Darth Vader Learned His Devastating Force Technique Fighting Star Wars' Smartest Jedi

Summary Darth Vader learned a powerful technique from Jedi Master Tsui Choi that nearly killed him but later became his own weapon.

The Force-powered debris-hurling technique used by Tsui Choi and other Jedi was so effective that even Emperor Palpatine incorporated it into Darth Vader's training.

Vader's encounter with Tsui Choi's group in Star Wars: Purge was a turning point, leading him to adopt the technique and use it against his own son, Luke Skywalker.

Darth Vader has proven time and again that he is one of the most powerful Force-users in the Star Wars galaxy, and while a great deal of that comes from his former Jedi training and his inherent strength in the Force, a lot of what makes him so hard to beat came from the techniques he learned from his enemies while fighting them. In fact, there’s one technique in particular that made Vader especially formidable, one he learned from Star Wars’ smartest Jedi.

In Dark Horse Comics’ Star Wars: Purge by John Ostrander and Doug Wheatley (which takes place in the Legends continuity), Darth Vader is desperately hunting Obi-Wan Kenobi, and is willing to follow any piece of intel he gets. This comic takes place shortly after the rise of the Empire, when Vader was still only concerned with finding and killing his former master. When Vader thinks he found Kenobi, he instead finds that he’d walked right into a trap set by a group of Jedi who survived Order 66 - and they nearly killed him.

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While Vader was able to cut through each Jedi when they attacked him one-on-one, he nearly succumbed to the might of the Jedi when there were just three left, and they all worked together under the direction of arguably the smartest Jedi in Star Wars history: Master Tsui Choi. Under the leadership of Tsui Choi, the three Jedi used their combined power in the Force to hurl objects at Darth Vader, which easily overwhelmed the already-injured Sith Lord. If Vader’s 501st didn’t step in to kill the three Jedi, Vader would likely have been beaten by this technique.

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Darth Vader Mastered the Technique that Nearly Killed Him (& Used It Against Luke Skywalker)

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back

Given how soon after Revenge of the Sith this Star Wars story was set, fighting Master Tsui Choi was Darth Vader’s first exposure to this technique - that being using the Force to hurl debris and other heavy objects at one’s opponent. However, this certainly wouldn’t be the last time Vader would see this technique in action, as he actually used it himself many years later while fighting Luke Skywalker.

In Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back, Darth Vader fought and defeated Luke in Cloud City, and one of the main ways Vader won this victory was by utilizing this very technique. Rather than besting his son in lightsaber combat, Vader decided to use the very attack that nearly killed him so many years ago, which allowed Vader to flex his raw strength in the Force while also effectively claiming the technique as his own in a truly definitive way.

Even Emperor Palpatine Agreed with Master Tsui Choi’s ‘Lesson’

Star Wars #25 - Darth Vader: “The Lesson” by Charles Soule and Giuseppe Camuncoli

Master Tsui Choi and the other surviving Jedi were the first to introduce Darth Vader to this technique, though Star Wars #25 confirms that Palpatine actually agreed with the effectiveness of this particular attack, and even incorporated it into his own lessons while training Darth Vader in the dark side of the Force. While seemingly strange on the surface, it was wise of Palpatine to utilize a technique introduced by Master Tsui Choi, given the Jedi’s strength in the Force and his unparalleled intelligence.

Master Tsui Choi proved how smart he was in Star Wars: Purge in a number of ways. The Jedi correctly claimed that the Jedi Order fell because the Force willed it, he knew it was the wrong time to attack the Empire, and he accurately predicted how Palpatine would eventually fall. Master Tsui Choi was ahead of even Yoda in terms of foresight through the Force. Though his most impressive feat in Star Wars may have been this technique, as it’s one that was so powerful, even Darth Vader adopted it as his own.