Rogue One’s Vader is the kind of Vader I expect in the timeline closer to RotS. It’s too jarring to see nimble Vader so close to ANH. But I mean, I wouldn’t mind a Vader film around that timeline, hunting Jedi.
Using one handed blade work isn’t being nimble; jumping all over the place and running swiftly is being nimble as far as the dictionary is concerned.
You’re right.
Fluid would be the better word.I would probably agree with you if we had a scene of slaughtering Rebels in the OT. Such a scene would have been shot in a completely different from the Vader vs Ben duel for a myriad of reasons. The most pertinent of which is that you don’t have to develop the choreography around Sir Alec Guinness.
I see where you’re coming from, but it’s not so much having to do with the Ben duel. And true, there isn’t a Vader-Rebel slaughter fest in the OT, however, there’s much to be said in how Vader deals with normal infantry. From the start of ANH, who takes out a band of Rebels, no larger than the amount from Rogue One? Stormtroopers. Vader strangles only one Rebel and tosses him aside through sheer strength (not even using the Force overtly!)
In ESB, while it’s unclear if Vader and his ground troopers came across any Rebel resistance, the fact remains Vader took a group of troopers with him to take out remaining forces on Hoth. Then with his encounter with Han Solo, he never even used his saber to block blaster fire. He’s really restrained in his tactics.
What I’m trying to get at is that I’m more fond of the idea of OT Vader that only used his saber against force users. If there are normal Rebels to take care of, he uses stormtroopers. The fluid combat shown in Rogue One just begs the question why didn’t Vader use his one-hit wonder skills against a similar number of foes, like in ANH? I would like to think that as Vader aged, the more limited his skill with a lightsaber diminished but sufficient enough to go against other duelists and not so much against overwhelming and disposable forces. That’s what the stormtroopers are for and seems pretty evident that this is the case for the OT and should had also applied to RO given the extremely tiny time gap between the films. This is why it’s jarring to me, especially watching them back to back. Again, RO’s Vader is suited better for a timeline closer to RotS, IMO.