Originally posted by Underachiever59That's quite the reaching. They sparred for less than a page, and when Sidious got tired, he turned his back on Vader as if he was facing a child. If anything it looks like Sid was confident he could take Vader down easily should he try something funny while he is turning his back to him
Feature, not a bug. I'm not saying Vader is reaching RotS Palpatine levels. I'm saying Vader is nearing equality with the Palpatine of this time period, just before RotJ. The gap is narrowing, which was the point of my post comparing the two duels. Vader improved, Palpatine is out of practice, and so by RotJ, they're nearly equal as duelists.Also, Palpatine being out of practice shouldn't affect his combat speed. That's something granted to him by his sheer raw power in the Force, which has only grown over the years. So Vader's demonstrated ability to now fight at Palpatine's speed is a clear and impressive display of growth.