Just want to throw out some ideas that have been floating around in my head for a few years regarding this most underrated form. Please bare with the long discourse.
What Is Written About Form VIIn the seminal
Fightsaber: Jedi Lightsaber Combat, Niman was described as a lightsaber form that combined elements of all preceding styles into one form, implying that there were no significant advantages or disadvantages, blending concepts from all styles but being master of none. On top of that, all Niman practitioners present in the Geonosis arena were said to have been killed, implying that the form was insufficiently demanding to address intense combat situations. Ouch, talk about a good setup for a bad rep. Even from official descriptions it is set up to be the worst designed system of combat of the orthodox 7. Just take a look at what's written in
The Jedi Path:
While it is true that it would be nearly impossible for a Form VI adherent to defeat an expert in Makashi, this doesn't mean that the style isn't useful for facing down criminals and thugs. Thus for Jedi Consulars...it is a form easily mastered. To compensate for the relaxed focus on bladework, Form VI encourages integrating Force powers into combat...
At this point, even if I were a Padawan hoping to become a Consular I would've just gone through Ataru or Soresu 101 and moved on to other studies. Even Shii-cho, the style that
Jedi Initiates learn, is written to sound more awesome than that. Niman is written like the odd uncle that people acknowledge at the family table, but don't really have much affection for.
Counter-Points to Established WritingsSome thoughts, from both in-universe and out-of-universe perspectives, regarding the above points, because they're the 800-lb gorillas in the room:
1) I find the concept that X style will beat out Y style to be ludicrous. Any slacker who fights someone who's had lots of experience will be guaranteed to lose, but that should not be an issue with the style. A combat style is a strategic framework aimed at effectively resolving a hostile situation. I don't really know of any real-world, long-lived codified combat styles that intentionally half-asses its approaches or its training regimens. As an aside, I disagree with how the
Jedi Path author put Juyo in its own section labeled, "Advanced Lightsaber Techniques," as if the other lightsaber forms didn't have advanced concepts as well.
2) I disagree that there is an in-universe need to establish a form with less stringent training regimens than other forms. Shii-cho, known for its "simplicity" and straightforwardness, a form which all Padawans had a foundation in, should logically have been the go-to style for further study for Consulars who don't want to learn more extensive bladework. Shii-cho, as evident in Kit Fisto's interpretation, has already been battle-tested and proven effective, if not adequate, for millenia, against swordsmen and gunners. There really isn't a need for yet another combat style that has more lax training requirements. Oh, and yes, about the "Way of the Rancor" moniker...Rancors don't seem so lazy to me. A more adequate description for them would be "efficient killing machines." Hardly an apt creature to represent the concepts of such a mediocre form, if we were to go by the conventional descriptions.
3) The issue of mastery. In
The Jedi Path Niman was stated to be easy to master. Yet Cin Drallig stated that Niman mastery requires 10 years of dedicated practice. These two statements are incongruous. Either Niman is easy to master, or it is not. So either Jedi Battlemaster Skarch Vaunk doesn't know what he's talking about or Jedi Battlemaster Cin Drallig is pulling stuff out of his waste disposal chute.
4) Martial arts is not an RPG game where you assign a limited set of attribute points. A martial system that covers all bases does not make it a "jack of all trades, master of none" style. It makes it a comprehensive style that addresses all tactical situations, providing more tools to use for the appropriate situations. How good one is in the style depends on how efficiently they practice and execute. One would think that, for a comprehensive sword art, the curriculum is long by virtue of having to cover so much ground.
5) As a consequence, for those who are not so dedicated in their training, a comprehensive system provides a good primer for basic skills, whereas true mastery takes much more dedication. You get out what you put in, true for any other kind of training.
6) It should be noted that Niman was first utilized amongst Force users in ancient times, formidably, by the Legions of Lettow, who in turn adopted the concepts from the
elite guards of the Kashi Mer dynasty, one of the early civilizations that discovered the Force. The combatives were eventually adopted into the Jedi Order after the First Schism. By the time of KotOR II, Niman had become a well-developed and established combat system. It had survived centuries of all-out warfare prior to the disastrous showing at the Geonosis arena (at least since the Old Sith Wars) and could evidently be frightening in the hands of someone like Exar Kun.
7) Niman's pure root being Soresu. This is contradictory to the history established above, as the Jedi Order had incorporated Niman into their curriculum after the First Great Schism (24,500 BBY), presumably way before the proliferation of blaster technology that would lead to the development of Soresu. We know this because the first demonstrated widespread use of "frozen blaster" tech (the development of lightsabers) was not until the Second Great Schism in 7,000 BBY - when Shii-Cho and Makashi came into full bloom. So that's 17,500 years in between unaccounted for, in which Niman was already in the Jedi Order's repertoire.
