Originally posted by The_Tempest
It doesn't follow. Sidious's attention was fixed on Maul when Savage changed. We see Sidious turn, we do not see him prepare a defense that Savage out maneuvers or overpowers. You are conflating exploitation of Sidious's occupied attention with comparable combat prowess.Moreover, we see Juno Eclipse land a blow on Vader in TFU2 while he's focusing on Maul. Does he require effort to beat her?
Not a remotely similar situation as, I am certain, you well know. Nor is it what I am saying.
Sidious does not require effort to beat Savage, hell we see how easily he bests him in 1v1. Rather, he requires effort to beat both Savage and Maul.
If we go back to your example you bring up, Vader requires almost no effort to best Juno. Yet, he will require effort to defeat both Starkiller and Juno.
Originally posted by The_Tempest
Constant acrobatics are not a necessity of throwing down with the Zabraks.
And yet, that is what style Sidious chose to employ. The brothers were the cause for his acrobatics and therefore the cause of his exhaustion.
Also, I still wonder why you are so confident that his exhaustion was from the acrobatics and not kicking Savage back dozens of feat or even something else in the duel.
Originally posted by The_Tempest
As far as presentation goes, the relevant evidence points to it:[*]Filoni first mentioned this arc as a tribute to Sidious's mastery
[*]Filoni then referred to it as an ass kicking
[*]The website confirms Sidious always had the upper hand
[*]Filoni confirms that Sidious was enjoying himself the entire time and declares that Maul, even enraged, is "not nearly as powerful" as Sidious
All of these are evident and do not require Sidious to have been holding back in the saber duel.
Originally posted by The_Tempest
[*]Sidious, numerous times, chose not to press his advantage
Aside from the beginning, when?
Sith gain concentration from pain, if there was pain at all. If there was just discomfort and that affected their ability to resist then frankly they're kind of lame supervillians.
It says 'destroy everything'. Merely killing or subduing would not be destroying everything as there would still be bodies left.It would. Kill, slay, defeat completely and render useless are some of the synonyms of destroy. In any case, the destruction power, which is defined in game, makes bodies fly away and they are left intact. No point to continue arguing it.I'm still looking for the other sources on it. When I find them I will post the other evidence.
No, it is a theory. It is no less valid than the idea that Sidious was fighting at full speed, moreso since the evidence points this way.Have you not been reading the thread?
Other than that I saw points like he let them free at beginning, he let Maul mourn, he didn’t want to kill Maul and he was laughing. Do you really consider any of that “evidence”? To me it seems as grasping at straws.
In contrary he heavily utilized acrobatics – it is speed demonstration itself.
He utilized kicks – it implies that he used every skill available to get advantage during fight. Even when he fought Opress alone, lightsaber didn’t pass through his defense, kicks was what penetrated Opress’ defense and allowed him to strike him down. In other words he defeated Opress through demonstration of superior skill by exposing the same weakness in unarmed combat as Kenobi and Maul, not speed.
To kill Opress he Force blasted Maul. If as you say he could fight faster, why would he need to take Maul out of equation?
Sorry but theory of Sidious not using full speed is rather weak.
If that were the case Sidious' speed would be gradually increasing throughout the whole fight, not merely when he was fighting Maul. If anything this supports my argument since if Sidious was not fully concentrating or fighting at his peak speed during his fight with the brothers then he clearly was toying with them and not giving his all against them.The CWC contradicts the specifics of the fight, but not the idea that Sidious was getting faster. It's still valid.
If he didn’t use full speed against Maul alone (which I don’t believe), it could be because fighting Maul alone requires less effort than both brothers combined.
Anger? Sidious is laughing throughout the fight.
Force Speed is a Force power. I see no reason why a boost to power would not also boost speed. There are numerous examples of a nexus increasing ones Force powers, why would it not increase Force speed. The text even notes this happening.
No they aren't. And in ESB he is incredibly enfeebled.
And even, if he is enfeebled, it does not decrease TK potency. Luke out of practice still moved black hole, his smaller reserves was the only problem, not TK strength.
But the argument has been made that he was toying with them. If he wasn't holding back on them, then why did he let them go and allow them to recover rather than press his advantage?
Originally posted by The_Tempest
Obviously not, otherwise Dooku and Obi-Wan would have moved very differently.
And Kenobi was using acrobatic stunts and kicks just like Sidious, there is not much difference in how they fought.
