Sith and Sabre combat

[Kaintukee_Bob]

You can't forget, Yoda was also not in the best state for the fight. He was likely tired (emotionally, mentally, and physically), and quite possibly drawing on the Force just to keep going at normal levels.

Consider it: The Jedi Order, which he's devoted multiple centuries of his life to, has just been savaged. The Jedi temple is in flames (or at least parts of it are). His students, whom he's known for most of their lives, have been murdered by the student of one of his closest friends. Even for a Jedi, with all their vaunted concentration, this is draining. To see so much of your work turn to ashes would have been enough to drain all the fight from a lesser being.

Yoda was emotionally troubled, mentally drained, and (possibly) physically exhausted. I conjecture that he was not at the top of his game, and may possibly have been limiting himself, lest he fall prey to his anger and stray down the Dark Path. He's running because he knows that in his current state, he cannot defeat Palpatine. He does not return because he knows Palpatine would be ready for him next time, and put up a stronger fight.

So Yoda does what long-lived species do best: he bides his time and fights back as best he can, when the time is right. His weapon? Luke.

This, of course, does not answer the question of who is stronger in the Force, but it does tell us that the fight shown most likely will not give us this answer.

[Imperator Galacticus]

Whether Yoda is stronger than Sidious or vice versa is irrelevant to me. Both are almost within each others power range, so that another fight between them could have gone either way depending on the terrain that the characters are on.

Sidious was shown to have much more powerful Force Lightning than Tyranus. Not only did it get through Yoda's defense, but even sent Yoda flying across the Executive's chamber. Sidious, also more so than Tyranus, held his own with the lightsaber against Yoda. What really made an impression on me is the face Yoda made when Sidious began launching Senate pods at him, almost like, "Holy Shit, now I'm gonna get it."

Yoda on the other hand also demonstrated that Sidious should fear him. After sending him flying across the room with TK, Sidious attempted to flee, and when that went awry, he stood up to Sidious on every level with his saber. During the Senate pod bombardment by Sidious, Yoda even caught a pod and sent it hurtling back at its former master...kick ass stuff.

However, the most telling point to me about why they are nearly equal in strength was the Force Lightning cancellation Yoda tried in response to Sid. Both contestants could not overload the other's power, so that the end result was that both contendors flew outwards in opposite directions.

All in all, I would say this tarnishes my former impression of Yoda as an all powerful lord of the Force with no equals. Not only did Sid shock the hell out of him effectively, he almost smacked him down with TK attacks. That Yoda has had 900 years to improve his skill and strength yet is equally set off against a Sith master not more than 60 years old speaks to me that Yoda has something in common with me: we're both large procrastinators.

[Cykeisme]

That was because Sidious was too busy laughing and having a good time... If you rewatch the scene, you can clearly see Yoda was "summoning" all his power.

Sounds like bullshit. Sidious wouldn't risk giving anything less than his all when dealing with his biggest threat. If Yoda truly wasn't a threat, he wouldn't have bothered to ask his troops to look for Yoda's corpse if he didn't care.

His cackling is, more than anything, part of how he displayed his hate. It was possibly also intended to psyche Yoda out, which may have had some degree of effect.

Look at his facial expression, Yoda gave his 110% power and manage to repel the force lightning.

He always wears that expression. Were you expect him to cackle too?

Then how the hell did Yoda end up at the bottom of the Senate buildinf if he wasn't sent back flying? Hell, Yoda was thrown away further than Palpatine.

Statement: Yoda masses less

Whether Yoda is stronger than Sidious or vice versa is irrelevant to me. Both are almost within each others power range, so that another fight between them could have gone either way depending on the terrain that the characters are on.

Agreed. All this "power level" stuff where a character who is supposed to be "stronger" always wins is clearly a dramatic notion that Lucas does not subscribe to.

[Stark]

The way I see the Yoda/Palp battle is that Yoda lost because he fell, and he fell because of poor tactical positioning. He deflected the lightning of his most powerful enemy, perched on the edge of a Senate saucer, high above the floor. Palpy fell on his ass, Yoda fell OFF.

Am I crazy or was Palpatines original hit to Yoda lightning? He seemed confident that Yoda was defeated, so Palpatine obviously underestimated him.

[Cykeisme]

Yeah, he really underestimated Yoda (or overestimated himself). He thought that one hit had taken Yoda out, until he realized that Yoda's pointy ears were still twitching.

[Imperial Overlord]

You can't forget, Yoda was also not in the best state for the fight. He was likely tired (emotionally, mentally, and physically), and quite possibly drawing on the Force just to keep going at normal levels.

Palpatine had also been through the ringer thanks to Mace Windu and a few other now deceased Jedi.

[Kaintukee_Bob]

Palpatine had had some time to rest up from that though. Regardless of how much time he had, it was far more (and he had to recover from far less) than Yoda.

IIRC, Yoda was fighting at the temple, suffered the emotional pain of seing his students slaughtered, realised Anakin had caused it, etc. just before heading of to fight Palpatine.

[Stark]

I think it's far more important that Yoda got fucking shot ten seconds before the fight started. Sure he's stressed: then he gets fucking shot. Although, personally, I didn't see any outward signs of fatigue before the fight: he seemed to be 100% Monkey On Crack.

I also don't really understand the fight at all. Sidious throws saucers, Yoda dodges or catches them: why the FUCK doesn't he throw the one Sidious is IN?

[Rommie2006]

That was because Sidious was too busy laughing and having a good time... If you rewatch the scene, you can clearly see Yoda was "summoning" all his power.

Sounds like bullshit. Sidious wouldn't risk giving anything less than his all when dealing with his biggest threat. If Yoda truly wasn't a threat, he wouldn't have bothered to ask his troops to look for Yoda's corpse if he didn't care.

His cackling is, more than anything, part of how he displayed his hate. It was possibly also intended to psyche Yoda out, which may have had some degree of effect.

No. Sidious lost his focus on the battle during the pod flinging part. Why do you think he missed to notice that Yoda was spinning up a pod and flinging it at him? Even if I weren't a Sith, I can tell when the pod I just threw is spinning BACK at me! Then after his near-miss with the spinning pod, did you see the expression on his face. It was like: Where the FUCK did Yoda go? He was literally panicking (as much as a Sith Lord can panic anyway).So you're still telling me Sidious wasnt giving his 100% during the battle?

Look at his facial expression, Yoda gave his 110% power and manage to repel the force lightning.

He always wears that expression. Were you expect him to cackle too?

No. Go view the movie again. Yoda was clearly stressed out during the lightning standoff. He almost lost it. He was losing the battle initially, he closed his eyes and sort of gritted his teeth. It was only until when he re-opened his eyes and sort of stared at Sidious did he start to win. And it was only then when Sidious started to panic.