The article Star Wars Insider article, The Greatest Ever... Lightsaber Battles (UK Insider #77), lists what the folks at Insider consider to be the ten greatest lightsaber battles ever in the six movies.

Insider's lists
Their list is:

1. Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Anakin Skywalker
2. Luke Skywalker vs. The Emperor
3. Yoda vs. Count Dooku
4. Luke Skywalker vs. Darth Vader
5. Mace Windu vs. Palpatine
6. Yoda vs. The Emperor
7. Qui-Gon Jinn/Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Maul
8. Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. General Grievous
9. Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Vader
10. Obi-Wan Kenobi/Anakin Skywalker vs. Count Dooku

Not much arguing here, although perhaps I'd have them ordered differently with either the legendary Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan-vs-Maul (EP I) or Skywalker-vs-Vader (EP V) ranking at the top. I'm pleased to see that the Kenobi-vs-Vader (EP IV) made it - it may be slow, but it was the first lightsaber duel ever to grace the screen, and although it's slow-paced, it has a certain charm to it.

In addition, there's a list of EU media that contain great lightsaber battles, and these are:

-Jedi: Mace Windu
-Tales of the Jedi: The Sith War
-Legacy of the Force: Tempest
-Republic: Show of Force
-Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II
-Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter
-The New Jedi Order: Dark Tide
-Star Wars: Clone Wars


The EU contains numerous great lightsaber battles, and I'd like to suggest some additional great EU lightsaber battles in the following section.

Additional great EU lightsaber action
Luke Skywalker vs. Lumiya (Marvel Star Wars 95, 96, 97): In Marvel Star Wars 96: Duel With a Dark Lady, you'll find what I consider to be one of the greatest comicbook lightsaber battles ever, as Luke Skywalker and his former romantic interest, now the Dark Lady Lumiya, clash. Skywalker uses a lightsaber and a lightdagger, while the Dark Lady uses a lightwhip. This is probably one of the first times we see such variants on the lighsaber weapon, and, while I frankly think most of the lightsaber variants (apart from the basic one and the double-bladed one) are ridiculously silly, it works very well here. In fact everything works in this epic duel, and that's primarily thanks to Cynthia Martins drawings which are absolutely fantastic. Any lighsaber battle fan should obtain Marvel Star Wars 96 as well as issues 95 and 97 (to get the back story) and indulge in this magnificent duel.

Kyle Katarn vs. The Seven Dark Jedi (Dark Forces novellas): In the game Jedi Knight: Dark Forces you, as the player, get to dispose of the Seven Dark Jedi simply by chopping them down and, perhaps using the Force or your trusty old Bryar blaster or whatever, but in the Dark Forces novellas, by William Dietz, you get the canonical descriptions of each duel - characterized by Dietz' dynamic style of writing. What I like about the duels as they are described here, is that, in some cases we actually get the names of the lightsaber combat techniques that Kyle Katarn uses, and in other cases, he uses unconventional methods that you can't really use in the game, and, in general, it's just nice to have the duels described in detail. Thus Katarn uses a technique called The Flowing Water Cut to dispose of Sariss and a technique called The Falling Leaf to defeat Jerec, and he drops to the ground and strikes Maw from beneath him, where he is unguarded. Much less refined is Katarn's battle with Gorc and Pic, the former of which he shoots right in the face with a blaster, and the latter he beats to death, using 8t88's head. We also learn that he uses a Dark Side power called Spear of Midnight Black to defeat Boc the Crude. Interesting, eh?

Cay Qel-Droma vs. Ulic Qel-Droma (Tales of the Jedi: The Sith War #5: Brother Against Brother): wort a mention mostly because, it describes how Ulic Qel-Droma kills his own brother only to regret it afterwards, as he never stopped loving his brother. A great emotional moment, and the cover art is breathtaking.

Luke Skywalker/Leia Organa vs. Darth Vader (Splinter of the Mind's Eye): Leia dueling Vader, Luke chopping off Vader's arm, literally disarming him. Unlikely, perhaps, but back then it was possible that Splinter of the Mind's Eye would be the only sequel to A New Hope, so something drastic and dramatic had to happen. Although unlikely in the EU of today, it is nevertheless part of the canon, and also one of the first EU duels ever, which in itself makes it worth a mention here.

Luke Skywalker vs. Longspar (Marvel Star Wars #66): not really a duel, but a lesson in how not to use a lightsaber. Longspar steals Skywalker's saber and messes everything up, trying to kill Luke, before Luke knocks him out cold.

Kyle Katarn vs. "The First Reborn" (Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast): The first time we see the Reborn is a great example of the Inverse Ninja Law in which the first ninja is quite difficult to defeat, while later the hero encounters ninjas en masse and disposes of them easily. In this case it,s Reborn Dark Jedi. The first one can be tricky, but later Katarn slaughters Reborn Dark Jedi by the hundreds. The first Reborn duel is also worth a mention, simply because it can be rather entertaining to battle with him, because you might have to chase him around the place.

Luke Skywalker vs. Baron Tagge (Marvel Star Wars #33: Saber Clash): worth a mention because it features one of the early recurring EU bad guys, who learns the hard way that Skywalkers shouldn't be messed with.

Darth Vader vs. Artoo (Star Wars Manga: Silver): non-canonical, but very funny parody on the legendary Cloud City Duel.

Those are just a couple of EU-lightsaber clashes that I think are worth a mention. You're invitied to add suggestions of your own in the comments section.