Star Wars movies: What are the top fan-favorite lightsaber duels?

There are multiple reasons to love the Star Wars movies, and we can talk about them for days. But one of the most obvious is for the lightsaber duels.

Light versus Dark, Jedi against Jedi, father against son. If you had to choose one, which duels from the star wars movie franchise would be your favorite?

In no particular order, here are the top five duels from the Star Wars movies that we think most fans vote as the best and why.

1. Darth Maul versus Qui Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi – Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

Not only did this duel have John Williams’ beautiful music to accompany it, but it featured both Jedi Master Qui Gon Jinn and his padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi against the ruthless Sith Lord Darth Maul. One of the most exciting parts of this scene is when Darth Maul finally drops his robe and slowly ignites his double-bladed lightsaber to face-off against Qui Gon and Obi-Wan. You know it’s going to be nothing short of epic.

2. Anakin Skywalker versus Obi-Wan Kenobi – Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

This lightsaber duel between Anakin Skywalker (or Darth Vader depending on how you look at it) and his master Obi-Wan Kenobi is one of the most intense cinematic duels of all of the Star Wars movies. It took George Lucas two weeks to complete and multiple hours of hard training for Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen to make the duel look as realistic as possible. I think they pulled it off, but what do you think?

3. Darth Vader versus Obi-Wan Kenobi – Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

While this duel wasn’t as physical as those from the previous films, it was just as intense if not more so. Darth Vader had waited a long time to exact revenge on Obi-Wan for taking the high ground on Mustafar and defeating the newly appointed Sith Lord. And to give you an indication of how great this duel is, it has been remade and reimagined by Star Wars fans multiple times. The latest version comes from FXitinPost, and it’s nothing short of spectacular. You can check out that clip right here.

4. Luke Skywalker versus Darth Vader – Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

Fans probably anticipated this duel was eventually going to be the duel to end them all, but as we’ve seen, that’s not the case. That said, this is one of the most iconic duels because of its importance to the original trilogy story and particularly, to the progression of characters Luke Skywalker and his father, Anakin Skywalker.

And what a better way to end the original trilogy with the redemption of Anakin Skywalker and his son, Luke, by his side just long enough to say goodbye. Sniffle.

5. Rey versus Kylo Ren – Episode VII: The Force Awakens

It just wouldn’t be right to leave the sequel trilogy out of this list, and this duel between the newly awakened Rey and her counterpart in darkness Kylo Ren was pretty cool. The picturesque setting for the duel itself was impressive enough (snow falling all around, trees being sliced open by wayward lightsaber strikes) but to see Rey take hold of Luke’s lightsaber in a fighting pose was quite exciting.

While many expected that Rey would not be able to hold her own against an opponent as strong as Ren, she pretty much did, and the rest, as they say, is (cinematic) history.

Next. The 25 most influential Star Wars characters. dark

What is your favorite Star Wars lightsaber duel from the movies?

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Star Wars movies: What are the top fan-favorite duels?

By Julie Gray | Jul 25, 2019