Originally posted by MythLordFrom there he jumped up again, angling away from her to avoid giving the Jedi the advantage of height, but she was there ahead of him, driving him back down with a series of blows so rapid he barely caught them all.
Yeah, she drives him from higher ground when he already ascended it, which means she was at the advantage when the two were on neutral ground.
If they were on even ground Ti wouldn't have the advantage of height, which the text makes clear Marek attempted, but failed, to prevent her from gaining.
An offense Ti dodged elegantly, apparently, and then reduce the fight in, at best, an impasse.I wasn't suggesting it was a show of superiority for Marek, merely pointing out that Marek regained equal footing with Ti. After which point they appear to be at indeed an impasse.
They obviously weren't doing that in a loop, but it seems to note how that's the primary reason they achieved driving each other closer down.Not in the slightest:
The fight progressed around the sarlacc's center rings, blow and counterblow accompanied by the roaring of the beast. The apprentice cut off teeth and threw the fragments at his adversary's head. In return she took tighter control of the beast's distributed intelligence and sent its food-seeking tentacles flailing for him. He repulsed them and fought on.
Down they drove each other...
It's just an extract from the fight, in which they were raining "blow and counterblow" upon each other, and after a brief Force exchange fought on.
The fact that neither of them were driven anywhere by this exchange pretty much debunking the idea regardless.
Additionally, Ti only resorted to using the Sarlaac when Marek started throwing objects at her with TK. Nothing here notes the two were even. Marek used TK, Shaak used Beast Control, Galen then used lightning and that's about it.And I never suggested it did, you are the one honing in on their particular extract. What I did note however is how Ti was using her control over the terrain to her advantage.
Actually, he used lightning in response to having no more teeth to throw at Ti. And I don't think Ti wouldn't be affected by the sudden change of terrain, since it became more treacherous in ways even Shaak couldn't predict.Fair I misread that, but switching up the manner in which he used the environment to off-balance Ti in response to the shifting terrain does not necessarily suggest he was at a disadvantage, merely employing all the tools he had at his disposal.
And I never said she wouldn't be also disadvantaged, just not to the same extent.
I counted one blow he barely blocked and two more he couldn't block. Seems to set the mood in Ti's favour, especially when every time Galen tries to tag her she either blocks or dodges(well, besides the last blow, but we've been over that already).He appears to struggle with her initial assault yes, but I've already gone over that, a combination of stylistic factors and terrain advantage were responsible. But within the overall contexts of both Marek and Ti 'driving each other down' I don't think it demonstrates conclusive superiority at all.
And the fact that Ti was able to block (or evade) Marek's attacks means nothing, as so did he, but nothing suggests she did so easily or easier than he did.
And I've also addressed it. There was nothing desperate about it. If he hadn't pushed the blade aside, Marek would've been decapitated before Shaak could get pierced. The only thing you could argue is "desperate" about it is Ti overextended herself, but that happens often to superior combatants(I can cite Tano pushing Vader, Sora Bulq getting sliced by Quinlan Vos, Stryfe and Sazen killing each other in one blow).You didn't dear. And as for those citations, please go on, because overextending as you put it, to the point where your opponent simply having their weapon upheld equates to certain death, still strikes me as desperate, despite these supposed pay offs. Or in other words, Marek's first hand assessment remains accurate.The point is the risk would've payed off if Marek didn't use a lucky Force Push. This means Galen was challenging Ti, but I never doubted that.
Also, besides knowledge of terrain, Ti really didn't have much of an outside advantage.Aside from a powerful Force nexus yeah. But then she the act of 'holding back da darkness' was draining her amirite?