Did vader hold back against luke on the deathstar?

I’ll want to your opinions.

No. The comic clarifies Vader brought "his full strength and power against the younger man" which is supported by both the adult novel and TRAFODV - with the latter clarifying Vader was incredibly fatigued from trying to breach Luke's defences, despite giving it his all.

I think the real question here should be: Was Luke holding back? Until the final exchange of the duel - according to Lucas - Luke wasn't "really fighting" which is corroborated by other sources which state Luke "held back" and "only struck back in self-defense," so the answer to the aforementioned question is clearly, yes.

A holding back Luke matched an all-out Vader blow for blow, any excuses for Vader are attempts at grasping for straws.

The Apprentice wrote:No. The comic clarifies Vader brought "his full strength and power against the younger man" which is supported by both the adult novel and TRAFODV - with the latter clarifying Vader was incredibly fatigued from trying to breach Luke's defences, despite giving it his all.

I think the real question here should be: Was Luke holding back? Until the final exchange of the duel - according to Lucas - Luke wasn't "really fighting" which is corroborated by other sources which state Luke "held back" and "only struck back in self-defense," so the answer to the aforementioned question is clearly, yes.

A holding back Luke matched an all-out Vader blow for blow, any excuses for Vader are attempts at grasping for straws.

Varies depending on the account. Some say he brought his full strength against Luke. Others say he was conflicted as he fought Luke (supported by TR&FoDV showing Vader didn't know what he was trying to do by beating Luke and supported by Luke's dialogue and Vader's responses), others say he was definitely holding back, and there's a few Lucas quotes indicating or confirming that he had no intention of killing Luke, only pushing him to fight back and give in to the Dark Side. 

It depends on the account. Luke was definitely not holding back.

A classic case of youth vs experience. In some sources, Vader was stated to be conflicted and I think you can glean that from the film too, but at the same time, I don't know how anyone can argue Luke wasn't conflicted either. The only time Luke was clearly under pressure was the moment he "lowered his defenses!" and that was after he held the advantage but stopped short because again he was clearly conflicted himself. 

I think the holistic intent is that they were supposed to be well matched at this point in any case. Not exactly splitting hairs.