One thing that I don’t see too many people point out is the line, “He’s to dangerous to be left alive.” Both Mace and Palpatine say this line, and both times Anakin says that it’s not the Jedi way. It’s a neat way of showing how far the Jedi have fallen, that they are using the same justification as the Sith.

Windu won the battle, but Palpatine won the war.

This duel singlehandedly decided the fate of the galaxy for an amount of years we are yet to know. Without the empire the galaxy would be unbelievably different

Probably shouldn't be watching this in an exam but a very entertaining video!

I just want to bring up this amazing detail I noticed ages ago and adore! In The Clone Wars Palpatine is shown to actually own two sabers, so the question is why didn't he use two in Episode 3? Firstly I believe when he looked at Maul, a Sith he trained and the Sith Maul trained in turn, he knew he was in for a fight given that they both probably know Palps moves and fighting prowess, so he uses two. Then when he faced the four Jedi masters he saw them as nothing, while Windu did give him a fight the other three were no match, no need to use his second saber, plus if he did throw the fight then he wouldn't have needed both. Says a lot that he considers two ex Sith a bigger challenge than four Jedi masters. In the fight with Windu he looses his Saber, but by the time Yoda comes along he has it again, no, he's using the second saber. Let's be real Yoda is the most powerful Jedi master Palpatine could've faced, maybe he would've needed the two sabers but thanks to earlier he only has the one so his strategy is to disarm Yoda and turn the fight into a match of force powers rather than sabers. But I love that detail because The Clone Wars casually fixes a plot hole from Revenge of the Sith that didn't really bother anyone, but now that it's there I'm so very glad

I'm in the boat that Sidious did lose the fight fair and square. He didn't throw the fight. Why risk Mace seeing an advantage and taking it when Sheev is so close to winning. The risk vs the reward is not worth it at that point in time. Plus it demonstrates that Sheev is a master tactician. He lost on the basis of physical strength, so he plays into his greatest asset. His mind and cunning. Playing on Anakins confusion over whom he should trust and believe. The order that wanted nothing to do with him or the father figure who was putting on an act. Either way Anakin loses, but Palps has an ace in the hole. Padme. At this point Anakin just wants to be with Padme so he chooses the sith. Doesn't help that Mace, the man who was always on Anakins back for "not following the code" was willing to break it. Basically proving Sidious's point that the Jedi would do anything to maintain some form of power. Manipulation is Sheevs strengths. Not his physical skill. It also plays into a flaw of the sith. Believing in their own power that it becomes pure arrogance. Palpatine probably didn't expect any member of the Jedi Order to best him except Yoda. So to be bested by Mace plays into that. Also Mace did train himself to create a lightsaber form only known to him that counters all known sith forms. Sidious simply underestimated his opponent due to his arrogance. However his wit allows him to come out on top.

I don't think Palpatine faked it. It's true he's no pushover, but it's important to note that neither is Windu.

Fun Fact: in some of the shots you can see that Palpatine's lightsaber is using Anakin's hilt, I believe it's because in an earlier version of the scene he took Anakin's saber to fight Windu but once they changed it they couldn't reshoot so they just edited over it.

Love it. I don't agree with people saying Anakin's choice comes out of nowhere, notably because this fight acts as a perfect set-up for that pushing-over-the-edge moment.

"EVERYTHING is proceeding as I have foreseen."

Notice that Windu having Palpatine at his mercy echoes the situation Anakin is in with Dooku at the beginning of the film; he knew it was wrong to kill a defeated opponent by the Jedi Code, and felt bad for doing it anyway. Then, he sees one of the exemplars of that Code (and one who always gave him a lot of grief personally) about to willfully ignore the very same principle! Palpatine couldn't have asked for a better set up to highlight the Jedi's supposed hypocrisy...It's as if a Catholic watched the Pope rationalize committing a mortal sin right in front of him!

Mace Windu is the victor, no question in my mind. While Palpatine may well have manipulated the Clone Wars to leave him in the optimal place of power over the winning side he *almost* always kept himself out of direct harm's way and beyond the implication of his intent, I don't believe he would sabotage all those years of work to throw a fight that could've cost him his life.

