Star Wars Speed Feats

I recently stumbled on to this blog post and it got me thinking about just how fast Jedi really are. I don't think we've ever really established a baseline for Jedi. What speed is normal for Jedi to be able to move? Faster than the eye can see?

In particular this caught my eye:

Here is another way of showing invisible speed.

Grievous moved so swiftly that he seemed to teleport from the window to half a meter in front of Gunray.

--Taken from Revenge of the Sith

To me, this seems more impressive than the instance from Cloak of Deception. Moving too fast for the eye to follow and moving so fast you simply appear in another place is slightly different, mainly because in the former, the Jedi are obviously already in motion. In the latter, Grievous goes from standing perfectly stationary to appearing in front of Viceroy Gunray.

Another example of Grievous being really ****ing fast. I think this establishes just how fast a character can be but still be within a powerful Jedi's ability to handle. Obi-Wan is usually one of the weakest characters we like to argue here imo. And yet he defeated this speed demon. And this stands out to me as one hell of a feat:

An instant later the Force had him hurtling through a storm of blasterfire as every combat droid in the control center opened up on him at once. Letting go of intention, letting go of desire, letting go of life, Obi-Wan fixed his entire attention on a thread of the Force that pulled him toward Grievous: not where Grievous was, but where Grievous would be when Obi-Wan got there...
Leaping girder to girder, slashing cables on which to swing through swarms of ricocheting particle beams, blade flickering so fast it became a deflector shield that splattered blaster bolts in all directions, his presence alone became a weapon: as he spun and whirled through the control center's superstructure, the blasts of particle cannons from power droids destroyed equipment and shattered girders and unleashed a torrent of red-hot debris that crashed to the deck, crushing droids on all sides.

--Taken from Revenge of the Sith

As well as this from Luke

Luke wove a curtain of hard light with his blade, deflecting blaster bolts and driving the attackers back temporarily.

--Taken from Shadows of the Empire

Note that Shadows of the Empire takes place before Episode 6. I think I may have to re-evaluate my appreciation of RotJ Luke.

This thread is for us to compare speed feats to try and establish which characters actually do stand out in terms of speed. For instance none of us really see Maul as being that impressive, but the article I linked to suggests that he is quite formidable in that regard. And Obi-Wan also comes off as being really damn fast and yet we know people like Yoda and Sidious are faster. Or do we? Discuss, please.

Obi-Wan is weak? smoke another sandwich.

He's supposedly on the lower end of the upper tiers of the PT.

That's bullshit, of course. But that's what people believe.

Yes, and we usually only argue the powerful Force Users so Obi-wan is usually out of his depth. Personally I think he might be one of the very best duelists though. Maybe not top 10, but up there.

I would put his EU saber feats and RotS novel feats as worthy of the top 20. But we've seen what a determined Force attack on him does, and most combatants who resorts to that would defeat him.

Speed's so inconsistent in Star Wars. The films and a lot of the EU have the Jedi reacting at what I would describe as 'top-tier physical performance'. But other sources describe many of the same characters as 'teleporting' or 'moving faster than the eye can see'. Is that any person's eye, or just the observer in question? The TV show has given us random who-cares-about-their-name characters running in and out of blasterfire, but in other sources that same feat is hyped up to be a moment of "letting go in the Force".

Neph, from whose POV is the Grievous-Gunray quote coming from? It makes no sense if it was from Obi-Wan, but from a non-Jedi it does.

Greivous "dodged" a force push, after the push was initiated, in the CWC. That's pretty damn impressive.

Originally posted by Lord Lucien
Neph, from whose POV is the Grievous-Gunray quote coming from? It makes no sense if it was from Obi-Wan, but from a non-Jedi it does.

Seemingly from Grievous' own perspective. I think its implying that he seemed to teleport to Gunray though. At the time Grievous is trying to intimidate him.

Of course Grievous' insane speed becomes somewhat head-tilting when you see Ahsoka duelling him somewhat equally (Wookie says equally).

That show has thrown a wrench in to our nerdy, dogmatic operations.

I find the various bullet time speed descriptions to be absurd and stupid. I can only think of one time that happens in the movies, and it's when Obi and Qui-gon briefly use a burst of speed to avoid getting blasted into pieces.

Personally I find it equally ludicrous to think about them not using such skills. Jedi frequently go against masses of foes wielding blaster rifles on top of other insanely powerful opponents. Without inhanced reflexes it doesn't make sense for them to be able to get away with it without going to the route of the cartoons/movies and just having all of their opponents be awful shots or massively incompetent.

Originally posted by Nephthys
Personally I find it equally ludicrous to think about them not using such skills. Jedi frequently go against masses of foes wielding blaster rifles on top of other insanely powerful opponents. Without inhanced reflexes it doesn't make sense for them to be able to get away with it without going to the route of the cartoons/movies and just having all of their opponents be awful shots or massively incompetent.

Battle of Geonosis. We saw Jedi go up against a shitton of foes in a bad situation using blaster rifles. Almost all of them died. Where was the amazing super speed then?

Probably being used. I didn't claim Jedi to be invincible, even with Force Speed.

i mean, the existence of the speed is undeniable, it comes up in source after source.

Even ESB Luke speed-jumped away from the carbonite chamber. It's just a very inconsistent power, and one that if used in every situation that common sense calls for, would make for a very boring plot with no drama or tension whatsoever.

Not that the prequels had any drama or tension.

prequels " I don't care where the shit I love comes from, I just love the shit I love."

Originally posted by Lucius
Battle of Geonosis. We saw Jedi go up against a shitton of foes in a bad situation using blaster rifles. Almost all of them died. Where was the amazing super speed then?

Have you considered Anakin? While he was still an apprentice, Anakin journeyed to Andara with a fellow apprentice, Ferus Olin. A group of students who he had befriended betrayed him, and he moved so fast that it unnerved Obi-Wan. At the time, his skill at manipulating the Force the more faster was comparable to that of Jedi Masters. And that was when he was a young apprentice! Anakin's ability to manipulate the Force to move at incredible speeds would have grow even stronger and he would have been more powerful.

Anakin is one of the fastest jedi, but we'll never know how fast he really was. The only acount that I know of is the one I mentioned above. And I'm sure that he would have been faster as a knight.

This may seem really random, but this power to manipulate the Force to more at fast speeds is similar to the ability to Amplify. Don't bother looking it up on the internet, it's not their. The best book to explain the ability is "The Hound of Rowan" by Henry H. Neff. If you want I can explain it a little, but I don't fully understand it.

Originally posted by zoom3
Have you considered Anakin? While he was still an apprentice, Anakin journeyed to Andara with a fellow apprentice, Ferus Olin. A group of students who he had befriended betrayed him, and he moved so fast that it unnerved Obi-Wan. At the time, his skill at manipulating the Force the more faster was comparable to that of Jedi Masters. And that was when he was a young apprentice! Anakin's ability to manipulate the Force to move at incredible speeds would have grow even stronger and he would have been more powerful.

Anakin is one of the fastest jedi, but we'll never know how fast he really was. The only acount that I know of is the one I mentioned above. And I'm sure that he would have been faster as a knight.

I'm pretty sure that the RotS novelisation calls Anakin 'the fastest Jedi of his generation. Perhaps all generations.'