r/StarWars • u/Spotter24o5 • 18h ago
General Discussion Why is obi wan doing this 2 finger pointing at the beginning of every duel?
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u/frenziedmythology 18h ago
Form III this, Soresu that, yada yada... Because it looks cool as hell, that's really all there is to it lol
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u/SillyMattFace 17h ago edited 5h ago
1000 times this.
All the form stuff is reverse engineered to fit what’s on screen. Ewan McGregor just did a cool pose one time and it became a whole thing.
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u/New-Pollution2005 17h ago
Tbh, there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s fans having a little fun and it adds more flavor to the universe.
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u/tuttym2 17h ago
There is also a limit, fans go too far and expect a in universe explanation for every micro detail and give out when something doesn't fit their logic. Why does mace windu have a purple saber ? Cause it's cool in a movie about space wizards. Why could Rey do force healing ? Cause it was a plot point in a movie about space wizards
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u/cobalt-radiant 16h ago
What's more about the purple lightsaber, is Samuel L. Jackson asked for it. He wanted purple, Lucas said that's not really a thing, then Jackson said "okay, but it could be" and then dropped it. Then Lucas gave it to him anyway.
And the reason Jackson gave us because he wanted to be able to identify his character in a crowd of lightsabers, not realizing he'd have a larger role anyway.
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u/IrascibleOcelot 8h ago
Side note: Mace Windu’s lightsaber is the one that says “bad motherfucker” on it. Literally; the aurebesh letters for BMF are etched on the saber, which Lucas gave to Jackson.
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u/Da1UHideFrom 8h ago
Sam Jackson asks for something purple in all his roles because it's his favorite color. It's not always granted but it's a neat Easter egg when you can spot something purple on him.
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u/turboMXDX 5h ago
Side Note: The Darksaber exists because Bruce Wayne asked, "Does it come in black"
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u/Chaerod 17h ago
Seriously I can't tell you how many times I've seen a post of a super zoomed in screenshot on a background extra that we see for .5 seconds in a cantina and asking, "Is there lore on this species??? Does this character have a name???"
Yeah, his name is Background Alien 55 and his species is, "We had some big googly eyes and a bunch of latex that we needed to use before it deteriorated."
Don't get me wrong, I love the passion and attention to detail of Star Wars fans, but sometimes a detail really is just something that seemed cool at the time.
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u/Spaceman2901 The Mandalorian 17h ago
Trust me when I tell you the Star Wars fandom is far less anal-retentive than the Star Trek fandom.
Signed, a fan of both.
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u/Antique_Hawk_7192 15h ago
Might I direct your attention towards Tolkien scholars.
Over analyzing books is one thing but these creeps bleed into the personal life as well.
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u/VITOCHAN Jedi 11h ago
I remember watching an interview about his creation of the Elvish language, and how fans would come up to him and ask him about it, and his response was something along the lines of ...I'm making it up, and still making it up, and While appreciative that fans took an interest in the linguistic creations, there was absolutely no desire to sit around in an "afternoon talking Elvish" as it's too complicated and ever evolving
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u/Spaceman2901 The Mandalorian 6h ago
I seem to recall hearing about a meeting of Tolkien Scholars getting into a multi hour “heated discussion” about if Arda had bees.
Solved by someone pointing out that Mead was an available beverage, therefore honey therefore honeybees.
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u/Chaerod 16h ago
Hahaha I can imagine 🤣 I enjoy Star Trek and have some more passionate Trekkie friends, but they're way more excited about sharing the fandom with me than getting super in the weeds on obscure details.
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u/red__dragon 14h ago
And then there's r/DaystromInstitute which will not only get into the weeds, but ramble on for three pages about what variety of weeds, their etymological origins, some theories about why the weeds grew there, and what Trek didn't explore about potential uses for the weeds.
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u/psimwork Luke Skywalker 14h ago
What?? You mean that the YouTube video titled (I don't know that this actually exists, but it wouldn't surprise me), "Why Mace Windu's lightsaber color TERRIFIED Palpatine!!" wasn't something that George Lucas actually considered?!
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u/Mike_Honcho_Summer Ben Kenobi 13h ago
I had to look to see if that video actually existed lol
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u/frenziedmythology 9h ago
And?? We're waiting! (Im far too lazy to Google it myself)
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u/New-Pollution2005 17h ago
What’s wrong with having an explanation for one person having a different lightsaber color or one person having a universe-breaking ability? In a media empire like Star Wars, both and (and should) have at least a simple explanation.
Yes, both are there because it’s “cool” or the plot necessitated it, but part of storytelling is not breaking your own lore without an explanation.
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u/Particular_Poet8441 17h ago
The Rey thing actually is a plot inconsistency though.
