Why Plo Koon Was the ONLY Jedi To Ever Beat Yoda In a Lightsaber Duel

there has only ever been one jedi that has ever defeated yoda in a sparring session over his time as grand master of the order yoda has dueled and sparred some of the greatest lightsaber wielders in all of star wars full stop he's engaged and conquered the likes of mace windu dooku two of the greatest duelists that have ever existed in star wars dooku being acclaimed is the greatest lightsaber duelist potentially ever and windu being the only jedi to defeat palpatine in single combat still though yoda defeated both of them at 900 years old yoda defeated both obi-wan kenobi as well as anakin skywalker the jedi chosen one in single combat there has only ever been a single jedi that has ever defeated yoda in a sparring session we've made a video on this topic before but today i want to break down the exact lightsaber technique and form of plo and why plow is the only jedi to ever defeat yoda in a lightsaber duel as well as what made plo koon jedi council member one of the best lightsaber duelists that have ever lived let's go ahead and get into it plokun is one of the few jedi to ever receive praise from the sith lord darth maul with darth maul calling him one of the greatest swordsmen he has ever seen despite maul and plo koon never engaging one another to receive any praise from maul whatsoever one of the most arrogant characters in all of star wars is huge with kuhn getting huge props from darth maul as again he didn't refer to him as simply a good lightsaber duelist but maul called plo-kun one of the greatest swordsmen he have ever seen coincidentally there was another hugely arrogant character in star wars that levied the same amount of praise to plo with this individual calling him his only equal in lightsaber combat that individual was anakin skywalker with anakin only referring to plokun as his equal because he was the only jedi to ever defeat yoda in a sparring session with anakin considering this a massive enough feat to call plo kun and himself on the same level in terms of skill with the lightsaber but now that we've talked about a few of the characters that have praised plokun let's talk about his exact fighting style plo kun was a master of form 5 lightsaber combat but not the dueling variant such as anakin skywalker and later luke skywalker plo kun was a master of the other variation known as xi'an the original version of the form form 5 was known as the way of the krait dragon or the perseverance form and was one of the more aggressive variations on lightsaber combat being developed by form iii practitioners in the early days of the jedi order shien was developed as form iii was mainly defensively minded and viewers of the form believed that they needed a form of attack for themselves what was ultimately developed by these ancient jedi was xi'an a lightsaber combat technique that had a huge emphasis on defense but also a powerful offense to match it users of form 3 that developed it felt that the defensively minded form unnecessarily extended time in combat by forcing its user to wait for an opportunity to strike rather than create their own opening form 5 combat was characterized by power attacks and defense immediately followed by a counter-strike xi'an was considered the classical variant of form 5 and was most adept at blocking blaster bolts than for blade-to-blade combat whereas the gem so was developed later and was specifically intended to use in lightsaber combat still though xi'an could be implemented in combat it was just better suited for blaster wielding foes however form 5 is not the only form that plo specialized in although we'll continue to discuss it he did specialize in another variation on lightsaber combat pairing the two together that created a somewhat perfect marriage of a lightsaber duelist both xi'an and the gem so were designed to use an opponent's attack against them as evidenced by shien's focus on returning blaster bolts to their origin and to jim sew's emphasis on immediate counter-attacks although jedi felt that form 5 encouraged aggression and domination the sentiment did not stop many jedi from practicing the form form 5 was developed sometime prior to the great sith war and it was continued to be used for a millennia during the jedi civil war the new sith wars the clone wars and even beyond like other forms of lightsaber combat it saw use among both sith as well as jedi knowledge of the form survived the great jedi purge initiated in 19bby and into the era of the new jedi order led by luke skywalker xi'an specifically was so dangerous because it took elements from form iii lightsaber combat being defensively minded as well as married that with form 2 lightsaber combat form 2 makashi being the lightsaber technique that dooku used and the form that specialized in blade to blade combat what xi'an essentially tried to do was to take the advantages and none of the disadvantages of both of these techniques and put them together form 5 required a higher level of physical strength than the other lightsaber forms due to its focus on complete domination of its practitioner's opponents form 5 was considered the most physically demanding of all lightsaber forms xi'an was described as being well adapted to guard against blaster fire and enemy strikes without compromising one's ability to launch powerful counter-attacks and was definitely the more passive out of the two variations xi'an kept in mind that the jedi were often outnumbered by their opponents