Hi this is my first blog so please bear with me if i lose the plot slightly.

Minor spoliers for Fury may follow:

I've recently been reading the NJO and legacy in their entirety to date (i've previously read each book of the series at least twice) and one thing that really jarred me this evening was a quote from Darth Caedus in Aaron Allstons' Fury:

"The shots were wild and unpredictable and Caedus had to divide his attention betweenamad swordsman and a growing number of half-blind sniper. But he was still the best lightsaber swordsmaster around - excepting possibly Luke, perhaps the best there had ever been"

This to me is at odds with Jacens' assessment of his skills in The Unifying Force seems to contrast greattly:

"He was a decent lightsaber master and a sai acroba but nowhere near as skilled as Luke Kyp, Corran - or Anakin. His heart just wasn't in it".

So I guess my question is where did his skills suddenly increase between the books I understand that at least 10 years separates the events but it seems quite a change for Jacen to undergo

We know he spent a 5 year sojourn to explore the differing aspects of the force but nothing indicates that he spent any time in extensive lightsaber training.

By the time of the Dark Nest series I'm not sure he has improved much as Lomi Plo had no problem dealing with him - puncturing a kidney if memory serves (correct me if I'm worng asI don't have the novel to hand at (present).

One theory, and it's most often said of Caedus in his sith incarnation is that he's an arogant little whelp with a vastly inflated sense of his own powers. I can accept this to a point but he does manage to demonstrate some formidable skill against masters such as Katarn and Skywalker so I'll accept that he is a saber master in that respect but certainly not of a level with Luke.

I have to point out that the duel in Inferno had as much to do with the location of the fight (in Caedus' favour of course) as it did to do with straight up saber duelling.

My other theory lies simply in the quote from Jacen in TUF "His heart just wasn't in it".

Could it perhaps be that since taking the dark path, his anger and hate have fuelled his desire to excel in lightsaber conduct, having abandoned diplomacy and any desie to resolve a situation without bloodshed had led to this increase in his skill?

As far as I'm aware Vergere never tutored in lightsaber combat, neither do we have any indication that Lumiya had any combat lessons to impart.

Well I'd love our thoughts on this as i'm still struggling over this contradiction.

MTFBWY