This is just a theory based on vague statements from novels, visual dictionaries and interviews, but I think Mace "winning" has more to do with his relative dark side affinity than anything else. Sure he's known for his swordsmanship, but thatd because he's much more aggressive with vapaad. Him, Dooku and Yoda were considered basically equal in terms of lightsaber combat and Palpatine should be up there too. Each one is probably just better in one style than the others. However, in all of Palpatine's fights, either lightsaber or just lightning, he's cackling and screaming and just being weird. Like the scream in the beginning of this duel, I think maybe that's some Sith force intimidation. It worked on Luke, Yoda, Saesee Tinn and Agen Kosar because they're so light side oriented it completely throws them off. It works on Maul because of his PTSD from his apprenticeship. But Mace is unphased by it and Palpatine does noticeably less of it during their fight. He definitely orchestrated the fight and maybe he planned on winning it, but was thrown off by Mace being able to resist his dark side intimidation techniques. That feels like more Palpatine's style anyway. I feel like he wouldn't even engage in a duel like that unless he was pretty sure he'd win. And then later in the movie with Yoda, he tries to escape first before drawing his saber. Maybe the encounter with Mace made him second-guess himself

This fight is my favorite in the entire saga. The stakes are Anakin's view on the Jedi Order as a whole at its tipping point, with Mace's hubris stampeding toward a delicate situation. Despite that sense of Mace's furious intent, he confidently struts in, like a suave Terminator under the complete veneer of a calm and composed Jedi Master, only betrayed by the resolute hatred in his eyes. He has long been waging war under the command of a man whose power and leadership have led the Jedi to a path of disarray and a position of weakness, and now the chance to exact revenge and reclaim the control the Jedi so value is right in front of Mace. He is eager to restore the Jedi as the prideful keepers of the galaxy, peace and order be damned. "I am going to end this! Once, and for all!" The sword fighting is freaking masterful. They make use of the lightsaber's unique properties, but they exert a cautious mastery over it, both actors really showing how alert their characters are to the skill of their opponent. They pause to examine their opponent's intent, before plunging into a strike and parrying a sly counter; shot and choreographed much like the great samurai duels of cinema history through the lenses of a tv serial space opera. When Mace's saber clashes with the window the elements are introduced... the winds of fate flow past Mace's bald head and humble clothing leaving him unfazed, representing the selfless immaterial choices of a Jedi lifestyle, and Palpatine's lavish hair and robes are caught up in the torrents of the night sky, and he struggles to face his opponent. He makes a calculated strike to shift positions to better brave the howling atmosphere. Mace immediately clocks the advantage and cautiously initiates a farce, opening a window to launch a kick to disarm his enemy. I always thought Palpatine threw the fight, but once I heard George thought he didn't, I reconsidered my assumptions about the scene, and could see why it's more powerful that Mace won and still lost when he tried to exploit his victory to take justice into his own hands. His Jedi lifestyle proved victorious, and his anti-Jedi views cost him his life and the Jedi their place in the galaxy. As much as I like both, I wish George had left it ambiguous so both views could be debated... was it Palpatine's plotting or the Jedi's hubris? I think George knew people would fixate on Palpatine's manipulative prowess and lose sight of how the Jedi found themselves in that predicament, so he said what he said. Plus, I think he likes Sam Jackson and wanted to humor his ego, similar to the purple lightsaber thing.

I definitely think palpi was counting on anakin walking in on the fight but was genuinely struggling against chadu. I Don't think he'd let himself get scarred up like that.

Windu won the fight, but Palpatine knew he would, Windu is there because Palpatine wanted to. It's the most risky part of his plan.

I love that Windu won this fight Let's remember what Palps told Anakin about Count Dooku "He's too dangerous to be left alive." Or what Windu told Anakin about Palpy: "He's too dangerous to be left alive." Oops...

I think it’s thematically more interesting if Sideous genuinely lost the fight, for all his power and planning he’s still just a human, a super powerful human, but a human nonetheless. It’s shows the sith are just as fallible as the Jedi when it comes to their hubris.