8 ) Niman as a gateway to Jar'Kai. If we base our understanding of Niman off of what's already been published, we are to expect that the lax bladework requirements of Niman is supposed to open the way to dual bladework. Yet we have seen evidence of other lightsaber forms utilizing dual blade tactics, notably Shii-cho, Makashi, and Ataru (I would include Soresu as well, since Kenobi has employed dual blades with a Soresu combative mindset in The Clone Wars). But if we are to believe that the most noteworthy thing about Niman is that it incorporates Force attacks into its combinations, how does that factor in as being part of a foundation for a swordfighting-centric style like the traditional Niman/Jar'Kai that was adapted from the Yovshin Swordsmen and Kashi elites?
To address all these points, it would be pertinent to establish a rationale for why a combat system would be needed beyond Form V. I'd written some of this up 3 years ago on the SWTOR forums, but since their forum was wiped on game release day I have to start all over again
. I wrote this keeping in mind that others, like Craig Page, other esteemed members of this forum, Jensaarai1 on YT, and ProfessorWalsh on the Bioware TOR forums had tread this ground before. This is my theory crafting, some of it does not completely falling in line with what has been written in compendiums and manual.
The Evolution of Lightsaber Combat Based on the Nature of the WeaponThe invention of the lightsaber as a portable weapon revolutionized melee warfare. A sword whose blade could cut through most known materials, it made an excellent siege weapon and could counter most other solid melee weapons on the battlefield. Chances are, it could probably vaporize solid munitions rounds on contact. However, due to the nature of the blade, there is a substantial gyroscopic effect that requires great dexterity, proprioceptive sensitivity, and spatial awareness at a level that most non-Force sensitives have difficulty having mastery over.
Thus Shii-cho came to be - as the first battlefield lightsaber art, it utilized straightforward, sweeping cuts to clear the field using primarily a two-handed grip to control the gyroscopic effect.
Naturally, to face this new technology, swordsmen had to devise a counter. One way was to fight fire with fire - Shii-cho technique against Shii-cho technique. Eventually a more effective workaround was developed - Makashi. To counter the sweeping cuts of Shii-cho, Makashi gets straight to the point - literally. Shiak and shiim techniques minimize the gyroscopic effect, allowing one-handed maneuvers that take advantage of greater freedom of articulation, precision, reach, and center-line control, all stabilized by balanced yet fluid footwork.
With the proliferation of blasters, a new, dedicated form was needed to counter these new weapons. The concepts of economy and precision in Makashi were turned inward into a sphere of trajectories close to the body, to produce blazing-fast velocities that provide incredible defensive coverage. The gyroscopic effect of the saber was turned into an asset for these fast velocities, although with utmost good control - the lightsaber was wielded as fast as it needed to be to get to where it needed to go. Adaptation of blaster deflection techniques into saber combat created a lightsaber form that, with only minute angle changes in defensive velocities, could swiftly become counters without creating major openings. The passive/reactive nature of Soresu made it the consummate expression of Jedi philosophy.
Ataru in turn was the result of addressing defense and offense from a different approach. In an increasingly dangerous galaxy, in which major wars occurred often, where blasters were everywhere, and protracted battles could prove detrimental, an alternative to Soresu was sought. Rather than being a target to be struck or shot at, Ataru instead chose to go to the extremes of maneuverability as an answer, manifesting the Force inward to boost physical attributes. The tight circle established in Soresu was turned outwards, using the whole body and taking advantage of the gyroscopic effect to produce aggressive strikes that would flow one into another. Of course, a combat system built mainly around maneuverability as primary defense and offense had its disadvantages as well, especially in confined spaces, and Force-assisted maneuvers, taken to the extremes, would quickly tire a swordsman.
Form V of course deals with counterattacking. Of the Form V subsets, Shien came first, developed alongside Ataru and thus probably derived some inspiration from it. Like Ataru, Shien emphasized great mobility to navigate the field, but borrowing the playbook from Shien's parent, Soresu, applied a tighter circle than Ataru for defensive coverage that could transition quickly into offense. Djem So in turn was the result of applying the footwork and counterattack philosophies explored in Makashi and applying them into a more aggressive Soresu framework - Force-assisted strength rooted in the hips and legs would power the gyroscopic effects of the lightsaber into powerful arcs that could counter and crash against opponent defenses.
