Obi-Wan Kenobi proved his skill as a swordsman many times during the Star Wars prequels. He beat Darth Maul on Naboo, defeated the monstrosity that was General Grievous in Revenge of the Sith and even bested his padawan Anakin Skywalker on the fiery world of Mustafar.

Throughout his career as a Jedi knight, Obi-Wan used Form III Soresu in lightsaber combat, which was originally created as a counter to the dueling intricacies of Form II’s fencing style and focused on minimizing movements while optimizing defense. Obi-Wan wasn’t just proficient at this technique, though. In fact, according to Master Windu, he was the master of the defensive fighting form. However, Soresu wasn't always Obi-Wan’s preferred fighting style, and why chose to switch is important.

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Darth Maul stabs Qui-Gon Jinn with a lightsaber in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.

Obi-Wan wasn't always the most promising Jedi youngling. He didn’t have the same Force-sensitivity as his peers and was a pretty rebellious child. There was even a time when the Jedi Council considered moving him into the Agricultural Service Corps because he couldn't find a Jedi Master who would take him on as a padawan. Eventually, Qui-Gon Jinn took a liking to the boy, and although they had their share of differences, the two ended up as a great team.

Trained by the legendary Master Dooku, Qui-Gon was one of the best swordsmen in the Jedi Order. Similar to Yoda, he specialized in Form IV Ataru, and like his assertive personality, this technique was offensively focused. Its practitioners trained to berate an opponent with constant, aggressive attacks, often utilizing Force-assisted acrobatics. That was how Obi-Wan learned to fight as a Padawan, and under Qui-Gon’s tutelage, he became quite good. Everything changed, however, when the duo confronted a Sith Lord on Naboo.

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Initially, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan attacked in tandem and had Darth Maul on his heels -- or so they thought. In reality, the Sith Lord was working to separate them in order to take them one at a time in the location of his choosing. By the time they reached the Plasma Refinery Complex, Darth Maul had succeeded; Obi-Wan was trapped by the red energy gates, and he faced Qui-Gon one-on-one in a confined area, where he killed the Jedi master. While Qui-Gon was tiring, another reason he lost was that the tight battlefield hindered his ability to press an attack or defend with Ataru’s wide, sweeping motions.

When Obi-Wan was finally able to rush in and attack, he was angry with his master’s death and furiously tried to avenge him, tapping into the dark side for a time as he confronted the Sith Lord. However, even with the dark side, Maul should've been able to kill the padawan as well. Obi-Wan’s relative inexperience was a factor, but the real reason he was nearly killed was because of Form IV’s lack of defense. It left the torso too exposed, which is why Qui-Gon was impaled and Obi-Wan was nearly kicked down the melting pit.

After his near-death experience, Obi-Wan reflected back on the duel and determined that Ataru’s shortcomings were why his master was killed. As a result, he decided to change his lightsaber style to Soresu. That form would've been able to defend against Darth Maul’s raging attacks, as Form III doesn't require its user to move his saber much, teaching to defend with parries rather than full blocks or sweeps. His decision served him well later in life, because, without Form III’s defensive focus, Obi-Wan would've been hard-pressed to defeat General Grievous and had a much tougher time with the newly-dubbed Darth Vader.

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