Sidious carving through three masters in five seconds was always terrifying to me. In Legends using the dark side took a toll on your body in the long term no matter what you were doing with it, but there was a technique to modify your appearance that could be used to conceal your true experience, or of course, pretend to be someone else. Using any other dark side technique afterwards will immediately undo its effects, which is why some Sith seem to suddenly age decades or become hideous in combat

The novelization was written by the same guy who wrote the Mace stand alone CW novel, so he gets a LOT of coverage, and it gets much more into depth with the details of this battle (a friend of mine was disappointed that Palps didn't decapitate Kit like he does in the book!). When Mace goes full Vaapad on Palpy, even Anakin can barely see the two zooming about the room like super-saiyans! More importantly, it gets into Mace's motivations for immediately trying to arrest Palpatine as soon as he learned the truth; there's a scene where he fills Yoda in, and Yoda asks Mace to wait till he finishes his mission so he can assist Mace, but Mace's tragic mistake is a sort of impatience, because their worst enemy has been doing damage at the very heart of their civilization for far too long. IF he had listened to Yoda and waited, who knows how much different things might have turned out?

While I do think Palpatine threw, I also think Mace could have won if Anakin never showed up. Shatter point is freaking broken

Good to finally know I wasn't the only one disappointed with that Grevious Obi fight as a kid. Especially coming off the heels of the 2003 Clone Wars where Grevious takes on like 6 Jedi and massacres 4 of them with the last 3 barely surviving. Now THAT was badass 👌

I certainly buy Windu being the better swordsman and being able to disarm Palpatine. That makes sense to me. At the end of the day, Mace is arguably the best warrior/fighter in the Order (save arguably Anakin) and as powerful as Sidious, he is definitely more of a Wizard/sorcerer than swordsman. That said, I don’t think he was straight up helpless when Mace disarmed him. If Anakin hadn’t arrived, I could definitely see Sidious having continued the fight with pure Force power. I don’t he straight up planned the whole fight the way it happened, but took advantage of an opportunity when Anakin arrived and decided that rather than just killing Mace, he could use the opportunity to further pull Anakin. So, TLDR version: yes, I buy Mace genuinely and fairly disarming Sidious by being the better swordsman, but I don’t think Sidious was truly beat. He could have probably still killed Mace on his own with the Force, but decided to play victim to draw in Anakin

*People outside the window* "Hey quit throwing lightsabers down here!"

The first time I saw the "POOOWEEER! UUUNLIMITED POOOWEEER!" bit in the mid 2000s, it was just simply mentally breathtaking. Without knowing any memes, or having any adult perspective. A single moment, a mere few seconds, when Palpatine's plan came to fruition, all pieces fell into their places and the Jedi, the Republic have lost, before the actual fight has ended and even before they fully knew what was really happening. Palpatine is by far the best villain in cinematic history.

This was one of the most frustrating scenes when you rewatch ROTS

George: Hey Ian, you’re gonna fight Sam Jackson in this one. Ian: Oh cool, I’ll just have to do a little bit of this again right? (Make force lighting hands.) George: Oh no no no, quite the opposite. Ian: 😳

Just want to say the way you would your video essays and conclude them is absolutely brilliant. Love it. I believe Palpatine threw the fight in that moment, as he wasn't getting anywhere. Yes Windu was winning and would have eventually have gone on to win but Sidious had more fight in him. It seems to me like he deliberately leaves himself open to that kick from Mace. Sidious will always be happy to put the saber away because he is a master in Sith lightning and other force techniques anyway. He knows he has that to fall back on so its not a stretch to say he'd throw a saber duel at all.

I personally thought the force scream/spin was one of the coolest things ever

when it comes to the prequel duels it's not about the choreography or camera work, it's about what each duel represents story wise

First saw this duel in theaters almost 17 years ago and it still gets me.

You knew darn well this is a popular opinion when you made the vid, a pure masterpiece like much of the prequel era

I think the scene works better if Mace won. It puts more weight on Anakin's choice. Palps throwing the fight just seems like too much of a gamble on his part. I recently read the novelization of ROTS and it adds so much nuance to the movie and this scene in particular, as Palps was recording the "it's treason then" conversation and plays it to the senate as evidence the Jedi were trying to kill him and take over.

I love how towards the end it isn't a blur of attacks but slower and more unpredictable in how the attacks come in.

This fight is amazing and I’m glad full fat videos dedicated a video to it. But the best part is palpatines pog face.

The way you vocal fry the last syllable of literally every sentence is driving me up a wall.