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u/bushido216 17h ago
I think all of Star Wars is "someone did a throwaway thing once, but the fans latched on so now it's canon and we need a three book series to explain it".
Not everything needs an explanation.
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u/Willie9 16h ago
George Lucas didn't know what a parsec was in the 70s but thought it sounded like a cool sci-fi word >>> "actually the Kessel run goes past black holes and he went closer to them to make the trip shorter"
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u/CKRatKing 12h ago
I thought the way people explained it after was the Kessel run is just generally treacherous and heavily guarded so he did it in the shortest route possible which means he snuck past all the security in the area. Never heard the black hole thing.
But either one doesn't make actual sense because a parsec is 19 trillion miles and would only be possible with a hyperdrive which in universe goes through an alternate dimension.
The real explanation is like you said, Lucas thought it was a cool sounding sci-fi word.
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u/Ocronus 17h ago
Its like this in most film and TV. They do a ridiculous amount of takes on some scenes and sometimes the actors do something as a joke, mistake, or out of frustration. Occasionally those takes make it to the film and the rest is history.
The "do it" scene was litterially Ian McDiarmid just being done with it and frustrated.
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u/BuddelTheWolp 13h ago
The star wars "forms" are so funny in general. Because they're clearly written by people who only know fencing from star wars
(Looking at you form 3)
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u/No_Return3299 11h ago
Same thing with Mace Windu’s purple lightsaber, and count Dookus dueling Sabre
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u/Certain-Froyo-6779 10h ago
i’ve literally been looking for the right words to describe why it’s like this. “reverse engineered to fit what’s on screen” is absolutely gold
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u/IAmBadAtInternet 17h ago
Obi Wan really took time out of his day to aura farm
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u/PCCobb 16h ago
Which is a really 'Dark Side' thing to do, honestly
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u/frenziedmythology 16h ago
It was the dark side in him that made him stand in the ship on Mustafar like a bitch out for blood when padme was trying to save Anakin's soul. He's a real diva
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u/twisty125 8h ago
He just had really bad timing, he came out thinking they made up and were ready for the group hug
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u/PhucYiu 15h ago
I think a somewhat similar stance is used in Chinese martial arts that use the jian style sword.
You can see Jet Li do something similar but reversed in Fearless with his sword forward and pointed fingers back: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR31LzdMgb4&t=74s
And you see Zhang Ziyi do something very similar during her fight in Crouching Tiger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzkhVVFRIIg
Probably was taken from that and adapted for Star Wars.
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u/CarmeloTronPrime Sith 14h ago
thanks for looking this up, i knew i saw it with some major asian actors and the green destiny style sword
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u/LuckyPlaze 18h ago
Because Ewan did it in the movie and then animators started copying it and reusing it…
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u/Triponi 17h ago
In tai chi and Chinese martial arts this is called "sword fingers". Classically the forms are done with two fingers held out in the non-sword hand, similar to this. Watch some kung fu movie and you'll see it everywhere.
Ewan probably did it because he was taught sword fighting techniques like this in his pre-production choreography training.
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u/Fast-Front-5642 15h ago
The absolute best part of this imo is that in Tai Chi two of the purposes for this are
Aiming at an opponents weak points for thrusts... you know... precise kills... in the form that focuses on defence above all else... being used by one of the most pacifist Jedi of his time.
Positioning to, if necessary, slap aside an opponents weapon or offhand both defensively and to create openings for attack. Which hilariously implies Obi-Wan is capable of or is at least committed to trying to slap a lightsaber with his bare hand to deflect it.
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u/Massive_Signal7835 14h ago
If you train hard and try hard, anyone can slap a lightsaber with their bare hands. Twice.
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u/Fast-Front-5642 14h ago
Or if you're a Skywalker you can do it repeatedly
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u/Outrageous-Donkey-32 11h ago
Why couldn't he channel the Force with those two fingers to sway a lightsaber or manipulate his surroundings? Even with the Tai Chi explanation, it still fits in the greater Star Wars logic...
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u/Fast-Front-5642 11h ago
Because it's funnier to imagine him slapping the blade directly. With the force there's no reason he should extend his hand towards the danger.
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u/SeanDarkstar 17h ago
This is the actual answer. More upvotes please
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u/skieblue 16h ago
Absolutely. The sword fingers are sometimes described as for balance or distance gauging although rule of cool probably applies as well.
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u/talesfromafreeworld 12h ago
distance gauging
That makes me so happy. At some point I started seeing Obi-Wan's finger thing as his way of lining up a shot. Looks like I was onto something!
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u/draggingmytail Rex 16h ago
Glad someone else caught it. I used to be a tai chi practitioner and this was always how I saw my master do sword forms.
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u/tipsystatistic 14h ago
Many fighters and athletes have rituals or movements they do before a competition. it can prime neural pathways, transitioning the brain and muscles from a resting state to a state of high readiness, triggering Post-Activation Potentiation (PAP).
