SS - Secret Apprentice (Syndiciate) vs Shaak Ti (Ethanion)

TFU Shaak Ti (Reynard Ethanion) vs Felucia Mission Galen Marek (Syndiciate) 

After getting into a bit of a back and forth on the subject on Discord, Ethan and I decided to settle the matter with a private thread.

Ethan made the assertion that he doubted whether or not Galen surpassed Shaak after their fight. Thinking it was a joke I asked him why he thought so and he proceeded to go into detail as to why he holds the position. Now, based on his explanations, it appears to me that his beliefs came about, through no fault of his own, as a result of a severe information deficit. That being the case, I don't hold these beliefs against him, though I do hope to educate him on the matter. With that out of the way, Ethan has asked for a few days to familiarize himself with the material before he feels comfortable making a post so we've agreed that I should make the opener. I should have something up by tonight ( though don't keep your fingers crossed ).

TAEP where someone says TAEP.

TAEP

I don’t know why I bother as tags don’t work

@Greysentinel365 Do they not?

Context and Circumstances

1. The planet where Galen and Shaak's fight takes place is stated by Galen himself to be a world that has been twisted out of balance into a Lightside nexus. 

"She had taken a world enjoying the normal flows between the light and the dark sides of the Force and twisted it out of balance. There was still darkness on Felucia, but it was stifled, frustrated, weakened. He strained to awaken it." - The Force Unleashed. 

1A. As can be seen from the quote above, Galen strained to utilize the Darkside on the planet as it was "stifled" and "weakened" there meaning he would have been actively hindered in his fight against Shaak. 

"She had taken a world enjoying the normal flows between the light and the dark sides of the Force and twisted it out of balance. There was still darkness on Felucia, but it was stifled, frustrated, weakened. He strained to awaken it." - The Force Unleashed. 

1B. Assuming Felucia functions like every other Lightside nexus in Star Wars, Shaak would have been amped beyond her normal capabilities in her fight against Galen. 

"As the Off Chance carried them to the home of the Singing Mountain Clan, they passed over shining oceans, lush forests, vast deserts, rolling hills and wide fertile plains. Tenel Ka felt strength and energy flow through her, as if they very atmosphere of the planet had the power to recharge her." - Star Wars: Young Jedi Knights: Shadow Academy. 

2. I've seen some people attempt to claim that the comic contradicts the novel in this regard throwing the issue into doubt. This is incorrect for two reasons.

2A. The first reason is that the presumption that there is a contradiction is in itself faulty. People point to the following scan as proof of this claim.


What most aren't aware of ( likely because they never bothered to read the comic in the first place ) is that these yellow text bubbles aren't third person narration. They're commentaries made by Proxy as he retells the story of TFU. 



Therefore, there is no actual contradiction within continuity occurring. It is simply the word of a non Force-sensitive droid conflicting with that of a Force sensitive who was able to actively sense the Force alignment of the planet. 

2B. The second is that the TFU novelization was stated to be "the true story" of Starkiller in the same section that the game and comic are mentioned by Haden Blackman ( the creative director for TFU and its various adaptions ) meaning the events in the novel would logically take precedent if there were a contradiction. 

http://web.archive.org/web/20100414014010/http://starwars.com/vault/books/news20080819.html

3. Another factor that is often overlooked is that Galen had fought through an army of Force user's prior to facing off with Ti. I've seen people try to downplay this feat by suggesting the Felucians were unimpressive opponents or that they wouldn't have taxed Galen's reserves considerably. Considering the text goes out of its way to state that Galen was having trouble getting to Ti in the first place, that the the Felucians were so alive with the Force that they were "dangerous" to him and that Galen is actively trying to dispatch them without fuss in order to conserve energy runs counter to this. 

"He dispatched them calmly and without fuss, saving his energy for the real enemy waiting for him. Getting to her, however, was proving to be something of a problem. Although he had sensed her clearly from orbit as a deformation in the Force, much like a body of mass deformed the fabric of space-time, he hadn't anticipated the dense flows he would encounter on the surface. The entire jungle was alive with tin Force, from the tiniest spore to the mightiest rancor, and the Felucians themselves were alive with it, too-so alive, in fact, that they tapped into the Force as naturally as humans breathed an oxygen-rich atmosphere. That made them dangerous to him, the Sith apprentice who had come to crush the regime Shaak Ti had nurtured on Felucia." - The Force Unleashed. 

