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Has Obi-Wan ever won a duel based purely on his lightsaber skills? The only way(s) I've seen him win was by using his intellect. Examples of this:

When he used his intellect to win:
Maul had him beaten, he clears his mind and becomes one with the light side of the force again, confusing Maul and killing him
(What I think) Grievous had him beaten and OB1 distracted him long enough to shoot him with a blaster.

When he was beaten:
Dooku had him totally outclassed in their duel and Anakin did way better then him especially if you count the deleted material
In his duel with Vader in a New Hope he just plain gives up.

I'm undecided on the Anakin duel but seeing as how powerful Anakin was then (considering he beat Dooku and Mace) he probably would have lost if it was based on lightsaber skills alone.

Obi-wan is a pimp, and can beat anyone whenever he wants.

He was just playing with Dooku. He wanted to see Anakin get killed, so he took a fall.

I think obi wan beat maul cuz he was in rage that his master got stabbed.

No that's the reason he got pushed in the mining pit in the first place. On the official site it said that Maul used Obi-Wan's touching of the dark side as a conduit for a Force attack.

Obi-wan could have killed Maul whenever he wanted. He just wanted Maul to kill Qui-gon, so that he could train Anakin, then kill him, then Obi-wan could hump Padme.

You're a sith aren't you ToMacco

Obi-Wan is one of the greatest Jedi, he wins his battles by lightsaber skills AND intellect. As for your Dooku battle in Episode III, you have to remember that he just was in the Battle of Geonosis, and Dooku wasn't, edge to Dooku. The Maul battle was even until he made that little mistake that got him pushed into the pit, and he recovered from it by a lightsaber attack, not intellect. Maul wasn't blind, he could see that Obi-Wan was jumping up in the air. As for Grievous and Anakin, we can't say anything yet cause we haven't seen it, but if Grievous is supposed to be the badass he's been built up to be, the fact that Obi-Wan stands against 4 lightsabers at once HAS to have proof and add major credibility to his lightsaber skills.

What "little mistake"? If you mean his touching of the dark side when he saw Maul kill Qui Gon, that's the only thing that kept him from getting sliced in half when he dueled Maul alone.

In ANH, Obi-Wan didn't just give up because he knew that he couldn't win. In fact, Ol' Ben probably could've kicked Vader's @$$ right there on the Death Star, but he realized that it was pivotal to Luke's training to become a Jedi Knight that he allow Vader to kill him. He probably thought that being around would make Luke depend on him too much, and thus make him weaker and less adept to finally face down Anakin and the Emperor.
Plus, even if Ol' Ben wasn't as good a saberer at the time of ANH, you can't really blame him: He hasn't had any real practice or use for his lightsaber, 'cept maybe to ward off the odd Tusken Raider.

I'm pretty sure if Ben had the chance to kill Vader (which I highly doubt) he would've taken it.

dont be dissin obi

I said that he would've "kicked Vader's @$$", not killed him - Anakin had to survive so that he could bring Balance to the Force.

So what your saying is that OB1 would have cut off all of Anakin's limbs and tied him up then when Sidious walked too close to the reactor shaft OB1 would load Vader into a catapult and shoot him at Sidious? Is that what you're saying?

yup

Wha-wha-wtf?
Ol' Ben....ah forget it! Read my posts instead of skiming them!

He beat Maul because Maul is stupid and too cocky, so he got his ugly ass sliced in half.

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Did you even watch the duel on the Death Star? Vader was toying with Obi-Wan whose lightsaber skills were just sad! Face it...Obi-Wan was an old man by ANH. His heart was crushed. His skills with the force had diminished. Letting Vader kill him was his only choice.

Think about it like this too...He didn't go seeking out Vader...Vader found him.

But back in the day (Ep III) his lightsaber skills were very good.

You're funny....especially seeing as everything you say is proved wrong by Ush.

Show me the error of my ways!!

So what...Ush created SW now? Dude, just cause he's a mod doesnt mean he knows more that EVERYONE else. He has independant thoughts and OPINIONS like all of us here. But i will disagree that OB!didnt go looking for Vader, cause he did. Thats how he wanted to introduce Luke to Vader. He wanted Luke to see Vader kill the only person Luke had, hence, driving him to become a Jedi and destroy the sith. I dont think he ever considered even telling luke that was his pops. He had his own secret agenda. While OB1 is very skilled with a lightsaber, i think most of the victories (we see anyway) are based on luck. And here me out for this.....

He said, "In my experience theres no such thing as luck." But i think while we were supposed to view him as the old wise good guy, and knowing that we would eventually see the backstory of him, that was GL's way of kinda letting us know what kind of guy he is. He got lucky that Maul decided to get stupid an toy with him, he didnt do anything in Ep2, he got beat by Dooku AND Jango fett....c'mon, JANGO FETT. And he was lucky that Vader didnt kill him before he let him kill him. Then we find out all of his "certain point of views"....so i think he IS lucky and said that just as a bit of character definition...and meant to be in a good way....and lets face it, we've seen the screenshots...anakin dominates the whole fught seemingly....he's LUCKY to have beat him.

I don't totally disagree with this. But I do. After losing Anakin to the dark side because of Anakin's anger and hatred, I don't think he wanted to cause Luke anger and hate that would lead to his downfall.