Originally posted by Arhael
He admits that he is caught by surprise and that he is at disadvantage position. He tried to move physically on several occasions. [b]But nowhere it mentions him making at least slight Force exertion.Here is another example of Luke pinning someone:
"Khai’s threat came to a startled end as he went sailing across the Pool. He slammed into the far wall of the grotto and remained there, pinned in
place by the invisible hand of the Force."However, when fight started Gavar wasn't helpless and still could use the Force to attack Luke:
"Ben was vaguely aware of his own father diving toward the far side of the cavern, and the delicate clinkle
of Gavar Khai’s shikkar shattering on the stone floor behind him". [/B]
Okay. So we see that another Force user was capable of acting through the Force against Luke even while pinned, yet Caedus was not. Are you really going to argue that Caedus, who spent years searching for arcane techniques and studying the Force was so stupid as to think he could physically exert himself enough to escape Luke's Force hold?
Again, from the passage:
Caedus knew he would be freed as soon as Luke turned his concentration to something other than Force-pinning him-but that might take minutes, and Caedus needed to send in the Home Fleet now. Besides, he was the Chief of State of the Galactic Alliance, and he could not allow anyone, even Luke Skywalker, to humiliate him and simply leave. He had to assert some sort of authority."Luke," Caedus called. "Aren't you forgetting something?"
Luke stopped at the door and looked back, the rage in his face now softening to what looked like remorse. "You're right. I should warn you that you'll have to crush the Confederation without StealthXs. The Jedi can support you no longer."
"What?" Caedus was so shocked that he tried to rise- and found himself as unable to move as before.
Continued:
The door opened. Instead of stepping through, Luke faced Caedus and spoke in a very calm voice. "I'm sure you're not threatening the younglings."He pointed at the base of Jacen's meditation chair and made a tapping motion with his finger. The pedestal gave a loud whumpf, and the seat dropped a quarter meter.
"Because you really don't want to see me angry." Luke made the tapping motion again. The pedestal emitted a metallic shriek, and the seat dropped another quarter meter. "And I think you're smart enough to know that."
Luke tapped a last time, and the pedestal collapsed with a low loud crump, depositing Caedus on the floor with his feet sticking out in front of him like a child.
"But if you want to try me, go ahead and make that threat."
Luke lowered his hand, and the weight vanished from Caedus's chest.
Is it really your assertion that one, Luke didn't handle Caedus like a child as it directly words it in the passage, and that two, he really could have escaped anytime that he wanted through the Force, yet he thought he'd try a path of physical action only? Lastly, are you really going to try and still claim that Luke isn't superior to Caedus in TK both in scope and in actual combat?
Arhael
He admits that he is caught by surprise and that he is at disadvantage position. He tried to move physically on several occasions. But nowhere it mentions him making at least slight Force exertion.
conditional/contextual literalist, a long long time ago
Jacen acknowledges that the only thing standing between him and a quick death was his uncle's much-strained sense of decency. The only thing. Meaning that there was nothing else keeping Luke from butchering him on the spot. Since Jacen's Force-power is not the same thing as Luke's much-strained sense of decency [and given that the narration has actually been fairly thorough in establishing his helplessness], it would be included the "nothing else" category, meaning that it is one of an infinite number of things that were not standing between Jacen and a quick death. Ergo, Jacen could not have used the Force to stop Luke from killing him.
Jeez this holding back crap still going on?
Originally posted by Me
on the official website:[b]Sidious sees through Maul's lies -- he views the Zabrak not as an apprentice, but as a rival to be destroyed.
That clearly shows Sidious wasn't holding back when the fight began.
[/B]
Originally posted by Me
The featurette to The Lawless had Dave Filoni saying about Opress that: "He puts up a better fight than the Jedi Council did. I'll say that much for him."So again there was no holding back. Opress is simply better than Tiin + Kolar + Fisto.
Every source on the subject is confirming there was no holding back by Sidious.
Stop the butt hurt and /discussion.
Originally posted by NephthysNo they aren't. And in ESB he is incredibly enfeebled.
Your putting the CW Mini on the same level of canonicity as AOTC and ESB? Are you kidding me?
Go to the offiicial SW Website and find me even one reference to the Cw Mini. It has all been erased. HAHAHAHa (evil laugh).
