Originally posted by UCanShootMyNova
3. He stalemated and even gained advantages over Vader and Shaak in lightsaber combat during certain portions of his duels with both opponents despite being at a distinct disadvantage in both encounters.
The Shaak fight is pretty circumstantial but the sections that involved pure blade-to-blade combat had Galen getting pretty desperate. IIRC, some of his musings at the end of the fight in the novel suggest an admission of inferiority to her as well. Felucia was also a dark side nexus.
I discussed the Vader fight with Zoltan and Zapan and they each suggested that Vader was fighting recklessly/underestimating Galen in TFU, which, coupled with Galen's Dun Moch, proved the reason that Galen gained any advantage. They claimed that Vader could stomp Galen and cited the TFU II feat where he easily outduels the clone (who is said to possess the same fighting skills in The Ultimate Visual Guide). But you're better off asking them for a comprehensive case; this is off-topic enough given that it's Felucia Galen in this thread, not Galen by the end of TFU.
4. Thanks. It seems like Dooku purposely gave ground in an effort to get her to overextend, does it not?
No, because it says Dooku was forced back, not that he gave ground. It's just that, being a Makashi master, he was able to recognize her overextending and took advantage of it immediately.
The fact that she was snarling doesn't mean she was enraged, lol. You'd have to ask someone else for the full context, but I've seen the feat used several times now without any mention of her getting enraged.
3. I'll go through the fight step by step.
Galen is knocked off balance by Shaak's initial offensive. This is partially due to Shaak assaulting him from a higher vantage point thus gaining greater momentum behind her initial strike.
"She smiled in mockery. "Are you prepared to meet your fate?" Then her lightsaber was lit and she was spinning through the air toward him, striking downward as she fell. The apprentice simultaneously backflipped and blocked her opening blow. The force of it surprised him, and the recoil threw him backward. His hood caught on one of the sarlacc's teeth, and he tore it impatiently away before the snag could interfere with his defense. Shaak Ti's lightsaber was a jagged blue blur between them. He blocked her as best he could until he had his balance again." - The Force Unleashed.
Galen tries to deny her the advantage of height by avoiding her assault and jumping up to her level. She is again able to drive him back from her higher vantage point.
"Then he jumped. Over her he spun and fell down two layers of teeth toward the mouth of the sarlacc. From 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." - The Force Unleashed.
Galen sends a burst of Force lightning into the sarlaac to put Shaak off balance. The tactic is successful and he is able to go on the offensive.
"In desperation, he summoned a bolt of Sith lightning and sent it down, into the flesh of the sarlacc. The beast roared and shook, giving him the opening he needed. Shaak Ti's right foot slipped, forcing her to flip elegantly out of reach of his blade. He leapt after her, swinging as he came." - The Force Unleashed.
Now that Galen is on equal footing with Shaak they go back and forth fighting seemingly evenly with Galen telekinetically throwing objects at her and Shaak sending the sarlaac's tentacles at him. I think it's quite clear that the latter would be a greater hindrance then the former but I'll leave that up to you to decide.
"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." - The Force Unleashed.
They continue to fight seemingly evenly as they make their way towards the lower levels.
"own they drove each other, closer and closer to the very lip of the creature's enormous mouth. The air was foul down there, heavy with digestive by-products and the stink of rotting meat. Ghastly exhalations rolled over them as the sarlacc roared on. The apprentice was running out of teeth to sever, so he resorted more and more frequently to Sith lightning and random slashes of his lightsaber to keep it twitching underfoot. Thick ichor leaking out of the wounds made the footing even more treacherous." - The Force Unleashed.
They have their conversation where Galen comments that she's running out of energy and Shaak admits that while Galen might be more powerful then her ( and logically be capable of outlasting her ) this is due to his own power and not his devotion to the Darkside. She ends their conversation with her final desperate assault which ends up costing her her life.
"You can't keep this up forever," he taunted Shaak Ti as they dueled.
"Neither can you," she said. "You are wasting your strength too quickly."
"The dark side is inexhaustible."
"Your strength is prodigious," she admitted, "but that is your doing. Light, dark..." She paused to aim a blow at his head that he barely deflected. "They are just directions. Do not be fooled that you stand on anything other than your own two feet." He slashed at her own feet as they spun by overhead and sent one of her ribbons twirling down into the sarlacc's gaping mouth. "Spare me the philosophy lesson, Jedi," he snarled. "I'm only here for your blood."
"And you may yet have it, or I yours." On her last three words, she struck three blows that each partially found their mark. The first burned a sizzling line down the apprentice's left shoulder. The second scored diagonally across his chest. The third would have skewered his right eye had he not held her back at the last minute with a desperate telekinetic block that stopped her lightsaber barely a millimeter from his skin. He could feel his eyelashes and eyebrows burning. The right side of his sight was entirely blue. She gasped and staggered backward. Her lightsaber and her gaze dropped. A full half meter of red blade emerged from her stomach, then the rest came free with a hiss. He backed away, shocked by how close he had come to death and how lucky he had been to defeat her. He had raised his lightsaber by reflex. She had, in the desperation of her final assault, practically thrown herself on the blade. Perhaps she had meant for the two of them to defeat each other at the same time." - The Force Unleashed.
That's the full fight. Personally I think it's indicative of Shaak and Galen being relatively close as overall combatants by that point in the story ( especially if you take into account many of the external factors ) If you disagree with any of my interpretation I'd love to have a discussion about it.
4. Fair enough. While I believe it can be interpreted differently I don't find your stance unreasonable. In fact, just the opposite.
Originally posted by UCanShootMyNova
He blocked one of Shaak's blows with TK."The third would have skewered his right eye had he not held her back at the last minute with a desperate telekinetic block that stopped her lightsaber barely a millimeter from his skin." - The Force Unleashed.
Fair enough on the vantage point, although it appears regardless that Shaak was noticeably faster and just a better duelist based on the early excerpts. The parts that follow involve too much Force abuse. It's fair to say that they were relatively close, though I still have Savage and Ventress above that.
Originally posted by SunRazer
Fair enough on the vantage point, although it appears regardless that Shaak was noticeably faster and just a better duelist based on the early excerpts. The parts that follow involve too much Force abuse. It's fair to say that they were relatively close, though I still have Savage and Ventress above that.
There's a few other factors to clear up. What's your stance on Felucia's status as a nexus and the energy Galen used up getting to Shaak?
Also, what's your position on Shaak being able to sway the Force alignment of Felucia. I feel we probably have differing views on that feat.
Originally posted by SunRazer
Is it not said to be a DS nexus (although apparently the comic goes out on a limb and calls it an LS nexus or something)?From what I recall, Shaak is said to be a beacon of light in Felucia's darkness, which basically means she's a light sider on Felucia's DS nexus. But correct me if I'm wrong.
That's exactly what it says. However, she renders the planet practically neutral since she's beating back the DS nexus. So I doubt either she or Marek would've been amped.