Saturday, April 13, 2013

Luminara Unduli versus the droid saboteurs of Ilum

Today I want to tell you about one of my favorite secondary characters in the Cartoon Network's The Clone Wars. Her name is Luminara Unduli. She was a Jedi Master and trained Barriss Offee (you can find the post that I did on Barriss located HERE).

First off, Luminara was a complete master of Soresu style combat. In Soresu, a Jedi uses the lightsaber to establish defense. And even if an attack manages to get past a lightsaber's blade, a proper user of Soresu should be able to avoid the blow through bodily contortions. Essentially, Luminara was almost impossible to hit if she was in her fighting stance. Think of a martial art based on the principle of economy of motion. In other words, keeping up constant blade movement to build up momentum, but at the same time conserve energy. Practitioners of Soresu were marathon fighters, using their lightsaber skills to wear down and tire an opponent and take advantage of them when they made mistakes.

Luminara served as a Senior Jedi General in the fading years of the Galactic Republic. She also advised the Jedi High Council, the Supreme Chancellor, and the Galactic Senate.
Luminara Unduli (left) and Barriss Offee (right). Luminara loved Barriss, but
only in a professional way. She was often critical of Anakin who seemed to
cross a line when it came to his own padawan, Ahsoka Tano. Anakin was
always kind of cursed when it came to women, getting too attached, etc.
And we know how that story went. Luminara was always prepared to lose
her padawan, whereas Anakin would have been devastated.
Four months after the Battle of Geonosis depicted in Attack of the Clones, Luminara led Offee to the secret Jedi Temple on the icy world Ilum. This is where the Jedi go to construct their final lightsaber (a right of passage so to speak). During the construction ceremony, Master and Padawan were attacked by cloaked Separatist chameleon droids, which had infiltrated the temple in an attempt to destroy the cavern's precious natural lightsaber crystals. In the destruction of the temple, Barriss and Luminara held up the roof for days with nothing but telekinesis. It's actually a pretty incredibly display of TK and goes beyond anything any of the other Jedi ever did with the same power. I think Barriss and Luminara together had the strongest telekinetic ability out of any of their contemporaries.

Below is the clip of Luminara Unduli versus the droid saboteurs of Ilum. The animation comes from the 2003 Clone Wars series which predates the one with the fantastic animation that I've been raving about for weeks now. If you are a Star Wars fan, you should watch it, because it is the only clip I know of that shows exactly how a lightsaber is assembled and what goes inside it.

37 comments:

  1. Luminara sounds like a fascinating character. She also is quite skilled with a lightsaber. Remind me not to get on her bad side!

    Julie

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  2. It sounds like a complicated plot.
    Francene.
    A - Z Challenge
    http://francene-wordstitcher.blogspot.co.uk/

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  3. I've seen Luminara on television before. Nice to learn she's such a skilled warrior.

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  4. Impressed by how many characters the show contains.
    You missed Elsie's feature.

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  5. Great post. It never stops to amaze me of the wondrous minds writing today.

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  6. So they went into detail about how a lightsaber is made...very cool.

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  7. I'll have to check these out when they hit Netflix -- no cable for this impoverished writer.

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  8. I remember that fight from the old clone wars cartoon

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  9. @Alex: Um...what feature? I'm a little clueless this morning.

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  10. I wish I could combat fight and was a contortionist. That'd be cool. But I'm a wimp and can barely touch my toes. Blast. I will never live up to Luminara Unduli. She'll just have to protect me. Yes, that sounds like a plan.

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  11. Awesome clip! Loved the part about making the lightsabre!

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  12. conserving energy for a marathon sounds like my kind of fighting.

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  13. I'm really enjoying all these clips you're including in your posts. You should add Clonewarsologist to your resume. (:

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  14. I'm showing this post to my hubby. he argued with me for like an hour on female Jedi's

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  15. Not sure what I just read, but I can tell it was written well....

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  16. Her name alone is lovely, but since she's also a skilled warrior she has to be fascinating.

    I really enjoyed the Luminara Unduli clip.

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  17. So, basically, what I'm seeing here is that Obiwan - while powerful - was middle of the pack when it came to Jedi skills. The things I never knew...

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  18. I love that episode.
    Did you know that the artificial crystals the Sith used were actually stronger than the natural ones the Jedi used?

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  19. I just came from a blog about lightsabers! Two great minds :)

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  20. Those "critters" kind of look like the Replicators from Stargate SG1.

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  21. Soresu sounds like a Jedi aikido equivalent.

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  22. I always wondered how a lightsabre was constructed.

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  23. I would love to communicate with someone telepathically.

    http://joycelansky.blogspot.com

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  24. It's funny that I'd just done a post about Latin used in world building, and it so happens that Luminara's name is derived from a Latin root for the word light.

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  25. stop your clone wars mega tour! i have to go explore some more!

    these posts are fantastic! i love your theme! star wars is the pandemic series of uber generations! immortal (unless disney pops a cap in its ass...)

    back from sidetrack of cliches...

    really enjoying these clone wars highlights!

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  26. That would certainly be a fighting style worth knowing!

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  27. Great post and great theme! Never watched Clone Wars but I love the Start Wars universe

    Thanks for stopping by my blog.
    Good luck with the rest of the A-Z

    Kyle
    www.thisisotis.Blogspot.com

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  28. My 11-year old has recently become obsessed with Clone Wars - Luminara is one of her favorites. She was bummed to hear there won't be a new season. Hopefully it can be revived somehow, after things settle down in the Disney empire?
    Enjoy your A to Z journey!
    Jess / Blogging on the Brink

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  29. It's always a treat to see strong and kickass female characters. Luminara seems awesome.

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  30. I love Luminara Unduli; she's so bad ass!

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  31. This is a complicated plot but I must say I love a strong female character especially one skilled with a light saber.
    My grandkids love it!
    Good luck with the rest of the A-Z, hey we are 1/2 way!
    doreenmcgettigan.com

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  32. I am so not a SW geek. It's like hearing a foreign language. Guess I'm the odd man out. Thanks for dropping by last week. It was so great to see you again!

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  33. I need to watch some Clone Wars. For some reason it passed me by! Gasp!

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  34. Keeping a light saber moving while wearing down an opponent until he/she makes a mistake is a real-life tactic in fencing, too. So it's cool to see how this science fiction story has some solid basis in sports.

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  35. Luminara is a terrific warrior. I love that video, what truly powerful women they are. Too bad we did not get these women in the films. They are far better examples for girls than idiot Padme.

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