Just to help the point sink in, I'll be providing some accolades and examples of their power below.

3A. Can manipulate light around themselves in order to blend in with their surroundings. 


3B. Can enhance the durability of their bone blades to the point that they are lightsaber resistant. 

"The bone swords were resistant to his lightsaber, but his skill with the Force far exceeded theirs." - The Force Unleashed.

-



3C. Can heal a being from debilitating injuries within a few minutes to the point that can fight as if they had never been injured in the first place.

"The warrior dropped dead to the ground but two more leapt out of the bushes behind him, waving their bone swords and howling in their strange, guttural language. He recognized the largest as one he had injured previously, but he moved now with perfect grace and aggression; the shaman he had spared several minutes earlier must have doubled back and healed the warrior's injuries. He vowed not to make the same mistake again." - The Force Unleashed. 

3D. Capable of utilizing basic telekinesis and energy attacks. 

"The apprentice ducked another bolt of Force energy hurled by the Felucian warrior to his right and sent a jagged line of Sith lightning crackling across the distance between them." - The Force Unleashed.

-

"Dodging their clumsy telekinesis and unwieldy blows, he dispatched them calmly and without fuss, saving his energy for the real enemy waiting for him." - The Force Unleashed. 

3E. Felucian shamans are even more powerful than their non-shaman counterparts and are considered among the most powerful natural Force user's in the galaxy. 




4. Lastly, I thought I'd address a pretty common misconception. The idea that Shaak Ti unbalanced the Force solely through her own personal power. This is simply not true and is something outright contradicted by the TFU campaign guide. 





4A. It goes on to indicate that the reason Felucia has shifted so drastically to the Darkside since Shaak Ti's death is a result of Maris Brood's fall to the Darkside and her subsequent influence over the Felucian shamans. 



When I explained this concept to you briefly in our talk a few nights ago, you asked why Galen's own presence didn't offset Shaak's own and turn Felucia into a neutral or even Darkside nexus especially if he was more powerful than her. The reason for this is as follows. 

Firstly, as we've established, it's not about the Force user themselves, but about how their presence effects the native Felucians that affects the planets alignment. While Galen's arrival on the planet would have undoubtedly had an effect on the native Felucians, Shaak had already been there for years teaching them about the Lightside. Prior to her arrival, they were already wary enough of Felucia potentially turning into a Darkside nexus that they sacrificed those who fell to the Darkside to the sarlaac. Shaak's arrival and teachings would have only strengthened this resolve. That being the case, Galen's presence is unlikely to cause an immediate shift in the Felucians alignment, especially given he was on the planet for less than a day. 

Breakdown of Their Fight

Now, on to the actual fight. As I've established above, Galen enters this fight in a hindered and fatigued state whilst Shaak would logically be receiving an amp. She would also reasonably have possessed an environmental advantage over Galen insofar as being familiar with the location they were fighting in whereas Galen was not. There are two different depictions of this fight; the novel and the comic. While I've already established that the novel's version of events takes precedence over any other version, I'll break down both fights just to be thorough. 

Novel Version

1. In the novel's version of the fight, Shaak uses her higher starting position to generate greater force behind her initial strike which initially puts Galen off balance. 

She smiled in mockery. "Are you prepared to meet your fate?" Then her lightsaber was lit and she was spinning through the air toward him, striking downward as she fell. The apprentice simultaneously backflipped and blocked her opening blow. The force of it surprised him, and the recoil threw him backward. His hood caught on one of the sarlacc's teeth, and he tore it impatiently away before the snag could interfere with his defense. Shaak Ti's lightsaber was a jagged blue blur between them. He blocked her as best he could until he had his balance again." - The Force Unleashed. 

