Jar'Kai

"The use of two blades, one to support the other, can be traced back thousands of years... The invention of lightsabers has done nothing to lessen the effectiveness of this strategy."

- Boc

Jar'Kai is a form of lightsaber combat that teaches how to duel with two lightsabers. The dual saber technique can be traced back to two origins, Jar’Kai and Niman; the modern form incorporates the elements from both. It is simply called Jar'Kai in modern times to keep it from being confused with Form VI: Niman, which owes some of its origins to this combat discipline. Ancient Jar'Kai / Niman relied on steel blades, long before lightsabers were invented. The style can be used with a variety of weapons because of this, but is most often associated with lightsabers.

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.

Jar'Kai permits a Jedi to fight with two lightsabers, one in each hand. One of the blades in the wielder's hands is used for attacking while the other one is used for defending, such as parrying, or for more offensive purposes. Many Jedi Knights and Sith Lords trained to use the Jar'Kai style in the hopes of gaining a basic knowledge of the dual-bladed attack, but very few ever totally master it.

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 Ataru swordplay. Because neither the 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 is not a style that lends itself easily to most beginners. For obvious reasons, the difficulty of wielding a lightsaber is doubled while Jar'Kai is in use. For this reason Jar’Kai users are not common, but the power of a fully trained Jar'Kai user is hard to ignore. It is more accepted by the Jedi Order than the saberstaff since one of the weapons is almost always used for defensive reasons.

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Some Canon information courtesy of Wookieepedia. Please visit the provided link for the canonical Jar'Kai.