Jar'Kai/Legends

"Perhaps you would like to learn something before you die. The use of two blades, one to support the other, can be traced back thousands of years and was common to both of our species. The invention of lightsabers has done nothing to lessen the effectiveness of this strategy &mdash; as you are about to learn."

- Boc Aseca to Kyle Katarn

Niman and Jar'Kai are forms of lightsaber combat, which were a dual blades wielding technique.

The dual saber Niman permitted a Jedi to fight with two lightsabers, one in each hand, as demonstrated by Anakin Skywalker when he first faced Count Dooku. One of the blades in the wielder's hands was used for attacking while the other one was used for defending, such as parrying, or for more offensive purposes.

Jar'Kai was originally the name of a city on Atrisia. Here were crafted the original Jar'Kai dueling sabers, which were wielded by the Yovshin Swordsmen. The Swordsmen, wielding one saber in each hand, invented the Jar'Kai style.

Similar was the style developed by the Royale Macheteros of the Kashi Mer monarchy. The latter technique was used by the Legions of Lettow, during the First Great Schism, who called it Niman after a dual triumvirate of Kashi deities.

Ancient Niman relied on steel blades, long before lightsabers were invented. The style could be used with a variety of weapons. During the Great Schism, Awdrysta Pina employed it with the Jedi Katana. During the New Sith Wars, the Dark Underlord wielded two Sith swords. One Jedi who did use Jar'Kai with two lightsabers was Newar Forrth, a Twi'lek Jedi who fought in the New Sith Wars. Over a millennium later, the Twi'lek Dark Jedi Bocas'eca would attempt to imitate Forrth.



Many Jedi Knights and Sith Lords trained to use the Niman style in the hopes of gaining a basic knowledge of the dual-bladed attack, but very few ever totally mastered Niman. Jedi Master Micah Giiett was known for using two yellow-bladed lightsabers; Darth Maul learned Jar'Kai during his years of intense training under Darth Sidious; Mace Windu and Depa Billaba both displayed masterful dual sabers combat during the Battle of Haruun Kal; Joclad Danva wielded two lightsabers during the Battle of Geonosis; and Aayla Secura also used Jar'Kai at the end of the Clone Wars. Other known learners included Exar Kun, Revan, Kavar, Sora Bulq, A'Sharad Hett, Quinlan Vos, Serra Keto, Komari Vosa, Asajj Ventress, Jeng Droga, Alora, Darth Krayt, with Lomi Plo and Kol Skywalker as possible practitioners.

General Grievous may have based his bizarre, original combat style on Jar'Kai. He used two lightsabers during the Battle of Hypori when he defeated a handful of Jedi. Later, in the early stages of the Battle of Utapau he wielded four lightsabers&mdash;one in each of his four hands&mdash;in a duel against Obi-Wan Kenobi, but even with four lightsabers he was no match for Obi-Wan Kenobi's mastery of Soresu. However, before Obi-Wan completely mastered Soresu, he occasionally used two lightsabers to battle Asajj Ventress.

Jar'Kai was one of the lightsaber combat forms which was confirmed surviving the Great Jedi Purge. The Dark Jedi Bocas'eca was a master of Niman, incorporating it into his own rather unorthodox fighting style; many of Tavion's New Reborn were trained in dual saber combat. It was possible that Kyle Katarn's apprentice, Jaden Korr may have been skilled in this form.

Luke Skywalker, the Grand Master of the New Jedi Order, displayed his amazing dueling skills with dual blades during the Yuuzhan Vong War. Regardless of receiving formal Jar'Kai training or not, Luke proved to be one of the best dual blades duelists in his era. Ten years later, Luke again applied Jar'Kai in actual combat against the Dark Lady of the Sith Lumiya on Roqoo Depot during the Second Corellian Insurrection.



The application of Jar'Kai often exists as a tactic instead of a completely independent style. Mace Windu, Depa Billaba, and Sora Bulq were still applying Vaapad when they fought with two swords. Anakin Skywalker's application on Geonosis was actually based on Form IV swordplay. Because neither Jar'Kai tactic nor Form IV swordplay was the young Jedi's mostly trained style, Count Dooku was easily able to break through Anakin's array of weapons.

Jar'Kai still has its followers around 130 ABY. Darth Krayt used it to terrible effect by killing four Imperial Knights single-handledly.

Behind the scenes

 * William C. Dietz and Dave Dorman's novella Dark Forces: Jedi Knight, from which the quotation at the beginning of this article is taken (p. 119), suggests the dual blade combat predates the invention of the lightsaber. Furthermore, in the Star Wars computer game X-wing Alliance, there is a pair of "Jar'Kai dueling sabers" that are ordinary metal swords. This also suggests that Jar'Kai predated lightsabers, even though the release of X-Wing Alliance was before the Behind the scenes "invention" of lightsaber forms. This was confirmed by a Wizard of the Coast supplement, which revealed the Jar'Kai style, and Jar'Kai swords, originated with the Yovshin Swordsmen of Atrisia.




 * Originally, Count Dooku would display his masterful dual blades combat ability against Yoda in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, making him a possible Jar'Kai duelist. However, the idea was later dropped, and Dooku was stated to dislike usages of multiple blades in Labyrinth of Evil, which made him no longer likely to be a Jar'Kai master. Photos with Christopher Lee wielding two lightsabers (with visual effects) became promotional pictures, one of them can be seen in Attack of the Clones Visual Dictionary.


 * In the two Knights of the Old Republic video games, a character's mastery in the Jar'Kai form is measured by a set of three feats called Two-Weapon Fighting. Acquiring these feats makes the character excel in dual lightsaber or melee weapon combat, but it also increases the character's mastery in wielding double-bladed weapons and even dual blasters.

Appearances

 * Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
 * Star Wars: Darth Bane: Path of Destruction
 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
 * Resurrection
 * Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight
 * Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
 * The New Jedi Order series
 * Tempest
 * ''Legacy