2. In an attempt to put some distance between himself and Ti so that he can regain his balance, Galen jumps down but not wanting to allow her to possess a height advantage he immediately tries to ascend to again. Shaak Ti is right there with him though and, leveraging her height advantage, is able to prevent him from getting back to even ground through a series of blows he struggles to block while simultaneously attempting to get to higher ground. 

"Then he jumped. Over her he spun and fell down two layers of teeth toward the mouth of the sarlacc. From there he jumped up again, angling away from her to avoid giving the Jedi the advantage of height, but she was there ahead of him, driving him back down with a series of blows so rapid he barely caught them all." - The Force Unleashed. 


3. Using a bolt of lightning, Galen is able to cause the sarlaac to shake the ground and put himself and Shaak back on even footing. 

"He summoned a bolt of Sith lightning and sent it down, into the flesh of the sarlacc. The beast roared and shook, giving him the opening he needed. Shaak Ti's right foot slipped, forcing her to flip elegantly out of reach of his blade. He leapt after her, swinging as he came." - The Force Unleashed. 


4. After Galen was able to nullify Shaak's initial advantage, they fight evenly.

"The fight progressed around the sarlacc's center rings, blow and counterblow accompanied by the roaring of the beast. The apprentice cut off teeth and threw the fragments at his adversary's head. In return she took tighter control of the beast's distributed intelligence and sent its food-seeking tentacles flailing for him. He repulsed them and fought on. Down they drove each other, closer and closer to the very lip of the creature's enormous mouth. The air was foul down there, heavy with digestive by-products and the stink of rotting meat. Ghastly exhalations rolled over them as the sarlacc roared on. The apprentice was running out of teeth to sever, so he resorted more and more frequently to Sith lightning and random slashes of his lightsaber to keep it twitching underfoot. Thick ichor leaking out of the wounds made the footing even more treacherous." - The Force Unleashed. 

5. They go on to have a brief conversation whilst fighting wherein Galen suggests Shaak is tiring. After seeming to admit that she is, Shaak reflects his own accusation back at him but he denies it citing the Darkside's inexhaustible strength. Shaak seemingly admits that his denial holds merit but only as a result of his personal power and not his allegiance to one side of the Force or the other. 

"You can't keep this up forever," he taunted Shaak Ti as they dueled.

"Neither can you," she said. "You are wasting your strength too quickly."

"The dark side is inexhaustible."

"Your strength is prodigious," she admitted, "but that is your doing. Light, dark..." She paused to aim a blow at his head that he barely deflected. "They are just directions. Do not be fooled that you stand on anything other than your own two feet."

He slashed at her own feet as they spun by overhead and sent one of her ribbons twirling down into the sarlacc's gaping mouth. "Spare me the philosophy lesson, Jedi," he snarled. "I'm only here for your blood."

"And you may yet have it, or I yours." - The Force Unleashed. 

6. The last bit of the fight is Shaak essentially sacrificing her own life in an attempt to catch Galen off guard and end his life at the cost of her own. This makes sense when you consider she admitted to Galen that her own energy was flagging whilst his were not and that she wanted to ensure she protected her apprentice and the regime she'd fostered on Felucia. Unfortunately for her, she is not fast enough to land a fatal blow before Galen manages to raise a telekinetic shield to block one of her strikes and reflexively raise his own blade to impale her.

On her last three words, she struck three blows that each partially found their mark. The first burned a sizzling line down the apprentice's left shoulder. The second scored diagonally across his chest. The third would have skewered his right eye had he not held her back at the last minute with a desperate telekinetic block that stopped her lightsaber barely a millimeter from his skin. He could feel his eyelashes and eyebrows burning. The right side of his sight was entirely blue. She gasped and staggered backward. Her lightsaber and her gaze dropped. A full half meter of red blade emerged from her stomach, then the rest came free with a hiss. He backed away, shocked by how close he had come to death and how lucky he had been to defeat her. He had raised his lightsaber by reflex. She had, in the desperation of her final assault, practically thrown herself on the blade. Perhaps she had meant for the two of them to defeat each other at the same time.

Comic Version

The comic version of the fight is an even less favorable depiction of Shaak's performance.