and needed to defend themselves while retaining offensive capabilities unfortunately xi'an was relatively weak against single opponents again though xi yen was not the only lightsaber technique that plo kun specialized in plo koon also specialized in form for lightsaber combat the same as grandmaster yoda let's go ahead and break down exactly what utilizers of form 4 specialized in form 4 was known as the aggression form an aggressive style form 4 was fast-paced and effective against single opponents countering one of the major weaknesses of xi'an the weaker in prolonged combat and confined spaces it was not recommended for use against opponents wielding blasters ataru was characterized by force-assisted acrobatics such as somersaults and leaping strikes both for attack as well as defense another characteristic of the form was its fast powerful strikes from multiple directions notable users of this combat form during the old republic included yoda and qui-gon jinn practitioners of ataru were always on the offense attacking with wide fast and powerful swings form iv practitioners consistently called upon the force to aid in their movements and attacks by allowing the force to flow throughout their body they could overcome their physical limitations including old age as was the case for master yoda so what about pairing form 4 and form 5 xi'an together made plo-coon essentially unstoppable one of the major weaknesses of xi'an was that it was not good in blade-to-blade one-on-one combat instead it was more suited for multiple opponents however plo kun was extremely adept at this as he was physically exceptionally strong stronger physically than even beings like anakin skywalker meaning that when he counter-attacked he brought with it a huge weight and power behind every blow one of the major weaknesses against xi'an is its inability to launch a substantial offense because it was so focused on multiple opponents this is exactly why plo kun began utilizing ataru and put the two forms together ataru is exceptionally offensively minded and is more acrobatic than the gem so the dueling variant of form 5. however the major weakness of ataru is its lack of a defense something that xi'an is actually excellent with as it was created by form iii the all defensive form surisu utilizers when plo kun was involved in battlefield engagements all he ever had to use was xi'an being nearly unstoppable shien specialized in dueling all of these multiple opponents with blasters however plokun was fully aware of its shortcomings which is why he added ataru so let's go ahead and talk about why this lightsaber formed and pairing xi'an and ataru was actually perfect against grandmaster yoda the thing that yoda uses to his advantage is using the force to bolster his physical offensive capabilities yoda is completely offensive minded he is very much an unstoppable force and will bulldoze through nearly every single opponent when yoda attacks you it's almost as if he's attacking with the force of three jedi knights all using ataru ninety-nine percent of the time this would be a massive advantage in yoda's favor however plo koon is that one percent and because he specializes in xi'an a form that involves taking on multiple opponents this actually works in his advantage but unlike form iii ceresu users when dueling yoda where they simply prolonged the inevitable of yoda smashing through and completely obliterating their guards plu kun is capable of matching an offense of his own essentially stonewalling yoda with powerful counter-attacks as well as bringing with it if necessary the speed of ataru not to mention the fact that plokun is familiar with ataru yoda's sole lightsaber form many of the other powerful jedi masters that engage yoda in sparring sessions have a very limited knowledge of ataru with obi-wan specializing in it as a padawan but not past that mace windu creating his own lightsaber style and never really focusing on ataru at all and dooku solely dedicated to form 2 lightsaber combat the only real individual that implemented ataru as a jedi knight was anakin skywalker who in contrast to plo koon actually paired ataru with the dueling variation of form 5 to gem so as an interesting side note anakin skywalker actually did this to answer dooku's form 2 to make himself a little bit quicker to counter dooku's old age something that ultimately resulted in his victory in revenge of the sith with that said anakin skywalker's tutelage in ataru was a newer thing as of revenge of the sith whereas with plo it was an integral part of his hybridized style now for years plo-kun is the perfect storm against yoda i'm not saying overall plo-kun is a better lightsaber duelist than yoda i do not believe that at all however what i think is clear is that plokun's style is the perfect answer to yoda's style and that is why plo koon is the only jedi to ever defeat yoda in a lightsaber duel anyway my friends what are your thoughts on this and do you enjoy these deeper analysis of lightsaber combat concerning specific characters if you have i've also detailed the video on obi-wan kenobi as well as kit fisto and we'll continue to produce videos like this if you guys seem to enjoy them as always my friends thank you guys so much for watching the channel may the force be with you and have a great day

Channel: The Stupendous Wave

Views: 474,582

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Id: fhMhWQ0CEL0

Length: 11min 34sec (694 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 18 2021