Form II/Legends



Form II: Makashi or The Contention Form was the second form of the seven forms of lightsaber combat.

After Form I's proliferation as a saber combat technique, Form II, or Way of the Ysalamiri, came about as a means of lightsaber-to-lightsaber combat. It was described as being very elegant, powerful, and requiring extreme precision, allowing the user to attack and defend with minimal effort, often wielding the blade one-handed for greater range of movement and fluidity. The form relied on parries, thrusts, and small, precise cuts&mdash;as opposed to the blocking and slashing of the other forms. It required very fluid movements of both the blade and the body. Form II countered sun djem, the goal of early Form I masters, by well trained in preventing disarm and weapon destruction.

By the time of the Second Sith Civil War, on 3951 BBY, a master of this type of lightsaber combat was the Dark Lord Darth Nihilus.



Feints would also be commonly used to confuse or set-up their opponents for a trap, a tactic that Count Dooku commonly used in his duels during the Clone Wars. Precise footwork and movements were required for maintaining proper distance from the opponent during defense and/or when moving in for an attack. The blade manipulation required for this form was very refined and required intense focus. Timing, accuracy, and skill, rather than strength were relied on to defeat one's opponent and with a skilled practitioner, the results were extremely potent.

When ranged weapons such as blasters came into play or more than one opponent was present, however, the advantages of this form became somewhat obsolete. During the time of the Clone Wars and many centuries preceding it, the Jedi Order seldom practiced this technique. There was, if at all, so little lightsaber-to-lightsaber and melee combat involved in a Jedi's life that many in the Order didn't bother to teach and/or learn it as it was thought impractical. During this era, Niman and Ataru were the more popular fighting forms being taught and learned. Makashi, however, was very common during the younger years of the order, before the advent of blasters, when melee weapons were abundant. To most Jedi, Makashi did not seem to have much use; however, to a Sith or Dark Jedi, learning and mastering Makashi would have been a goal.

The drawback of Makashi was a relatively lower level of defense against blaster bolts. When fighting a stronger opponent, a Makashi user also needed be careful not to try and match them power for power. As mentioned before, Makashi users relied on timing and precision in both movement and blade manipulation, often wielding the blade one-handed, waiting for the opponent to tire for an easy victory. Thus, they were not able to generate as much kinetic power as the two-handed slashes as in Djem So.



Dooku was a master of Form II to the highest degree, fighting with the precision built into the ancient technique. The handle of his lightsaber was curved, allowing for better manipulation of the blade during parries and thrusts. This was apparently common during the early years of the Republic, when many of the Jedi used the Makashi form. When Darth Tyranus wielded this form, it devastated the Jedi; the system of Jedi training immediately before and during the Clone Wars did not prepare many of them for the finesse and precise movements of a form bred for lightsaber dueling.

Makashi was also one of the forms taught to General Grievous by Dooku himself.

Makashi users were elegant, precise, calm, confident, even arrogant (as befit Dooku's personality). Form II users were supremely confident in their chances for victory, and often looked relaxed when they were fighting, or even appeared to be dancing.

Behind the scenes
The former Separatist general and Dark Jedi Sev'rance Tann was likely a practitioner of Form II, as she was trained by Count Dooku.

In the novel of Revenge of the Sith, it is said that Soresu lacks the grace of a Shaak Ti or a Count Dooku, leading to some speculations that Shaak Ti is a Makashi practitioner as well. The fact that she survived the Geonosis arena battle, where the Jedi were facing an overwhelming force of Battle droids weakens this argument.

Master Tyvokka carried a curved saber during the Stark Hyperspace War, and may have been a practitioner of this form. Notably, he is killed by blaster bolts.

In Republic: Trackdown, Count Dooku commented that Master Tholme was keeping up the duelling skills, instead of blaster-deflecting skills, suggesting Tholme may have been another practitioner of Makashi.