With each new addition to the Star Wars universe, the martial arts associated with lightsaber combat only become more complex. The seven forms of lightsaber combat helped dictate the course of how various Jedi used the weapon and reflects deeply on their own character.
However, unlike many of the Jedi Knights who fought during the High Republic or the Clone Wars, Luke Skywalker wasn't formally trained with a lightsaber. However, through training, and due to his own inherited power, Luke developed his lightsaber fighting style — and it reveals a lot about him.
What Are the Seven Forms of Lightsaber Combat?
In order to determine what form of lightsaber combat Luke Skywalker uses, one needs to first know about the seven forms of lightsaber combat, what makes them each unique and how each style reflects the combatant using it.
Form I, or Shii-Cho, is the oldest and simplest style of combat, focused on disarming and maiming waves of adversaries. It's favored by Padawans. Form II, or Makashi, is a more refined style designated for combat against a singular opponent. Its primary goal is to avoid being disarmed while disarming an adversary. Form III, or Soresu, is a defensive style that was unbeatable but also lacked offensive potential. Form IV, or Ataru, is the acrobatic form, designed to incorporate flips and kinetic movement into each strike.
Form V, or Djem Sho, is a powerful combat style, requiring participants to switch from parries to physical strikes. A variant of this, Shien, also incorporated surprise attacks and reverse-grip strikes. Form VI, or Niman, is a balanced form favored by most Jedi, due to its neutral use of defense and offense. Form VII, or Juyo, is a violent, aggressive style favored by the Sith. Mace Windu is the only Jedi to have used Form VII, creating the variant Vaapad, which draws upon anger without giving into it.
There is also Jar'Kai, a unique combat style outside the other lightsaber styles that involves fighting with two lightsabers. Jedi like Ahsoka Tano and Anakin Skywalker incorporated this style, though Anakin later became known as a master of the aggressive Form V, as established in novels like Star Wars: Lords of the Sith.
What Style of Lightsaber Combat Does Luke Skywalker Use?
When analyzing what style Luke Skywalker used when fighting with a lightsaber, it's vital to consider who his teachers were and what styles they used. Obi-Wan taught Luke early on how to use a lightsaber in Star Wars: A New Hope, albeit briefly. Yoda later trained Luke in The Empire Strikes Back. In Marvel Comics' Star Wars #10, he received further training from the "Gamemaster," a henchman of Grakkus the Hutt who had learned some lightsaber combat skills.
Ultimately, Obi-Wan and Yoda utilized two very different styles. Obi-Wan is a Master of Form III while Yoda perfected Form IV. However, Luke's style is unlike either Obi-Wan or Yoda's. Luke is far more offensive than Obi-Wan's defensive techniques. He doesn't leap around like Yoda does, either. Both teach him more about the Force and trusting his instincts than they do lightsaber combat.
The novel Heir to the Jedi, which takes place shortly after A New Hope, offers great insight into how Luke fights. While Luke utilizes the two-weaponed style Jar'Kai in the novel competently to win a fight, he is driven purely by instinct when using it. However, throughout the novel — and indeed, later on in Return of the Jedi — Luke blocks blaster fire with his lightsaber, a technique commonly associated with Form V.
Luke's lightsaber technique became more refined, but from Heir to the Jedi on, Luke fights in a style similar to Form V: little physical movement when locked in melee combat, other than moving back and forth, centered on parries and offensive attacks. From a distance, Luke reflects fire using his lightsaber, a technique favored by Form V.
Luke Skywalker's Lightsaber Style Matches His Father's
What makes Luke Skywalker's instinctive use of Form V incredibly distinct is how his father was considered the master of Form V. Even Luke's use of Jar'Kai is telling, since again, Anakin used Jar'Kai and taught Ahsoka the style.
In some ways, it makes sense that Luke developed Form V. After all, it is the form he observed the most. The first duel he witnessed had Darth Vader use Form V against Obi-Wan. He later fought Vader using his own tactics against him, including the aggressive instincts inherent to Form V when he let anger reach him. Additionally, Form V is practical against blaster fire, which Luke had to encounter frequently given that most of his enemies were Stormtroopers that used blasters.
However, what makes Luke's use of Form V interesting is two-fold. On one hand, he has a lot of his father's attributes, including the inner darkness. Form V is distinctive for its brutal offense. On the other hand, it also demonstrates that he is physically capable to maintain the demanding style of Form V. It proves that, despite his little training, Luke is instinctively a natural with lightsaber combat.