Originally posted by ares834
Not a remotely similar situation as, I am certain, you well know. Nor is it what I am saying.Sidious does not require effort to beat Savage, hell we see how easily he bests him in 1v1. Rather, he requires effort to beat both Savage [b]and
Maul.If we go back to your example you bring up, Vader requires almost no effort to best Juno. Yet, he will require effort to defeat both Starkiller and Juno.[/b]
Under the parameters you defined (i.e. if X is greater by far than Y, X should never be struck or injured by Y), the situation is very similar: Sidious (Vader) was fixated on Maul (Starkiller) and failed to react in time to Savage (Juno).
Where the two scenarios part ways is that we know Starkiller, at worst, enjoys parity with Vader. In contrast, even an enraged Maul is “not nearly as powerful as Sidious” (Filoni).
Originally posted by ares834
And yet, that is what style Sidious chose to employ. The brothers were the cause for his acrobatics and therefore the cause of his exhaustion.Also, I still wonder why you are so confident that his exhaustion was from the acrobatics and not kicking Savage back dozens of feat or even something else in the duel.
That’s the operative phrase: he chose to employ it. We see him engage in extraneous and unnecessary acrobatics (2:55, 3:21), though he’s displayed the ability to evade Opress with contemptuous ease without such gymnastics.
Filoni confirmed what we see on the screen: he’s enjoying himself immensely. Do you think they are?
Originally posted by ares834
All of these are evident and do not require Sidious to have been holding back in the saber duel.
The bottom line is that the notion that he didn’t restrain himself has much less by way of support. Sidious could have crushed them outright through the Force and elected not to, he was clearly courting battle; Sidious evinced amusement throughout the duel, confirmed by Filoni; when Savage landed his blow, Sidious smiled and simply pulled them with him; when Sidious wasn’t visibly amused, he ended the duel in a single move.
There is no reason to believe he was fighting to his fullest extent. Perhaps if he displayed anger or effort during the fight, but he didn’t. Sidious visibly toyed with Yoda at two points during their brawl, failing to push his advantage. But when they actually clashed, he displayed signs of effort, focus, and strain—call signs of trying your hardest.
If someone can point out where Sidious displays such behaviors and then struggles to bring them down, I’ll concede. Until then, I’m siding with the mountain of evidence that says otherwise.
Originally posted by ares834
Aside from the beginning, when?
When he killed Savage and allowed Maul not only time to comfort his brother, but also allowed Maul to make the first move.
PS: it’s not an ass kicking if it’s a struggle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUlqDMcS_RE
At 2:05 and 2:10 Sidious is smiling and even laughing while in a Lightsbaer duel against Yoda. I guess that's clear proof Sidious was holding back against Yoda.
2:45 onwards he's laughing his ass off while throwing senate pods at Yoda. I guess that proves that he was throwing the pods effortlessly, and could have crushed Yoda had he put more effort in.
In the novel Sidious is said to smile while he's also straining. Proof that both can be happening at the same time.
At least twice in the Maul Opress fight does Sidious show clear signs of struggling.
Does he show it more against Yoda? Yes. Does that mean Yoda was more of a challenge to him? Of course. Does that mean he was holding back in either case? Nope.
In the final fight against Maul, Maul is clearly showing a level of parity. And yet Sidious isn't able to up his game. Sidious land 1 kick. Then Maul actually lands a harder kick. And no Sidious doesn't immediately win after that. The Saber lock starts with Maul having Sidious on his knees. And again we see clear signs of Sidious strugging to overpower Maul.
The website confirms Sidious was out to destroy. Filoni confirms Opress's performance was much better than the Jedi Council's.
Originally posted by The_Tempest
Under the parameters you defined (i.e. if X is greater by far than Y, X should never be struck or injured by Y), the situation is very similar: Sidious (Vader) was fixated on Maul (Starkiller) and failed to react in time to Savage (Juno).
Except, Vader was not in battle with Juno by contrast Sidious was engaged in battle with Savage.
Originally posted by The_Tempest
That’s the operative phrase: he chose to employ it. We see him engage in extraneous and unnecessary acrobatics (2:55, 3:21), though he’s displayed the ability to evade Opress with contemptuous ease without such gymnastics.
How do you know they were "extraneous and unnecessary"? Just because at times he evades Savages attacks by sidestepping does not mean he could evade all his attacks in such a way.
Originally posted by The_Tempest
The bottom line is that the notion that he didn’t restrain himself has much less by way of support. Sidious could have crushed them outright through the Force and elected not to, he was clearly courting battle; Sidious evinced amusement throughout the duel, confirmed by Filoni; when Savage landed his blow, Sidious smiled and simply pulled them with him; when Sidious wasn’t visibly amused, he ended the duel in a single move.