Which brings me to my theory-crafting for Form VI...
Re-examining Form VI: NimanAlready, within Form V, we see efforts to consolidate lessons learned from preceding forms, to develop a lightsaber combat system that could adequately address the changing times. In addition to the practical aspects of lightsaber development, though, we also have to examine the mindset that would provide the framework for combat systems. Form V proved too aggressive for many Jedi's tastes, ignoring the calm and focus central to Soresu, cultivating a mindset that could be detrimental to the practitioner (as Anakin found out on Mustafar) and to others.
So Niman was to be the next step: the synthesis of the experiences of thousands of years of lightsaber combat training into a combat system and fighting philosophy that could adjust to the evolving state of the galaxy. If Soresu is the consummate representation of Jedi philosophy, then Niman would have been intended to be a representation of a Jedi's role as protectors - pro-active but measured, applying appropriate solutions to solve specific problems.
Thus the core idea behind Niman: Adaptation and change.
Niman refers to two trinities of Kashi deities. Likewise, I would posit that we can begin by establishing a combative framework of two trinities of concepts:
The "hard" aspects - linear, rapid acceleration, crushing
The "soft" aspects - circular, smooth/continous, yielding
You can see that these ideas are already in preceding forms in some way or another - as they should be. I see Niman not as a Frankenstein melting pot of techniques from other forms, but a re-synthesis of their core concepts into a unifying strategy. Niman applies the mentality, rather than purely techniques, of Soresu (rooted in using Moving Meditation to calm/focus the self through immersion in the Force) into a more fluid, active combat system. Some examples of ideas of employing both the hard and soft trinities: a linear counter against a circular attack (and vice versa); crushing through what's weak, yielding and navigating around what's strong; rapid entry followed by continuous combinations.
Integration of Force attacks into lightsaber combinations fits perfectly in this framework, as it is just another tool in the box. Ultimately, that Force training would in part be teaching the practitioner that one can use more than just a lightsaber in a fight. Thus one-handed or two-handed single saber techniques would be part of the repertoire, employed as the situation calls for. Principles from the classical Niman of the Kashi people would make sense as being part of the single-bladed repertoire, if not the original inspiration for Form VI and the inclusion of Force attacks. It provides a bridge to the dual-bladework of classical Niman/Jar'Kai, which I would argue is an extension of adapting to the needs of the situation - sometimes you just need the extra blade to gain the defensive/offensive advantage, especially against multiple opponents.
Compared to more tangible core concepts found in the other forms, Niman's is a bit more abstract. One has to become acquainted with so many techniques ingrained into muscle memory to a point where a response is intuited, not rote. A lot of the focus would boil down to sensing the opponent, but in a more active manner than in Soresu. That takes experience, although being immersed in a Moving Meditation state could help, especially when employing advanced maneuvers in classic Niman/Jar'Kai, where a duelist has to keep track of their own two blades in addition to the opponent's weapon(s).
The main disadvantage to completely mastering such a comprehensive system is that it takes a really...long...time. The individual components on their own are relatively easier to grasp, so one can "master" the individual components easily through some straightforward drills. However, synthesizing all of them together into one overall strategy is another thing altogether, and there would be a steep learning curve. It helps to study other Forms, but ultimately Form VI should be able to stand on its own and hold its own. None of that "Makashi expert will always beat Niman expert" hooey.
In thinking about all of this, I can't help but look to Baguazhang, which emphasizes smooth, seamless use of hard and soft techniques and an almost free-form, fluid style of codified practice. There are a ton of different lineages, but the one I am most familiar with is the Gao Yisheng lineage, of which I have been practicing for just a couple years. The Pre-Heaven sets (which involves circle walking that BGZ is famous for) consists of palm changes that can be chained in any permutation and practiced at variable speeds; even mid-palm change a different sequence can arise. The Post-Heaven sets are "straight line" applications of the Pre-Heaven framework, all in all producing 64 concepts from the 8 major palm changes; in turn each of the 64 lines have numerous applications. The main idea in training is to practice all of those lines and applications to the point where a response to any line of attack is smooth and intuitive rather than rote. It will probably be quite a while before I can learn anything sword-related, but this video sort of reflects what I'm talking about:
(Pardon the music, you can mute it if you don't like it)
| <![CDATA[<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM71tGZ_Y6Q" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM71tGZ_Y6Q</a>]]> |
Those are my thoughts (or word salad) for now, will edit and update to refine this so that it all makes more sense.