Episode4;
I believe both Obi-Wan and Vader where seeking for eachother, Vader sensed him approaching and simply waited for him.
Obi-Wan still is the more experienced one, but he's aware of the bigger picture so he just lets Vader have him.
Obi-Wan is very aware of the fact that The Prophecy of Anakin will come true through Luke(for all the reasons known to us).

Episode3;
Anakin is the one, but he certainly is not the experienced one(more a arrogant whining Jedi-Master wannabe).
It would be like giving the car-keys to an infant and saying "you drive"!
Everybody thinks Anakin is sooo great, but even a great to be Jedi must learn.
Obi Wan is just THE MASTER ok......

ARC117, how are ya??

So happens I actually try and get by opinions backed with intelligence and factual sources. If people want to believe me based on that reputation then that's reasonable enough; I have certainly made the effort to get to know a lot of these things better than most posters have.

Obi-Wan was beaten in a fair fight by Maul- his heroic moment was actually going toe to toe by him for any amount of time at all, and despite his heroism he still lost. This was no shame- he was only a Padawan, and he never gave up, which is why he was able to kill Maul after Maul's arrogance got the better of him.

Obi-Wan was also beaten in a fair fight by Dooku, but I reject the idea that Anakin looked better. The problem is, Obi-Wan fights in the same style as Dooku (at least by then; he was different in TPM), but Dooku is just plain better at it, hence, Obi-Wan was always going to look poor by comparison. Anakin is a very flashy swordfighter, very different to Dooku- so win or lose, he was always going to LOOK better against the old man, even if he was actually beaten just as hard- Dooku never looked in danger.

Also, I see no reason to think that weariness had anything to do with it- Jedi seem to have fantastic stamina, many of them going straight into a huge war after that Arena fight, and Obi-Wan and Anakin looked absolutely fine. The point is simply that Dooku is VERY good, and GL wanted to show this. Obi-Wan, no fool, knew it- "I cannot take Dooku alone," he tells Anakin, decisively.

If heroes kept just winning their fights by being better there would be no drama. Obi-Wan, in that respect, has to suffer somewhat. But we ALL know that his big moment to shine is in the final duel of all.

As a postscript, though, darkyoda's analysis of the ANH fight makes little sense. That fight was specfically designed to be totally evens. No fighter can get an advantage. It's a choreographed fencing match complete with circular parries and playing for centre and it would have gone on forever. Remember, when first written, Obi-Wan did not die there; there was never any intention to make Vader better. Obi-Wan simply ran out of time, and knew that Luke would never have gotten away if he had stayed.

As for Obi-Wan looking for Vader... tricky, because his movements don't show anything of the sort- he went out, turned off the tractor beam, then went back, straight there.

But it is very likely that he KNEW Vader would meet him, from the lines spoken by either character- Ben's line about him having a different destiny, and Vader's line about escape not being Obi-Wan's plan. So he was probably just waiting on events to happen.

****ing good analysis, my point exactly although you've taken the time to give a few more words to it Ush!
Couln't have done it better I must say!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So people, this should be satisfying enough for all of you!

I believe much of the confusion over the fight in ANH comes from the fact that there were alot of technical limitations back in the late 70s. This fight needs to be redone in my opinion. After the tremendous fight we will witness in Episode III, how can any of us really believe that Vader or Obi-Wan were that lame at lightsaber dueling just 18 years later?

Good.

I disagree. IMO the Anakin duel was the worst one out of the three. I mean, sure it was very elegant and stylish, but Anakin fought with two lightsabers for less that 5 seconds. Afterwards, he and Dooku were dancing in the dark, and what makes it worse was the fact that the camera was right in their faces for the most part of the fight. All you saw were flashes of blue and red at the edge of the camera screen. Then Anakin, seemingly on purpose, sticks his arm out like a total dumbass and Dooku chops it off. I mean, at least Obi-Wan didn't lose that stupidly. And believe it or not, The Obi-Wan vs. Dooku fight was actually longer than the Anakin vs. Dooku fight. Remember when Obi-Wan commences his duel with Dooku, they fight for about ten seconds and the camera shifted to Padme recovering from her fall? That also counts as part of the fight. It's not like they go on coffee break when they are not under the camera. Plus, I've heard that during that time Obi-Wan was all over Dooku, and when the camera shifted back to the fight, Dooku once again gained the upper hand. I was pissed when I first heard that. Why did they have to take out the parts where Obi-Wan was putting up an awesome fight with Dooku? They could have at least shown the conclusion of Obi-Wan's temporary advantage in the fight.

Ahh...poopies.

sly .........green

I dont think so. If you go by what was first written we'd still be talking about Mace Windy & luke Starkiller. Scratch that, we wouldnt have been talking about it at all cause it would have sucked. Revisions are part of the process and all that matters is the finished product. And it seems to me that whole reason for Obi's demise is summed up in the 'if you strike me down...' line. He knew he would be of much more help to Luke on the other side of the force, rather than in flesh & blood. Turns out he was right other wise Luke would have just kept using his computer & never blown up the death star.

No, there is a difference; that change was made spontaneously at the last moment. So the therory that these two were well-matched was still firmly in GL's mind at the time.