Star Wars: Ranking the top 5 lightsaber duels

5. Luke vs Darth Vader I – The Empire Strikes Back

If you first view the Star Wars movies in the order they were released, than the encounter between Luke and Vader on Bespin will be the second lightsaber duel you will have seen.

However, I believe this fight fans remember more fondly than the first between Obi-Wan and Vader in A New Hope, mostly due the fact the first duel was just two men slowly waking two sticks at each other.

However, this first encounter versus Luke and Vader is iconic, and was a bit more action heavy. The opening shot of Luke confronting Vader on the stairs is one of the most famous in all of Star Wars. The fight is a physical one as Vader goes after Luke hard, and we see the first appearance of the force jump in it as well.

They duel throughout the carbonite freezing chamber and Luke does get a bit of offense in on Vader, but the Sith Lord eventually overpowers the young Jedi, hurling objects at him with the force, and eventually forcing him onto a ledge.

The fight ends with Vader slicing off Luke’s right hand, before what is to many the most famous scene of the franchise, where Vader reveals to Luke that is his in fact his father, Anakin Skywalker, and Luke jumps off the ledge his is hanging on to escape capture.

For fans for the franchise, it was an incredible third act to what many consider to be the best of the Star Wars films, made for some great character development for both the hero and villain of the story, and the duel itself to me is the template all that follow have been based on.