ESB Luke beat the Grand Inquisitor

Star Wars (2020) #6 dropped today, and had a couple cool surprises. Anyone who has been following the series knew that Luke was going to receive the lightsaber of a Jedi Temple Guard this issue, but what I didn't see coming was the specific trap Vader had laid.

The High Republic Jedi outpost Verla told Luke about was protected by a guardian placed there by Vader. Specifically, it was guarded by the revenant of the Grand Inquisitor, as he appeared at the moment of his death. A flaming phantom that seemingly retained all of the Grand Inquisitor's personality, knowledge, and skill. As Luke took up the yellow lightsaber, declaring that he will be a Jedi, the Grand Inquisitor manifested. 

“Once I served the Jedi. I wielded a saber like the one you hold. Then I hunted Jedi, in service to Vader and the Emperor. Now I serve them still - - and kill every seeker who follows the path Vader created to this place. I presume I always will.”

"You're wrong. You will never kill a Jedi again." 

The two ignite their sabers and square off. The Inquisitor mocks Luke's form. "You handle that saber like a child," but despite his taunting, the Inquisitor finds himself being driven back by Luke. However, as Luke pressures the revenant, the Inquisitor ignites his second blade and turns the table. Luke finds himself fighting on the defensive, evading and blocking the Grand Inquisitor's attacks, until at last the Inquisitor lands a kick to his chin. However, as the Inquisitor goes for the finishing blow, Luke slaps him down with a powerful Force push before severing the revenant's saber hand, and at last dispatching the phantom with one final stroke. 

Later, Vader arrives on the scene, telling the undead Inquisitor that he has failed. The Inquisitor comments that, "He was strong. So strong," before asking if there is any chance for release. Vader informs him that he is merely a tool, shaped to serve his purpose. He will... continue.

Personally, I really enjoyed this encounter. I absolutely wasn't expecting the Grand Inquisitor to make an appearance after his death in Rebels, but with his line of "There are some things far more frightening than death," at the end of Season 1 of Rebels, the door had been opened for him to return in some way. And honestly, Vader using Sith sorcery to preserve an asset like the Grand Inquisitor does make sense to a degree. After all, we've known for years that canon Vader is obsessed with finding a way to overcome death so he can be reunited with Padme. The false life given to the Grand Inquisitor helps show just how far along Vader had come in that pursuit. 

And of course, it's just awesome seeing post-ESB Luke engage in a lightsaber duel with someone other than Vader. We now have a somewhat better line of scaling for Luke, who was previously pretty much completely disconnected from the Jedi of the Prequels (due to the debate around whether or not Vader was operating at full power in RotJ). Now we know that the Grand Inquisitor, the most powerful of the Inquisitorious, is humbled by Luke's own power. He perceived Luke as "Strong. So strong," implying that he never really stood much of a chance in that fight, despite the brief edge he had in sabers. This puts Luke above the likes of the Second Sister, Seventh Sister, Fifth Brother, Ninth Sister, Kanan in the first couple seasons of Rebels, Jocasta Nu, Cal Kestis, and if Dave Filoni's comments are taken into consideration, it should put Luke above the likes of Asajj Ventress (who is supposedly just a little stronger than the Grand Inquisitor), at least in terms of power. That last one alone gives us further scaling we could use to start finding where ESB Luke places among the Jedi of the Clone Wars, if we really want to get into it. And this is a version of Luke just a few days after Empire Strikes Back, with no real chance for growth yet.

Is OP alright with me just posting scans

Jedi_Jesus wrote:Is OP alright with me just posting scans

Please do. I'm on my cell phone, so I don't really have that option

Yea I got you

post them if you can pls

I can try to post them when I get home in about 6 hours, but lately I've had trouble posting pics to this forum

thx

Awesome, thanks! Think you could post the page where Vader talks to the Inquisitor?

Great feat tbh. Shows how skilled ESB Luke was

Right? I figured Charles Soule would give him some cool new feats, but I never would have guessed we would see Luke beating The Grand Inquisitor a few days after ESB. It's probably Rebellion-era Luke's most solid, quantifiable feat, honestly. There's too much context surrounding his duels against Vader, too much doubt and speculation thrown in the mix. But here we see Luke defeat the third most powerful dark side user in the entire Empire, with no context muddying the results of the duel.

Damn

Pretty cool. I have always had ESB Luke with a huge gap over GI. Was it really just one page of Luke getting pushed back? If so it was a stomp no?

xmysticgohanx wrote:Pretty cool. I have always had ESB Luke with a huge gap over GI. Was it really just one page of Luke getting pushed back? If so it was a stomp no?

The fight spans 18 panels over 3 pages. 4 of those panels show the Inquisitor holding an advantage while using his double-blade. 4 show Luke having an advantage, 2 when the two are dueling with single blades, 2 once he breaks out the Force push for the win. The other 12 panels are mostly made up of dialogue.

So no, I wouldn't consider Luke's victory a "stomp" necessarily. The GI did land a kick on Luke's chin, and forced Luke to fight defensively by activating his second saber. However, when the Inquisitor was fighting with only one blade active (his preferred Form II style that we see him favor in most of his fights), Luke had the clear advantage. And of course, Luke's power in the Force far outshines what the GI is capable of handling.

So I'd put Luke a solid tier above the GI, but not two tiers.

My personal ranking for a few characters:
Tier 9: Yoda, Studious, Master Luke, KFV
Tier 8: Vader, Mace, Dooku, RotS Obi-Wan, RotJ Luke, RotS Anakin
Tier 7: ESB Luke, Qui-Gin, Kit Fisto, AotC Obi-Wan
Tier 6: Grand Inquisitor, TPM Obi-Wan
Tier 5: Season 2 Kanan, 5th Brother, 7th Sister

Interesting but how do we know if the Inquisitor was operating at his full power? He is practically dead so I'm assuming he was very limited in his abilities which may have given Luke the advantage? Either way, a pretty cool feat from Luke

Mysteryman06 wrote:Interesting but how do we know if the Inquisitor was operating at his full power? He is practically dead so I'm assuming he was very limited in his abilities which may have given Luke the advantage? Either way, a pretty cool feat from Luke

There are no lines indicating he is any weaker than he had been. I believe he was frozen at the moment of his death by Vader, a feat Momin stated his "engine" should be capable of. Vader's castle was made by Momin. It's likely Vader used the knowledge he gained from Momin to trap the Inquisitor in this state.

If my theory holds true, The Grand Inquisitor should be just as power in his fight against Luke as he had been in his final duel again Kanan.