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Lightsaber combat describes the fictional fighting styles employed by Jedi and Sith characters in the Star Wars multi-media franchise. The details of the lightsaber styles are never mentioned directly in the released Star Wars films, but they are explored in novelizations as well as Expanded Universe sources such as magazines, comic books, the Star Wars Role-playing Game and "Visual Dictionaries."

Development

According to Nick Gillard, the various styles were devised for the prequels and intended to further characterize their practitioners.

"I developed different styles for the characters, and gave each of them a flaw or a bonus. So with Obi, for instance, he's got a very business-like style--when he was younger he could border on the flashy and might twirl his lightsaber a bit, because he was taught by Qui-Gonn. Qui-Gonn was brash, that rubbed off on Obi and Obi then taught Anakin, who was way too old to learn anyway." "I think the style really worked well. The Jedi style of fighting is an amalgamation of all the great swordfighting styles. Melding them together is the difficult part--to move from a Kendo style to, say, Rapier requires a complete change in body and feet movement, and this must look effortless. The style moves seamlessly between the different disciplines, but remains technically correct throughout. It's unlike any other style of fighting and I think it's beautiful to watch."

The duels were specifically choreographed to be miniature "stories." Gillard's goal in choreographing the action for Episode I was to create stunts that flow from the story. "You can't just think, 'I'm a stunt coordinator, I'm going to make a big stunt happen'," Gillard says. "It's all about making it tie in nicely with the film so that you don't notice the stunts." Creating narrative through physical expression, Nick wrote each fight as an individual story that supports the overall structure of the movie. "All the fights have a beginning, a middle and an end," he says. "I worked hard to write them like a story."....No two sword masters have exactly the same style, and the subtleties of distinct identities are woven into the choreography of the lightsaber battles. "It was important to me that each character in Episode I have a distinctive fighting style," he says. Some of this shading came from the classic Star Wars Trilogy."

When interviewed for theforce.net, Gillard further notes how, at the beginning of Phantom Menace, he set out certain styles and particularly faults for the various saber-wielding characters. "Once you know the line of them, you know why they're going to do something."

The stage combat used in the films are a combination of Kendo, Iaido, and various western sword styles including traditional fencing. "I figured that since the Jedi had chosen a lightsaber, they'd have to be really good with it," says Gillard. "So I took the essence of all the great sword fighting techniques, from kendo through saber, épée, and foil, and flowed them together." "These lightsaber fights seem to fall into two categories: On the one hand, those strongly influenced by Asian martial arts experience, typically adapting Japanese kenjutsu and kendo, the familiar Filipino Arnis/Escrima, or the stylistic Chinese Opera kung fu clichés of non-stop twirling and obsessive spinning with extra wide exaggerated motion."

Changes in choreography for the prequel trilogy

In writing the prequel trilogy, George Lucas said that he wanted the lightsaber combat in the prequels to be of a more "energized" form than of that in the original trilogy. In the original movies, the only people who fought with lightsabers were Darth Vader, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and his protégé, Luke Skywalker. George Lucas was looking for the kind of sword-fighting that was "reminiscent of what had been done in the previous films but also something that was more energized. We'd seen old men, young boys, and characters who were half-droid, but we'd never seen a Jedi in his prime. I wanted to do that with a fight that was faster and more dynamic-and we were able to pull that off."

The movies' stunt coordinator, Nick Gillard, said that: "they chose a short-range weapon, and so they would have to be very good at it... They would have to study every great sword fighting style: kendo, iaido even including stuff like "tennis and even some tree-chopping, everything you could swing at." He explains that having chosen such a short-range weapon to use against blasters, the Jedi would have to be well skilled in all manners of fighting and defending themselves. Combining a variety of disciplines from various fencing styles to martial arts "with a touch of tennis and tree chopping," he created the distinctive 'Jedi Style' seen in the Episode I lightsaber battles."

Seven forms of lightsaber combat

According to the Expanded Universe book by Star Wars: Attack of the Clones The Visual Dictionary by David West Reynolds, each Jedi chooses the style of lightsaber combat that best suits him or her, noting the existence of seven forms: Shii-Cho, Makashi,Soresu, Ataru, Shien/Djem So, Niman and Juyo/Vaapad.

In the extended universe of Star Wars, other forms of lightsaber combat are known to exist. Sokan was developed for the Hero's Guide Star Wars RPG source book, web supplement. Jar'Kai, as seen in the film, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and noted in the Expanded Universe, allows for the use of two lightsabers in each hand.

References

7. Bouzereau, Laurent; Duncan, Jody (1999). Star Wars: The Making of Episode I: The Phantom Menace (Hardcover ed.). New York: Ballantine Publ. Group. ISBN 0345431111., page 99
8. Episode I Video: Prime of the Jedi -(part of the "Making Episode I" series).
9. Reynolds, David West (2002-04-23). The Visual Dictionary of Star Wars, Episode II - Attack of the Clones. ISBN 0789485885.
11. "The Dark Forces Saga, Part 4: Of the Crudest Matter"
12. Felanil Baaks, Jedi Artisan - Living Force campaign

External links

• Lightsaber combat on Wookieepedia, a Star Wars wiki
• The Seven Forms of Lightsaber Combat – Star Wars Insider, Issues 62 and 68
• Fighting with Lightsabers, by John Clements, criticizing the realism of the choreography
• "Fightsaber"

• Fictional martial arts
• Jedi