Why did <PERSON> struggle in her fight?
NOTE: trying to keep this in such a way that spoilers are all hidden. Where the editor doesn't allow it, I make indirect references.
In season 2, episode 5 of the The Mandalorian, <PERSON>
! fights <PERSON>, a ruthless former minion of Grand Admiral <PERSON>. She has quite a struggle on her hands. In fact, she even loses one of her weapons before finally having the upper hand.
Why did she seem to have such difficulty?
* <PERSON> is known as a highly-skilled Jedi (*). She even fought her former master to a near standstill (in SW Rebels)
* Her opponent was not a Force user, as far as we know (**)
* ! said opponent had only a spear, albeit made of Beskar
Leaving aside TV/movie dramatic effect, some possible explanations include:
1. <PERSON> is a lot older or some unknown injury has affected her
Counter: we know pretty well how old she must be, and if anything, a quick googling shows <PERSON> to live somewhat (though not massively) longer than humans. The way we otherwise saw her "go about her business" shows no indication that she's handicapped by anything.
1. 865
Contrary to fantasy literature, sword vs weapon opponent used actually benefits the latter
Counter: the only place I've ever read about this was in Wheel of Time, where it was a plot point that the "greatest swordsman ever" lost to a peasant wielding a similar weapon and one of The Heroes similarly pummels a pair of highly trained swordsmen with this sort of weapon. No idea if <PERSON> pulled this out of nowhere (he certainly did with other things, such as all things equestrian)
I find none of these really satisfying. Am I missing something?
(*) OK, she is not strictly speaking a Jedi. She even says so. She never rejoined the order after being cast out on false accusations.
() She is from Dathomir. A world steeped in the Dark Side and home to nice folks like the <PERSON> and <PERSON>. Maybe picked up a few things? And maybe
! she is at least latently Force sensitive 190