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Ranking lightsaber battles, a thread. I will be using animated duels that I think are stronger than the weakest of the live action ones. Reminder this is just my opinion, and my opinion does not invalidate yours.
23. Ben Kenobi vs Vader. A New Hope, this fight for me isn’t bad but I cant justify putting it above any of the others due to the choreography. I understand the circumstances which is why they couldn’t battle as well this duel just doesn’t really do it for me.
22. Qui Gon vs Maul. The Phantom Menace. This short duel on tatooine gives us a short introduction to the prequel duels. However the camera work is quite choppy so you cannot really see much, which is why it places low on this list.
21. Obi and Ventress vs Maul and Sauvage. The Clone Wars. I really like this duel, the duo of Obi-Wan and Ventress fighting together was something I never thought i’d see and I really liked this arc as a whole in TCW. Good duel.
20. Rey vs Kylo Ren. TROS (dyad battle) this battle between these two between the dyad is good. I love how this scene is done and the scenery is great. I just don’t like it as much as the ones I have above it :)
19. Palpatine vs Mace Windu. ROTS. The weight behind this duel is insane. At a point of very high tension in the movie we see the powerful Mace Windu in action against Palpatine which is the first time we see him with a lightsaber. The eventual climax is also crazy.
18. Kanan vs Jedi Temple Guard. In this duel, Kanan realizes what he needs to do train Ezra, speaking to himself Temple Guard, realizing he can only be himself. It ends with the Guard initiating Kanan as a Jedi Knight which is beautiful.
17. Anakin, Obi-Wan and Yoda vs Dooku. AOTC. This duel is very hit and miss for me. Yoda dueling, Anakin using two sabers and watching Yoda deal with force lighting like it’s nothing was amazing. However it does have some weird camera work and doesn’t hit as hard as the others.
16. Maul vs Pre Vizla. TCW. This battle is Maul challenging Pre Vizla for rule of Mandalore. The thing that makes this battle more entertaining is that Vizla used more than just his darksaber and used his other weapons to try to best Maul. Very entertaining duel.
15. Rey vs Kylo Ren/Ben Solo. TROS. This duel on the death star ruins is a nice duel. The scenery is amazing, there is also a decent emotional weight behind the duel, especially the ending.
14. Kanan and Ezra vs The Grand Inquisitor. This duel is very powerful. The dialogue between Kanan and The Inquisitor is great, I love how Kanan starts to trust the force during the fight. Also the way the Grand Inquisitor would rather kill himself than face Vader is so powerful.
13. Anakin vs Bariss. TCW. I love this duel, it has a good balance of emotional weight and entertainment value. I love how passionate Anakin is in this fight as he is fighting to clear Ahsoka’s name. It’s a lot more than just Anakin dealing with a traitor.
12. Anakin and Obi Wan vs Dooku. ROTS. This duel is great. Great choreography, great characters, a lot of meaning behind the duel. We see how Anakin taps into the dark side to eventually kill Dooku. The scene at the end between Anakin and Palpatine is also amazing.
11. Rey and Kylo vs Praetorian Guards. TLJ. This fight is extremely entertaining. Visually stunning, powerful, and overall a great scene. This is really where the duels start to be elite on my list. The entire throne room scene in this movie is great imo.
10. Sidious vs Maul and Sauvage. TCW. This duel is sensational. The way we see the pure power on display from Sidious as he toys with the brothers from Dathomir. It also has some parallels to duel of the fates as Sidious kills Sauvage while Maul can’t help. Amazing duel.
9. Rey and Finn vs Kylo Ren. TFA. I love this duel, the scenery, the score, the characters. Everything. We see the way Rey and Finn care so much for eachother after building a friendship during the movie. I also really like the choreography during the fight. Elite duel.
8. Yoda vs Sidious. ROTS. This duel is amazing. The scenery, choreography and score are all amazing. The two most powerful force users in the galaxy going at it in a show of power for the fate of the galaxy. The ending is also extremely heartbreaking as Yoda accepts his failure.
7. Ben Kenobi vs Maul. This duel is perfect. The small details are amazing. Ben switches to Qui-Gon’s lightsaber stance to attempt to lure Maul into using the same move as before. However Maul doesn’t change stance. Ben knows what’s coming and counters Maul’s move and kills him.
6. Luke vs Vader. ESB. This duel is iconic, the cinematography, the emotional weight, the choreography is all great. We see Luke finally stand up to the man who he believes killed his father. To find out his father is the man behind the mask. Beautiful duel.
5. Ahsoka vs Maul. This duel left me in awe. It’s beautiful, with a great score, amazing choreography and a lot of emotional weight. We see the care Ahsoka has for Anakin as as soon as Maul talks about him Ahsoka wants to fight. A perfectly balanced duel.
4. Duel of the Fates. This duel amazes me every time. It introduced one of the best scores in the franchise. Has outstanding choreography and great scenery. The meaning behind duel of the fates is also amazing. If you’ve heard Dave Filoni speak on it you know how beautiful it is.
3. Luke vs Vader. ROTJ. This duel is also perfect. The emotional weight and pure power behind the fight, matched with great dialogue during the scene will always make this one of my favourites. It also includes my favourite line. “I am a Jedi like my father before me.”
2. Ahsoka vs Vader. Rebels. This scene never fails to make me cry. It may be bias as it includes my favourite characters but the pure emotion behind this duel is amazing, and the dialogue between the two is heartbreaking. Extremely powerful.
1. Anakin vs Obi-Wan. This duel is easily number 1 for me. It has the perfect balance of cinematography, dialogue, choreography, scenery and emotional power. The way this master and apprentice know the other so well that they both pull out all the stops to win. PERFECTION
