Skip to main content

star wars - How did Yoda counter Count Dooku's Force lightning?


In the scene where Master Yoda fights Count Dooku/Darth Tyranus on Geonosis in Episode II, Dooku uses Force lightning on Yoda.


Here's a relevant clip. The lightning starts around 3:22


In a recent question, it came up in the comments that this was an Disney canon example of absorption/tutaminis.



It looks like the energy of the first bolt is concentrated and redirected. The second assault shows the arcs of lightning shooting off away from Yoda before striking him, and then dissipating.


I would like a Disney canon only explanation of this mechanic.
In what way is Yoda using the Force to counter Tyranus's attack?


I'm interested in the full path of the "energy" of the lightning attack after it's produced by Count Dooku, including any conversions of that energy to other forms (if they occur).


If there are no canon sources on this particular scene, then a similar scene in any other canon media, if such a scene exists, that sheds light on what happened would be acceptable. Preferably, it would still be with Yoda, but the attacking Sith is irrelevant to me.



Aside from the Yoda vs Sidious scene in Episode III, I also found this scene from The Clone Wars where Yoda fights Sidious. Lightning attacks start around the 1:00 mark and at 3:05 & 3:18.



Answer



If we take only disney canon we can't say for sure what the power is exactly. But lets take a look at two of the films there. Star wars 2, 3 and star wars 5.


In these films 4 instances of force lightning or energy bolts being used and countered are being seen. According to the novelisation of star wars 6 there was a fifths attempt when luke was electroluted by the emperor but utterly failed.



In all other 4 instances the jedi either use their lightsabers or their hands to counter the lightning. From what we see there are 2 instances (Yoda vs. dooku and mace vs. Palpatine) where the force lightning is sent out again against the source (the sith who created it). In the other two instances there is the blaster bolts hitting walls after being redirected by Vaders hand / seemingly absorbed (according to the screenplay only a redirection occurs) for the Han Solo vs. Vader scene in Episode 5. The other is Yoda vs. Palpatine where Yoda absorbs the lightning into his hands again with the same glow as in Episode 2 against Dooku but does not unleash the lightning against its owner in this case but instead created sort of a force explosion / force push.


So going with the films it seems like it works in this way:



  • The force user defends himself against the energy and gathers it in his hands or mediums

  • The force user then releases the energy in a way (be it by redirecting the blaster blots effectively, or unleashing the lightning again or making a force explosion / force push)


If we take the newer special effects into account and the glowing ball of energy which yoda has in his hands which resemble the lightning he just "absorbed" it seems very likely that they defend themselves by stopping the energy like a falling piece of debris and then releasing the energy into a different form / direction. Thus just from the films it looks way more like solely redirection of energy than absorbing it (or a combination of both).


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Was the "pure soul" of Harry's what had really hurt Voldemort?

In the Order of the Phoenix, Voldemort possesses Harry, and it hurts. Greatly. I think that Dumbledore explained that it was because Voldemort's rotten soul was incapable of assimilating Harry's pure soul, that Voldemort didn't understand the love and friendship etc that Harry has in his heart. But, I think it was a lie. Remember that in Deathly Hallows, while looking for information regarding Horcruxes, it is discovered that it is in fact possible to merge a soul fragment back, but that the process was extremely painful. Now then, if Voldemort tried to possess Harry, and Harry had a fragment of Voldemort's soul, I think that it could have been the true cause of Voldemort's pain: the fact of having his soul so close of another fragment. I think that Dumbledore knew that fact, but had to lie to Harry because it was inappropriate to let him know that he had one of Voldemort's soul fragments at the moment. Is that right? Or was it truly the pure soul of Harry's...
Post a Comment
Read more

languages - Do we ever see written English in the Star Wars films?

In Empire Strikes Back , we see a transcription of what R2's beeps and bloops mean, but it's not English (sorry for the low quality, it's from the 2004 DVDs): I'd assume it's what Basic looks like when written, but is there some point in the the Star Wars films we see written English instead? (This sort of spun off from a discussion in How do people understand astromech droids? .) Answer At one point there was English but it has been phased out in subsequent versions of the films. Chris Gould at DVD Active did a comparison of all versions of each of the Star Wars films, and in his comparison of Episode 4 , there are a couple of screenshots showing how the power gauge for the Death Star tractor beam was changed. I imagine there are probably more to be found in his other comparisons but I haven't got around to reading those yet.
Post a Comment
Read more

star wars - What "exactly" happens when someone turns to the Dark Side?

When I saw the original Star Wars saga as a kid, the concept of the Dark Side imprinted in me was quite simple. You did a bad thing, so you're a bad person so you go to the Dark Side and keep doing bad things. Now, obviously this doesn't hold true in reality. In my mind it is perfectly reasonable for Luke to kill the Emperor and Vader and then just flee the Death Star and rejoin the Alliance. After all they are at war, those are enemy officers that have captured him and are taunting him by threatening with death of all loved ones and the whole operation was intended to kill the Emperor anyway. The same would hold true for Anakin. He could have killed Mace Windu to save the Chancellor and Padme but that doesn't mean he's going to then go mad and kill all Jedis including children. It doesn't add up from a merely psychological point of view. He had a set of objectives and that made him want to keep the Chancellor alive (quite valid by the way, Mace Windu is quite clums...
Post a Comment
Read more

star trek - Warning regarding forward saucer section in Nemesis?

In Star Trek: Nemesis , just before the Enterprise rams into the Scimitar, Picard sends a text message from his captain's chair arm pad to Troi — who is manning the helm in lieu of the crewman who was just blown out through what was once the view screen — indicating that she should put full impulse on standby. (Literally, if you watch the scene closely, Troi's console prefaces the order with "TXT MSG" !) My question is: Did Picard also somehow warn crew members in the forward saucer section about what was about to happen? The ramming of the Scimitar was a heat of the moment decision. Considering that he also resorted to calling the auto-destruct sequence shortly after (which ended up being offline), he probably was of the mindset that any losses would be acceptable in order to hault Shinzon's march to Earth. Still, I'm curious. Answer The original script indicates that he called for the crew to " brace for impact ". Whether that call (or the comma...
Post a Comment
Read more