"He has control of the senate and the courts, he's too dangerous to be left alive!" -Mace "You did well, Anakin. He [Dooku] was too dangerous to be left alive." -Palpatine, not much earlier I definitely think Sheev planned to let Mace win, though maybe not quite as soon as he did. But this moment here has been carefully orchestrated by Palpatine, it's not just George's parallels for the sake of it, Palpatine has foreseen this moment and intentionally uses that quote to Anakin when Anakin breaks the Jedi Code by murdering Dooku. By linking Mace's future line to that act, he turns his foreseen defeat into a victory. Mace (who is 1000% correct here!) appears to be no better than Anakin was in his weakest moment, ready to murder a defenseless old man in hatred while justifying it to himself with fear disguised as reason. This demonstrates Palpatine's central ethos to Anakin: The Jedi and Sith are both evil in their own ways, but while the Jedi tell Anakin to let go of Padmé, the Sith (he claims,) can save her. When Anakin tells Obi-Wan on Mustafar "From my point of view the Jedi are evil!", he isn't implying that the Sith are the good guys here, he's saying that (despite what they were both raised to believe) there *are* no good guys. That the Jedi are just as bad as the Sith in different ways, but only one of them has promised to help him save Padmé.

Huh. I just got home from watching Episode III with my bestie over an hour ago and I find you've made this video. I feel like I watched the movie at the right time! Now for this one!

Excellent video once again! Although some of the choreography was shaky, Windu’s snarl when their lightsabers lock up is just perfect. And I think Windu actually beat him definitively. It just so happened that the seeds of manipulation that Palpatine had planted in Anakin actually bore its fruit

It was cool to see a fight with all the major lightsaber colors. 💜💙💚❤️

Palpatine is one of my favourite performances in the whole saga. He was probably the best thing about the prequels to me.

Nick Gillard, the fighting choreographer of the prequels said that in saber combat Yoda, Sidious and Anakin are on level 9 with Windu being only an 8 bordering on 9. He also said that all the level nines are so close whoever wins comes down to circumstance and specific styles. Even if Windu genuinly won the creators consider Sidious to be the stronger of the two fighters overall.

The Obi-Wan vs Grievous duel is fantastic.

Every time I catch a dueling video where Palpatine/Sidious is involved, there is a rather large number of people megahorning that "Palpatine is playing around, he is so powerful, he could win any duel eaaasy...!", to which I usually respond "Well yes, but not actually". It is true, that as the most powerful user of the force seen in the cinematic canon, when 4 Jedi masters roll up into his office thinking they were just gonna escort an old man into jail, Sidious could have killed them all - Windu included - in a moment... if he had used his forcepowers, but he didn't. Palpatine have a nasty habit of lording his own superiority over his enemies, which is one of the reasons why he has a lightsaber even thought he thinks they are pointless, he enjoys seeing his enemies no matter how powerful they are crumbling under the martial might that his force enhancements bring (for those who don't know; yes, the reason Palpy is able to move like that, have those reflexes and that strength in a swordfight is purely due to his force enhancements scaling off his ridiculous force power - no he is not one of the best lightsaber duelists in the franchise, he is a decent jack-of-all-trades at best, but becoming unbeatable when he roids himself through his power in the force). This being the reason why he chose to engage the Jedi MASTERS (cuz the 4 Jedi are all masters, 2-3 of them are on the council) with a lightsaber, though here he experiences something new; he loses. Windus style of lightsaber fighting, Vaa'pad, is one of his own creation, a style that was designed to become a pylon for the users own dark side, let it wash through the user and use the enemy's dark side power against them. It is a very powerful style... that has never actually reached its full potential, as one needs to fight a dark side force wielder to use it optimally xD... at least 'til Windu fights Palpatine, and Vaa'pad's engine starts revving for the first time in forever xD. No matter how strong or fast or agile Palpatine makes himself, Windu matches - the frustration on Palpatine's face is genuine, as he can't get any leverage, any foothold against Windu - which is very new to Palpy. In the novelized version of EP 3, Anakin arrives earlier than in the movie, where he catches more of the fight before Palpatine gets disarmed, and even he describes it as them moving so fast all he could see was "blurred motion and flashes of red and purple light". Windu was winning, on his own, against Palpatine - had the duel continued as it did, Palpatine might even have been killed. But as we see multiple times, whenever Palpatine gets pressured he falls back to his strengths - his force powers, which is what he did. Sensing Anakin and his overwhelming fear and despair fast approaching, Palpatine goes with the flow, allows himself to be disarmed and starts hamming it up on the acting scale, so that Windu - now also sensing the massive fear and despair coming off Anakin, thinks that it is Palpatines fear and despair he is sensing, but also to sell the narrative to Anakin. The rest you know; "under-arrest", "jedi-are-taking-OVAH", "I-have-tha-powah", "End-this", "must-stand-trial", "not-the-jedi-way", "Noooo", "unlimited-powah". SO to conclude my overly long comment on this video, and to all the fan bois shouting bloody murder xD; Yes Palpatine is strong, Yes he could have killed them all in a quick mo (but he didn't xD), No the moment he decided to fight against them through martial might he was fated to lose, No Windu fully kept his own against Palpatine - even threatening to overpower and kill him if it had continued like it did, and No Palpatine did not throw the entire duel - he was on the backfoot the whole time and doing hella lot more defensive than offensive - he did let himself be disarmed for the sake of selling the narrative to Anakin and cuz he knew that he was losing the fistfight against Windu - deciding then to roll up the sleeves and crack off some lightning. Sorry for the long post, love your videos man xD

