Originally posted by: Obi Jeewhyen
Oh, and to atone for my continuance of the derail ... I will say that I agree almost wholeheartedly with canofhumdingers' comments re the ESB lightsaber duel.

The thing that wrecks it for me, and wrecks the Force for me in general, is all that wonderful control Vader exhibits over the entire duel is mocked and made pointless when he reveals that, at any time, he can simply start throwing brick-a-brak around with his telekenesis. Pfft, why have duels at all?

Sorry, but I hate the telekenesis aspect of the Force that was grafted onto it for Empire Strikes Back. Kinda makes things a little too easy, if Jedi have to power to move all objects at will. What would they need lightsabers for? Or any other skill for that matter? It's too easy, and too cheesy. Personally, I'd like a little less Carrie in my Star Wars.

But I guess that's just me.

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Interesting. & i found that to be a great show of the total command of the force Vader had &, the telekinesis aspect seemed like a natural progression of the force to me. PLus it makes the duel that much more intense. After Vader has totally owned luke in the duel, he really pours on the heat, revealing that he doesn't even need the saber to defeat luke. I think that draws a neat parallel to the concept that, once someone has truely mastered the sword arts, they have mastered themselves & therefore, no longer need the sword. Of course, it's not quite in the same vein as the japanese concept seeing as Vader is evil & that concept is really referring to enlightenment in a good way.

As for the telekenisis negating the need for lightsabers, i don't think that's necessarily true. Take, as an example, the jedi knight video games. you can do some pretty amazing force-feats, but you can't do them all at once, or forever. you have mana, which is essentially "force stamina" the more intense the force action, the more of this "stamina meter" you use & the longer you have to wait for it to recharge before using it again. That sort of how i always envisoned using the force, even before those games came out. You can't do everything all the time. the force is a source of energy, & just like our physical body, you can only do so much for so long with it before you need to rest & recuperate. &, just like our physical body, the more you train in the force & the more you "work out" (for lack of a better phrase) with it, the stronger you become & the more you can do before giving out.

edit: this is also why i feel yoda should never be seen with a lightsaber!! He has reached such a high level of "oneness" with the force that he essentially IS the ultimate samurai. He has transcended the need for physical weapons.