Jar'Kata

The Star Wars wiki of fan invention.

"Its intensity is that of a rampaging Rancor. If you don't pay close attention, you could be seeing your legs lying in front of you on the floor."

—Jace Kyjar

Jar'Kata was a form of lightsaber combat developed by Jace Kyjar. It utilized two lightsabers, one normal sized in the dominant hand with a short lightsaber in the off-hand. The point of this form was to surprise the enemy greatly in shutting off the dominant lightsaber to break past defenses and make a quick strike, while the off-hand was still there to defend. The form was inspired by both Jar'Kai and Trakata, combining them to make a deadly form.

The form was created as a means of surprising the enemy and force them to alter their own style. There were many dangers in shutting off one's lightsaber in order to attack, which was the reason behind the use of the second lightsaber. The form had a deadly attack, coupled with an adequate defense, possibly making it a more deadly form than Juyo or Ataru.

Jace Kyjar invented this form as a spark of his own creativity. He first attempted it in a tournament fight against the Sith beast Khavaal, and failed, then again in training with his master Kyle Stellar. That time nearly worked, but he was blown away by a Force Wave. He perfected the form upon being named a Jedi Knight.

Contents 1 History 2 Description 3 Applications 3.1 Grip 3.2 Stance 3.3 Striking 3.4 Defense 4 Requirements 5 Weaknesses 6 Lightsaber design 7 Behind the scenes

[edit] History

Jar'Kata was created by Jace Kyjar upon his appointment as a Jedi Knight. He had received the idea indirectly from his master, Kyle Stellar, during a conversation regarding the power Force Weapons, the power which allowed the user to ignite a lightsaber while not holding on to it. Jace got the idea then to hold an unignited lightsaber as a surprise to the opponent.

Jace was the only one to know this lightsaber form for almost his entire life. He used it exclusively during the wars at the time, defeating many Sith with a form that they weren't expecting. Many of the Sith attempted to learn the form by studying how Jace used it, but none could perfect it, no matter how they tried.

Near the end of his life, Jace taught the form to a young, aspiring Jedi padawan named Xeno Halthorn. Xeno also went on to master the form, but never gave any others his knowledge, feeling it was better if such a form were not in the hands of more than one person at a time.

Xeno ended up doing the same thing at the end of his life, though he did not directly teach the form to anyone. Instead, the Jedi Grandmaster hid the teachings of the form in a holocron on the unknown water planet of Kamino, hoping that a Jedi would find it sometime or another.

However, no Jedi ever found the holocron. Instead, a Sith Lord by the name of Darth Nyne discovered the hidden form on Kamino. Now, in the hands of a Sith Lord, the form truely had the opportunity to show off its deadly capabilities.

[edit] Description

During the time of the Old Republic, wars were numerous and often involved rival Jedi factions. The Bendu Order, the Shadourians, the Jedi and the Sith all often went to war with each other. The result was an uncanny amount of outbreaks in the number of new lightsaber forms. Force users were taking it upon themselves to make another way to defeat their enemy, something that nobody would see coming.

One of these such forms was Jar'Kata. Jar'Kata was created by the Jedi Jace Kyjar as a way of surprising an enemy in the duel. The unique way in which the two lightsabers were crafted, held and used were something that the galaxy had not yet seen from one individual. The technique was devised quickly, as a new war was on the horizon, one that the young Kyjar had to be prepared for.

This form was nicknamed the Way of the Tra'cor. The Tra'cor was a dangerous amphibian beast native to Sorocco and was the deadly cousin of the Rancor. Jace thought this would be a welcome name to such a form.

Very few knew how to use the form properly, but those who did were very formidable opponents. Xeno Halthorn found out about the form and became very efficient with it. Jace and Xeno thought that Jar'Kata knowledge never left to the Sith because it seemed too vicious for them to get a hand on. They were proven wrong when Darth Nyne found his way to the form.

[edit] Applications

[edit] Grip

The applications of Jar'Kata combined the applications of both Jar'Kai and Trakata to create the perfect form. In the main hand, the lightsaber was held without the blade being ignited. This alone broke the code of Trakata, as the lightsaber should have been held in the off-hand. The user held the lightsaber loosely at first, then alternates between a tight and loose grip to allow for quicker, more unexpected and deadlier strokes of the lightsaber.

In the off-hand, the user held a short lightsaber, ignited, diagonally in front of the body. The lightsaber was held in the center of the grip with the upper two fingers held loosely and the others tightly to facilitate an easy flowing defensive form.