1. In it, we have Shaak landing a Force push on Galen as he's attempting to jump over a pit which causes him to land amongst the sarlaac teeth. In the subsequent panel we see the edges of one of the sarlaac's teeth broken off and Galen bleeding from the head. 

2. This gives Shaak Ti the time she needs to charge an energy attack for several seconds and unleash it on Galen. We know that it was several seconds because she was charging up her attack while dialogue. Transcript of said dialogue: "I knew him when he was just a frightened boy. Not unlike you." 

3. The charged attack from Ti knocks him back but, apart from that, has no discernible affect on him. 

4. Using her influence over the environment, Ti commands the sarlaac to wrap him up in its tentacles. As she senses the life fading from Marek he unleashes an omni-directional blast that destroys the sarlaac tentacles holding him and fatally injuries Ti. While Ti clearly underestimated him, the comic makes it clear that she had time to sense and react to Galen's repulse as she cries out before turning around with her hands raised in front of her. While I would agree that whatever defensive barrier she was able to throw up in that time would not have been representative of her full power, it remains that she was fatally injured by an undirected blast of power from Galen that wasn't even aimed at her. This simply proves the vast disparity in power that exists between Shaak and Galen even at this point in the TFU storyline.

Direct Comparison

Ignoring their actual fight, Galen has also demonstrated far greater power, potency and endurance as a Force user when simply comparing their best feats side by side. Many of these feats are done without any sign of strain on his part as well. All are accomplished prior to his fight with Ti. 
 
Feats
 
1. Cutting down an army of hundreds/thousands of droids with the text outright noting that he grows weary from the boredom of cutting them down as opposed to any sense of tiredness ( Endurance ). 
 
"Soon the foyer was full of the twitching, smoking bodies of the temple's hapless guardians. He began to tire, not from exertion but from the tedium of knocking down droid after droid, to no apparent end. There might have been thousands of them." - The Force Unleashed.
 
2. He then proceeds to throw the droids out of the room with a Force push and, with a continuous blast of power, sends them so high into the sky it forms a dark cloud over the landscape described as "an artificial hurricane" along with a groundquake in the process ( Power ).
 
"There might have been thousands of them. Deactivating his lightsaber, he took a deep breath. With one mighty exhalation of power, he blasted all of them-those in pieces and those approaching with needle-tipped fingers and vibrosaws upraised-out of the foyer doors. Then he blasted the rubbish piles after them. He kept pushing until a dark cloud towered out over Raxus Prime's hideous landscape-an artificial hurricane full of droid golems. When the foyer was clear, the apprentice straightened. He was no longer pushing with the Force, but the floor beneath him shook nonetheless." - The Force Unleashed.
 
3. It should be noted that, prior to this point, Galen powered the engines of a downed ship that, by his own estimate, would have taken him hours to get around ( Potency ). 
 
"He gathered the energy and directed it down his arms, into his hands. Blue light strobed across his vision as the lightning flowed into the wires and from there into the hyperdrive turbines. Groaning, then shrieking, the massive engine came alive. Damaged, completely out of alignment, and barely controllable, the turbine shook with propulsive power, then strained against the braces still holding it to the corvette's warped chassis. The deck kicked underneath the apprentice. He swayed as the entire corvette shifted. With a terrible sound, it began to move, plowing a brutal furrow through the surrounding rubbish. He could picture it clearly in his imagination and through the vibrant flow of the Force. As lightning poured through him and into the engine, it pushed the stricken corvette physically out of his path. The way to the Temple was now clear. When he sensed that it had gone far enough, he relaxed his concentration. Smaller discharges of energy skittered across his skin. There was enough residual potential in the turbine to keep it running for dozens of seconds. He had to get out of the corvette before it dragged him any farther from his goal." - The Force Unleashed.
 
Accolades

In Universe Accolades
 
1. Galen, after expending his power on all of the aforementioned feats AND fighting Kazdan Paratus, believes he could casually knock down Paratus's replica temple with a Force push. 
 