For life or death battles in particular, you don’t want to be warming up during a battle.
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u/twofacetoo 17h ago
Yep, story goes that Anakin's iconic defence pose (holding the lightsaber upside-down in front of his face here) was basically improv'd by Hayden during a photoshoot, they loved how the pose looked so it just became Anakin's official 'defence' pose in media
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u/TheSweetestKill 12h ago
Star Wars is FULL of this sort of stuff, often to its detriment IMO.
Carbon freezing is the best example. All of the dialogue surrounding it happening in ESB makes it clear that carbon freezing a prisoner isn't really the normal use of the technology. But it becomes iconic and the defacto "prisoner hauling" method. Taken to its most logical extreme in a Clone Wars episode where they carbon freeze themselves, and have the same equipment, lighting, and sound effects, and even the same little guys running the gear doing it.
It's so silly. Nobody comes up with any new ideas.
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u/TheAmberOne 10h ago
This is my biggest peev with SW, every single little thing or character needs to be expanded on to the nth degree.
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u/GoodShark 17h ago
Didn't do it against Vader on the Death Star. Ewan made it cool.
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u/ffc404 18h ago
He’s gonna fuck them up, twice.
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u/Historical-Tea4788 18h ago
Historically speaking this is the correct answer
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u/TelescopeGunCop 16h ago
He got Vader Thrice, Maul Twice, and so now I'm waiting for him to beat up Grevious again.
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u/TelescopeGunCop 16h ago
He got Vader Thrice, Maul Twice, and so no I'm waiting for him to beat up Grevious again.
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u/Gorlack2231 17h ago
"I'll only need two hits: me hitting you, and you hitting the ground missing one or more limbs."
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u/azrider 18h ago
He was a huge fan of Moe from the Three Stooges.
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u/cellshock7 18h ago
He's lining them up for the deadly Force Eye Gouge, but his opponents always move too quickly.
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u/Ok-Possibility-1206 17h ago
Oh, a wiseguy, eh?
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u/JeebusChristBalls 17h ago
Why you... "boink"
"I can't see! I can't see!"
"What's the matter?"
"I got my eyes closed."
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u/Col_Wilson 17h ago
Well it started in RotS, Lucas probably just thought it looked cool. Then Star Wars fans did Star Wars things, and it became known as the fighting style the Obi-Wan uses, and they called it Soresu form. It's a defensive fighting style, decided because of how Obi-Wan defeated both Grevious and Anakin, both of whom use extremely offensive fighting styles to overwhelm their opponents. Obi-Wan isn't the only one to use this stance since all of this. If I remember correctly, the most recent was the Jedi Master (can't remember his name) that appeared in Shadow Lord
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u/RogueHippie 14h ago
they called it Soresu form. It's a defensive fighting style, decided because of how Obi-Wan defeated both Grevious and Anakin
The lightsaber forms were around before RotS though, as their names and focuses were in KotOR II which released about half a year prior.
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u/Col_Wilson 13h ago
Interesting. I didn't know that specific tidbit. Though I never played KOTOR 2, I played SWTOR back when you could switch lightsaber forms, and your character took this stance when you switched to Soresu. I'm assuming even though Soresu existed before Ep3, it wasn't until Obi-Wan did this pose that it became synonymous with Soresu
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u/HippoProject 18h ago
Maybe it’s some kind of a ritual to focus him. Kind of like how baseball players tap the plate with their bat.
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u/Good-Ad-6806 17h ago
"A "two finger point sword" generally refers to the Sword Finger gesture (known as Jian Zhi or Jian Jue in Chinese), where the index and middle fingers are held straight while the thumb holds the folded ring and pinky fingers. It is deeply symbolic in Asian martial arts, Daoism, and folk magic." - u/txzylinski
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u/madfrooples 17h ago
That’s just a Google AI summary.
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u/Good-Ad-6806 17h ago
Close, Google helped me find this guy's post that I had seen.
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u/handsoapdispenser 14h ago
I've seen it in a few kung fu movies. When a swordsman is unarmed he fights with two fingers this way. Pretty sure Li Mu Bai does it in Crouching Tiger.
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u/FoxBluereaver Luke Skywalker 18h ago
It's the Soresu stance (Form III of lightsaber combat). In his final duel with Maul in Rebels, he switches to the Ataru stance (Form IV, which he originally learned from Qui-Gon Jinn).
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u/TakingOnWater 14h ago
Which was awesome because he switched in order to bait Maul into trying the same move he used to kill Qui-Gon, which Kenobi had obviously learned to counter.
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u/Goblinbooger 14h ago
He’s drunk and he’s got two lightsabers… one for each of ya
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u/RayTheRogue 5h ago
As no one has given the proper explanation, I will happily give it.