Just because he was amused does not mean he was restraining himself, rather it could simply mean he was enjoying himself and felt in no real danger. Sure, he was not fighting for his life but that doesn't indicate he wasn't use his full speed and strength.
As it is, the only evidence that he restrained himself in the saber duel comes from the novel were it mentions him ramping up his speed. However, due to how much that duel contradicts the novel, it may or may not be canon.
Originally posted by The_Tempest
When he killed Savage and allowed Maul not only time to comfort his brother, but also allowed Maul to make the first move.PS: it’s not an ass kicking if it’s a struggle.
What advantage would Sidous have gained had he not let Maul comfort his brother? Only the first attack? Anyway, failing to press hi advantage twice is not "numerous times".
And I do not mean to insinuate that Sidious struggled throughout the duel, but at times he did struggle.
Originally posted by ares834
Just because he continues to engage Savage and Maul is a lightsaber duel does not mean he was not tired. Why else would he show a clear sign of fatigue? Anyway, it shouldn't take a ton of effort on Sidious's part to evade Savage's attacks. After all, Dooku was doing the same thing.
When you say fatigue, I'm assuming that you mean Sidious was so tired to the point of exhaustion, and I certainly don't see how a gasp of air (which sounded more animalisitc IMO) is a clear sign that he was exhausted. His 1-on-1 performance with Savage - flipping around and pulling stunts with his back turned, giving Maul time to recover from the force push - did not give me the impression that he was tired at all.
@DP
Of course your reactions were all predictable. Tempest masturbating over Sidious's TK then going completely over the top claiming Sidious could have killed them any time and they were no challenge at all. Predictable.S66 claiming Sidious wasn't trying after his butt hurt of seeing Maul do so well against Sidious in Sabers. Also predictable.
Clearly, you are the only one butt-hurt. Why else are you insulting someone who hasn't even said two words to you in weeks? I don't think you really want to go down that road considering you're usually the one who ends up crying like a little ass girl, complaining that people are being mean and personal to you.
Maul and Savage are not meant to be equals with Sidious. They are not meant to be near equals with him. Get over it and admit that you're claim, Maul and Savage being able to overpower Sidious in sabers, was absolutely baseless and beyond retarded; it goes against all evidents shown in that fight.
@Arhael
I've already conceded on this possibilty.By the way after analysing it more I see it as demonstration of surprise attack rather than overpowering.
Brothers didn't expect the attack. Maul was kneeling and submitting himself. Sidious even turned away from them making it look like he is no threat.
Sidious turns his back after accusing Maul of decieving him. I'm pretty sure that's enough warning for Maul if he knows his master well enough. And judging from Savage's 'mean mug' expressions and balling up his hands in a fist, it's apparent that he did not trust Sidious, so I doubt he had his force defenses lowered, especially since he was able to sense how powerful Sidious was in the force (Shadow Conspiracy).
Regardless, Sidious does not need to surprise attack them in order to break through their defenses, as evident when he casually force pulls both of them as he was falling.
Then brothers got concussioned as result of both Force blast and slamming the wall. Then he kept pressing them with such strength that wall started crushing.
There was no sign that either of them were dazed.
They were struggling to break free from Sidious' force grip, but they were just defensless against it.
To kill Opress he Force blasted Maul. If as you say he could fight faster, why would he need to take Maul out of equation?
He was owning both of them together - while enjoying himself. Who says he needed to remove Maul out of the equation?
Sorry but theory of Sidious not using full speed is rather weak.
No, it's not; it's a very strong and very logical argument. Between Sidious feat of downing council members in seconds and the evidents that show Sidious was in no hurry to kill Maul and Savage, it's very reasonable to conclude that Sidious was not using his full speed on them, especially when Kit has shown that he has at least comparable speed to Obi Wan, who is capable of holding his own with Darth Maul (but I guess you can argue that Obi Wan only fought Maul when he had inferior legs, but I know you're not willing to accept that). And yes Sidious blitzed jedi masters through sheer speed. You can bring up all the inconsistencies of other characters all you want. I'm not discussing those characters, I'm discussing Sidious, and niether Maul or Obi Wan has demonstrated the speed that even approaches Sidious best speed feats. And Maul and Savage fighting Sidious as long as they did, is not proof that they are comparable to him in speed, when their is so much evidents to suggest that Sidious was not fighting the brothers to his fullest extent.