"As they reached for orbit, he watched the Temple retreat behind him until the outline of its ludicrous grandeur was barely discernible among the surrounding junk hills. He could have knocked the ridiculous toy castle down around Kazdan's ears with one Force push. If only it had been so easy for his Master to erase the Jedi from the galaxy." - The Force Unleashed.
 
1A. According to Juno the temple is an exact replica of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, assumedly that means it shares the temples impressive size. 
 
"Juno's eyes widened. Her right index finger came up to draw her companions' attention back to the view. "What about starting over there?" So saying, she banked the ship to starboard, the better to reveal the structure she had just discovered. Five slender towers rose up out of the junk piles like a surreal tribute to the past. The central tower was the tallest of the five, with a boxy structure near its tip that always made her think of old-fashioned torpedo fins. The other four were simpler, less ornate. Although undoubtedly made of junk itself, their unique lines could not be mistaken for those of any other monument in the galaxy." - The Force Unleashed.
 
1B. I've seen others try to downplay this by suggesting the materials that the temple were made out of could not have been overly durable. The brief description of the temple which states that "armored plates" and "tank walls" were welded in place of the more robust structures would seem to suggest the structure possesses at least a respectable level of durability compared to the structure it's imitating.  
 
"The apprentice ascended cautiously to the foyer, where buckled armor plates had been hammered as close to flat as was possible and welded into approximately level floors. Abandoned thrust tubes stood in for marble columns. Sensor arrays made reasonable facsimiles of window frames, and curving tank walls created the illusion of arched ceilings high above." - The Force Unleashed.
 
Out of Universe Accolades
 
1. Galen is stated to be a "top tier" Force user and the "photo negative of Luke Skywalker" being what Luke would have become had he been trained by his father.  
 
"The apprentice is the photo negative of Luke Skywalker. He's been raised by Darth Vader and is what Luke would have become if he had joined his father. When the Jedi use the Force, they respect it and don't overuse it. The bad guys - the Sith - keep testing their limits. Vader discovered this person who had the potential to be the most powerful Force user ever. He's up there with the tip tier. He's extremely powerful." - Insider 100. 
 
2. Galen's abilities as a lightsaber combatant equal his abilities with the Force. 

 
2A. This is reasonable when considering the fact that Galen is stated to have "nearly perfected lightsaber combat" and, as a Juyo practitioner, was a "high level master of multiple forms."

"Under Vader's relentless tutelage, the Apprentice all but perfected the fine art of lightsaber combat and learned to wield many fearsome dark side powers." - The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia.


"Only high-level masters of multiple forms can achieve and control the ultimate discipline known as Form VII." - Insider 62: Fightsaber.

The post isn't completely finished as I still need to complete the section breaking down the comic version of their fight but, since that shouldn't take too long, and overall it's a small part of the entire post I figured I'd upload what I had tonight. Cheers.

Edit: The section breaking down the comic version of the fight has been added. You're good to go. 

Form VII actually requires mastery of all forms. 

When Ti can beat a single Magnaguard without a circumstantial edge we can talk about her contending with Marek

Greysentinel365 wrote:Form VII actually requires mastery of all forms. 

When Ti can beat a single Magnaguard without a circumstantial edge we can talk about her contending with Marek

Was unaware of that tbh. It makes sense considering Galen had "all but perfected" lightsaber combat. That "all but" is probably just referencing him attaining complete mastery of Form VII. It's kind of funny when you consider this is Galen prior to the start of the game but I guess it gives this quote some context.

"Vader's apprentice was both strong in the Force and incredibly aggresive. As a teenager, the apprentice was already more powerful than many Jedi Knight had been during the Clone Wars, and it was only Darth Vader's incredible power and skill that allowed him to defeat the boy in combat." - The Force Unleashed. 

Galen really is the text book definition of a prodigy.

Very good breakdown, definitely improved my knowledge on TFU.

I disagreed with a few minor things, but agreed with the overall conclusion.

This is pretty cool

lorenzo.r.2nd wrote:This is pretty cool

Thanks.

@Syndiciate @Reynard (Ethanion)

Ethanion has officially conceded