is clearly not enough. And neither is just a great connection to the Force. A truly proficient, powerful Jedi or Sith has both in spades.
Skywalker's performance here, as has been stated before, was during a time when his body started out remarkably weak. But the fact of the matter is that there have been other Force users who were in similar states due to age and the case of at least one Force user who was in a worse condition due to age and Force-related biological sabotage. And these individuals performed against their opponents to an extent greater than or (if one refuses to be charitable) at the very least equal to Skywalker.
Why do I bring this up? Because it is a popular myth that "lawl Look Skiwalkur is teh bestest ever by miles and milles and milles!!1!"
This is clearly not the case. Taking all of his performances in combat into account, I stand by my assessment that he is his generation's Yoda/Mace Windu. Does that mean he is dead equal to Yoda or Windu? No. It means he's on the same tier as regards most things, and an argument can be made that he's a notch or two greater. But it still is an argument.
His exact place is hard to pinpoint, which is what I'm trying to get across here.