Luke Skywalker would beat Jedi Master Yoda in a fight

http://www.youtube.com... http://www.youtube.com... The agreed-upon condition of this duel is that both combatants are "in their prime." Obviously, this is a hypothetical and nebulous point, since there is no way to know exactly when each was at their best; and the times that seem to fit this best are about 100 - 300 years apart. The only contact Luke and Yoda had (while both were alive, that is) was within a year of the end of Yoda's life. Note that all three of the prequels are set within 37 years of Yoda's death. He is certainly not in his prime; he is in fact very old and tired, and far less agile than he was in his youth. His reflexes are slower, and his judgment clouded by years of Palpatine's machinations. Despite this, he fought brilliantly in the Clone Wars, defeated Dooku in a duel, and fought Palpatine to a draw. When Luke fought Palpatine (at the ages of 23, 28, and 29), he lost twice and only won the last time because he had outside help. If we can compare their strengths by their duels with Palpatine, then, its clear that even when Yoda is old he is still a more capable swordsman than Luke is. How much more when he was in his prime? This duel pits a middle-aged Yoda, at perhaps 600-700 years old, against a middle-aged Luke, at around 40. Note that Luke was 30 years old when he re-founded the Order, and nearly 45 when he took the title Grand Master; many of the techniques of dueling Luke learned had not been recovered at the time he re-founded the order. To defend my original points: 1. No, experience doesn't guarantee success; however, it does make it easier to win if one takes part in a lot of previous duels. Yoda simply has the greater experience fighting, and is more likely to win based on that alone. 2. Yoda's more complete knowledge of the forms of swordfighting is extremely relevant to his duel with Luke; if Yoda is privy to tricks and techniques that Luke never learned, he can pull them out to overwhelm Luke. Luke's comparative ignorance is a strong disadvantage for him. 3. I will concede this point, as it is relatively unimportant to the outcome. _____________________ Now, to address my opponent's new points: 1. Luke does manage to recover some of the techniques used by the old Order. This does not give him an advantage over Yoda, since Yoda knew these techniques already - in the more polished form they had before the purge. The question to ask here is: If he managed, slowly and painfully, to recover these impressive techniques; what other powerful techniques could he have learned if he had lived before the purge, as Yoda did? 2. I've already compared Yoda and Luke as they matched against Palpatine; the point here is that Luke is only notable as a swordsman because he was mostly self-taught. Luke has impressive force capabilities, rivaling Yoda's; his knowledge and experience using the force are slight compared to Yoda, though. Luke has impressive skills with the saber, but it is necessarily a less polished form than Yoda's since he had to invent it himself without the Jedi Order to consult. As for the difference in the saber forms, Yoda was the master of all the forms except VII, and he was present when that was invented. Yoda used Soresu, form IV, which made up for his short stature and reach and allowed him to attack from all sides of an opponent almost simultaneously. This combat would be spectacular, but it is unlikely Luke would win. It is far more probable that Yoda would win, or force a draw. I return this debate to my opponent.