Ahsoka and Darth Maul lightsaber duel is my all time favorite!!!

Bravo. Was looking forward to another of your astute observations of things close to my heart. Just back from the hospital. Have a Great weekend! I love this community!

"Win-du or lose-du" *STANDING OVATION*

I love your Star Wars videos! Please do more!👍👍

The only thing that pissed me off during this fight was Palps holding Anakin’s lightsaber…

Windu or losedu? Surely Windu or Window!

Love your videos there are so insightful

I've been waiting a loooonng time for this ⚡️⚡️

The moment with Sidious on the ground pretending to be defeated to force Anakin's hand is perfect. The moment Anakin makes his choice to disarm Mace, you see multiple emotions run across Sidious's face in the matter of a 2-3 seconds: feigned fear, to pure joy knowing all his plans had come to fruition and the outcome he manipulated came to pass, and then instantly to rage unleashing his full power onto Mace to show the whole thing was a charade in order to force Anakin into an ultimatum. It's just incredible how well Ian McDiarmid played Palpatine in every single scene he was in in every single movie he was in.

"Unlimited power!" The scene is worth it just for this line.

Imagine seeing Gievous in live action fighting the way he fought in the Clone Wars animates special.

McDiarmid said that Palpatine threw the fight. I stand with that. Funny how he only started losing right after Anakin touches down. Sidious is far too clever to have manipulated everything towards a fight with Mace he could possibly lose. If Anakin had walked in and saw Palps standing over a dead Windu, would he have turned to the Dark Side so quick? He had to hold out until precisely the right moment to fall. In Anakin's mind he is a hero, and more importantly a protector. He defends the weak. Palpatine knew this and planned his "defeat" probably from the moment he saw the four masters standing in front of him. Probably even before.

Yeah, the fight and the execution of all the sequences you've mentioned could be better, but as long as Mace Windu doesn't survive, I'm okay. Samuel L Jackson may want to return as Mace Windu, but as you stated, this is the most important Lightsaber Duel ever, and not that his death would absolutely cement it as such, but his survival would certainly undercut it. Yet another survivor of Order 66, and another big moment in Star Wars that gets retconned for the worse. Maul's death still keeps its impact in The Phantom Menace because he killed Qui-Gon, Anakin's best chance from becoming Vader, and his return offered exploration of the character that just wasn't there before. Maul's survival and resurgence after ten years and being completely out for revenge on everyone becomes a lesson about how perusing goals with the wrong intentions and methods results in a spiral of failure. What does Mace Windu's survival really add? Would he turn to the Dark Side? I doubt it, and even then, he'd be against the Empire. It may be a fun little adventure in the moment, but it also throws a wrench in things, too. He can't do any good either, and that looks like what the Kenobi show is all about, too; he's at odds with doing what's right versus surviving, so it's not necessary to repeat it with Mace. It would also make everyone look even more ineffective with all the other Jedi we already have running around. If Mace Windu survives, the catalyst of Mace's death signing Anakin's own death sentence now becomes an accident. He didn't kill him, and so killing everyone else as Vader was all reactionary because he was mistaken that he finally went too far. Sure, Anakin was distrustful of the Jedi's methods, his friendship with Palpatine was revealed to have all been manipulation, and he was reacting impulsively in his possessive relationship with Padmé, all of this was bound to make him fall completely to the Dark Side, but he still had a spark of goodness left, even wanting an evil man's life spared (albeit for slightly selfish reasons), but facilitating in Mace's death was one final step too far. Mace's survival would feel a similar way to Palpatine surviving after Vader's redemption back into Anakin; this pivotal moment and everything impactful about it and it's ramifications just gets weakened. So please, don't let Mace Windu survive.

