How did Kenobi match Anakin?
ANakin stomped Dooku decisively, and his power only grew from there to operation knightfall.
So how in the hell did Kenobi, who was inferior to Dooku manage to contend with Anakin as well as he did, and eventually defeat him?
Have any legitimate answers ever been given to explain this in canon or legends?
LotL made a great blog about it.
^ Canonically speaking, #2 is pretty close to the truth:
https://i.imgur.com/FJeWVqQ.jpg
Originally posted by Vitiate
LotL made a great blog about it.
Originally posted by Vitiate
LotL made a great blog about it.
styles match up a certain way; this is why Dooku destroyed both of them in AOTC despite being an old man and why Dooku continually destroyed Obi Wan in subsequent encounters; Soresu (defensive) didn't match up well at all against Makashi (technique) but matched perfectly against Shien (aggressive power).
Also factor in that they knew each other very very well as combatants and Anakin wasn't exactly in the best state of mind to be calm and think out his strategy...
and lets not forget he actually tried to jump over Kenobis ****in head and get behind him when Obi Wan had the high ground which is the bonehead move of all bonehead moves in a combat scenario
Re: How did Kenobi match Anakin?
Well, there's a number of reasons.
Originally posted by Sheev
Anakin stomped Dooku decisively, and his power only grew from there to operation knightfall.
This is half-true. In all of Revenge of the Sith, there's only one factor that affects Anakin's ability; his fear. Fortunately, we don't have to make too many guesses about how this impacts things, as this effect is made clearly visible to the reader in the form of the metaphor of the "dead star dragon."
In the beginning of Revenge of the Sith, on the Invisible Hand, Anakin's fear is directed towards his own dark feelings, and are no doubt exacerbated by the weight of the expectations of his peers. Dooku knows this, and nearly wins the fight by exploiting this fear; however, Palpatine undermines the weight of those expectations by giving Anakin permission(an excuse) from an authority to do what he actually wanted to do--give in to, and unleash, the evil emotions that were welled up within him. In doing so, his fear subsided and he became much more powerful.
In the middle of Revenge of the Sith, alone with Palpatine, Anakin's fear comes from a different source--his own inability to save Padme, which is no doubt exacerbated by his recent suspicions of his peers. Palpatine once again plays on this, driving into him the idea that his inability was the result of the Jedi holding him back, in fear that they couldn't control him, and that by embracing the teachings of the Sith, he could obtain the power he needed, like he had against Dooku. This leads once again to Anakin quashing his fear, and irresponsibly embracing his vices, which makes him even more powerful than before.
However, at the end of Revenge of the Sith, on Mustafar in the aftermath of Operation Knightfall, Anakin's fear catches up to him. At this stage, what he fears is not what he might do or what he might lose--rather, it is what he has already done, and already lost, irrevocably. He's cut down the peers that he was striving to live up to in cold blood, and even his wife, whom he desperately wanted to save, had seemingly turned against him. And this time, Palpatine wasn't there to enable him; he was alone to wrestle with his regrets, and losing, because he was not completely Darth Vader yet.
So you see, while it's true that Anakin was at his strongest during Operation Knightfall, his wasn't a consistent power growth. It was all about his frame of mind, and alone on Mustafar, he wasn't mentally in top form.
So how in the hell did Kenobi, who was inferior to Dooku manage to contend with Anakin as well as he did, and eventually defeat him?
Well for one thing, Obi-Wan is not inferior to Dooku in all respects; he's the best at what he does, and terribly underrated on the whole. Secondly, there's the issue of compatibility. It's made clear in the novelization that, like Dooku, Obi-Wan was no match for Anakin strength-to-strength; he managed to survive as long as he did through solid defense and generously giving ground, and managed to win by luring the fight to a hazardous environment, where he could use Anakin's impulsive and erratic behavior against him.
Of course, considering the difference in strength, he might not have even managed that much were it not for their personal connection. Kenobi was Anakin's teacher, and over the course of the Clone Wars, they were said to have spent thousands of hours sparring against each other. It stands to reason that he, as someone whose fighting style revolves around prolonging combat until the opponent makes a mistake, would stand to benefit from knowing every aspect of his opponent's fighting style inside and out. After all, as strong as Anakin may or may not have become, it's not like his technique or tendencies in combat changed over the course of Revenge of the Sith. Obi-Wan had already seen everything Anakin had to offer countless times prior to their final engagement, so he was prepared to counter him, while other accomplished swordsmen (Tyranus and Drallig) were not.
Originally posted by Emperordmb
Yeah clearly Obi-Wan drastically suddenly growing in power from sub-Dooku to on the same level as the guy everyone's now saying is near Sidious/Yoda level makes more sense than any other explanation.
Haven't read the blog, but there's definitely merit to the idea that Obi-Wan became significantly stronger by the end of Revenge of the Sith.
Originally posted by relentless1Anakin should have just Force Pulled him into the lava or something.
styles match up a certain way; this is why Dooku destroyed both of them in AOTC despite being an old man and why Dooku continually destroyed Obi Wan in subsequent encounters; Soresu (defensive) didn't match up well at all against Makashi (technique) but matched perfectly against Shien (aggressive power).Also factor in that they knew each other very very well as combatants and Anakin wasn't exactly in the best state of mind to be calm and think out his strategy...
and lets not forget he actually tried to jump over Kenobis ****in head and get behind him when Obi Wan had the high ground which is the bonehead move of all bonehead moves in a combat scenario
Originally posted by NewGuy01
Haven't read the blog, but there's definitely merit to the idea that Obi-Wan became significantly stronger by the end of Revenge of the Sith.
What's your theory on it? His performances changing throughout the course of ROTS or anything else? Because he did destroy Grevious more thoroughly than even Mace did. Just in case you happen to subscribe to the styles make fights theory, there is no discrepancy. The reason Kenobi was best suited for facing Grevious was because he could counter any style or a combination of all of them due to his simplistic style. There is no reason this wouldn't translate to Vader too
1.Vader hadn't slept or fed at all in three days.
2.His mental state was the worst it'd ever been.
3.Kenobi didn't just know how Vader would fight, but could even manipulate the mechanics of his prosphetic arm to make him lose his grip on his lightsaber.
4.Kenobi had given himself entirely to his duty to stop his former apprentice and destroy the Sith. Completely amplifying his own mental state.
(I remember a magazine that said Padme's words were 'ringing in his skull' the entire duel which would've made him even less focused. Unfortunately I don't remember the source as this is from years ago, at least.)
