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| Jar'Kai | |
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| Creator(s) |
Exar Kun (double-bladed lightsaber variant) |
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| Description | |
| Variations | |
| Lightsaber design |
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Jar'Kai, originally known as Niman before Niman was made the name of Form VII, was a style of lightsaber combat where the user would wield multiple blades at once.
Description[]
Dual-blade practitioners were able to maintain a strong offense, as the speed of attack that two blades allowed could be used to overwhelm the opponents. Some users would use one blade for offence and the other for defence. Jar'Kai also encompassed the use of double-bladed lightsabers, also known as saberstaffs, with practitioners being trained to use both ends of the weapon as efficiently as they could wield two blades independently. Asajj Ventress was the greatest master of Jar'Kai in the Clone Wars as she was not only a master of using her lightsabers independently, an impressive enough feat on its own, but also a master of the saberstaff which was something that only highly advanced Jar'Kai practitioners could accomplish.
Darth Maul using the saberstaff variant of Jar'Kai.
One of the advantages of Jar'Kai was that the two blades made it easier to hold off multiple opponents, as one simply had more blades to parry with. Asajj Ventress demonstrated this during her mission on Ruul, where she held her own against three Jedi simultaneously. Dual-blades could also be used as a defensive or compensative measure when engaging another opponent who utilized multiple blades in combat, as shown when Kit Fisto stole and used one of the blades of the cyborg Grievous, whose bizarre mechanical anatomy allowed him to wield up to four lightsabers at once.
Jar'Kai could also be easily adapted to other lightsaber styles. For example Asajj Ventress practiced the Makashi, Ataru and Juyo variants of Jar'Kai which she used to deadly effect during the Clone Wars. Sora Bulq utilised a Vaapad variant of Jar'Kai weilding his lightsaber and shoto. Kit Fisto also used Jar'Kai during his encounter with Grievous, combing it with his Shii-Cho mastery.
Despite its advantages Jar'Kai had its drawbacks. Firstly, as both hands held individual lightsabers, two-handed blows were impossible for anyone who didn't have more than two hands and the duelist was unable to put all their weight behind blocks and parries, weakening the defensive capabilities. Because of this, an enemy with a single blade could simply assault a Jar'Kai practitioners defense with brute force, battering away until the dual-blade duelists guard gave way, as shown during Anakin Skywalker's duel with Asajj Ventress on Yavin IV. However, this weakness was hardly absolute, as some duelists possessed the physical strength to block power attacks with only one arm, examples including Grievous, whose mechanically augmented strength allowed him to both effectively defend against and dole out heavy power blows. Asajj Ventress eventually developed the physical strength necessary to compensate for this weakness, being able to hold up simultaneous bladelocks with both Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano.
Secondly dual-blades could be more difficult to control than a single blade. Because of this, special training was required to practice Jar'Kai, and without it, a secondary blade was more of a hindrance than an advantage. Fortunately, dual-blade training was often quite standard amongst most Force-using organizations, though advanced training seemed somewhat rarer. However many lightsaber duellists utilized Jar'Kai at some point in their lives, even without advanced training.
A third disadvantage was that some duelists, such as Asajj Ventress, would become too reliant on having two blades and would be left at a disadvantage if deprived of the one.
Stance and maneuvers[]
Ahsoka Tano used a Shien variation of Jar'Kai later in the Clone Wars.
The opening stance of Jar'Kai was to hold one lightsaber out in front of the body with the blade horizontal. The other blade would be positioned so that the handle was behind the head and the blade went past the head and was pointed at the opponent.
For a double-bladed lightsaber, the opening stance was to simply present the handle as a threat to the opponent before both blades ignited, the body being in a subtly crouch in preparation to spring while the free hand was held back with the palm open.
One of the maneuvers of Jar'Kai was known as the Rising Whirlwind where the user would whirl the blades swiftly around the body. Another technique was known as the Twin Strike where both blades were swung towards the opponent in a deadly power attack.
Jar'Kai practitioners would also commonly use the Cross Block, where they would simply cross their lightsabers to block overhand blows.