Say man- that flip was everything when I was fifteen and it’s everything NOW! 😩😂😂

Gonna watch this later but just wanted to pop in n say that’s a great frickin thumbnail

If only Mace Windu had used two lightsabers and remembered to ask “All the Jedi” for their help, then the Republic could have been saved…

Honestly one of my favourite duels, love to see palpatine easily duel five Jedi masters at once.

Personally while I have always subscribed to the idea that Mace won, when thinking about it I'm not so sure, if only because it's hard to really figure what exactly Palpatine's plan was to make Anakin commit to him and to the Dark Side if he hadn't been placed in that position. Given how quickly Order 66 and the formation of the Empire plays out, I feel like he would have otherwise needed more time that he didn't necessarily have. The idea that Palpatine indeed threw the fight just makes the most sense to me. Though I can also see an interpretation with both being true. That Palpatine made short work of the other Jedi but Mace was his match, and much like Vader against Obi Wan, despite his "unlimited power" Mace wasn't as easy and was taking too long to dispatch, so when Anakin showed up, he decided then and there to change tactics.

I loved that duel, it's my understanding that Palpatine could have killed Windu at the beginning of the fight but because of his style(it matches the opponent) Windu wins every single fight he gets to ramp up.

“He’s too dangerous to be left alive”- Palpatine to Anakin about Dooku “He’s too dangerous to be left alive”- Windu to Anakin about Palpatine

As "wise" as master Yoda, as "powerful" as master Windu. Windu whipped him. The (force) had other plans

I love the idea that Palpatine threw the fight as he sensed Anakin arrive. But having read the novel, I know that he didn't - not to mention that I've heard the same confirmation about what George Lucas said. The description of how the fight went between them and it's contrast to Yoda vs Sidious makes it clear imo. Palpatine was described as a 'Shadow' and Yoda was the brightest light there is "the avatar of the Light"- which meant the 'brighter the light, the darker the shadow'. Windu on the other hand, his style Vaapad was to turn the Dark Side back on itself, so unlike with Yoda Palpatine had nothing to feed off of to make himself stronger.

I think the choreography actually works here. Palpatine has been out of practice for just under twenty years, and barely had any time to practice.

How have I never noticed Palpatine does a flip at 5:59

Amazing

“Like dumbledore vs Voldemort but I actually give a shit.” Fucking bar and facts!

It’s up there but I still think honestly it’s Qui Gon and Obi Wan vs Maul in Phantom Menace because if Qui Gon lives Anakin is never tempted to turn imo.

Loved the fight.

I think it’s so appropriate that the one Jedi that’s right in between the light side and the dark side (Mace Windu) is the one to go against “the Jedi way” as Anakin calls it

If Windu vs Palpatine is not a playable level in LEGO Skywalker saga. I’ll be very sad. 😢

Finally! This video is going to be (pun intended) GOOOOOD

Palpatine, Anakine and Mace Windu scene is one of the best parts of the prequels. Everything is on the line, a single man choices affects the entire universe.

I kept yelling at the screen: " You have the blade at his f**king throat! Push it through! Don't do a f**king wind up! " FFV is right... hubris killed Mace Windu.

The clone wars did so much to flesh out Grevious and make him seem like a threat

The duels in the RotS novelization are vastly better than what we got on screen. The duel vs Grievous in the book is insane, and when I first read it, I thought there was no way Kenobi could win.

You called it mate

If they were ever to bring back Mace Windu, I hope they use use this fight as his emotional turmoil. Maybe even have him regret his actions, question his role as a Jedi, I think its cool when writers use what people didnt like and build on it to make something compelling. Kind of how BoBF takes Boba's death (one of the dumbest moments in the OT) and treats it 100% seriously and kinda makes it a rebrth of sorts to have him ecome something greater than a bounty hunter and not a Mandalorian 2.0

I'd actually love to see you analyse the OG Obi wan v Vader remix fight on KZfaq. I personally thinks it's right up there

The importance and weight of this duel is why I’m so confused by the people who want Mace to survive and come back in *insert Star Wars media here*. His death was the ultimate death of the order, and means so much to the birth of Vader that to bring him back would cheapen so much of what RotS did well.

