Originally posted by Deronn_solo
As a combatant, sure. I mostly praise Kyp for his prowess in the Force, which he outstrips Jacen Solo in honestly.
I'm actually not so sure if nobody in LotF said such a thing directly about his Force prowess. But now we agree that he's > Kyp as a combatant, which does set a lower limit for his Force abilities. Realistically I'd say it makes it unlikely that he isn't at least Galen Marek tier in the Force, not unless if you think he can barely hold a lightsaber.
We should also except the Star Wars Insider vs Series, as well as the head-to-head books since they were authorized and licensed by Lucasfilm, too. They were also considered C-canon since the books/magazine they were in were as well. And even written by respectable figures within Lucasfilm group. They happen to state peak Vader > Yoda, which, by your logic, is totally canon.
I never said the blurb was infallible, but you haven't provided any evidence to actively counter it.
Give me an actual reason, or an authoritative statement that novel blurbs are considered canon then I'll entertain whatever you is you have to say.
What you just said; they're authorized by Lucasfilm. Again, nobody's denying you the right to come up with countervailing evidence.
So has Corran Horn, color me impressed.
Yeah, and Corran is one of the best illusionists ever; it's like his specialty, and he's probably > Vader in it.
The strike team was nigh-featless as the time, as Katarn was the only one actually worth while. The Katarn showing is a nice one, but then again I've never put Vader over Caedus as a duelist either. But Vader's advantage holding an advantage over Starkiller, before becoming a "far more formidable" foe, is enough to suggest he isn't lagging far behind.
The impressive part is in how quickly he does it; the narrator keeps track of the time that transpired and it was only somewhat longer than the B-team. This is the Katarn who was hanging with >B-team tier combatants like Jerec when he had like a week of training.
Given a large body of Jaina's praise comes from her showings against Caedus, I'm not overly impressed as I used to be by this.
Jaina was being amped by Luke. I'd even argue that her strength in the Force was effectively equal to Luke's, given that Caedus thought it was him and didn't think his Uncle was weaker than usual.
Been debunked, as it never happened.
Jaina said it did, to Boba.
With numerous factors and such in his favor, against a Luke that was highly inconsistent during the series?
Yep. But the inconsistency factor is sort of moot given Luke's anger and desire to kill (which is almost never replicated through the rest of LotF), and no, I don't think Vader would last very long against Palpatine even if the latter had an injured knee and there were some Vong traps.
We should note that Luke was put into a bacta tank for several days following the fight, as C3PO would later note in LotF: Invincible. Caedus lost, yes, but he still put up a hell of a fight, and even given the advantages he had, he pulled off something that I couldn't imagine Vader doing, not when Vader couldn't even beat a Luke with like a few months of training.
A conflicted Vader as pointed out by various sources.
It's suggested in various sources that they were equals with a blade, and suggested by exactly zero that Vader was under-performing. In fact, Luke was the one very visibly holding back throughout the fight, to the point of putting his lightsaber away and literally refusing to fight him.
Then when Luke goes into rage mode he overwhelms Vader to the point that the latter can barely walk around or stand even when Luke isn't touching him. Do you think a pissed off RotJ Luke ~ LotF Luke?
Your arbitrary fan fiction is noted, but can't be proved either way. Regardless, Luke treated Jacen like a ***** without showing any notable strain, and having casual conversation, so go phucking figure man.
Luke caught him off guard. The fact of the matter is that Caedus is a legitimate challenge to a Sidious tier foe, while Vader is basically terrified of Palpatine in every capacity. The two aren't in the same tier.