[edit] Stance

With Jar'Kata, confidence was a large issue and the practitioner had to show their confidence in their stance. There were two defined ways of doing this. The Trakata influenced way had the user standing facing the assailant. The off-handed lightsaber should've been ignited, though did not have to be, with the main handed lightsaber always disignited. Both lightsaber tips should've been pointed towards the attacker to make them afraid of an attack.

The more common stance, as utilized by Jace Kyjar, was to have the off-handed lightsaber held diagonally in front of the body to make for easy defense. The main hand lightsaber would be held behind and above the head, unactivated. The dominant sided foot would be staggered behind the off-sided foot to allow the stance to work.

[edit] Striking

In striking, Jar'Kata's sole influence was Trakata. Normally, the only means of attacking was by using the ability of the lightsaber to become quickly ignited and disignited. The strikes depended on the flexibility of the wrist, as quick stabs and wide arcs were the way to win a fight with this form. The other lightsaber would be held for defense.

As a way of added attack, Jace Kyjar set a standard for the kind of lightsaber to be used. He added a razor sharp edge onto the hilt of his lightsaber, to create an added attack on the main handed lightsaber. The user could cut the opponent with the handle of the lightsaber if needed.

However, as the weaknesses of Trakata became more and more known to enemies, the form had to be adapted to have the off-handed lightsaber attack at the odd time. It still suited the form, as it would surprise the enemy, who at that point would be expecting another sneak lightsaber attack. In this, the user would feign an attack with the disignited lightsaber and get in a quick side swipe or stab with the off-hand. This could quickly end a fight as well as the former could.

[edit] Defense

As stated before, the main defense of this technique was the use of the off-handed lightsaber. That lightsaber would be held close to the body and diagonally upwards to allow for an easy defense of most attacks. The main handed lightsaber should never defend because its only purpose is to be an attacking weapon. This defense was very heavily drawn upon by Jar'Kai users.

[edit] Requirements

In order to use Jar'Kata, the user must have had an above-average grasp of the Force and even higher Force potential. They must have meditated regularily to clear their mind for the fight that they could have undoubtedly seen ahead. The user must have had the ability to concentrate in battle, as a lack of doing so could have led to an onslaught of deadly force powers against them.

The user must have also been proficient in using both hands. Should the off hand be weaker than the main hand, a great weakness was opened up. A basic knowledge of Jar'Kai was also needed, or the basics of this form would be lost upon the user.

[edit] Weaknesses

The main disadvantage with Jar'Kata was that the user used his less dominant hand to do all of the defending. In this, a powerful opponent would have been able to fend off the attacks and easily beat down the user with superior strength over his weaker off-hand.

Also, unlike most two lightsaber techniques, Jar'Kata was not a good technique for fighting more than one opponent. Unless attacking, the form was essentially a one lightsaber form with an extra part keeping your free hand busy. This alone makes the form less useful for a war or large battle and made the user want to practice another form as well, possibly Jar'Kai.

Another, lesser known, disadvantage was the weakness to force powers. With the amount of focus one had to put into using this form, they often lost sight of what their opponent was doing. This allowed the opponent to use a powerful force attack to hold the user at bay.

[edit] Lightsaber design

When the form was first invented by Jace Kyjar, the lightsaber used in the main hand had already grown famous. It was reminiscent of the lightsaber staff used by his great-grand father, Dexon Kyjar, a lightsaber which killed many people and saved many more throughout the galaxy. There was a razor sharp edge going around the hilt of the lightsaber. It was originally crafted to be a guard, though as the form developed it would be used as an added offensive weapon, able to slice up opponents should the lightsaber attacks not be working.

In the off-hand, any standard short lightsaber was the optimum weapon for defending. It allowed the ability to defend the user with extra mobility, and the attacking weapon never interfering with it at the same time. Jace Kyjar preferred to have the lightsabers be the same color so as to have a strange effect on the oponent. By having the attacking lightsaber igniting with the same colored blade as the defending one, the hope was that the opponent would assume the blade would just be the defending one again.

[edit] Behind the scenes

• The name Jar'Kata is a combination of Jar'Kai, which utilizes two lightsabers, and Trakata, which utilizes the ability of the lightsaber to be turned on and off quickly. They were combined to form a deadly form.
• Jar'Kata is the first recognizable lightsaber form created by Steve Young.