Who wins the duel? In a macro, strategy sense, Palp takes it for his ability to manipulate the situation right at the end. In terms of the duel, it was Windu. Palps was never the strongest duelist, (with a lightsaber, anyway. When he breaks out the force you know you’re in danger) and he was fully Not Ready for the prowess of Windu.

I'd like to think palpatine lost the fight, and when anakin arrived he used the Situation at hand for his advantage. After all windu planned to arrest him, so until that very moment palpatine still had the upper hand at the long run since he runs the senate and the courts. But when he sees anakin he realised he can use the situation at hand to turn anakin right there and then by using lighting, when he did that he "forced" windu to take action and try to kill him and push anakin completely. As much as I love palpatine I believe him playing along the fight is just taking away from him as a villan, if he could win, why would he risk his entire plan when windu could kill him without a big swing, it's much more appealing to his character to adapt to the situation where he actually was overpowered by possibly the greatest fighter ever and still won by manipulation

The revenge of the sith noveliaztion actually gave a detailed explanation on how Mace won the duel. When Palpatine stepped onto the ledge after they shattered the window, he had to slightly reduce his force speed to maintain his balance via a force grip, and that tiny reduction in speed provided the shatter point Windu needed to win. The novel also stated that the duel was practically a stalemate as Windu’s vappad was constantly channeling Palpatine’s power against him. Remember this is Palpatine! Do you think he’d risk everything on Anakin arriving. If Anakin was a few minutes late Mace would have ended him

Still my favourite battle, I believe Palpatine wasn't faking it but knew Anakin was coming anyway

I didn't think much of Grevious V Kenobi, either. As for Windu V Palpatine, I always felt that Palpatine threw the fight, as soon as Anakin was committed, it was all over.

It's always been my view that in a straight fight, Palpatine couldn't beat Windu and Windu couldn't beat Palpatine. That they were locked in a stalemate broken only by Windu manoeuvring the fight to the window ledge where he had the martial advantage, but that Palpatine *may* have allowed himself to be herded once he sensed Anakin's approach.

I literally, physically do not see what is so bafflingly bad about the Windu vs Palpatine choreography.

While I LOVE the fact that Yoda's right-hand man, Mace Windu, was in fact THIS close to the Dark Side in terms of Force power, I REALLY wish this was expanded upon more in either the Clone Wars, or the movies themselves. I've read down below that Palpatine's Sith power was overwhelming to both Agen Kolar and Saesee Tiin, which is why they got chopped down so quick, and Fisto was simply a very skilled swordsman, but Windu... he didn't even flinch. The guy was even pushing Palpatine BACK. His lightsaber technique was perfect for countering the Sith's technique, well WHY was this never mentioned in the movies?? Besides, the Jedi thought the Sith were extinct, why did Windu know this technique if he thought the Sith were gone? He's such a morally gray person, hiding this fact from everyone, and it makes him one of the most interesting characters in the Jedi Order... but the fact they never explained his lore made him just look like a dick for no reason ':/ (I haven't read the novelization, maybe they explain it more there-) Probably justifies him as the poster child for the Jedi Order's complacency and hypocrisy, but yeah, the fact there was more to him SHOULD have been explained, IMO.

The true winner was the friends we made along the way

I mean, he lived up to his name. He was thrown out of the Windu

The Revenge of the Sith novel claims that Mace Windu won the fight fair and square. However, that novel also has Count Dooku begging for his life, something that never happened in the movie, so I'm not sure if we can rely on it for confirmation.

Disney needs to make a Mace Windu show that's at least 15+, it'd be so good

You got to read the novel of episode 3. It’s makes that Windu Palpatine fight look so much better. Anakin described it at two blurs of light they where moving so fast.

People complain about the "noo!" being added to Vader stopping Palatine in RoTJ,but the fact that it further enhances the parallel to this scene,where Vader originally fell to the dark side is just *chef's kiss* and I hope that's why Lucas added it in to the re-mastersed versions of the originals. Here it says "no,I believe Palpatine" and in RoTJ it says "no! This is too far!"

Please can you do a review of this in the context of the stunt double footage released by Nick Gillard?

Not only was the Grievous/Kenobi fight a letdown on its own, it didn't properly showcase the Grievous that was first introduced in the Tartakovsky Clone Wars.

All of the best Grievous stuff was before Revenge of the Sith, BEFORE his internal organs were crushed