Your use of double-standards makes me not want to even debate with you. You don't apply those same standards when it comes to Obi Wan; you suggest that we ignore his ragdoll treatment by Grievous, and being knocked unconscious by Ventress. But when it comes to Sidious, this is the logic you want to use:
He constantly used kicks as well as Force attacks to take out either brother out of equation. If he could blitz them, why would he need to do all those things? To show off? Possibly. My point was that he didn't blitz them. This is fact. And facts have more weight than forum user's opinions. People can shout how fast character is and bring tones of evidence of his superiority in that regard. But their opinion will remain opinion, if the given character fails to demonstrate that superiority over the other supposed to be inferior character.
How the hell do you expect someone to take you seriously after this?
Originally posted by SIDIOUS 66
When you say fatigue, I'm assuming that you mean Sidious was so tired to the point of exhaustion, and I certainly don't see how a gasp of air (which sounded more animalisitc IMO) is a clear sign that he was exhausted. His 1-on-1 performance with Savage - flipping around and pulling stunts with his back turned, giving Maul time to recover from the force push - did not give me the impression that he was tired at all.
Nah, I meant that he simply showed signs of fatigue and was tired not that he was exhausted.
Originally posted by SIDIOUS 66
No, it's not; it's a very strong and very logical argument. Between Sidious feat of downing council members in seconds and the evidents that show Sidious was in no hurry to kill Maul and Savage, it's very reasonable to conclude that Sidious was not using his full speed on them, especially when Kit has shown that he has at least comparable speed to Obi Wan, who is capable of holding his own with Darth Maul (but I guess you can argue that Obi Wan only fought Maul when he had inferior legs, but I know you're not willing to accept that).
Filoni said straight up said that Savage put up a better fight than the Jedi Council. Now, while that does not mean Sidious was fighting to the best of his abilities, it does imply that Savage was a greater challenge than all three Jedi Masters together.
Originally posted by ares834
Nah, I meant that he simply showed signs of fatigue and was tired not that he was exhausted.
For reasons I already provided, I did not get the impression that Sidious was tired. I gasp for air when I eat too fast, but it doesn't mean I'm tired. Sidious was fighting the brothers continuously while showing off and performing acrobatic stunts, and had just free fallen from a good distance, so yeah, a gasp of air isn't surprising. But I don't see how any of that suggests that he was struggling with them, especially considering that Sidious wasn't even fighting his fullest extent, like you seemingly agreed.
BTW, that "gasp of air" could be interpreted differently, but I won't get into that. I just do not think it's reasonable enough to conclude that he was tired out because he was struggling with them.
Originally posted by ares834
Filoni said straight up said that Savage put up a better fight than the Jedi Council. Now, while that does not mean Sidious was fighting to the best of his abilities, it does imply that Savage was a greater challenge than all three Jedi Masters together.
If Sidious is not fighting to the best of his abilities, and was toying around with Savage in ways that he was not with the council members, then yeah, it's possible for Savage to put up a better fight. I don't see how it means he is superior to them if Sidious wasn't toying with the council members at all.
It's fair to say, though, that they didn't expect him to fly over his desk, spinning and screaming while igniting his lightsaber... And you cannot really compare RotS canon, with TCW. I am even willing to say the fight would've been very different had it been made in TCW fashion.
Anyway, as to the thread...
1. Bane probably isn't able to best the two brothers in PoD... His Force powers are not very developed yet, and neither is his saber skill. He gets easily out-dueled by Kas'im using Jar'Kai, and if the duel gets to the point where Maul needs to use Pre's black saber against him, he will go down.
2. Bane takes this. By RoT, his skill with a lightsaber is considerably higher, as well as his Force powers. Add this to the fact that he is wearing his Orbalisk armour, and the brothers are dead.
3. Bane wins with ease. By DoE, his feats are amazing. There's no way they can defeat him; he probably wins with as much ease as Sidious.
Originally posted by The_Tempest
YouTube video
A rather unfitting end for Maul.
But Sidious was clearly toying with both of them, and seemed to be using them merely for exercise.
With the ease of how he seamlessly defended against attacks, and paced his actions, it's clear he could have killed them much faster, had he wanted to.
But he seemed to enjoy the whole thing, from beginning to end.
Originally posted by SIDIOUS 66@[b]DP
Clearly, you are the only one butt-hurt. Why else are you insulting someone who hasn't even said two words to you in weeks? [/B]
Insulting? Oh let me guess your gna whine for the next 18 pages now that I said you were butt hurt. FYI I said later there's a lot of butt hurt going on here, but I don't see everyone else going crazy about it.
