Janskeet said:In ROTJ we see Luke catch the lightsaber right after avoiding the the fall into the sarlac pit. All R2D2 did was shoot the lightsaber up in the air and Luke was able to grab it from there. Vader's saber comes like a foot within retreival.
R2 is a robot who shot it right at Luke for the purpose of catching it. Vader is a powerful Sith Lord who threw a lit lightsaber at Luke with the express purpose of Luke NOT catching it (unless being sliced counts as catching).