Originally posted by FreshestSlice
Luke obviously wasn't hindered when he defeated Vader, so I don't think you can make that argument at all.
I'm not talking about the Rage-amped portion of the fight, because in that part, Luke obviously didn't have a care about killing Vader or not (until he stopped himself). Prior to that, he did - he wasn't out to kill Vader, hence why he never pushed his advantage when he drove Vader over the stairs.
Because when you're arguing Vader is trying to turn Luke to pulp, and even Luke doesn't believe that, then you need to kind of support it. Sure, that novel from the before times says it, and then pretty much every source after disagrees with it.
And once again, sources still support that Luke matched Vader as a swordsman. It mentions nothing about character flaws, just that the two were just as skilled as the other. I don't know why that's hard to get.