Originally posted by SIDIOUS 66
Maul and Savage are not meant to be equals with Sidious. They are not meant to be near equals with him.
Firstly when did I say they were.
Secondly who are you to say what the fight was "meant to be?"
Thirdly it clearly was a challenge for him, or he never would have got hit and there never would have been a fight.
Originally posted by SIDIOUS 66
Get over it and admit that you're claim, Maul and Savage being able to overpower Sidious in sabers, was absolutely baseless and beyond retarded;
If it was retarded Sidious wouldn't have got hit off a balcony and needed his Force powers to constantly get one up on Maul. In fact Maul held his own in Sabers the whole fight and you know it. That's why you and Tempest have to resort to making up lies saying that Sidious was holding back when all the sources on the subject are clearly impying he wasn't.
Originally posted by SIDIOUS 66
it goes against all evidents shown in that fight.
The evidents from the fight shows Sidious required his superior force powers to defeat the 2 of them. The actual fight showed an angry Maul on his own fighting Sidious as a near equal in Sabers.
Originally posted by SIDIOUS 66If Sidious is not fighting to the best of his abilities, and was toying around with Savage in ways that he was not with the council members, then yeah, it's possible for Savage to put up a better fight. I don't see how it means he is superior to them if Sidious wasn't toying with the council members at all.
Yeah except Dave Filoni never said he wasn't fighting to his best. That's just a made up fallacy on this board.
Dave Filoni specifically said Opress performed better than those 3 Jedi because of how well he did in this fight. That's a clear implication that Sidious wasn't holding back. Otherwise it would be a pointless comparison to make. Heck the idea of Sidious holding back doesn't even seem to be on his mind. And he's the executive Director who put in all the laughing.
Originally posted by Col. Valerian
Holding back or not, he defeated both quite easily. There wasn't a single moment in the duel when Sidious was hard pressed or even showed any sign of concern.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoRGZAvDuiY
Then you must have missed 0:55 the whole fight after 2:10 particularly at 2:32.
Yes at 2:32 where Maul has Sidious on his knees and Sidious is clearly struggling to overpower him. He doesn't start laughing again until Maul is disarmed. And he wastes no time to use his superior force powers on him.
Oh and all this after Maul was stalemating him in Sabers for a good 20 seconds. And yet Sidious didn't seem able to up his game at all.
Originally posted by ares834
Except, Vader was not in battle with Juno by contrast Sidious was engaged in battle with Savage.
Savage was nowhere in sight and Sidious had his attention fixed on Maul. I openly concede the scenarios aren’t identical (among other things, Savage isn’t a woman), but they are quite similar. Like Vader, Sidious clearly did not regard the third party as a threat—despite their clearly hostile intent (Savage was aligned with Maul, Juno with the Rebel Alliance)—and paid the price for it.
Regardless, this doesn’t preclude Sidious restraining himself.
Originally posted by ares834
How do you know they were "extraneous and unnecessary"? Just because at times he evades Savages attacks by sidestepping does not mean he could evade all his attacks in such a way.
Because the flips at the selected time stamps accomplished nothing; they were clearly unnecessary.
Originally posted by ares834
Just because he was amused does not mean he was restraining himself, rather it could simply mean he was enjoying himself and felt in no real danger. Sure, he was not fighting for his life but that doesn't indicate he wasn't use his full speed and strength.
I’ve disregarded the book since the episode aired. That said, I’m not sure how you can reconcile the admission that he was enjoying himself and not fighting for his life with the idea that he was fighting as hard as he could. To me, these ideas seem mutually exclusive.
As it is, the only evidence that he restrained himself in the saber duel comes from the novel were it mentions him ramping up his speed. However, due to how much that duel contradicts the novel, it may or may not be canon.
Originally posted by ares834
What advantage would Sidous have gained had he not let Maul comfort his brother? Only the first attack? Anyway, failing to press hi advantage twice is not "numerous times".
Because if he needed any advantage he could get (i.e. if he was being challenged), he wouldn’t have allowed the pause nor given Maul the chance to make the first move.
Conceded with respect to the improper adjective.
Originally posted by ares834
And I do not mean to insinuate that Sidious struggled throughout the duel, but at times he did struggle.
The only time we see Sidious “struggle” is when he and Maul are in blade-lock.