Team Debate: Mace Windu vs. Darth Sidious

Hopefully the Pro team has the same opinion of our writing. As good as that argument may be, however, there are some flaws and inconsistencies that we would like to address. Mind Tricks and DM (a) In Pro’s R2 and R3 arguments, they claimed that mind tricks and/or DM would not be effective against the Jedi. However, the video provided by Pro in R1 seems to state otherwise. It is well known that Jedi had superhuman speed (1), reflexes, and could even see an opponent’s move before it was executed. This phenomenon was displayed in Pro’s R2 video. By examining the video provided in R1, however, one could see that the Jedi were reacting extremely slowly, for whatever reason. We will analyze and attempt find a cause for this discrepancy. When Sidious killed the first two Jedi, Windu was more or less standing still and did not react. Several blows could have been landed at the time, or to use Pro’s statistics, six blows before Sidious could blink. Why did Windu not step in? At the end of the duel, Windu took a very long time to finally deliver the “killing blow”. In addition, he was uncharacteristically slow and did not sense Anakin’s intervention. The duel went on slowly, and the number of strikes that were landed did not even get close to Pro’s figures for Windu. Regardless of Windu’s abilities against a mind trick, he either succumbed to it or was slowed down by another factor, as presented above. The slow speed of the duel is also uncharacteristic of a duel involving Juyo/Vaapad practitioners. While this may not conclusively prove that the mind trick or DM worked, it does show that something was limiting Windu’s powers. Lightsaber Skills and Physical Abilities (b) Sidious is also capable of greater speeds (2), yet chose not to fight at that speed. This brings us back to our argument in R2 - that Sidious was deliberately limiting his own powers. Pro stated that Windu had the clear advantage in his strength and stamina. While Sidious appeared to be a frail old man, he used his abilities with the Force to grant him astonishing speed and strength (1) (2) (3). While it is true that Sidious did not see much combat during his time as a politician, he proved to be very skilled in combat during his duel with Maul and Savage Opress (2). In addition, he frequently had duels and training spars with Maul, who he defeated easily: “Sidious shifted like a liquid shadow, maneuvering around his apprentice. Maul suddenly stood up against the wall, gasping for breath as his vision blurred. His strength was evaporating. He turned fast to see Sidious. Sidious lashed out with his lightsaber. Maul parried the blow, but then his lightsaber suddenly flew from his hand. ” (4). This quote shows several of Sidious’s attributes. The fact that he could knock Maul’s lightsaber out of his hand is rather impressive, as Maul was one of the (physically) strongest beings alive at the time. The fact that Maul’s strength was “evaporating” could be a description of Force Drain (5), and given that Sidious’ training was centered on his abilities with the Force and combat (6), it is entirely possible that he had mastered this technique. This brings us to our next point. Pro stated that Sidious would not be very skilled in combat. However, given Sidious’ training and his frequent duels with Maul, it would seem that he was very proficient in lightsaber duels and combative Force abilities. Thus, we conclude that Windu’s powers were limited at the time (a) and that Sidious had complete control of the fight (b). Once again, we would like to thank Pro and encourage our readers to vote Con. - . http://starwars.wikia.com... - See R3 video - . http://starwars.wikia.com... - Star Wars - The Wrath of Darth Maul (2012) - . http://starwars.wikia.com... - . http://starwars.wikia.com...