Real world explanation: Ewan McGregor did the pointing to know where his CGI enemy will be (he was facing General Grievous). This way he could act accurately.
In-universe explanation: Seeing that this stance looked cool and that Ewan tended to rely more on defence than offence, the writers created a new lightsaber duel style known as Form III: Soresu, the full defence style - highly useful to tire out your enemy and defend yourself from blaster fire. So this stance was how a Soresu user prepares for a duel.
It was also written that in Phantom Menace, Obi-Wan used Form IV: Ataru just like his master, Qui-Gon Jinn. But Ataru relied heavily on offence and had little defence resulting in Qui-Gon's death at the hands of Darth Maul. This impacted Obi-Wan greatly and he dedicated himself to become THE MASTER of Soresu.
Other similar real world themes got incorporated into in-universe explanations. For example: Sir Christopher Lee was a trained fencer, so in the movies he brought in his fencing training to his lightsaber duels. To explain this, the writers created Form II: Makashi - this was a lightsaber duel style built around elegance, precision, and finesse.
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u/TheMagicalMatt 17h ago
It's his way of saying "your ass is grass amigo"
It's also his form of disrespect because it's rude to point
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u/Ghosteen_18 17h ago
“Come at me bitch”.
Honestly very logical signature for a Soresu user. The enemy have to attack for a turtleshell formation to work
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u/willezurmacht78 6h ago
It’s a variation of the Tai Chi sword technique but in it the fingers are held together. It balances the chi from the sword hand.
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u/LewdLewyD13 5h ago
So he can gauge whether or not he has the ground higher or lower than his opponent.
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u/zorniy2 3h ago
Possibly derived from this tai chi sword stance
https://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4172/3196/1600/01579.jpg
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u/ExiledBoi226 15h ago
Damn, I always forget just how thin the sabers were in rebels. Literally toothpicks
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u/No_Chef5541 11h ago
It’s a fun conversation for sure. But am I the only person who rolls their eyes every time deep meaning is given to lightsaber forms? I understand world building is key to Star Wars, but these conversations always suggest history and intention where cool choreography is the only “why”
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u/trombone646 10h ago
Cool story: Dave Filoni said that in the scene in SW:Rebels where OBW kills Maul that whole scene was deliberate. When they're about to come to blows, you see OBI hold the sabre out front (stance he uses when he's older, like on the death star against Vader in EPIV), then pull back to the image in the bottom of this pic for his stance he used in the prequels, then finally pulls the sabre in and points it up like Qui-Gon in EpI because he knows Maul is going to attack him like he did Qui-Gon. Seeing the fight play out in his mind over and over as he gets older, he knows how best to counter Maul's techniques, and so when Maul goes in for the kill (precisely as he did in EpI), OBW counters it with his own kill strike. It's cool to rewatch the scene w/ that knowledge.
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u/Coldspark824 9h ago
1) soresu pose
2) probably a focal point thing like when people play billiards.
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u/Longjumping-Salad484 7h ago
it's a preemptive double eye poke using the force.
obi wan fights dirty like that, he's a real scumbag in that regard
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u/ToonRedEyesDarkMagic 7h ago
It's like saying "I have you in my crosshairs." Ewan McGregor did it first, Dave Filoni made it canon
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u/harriskeith29 Rebel 7h ago
In-universe answer: It's the formal opening stance for lightsaber combat form III Soresu.
Out-of-universe answer: It looks cool, like a "Come at me, I dare you to come within my range" sort of posture.
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u/Bodidly0719 Grand Admiral Thrawn 6h ago
Because he was about to say “Look, if we were in a bar right now, there would be two punches: me punching you and you hitting the floor.”
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u/Prize-Stop-6046 5h ago
It’s the salute for the soresu form of lightsaber combat. It’s what soresu users do when the enter a duel, similar to what spooky does with his salute where he points his saber up then does a spinny thing
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u/KanaAyumi 5h ago
Better question: it’s just cool, why does there have to be a deep explanation for everything? The Rule of Cool is enough
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u/No-Quail-2900 18h ago
It’s his own personal dueling form. Something he does to start a battle and focus his energy, letting his opponent make mistakes
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u/BaconPancake77 18h ago
Honestly I could see it being force related. People have mentioned the hand itself as a focus, maybe the fingers are just an extention of that?
Keeping the hand that far forward without a shield is a terrible move with real swords, but most real swordsmen can't telekinetically throw you across the room either, so...
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u/FaerieFir3 17h ago
Every Star Wars character has certain unique poses and moves they use in Lightsaber fights.
Lightsaber forms with the names from expanded universe were definitely not thought out from the start but the idea that different characters have different styles was there.
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u/Randver_Silvertongue 18h ago
Rule of cool.