Is Force lightning part of "Jedi powers"?

Question

Towards the end of Attack of The Clones during the Obi Wan/Anakin/Dooku fight, Dooku uses Force lightning to pick up Anakin and fling him to the side. Then he attempts force lightning on Obi Wan which is easily thwarted on Obi Wan's lightsaber and Dooku says something to the effect

As you can see, my "Jedi powers" are far beyond yours.

I didn't think Force lighting as an attack was used by the Jedi/light side of the Force.

How can these seemingly conflicting things be reconciled? Or is my assumption wrong about Force lightning?

Answer 1

The problem is just "namings". With "Jedi powers" Dooku meant his prowess with using the Force. Force lightning as we know is just another application of the Force. Thus Dooku in the usual Sithfullness just said there that he is way more powerful than Obi Wan and he has no chance against him.

A Jedi wouldn't teach Force lightning or even use it as it is pure destructive appliance of the Force. BUT what Jedi teach is control of the Force and Force lightning is just a dark side application of this control.

So from a specific point of view Dooku's phrase is correct.....although personally I just see it as bad wordings in the script that he says Jedi powers and not Force powers (especially as he is now Sith not Jedi).

Answer 2

No, they are a Sith trait.

Force lightning was a Force power utilized by the Sith.

Force lightning first appeared in Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi, the final film of the original Star Wars trilogy. In the Expanded Universe, now re-branded as Star Wars Legends, Force lightning had a number of useful variants and could be summoned even by Jedi. These uses, however, are no longer considered canon and in canon media only practitioners of the dark side of the Force have been observed using the skill.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Force_lightning

Your quote is accurate, Dooku did say "Jedi powers".

http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0000011/quotes

You could explain it as bad writing, or a simpler justification is that the Sith lie, and Dooku was taunting Obi Wan that using the dark side of the Force had only made him a more powerful Jedi.

Answer 3

In Disney canon, this can be considered simply Dooku saying "Jedi powers" but meaning the Force in general, as Dooku trained as a Jedi for quite some time.

In Legends, Force lightning is commonly used by the Sith due to the nature of it's power. However, some Jedi, such as Plo Koon, used it, albeit slightly modified. Therefore it is more of a Sith power simply because of its nature. In canon it is best to assume that Dooku simply meant the Force as a whole.

Answer 4

The concept of Jedi/Sith power is misunderstood.

To answer the question: it's a Force power, used often by the Sith.

If the Jedi prefer using specific Force-powers (let's say less destructive in theory) and the Sith use a lot of specific Force-powers that do damage, that does not means they cannot use the other ones.

Of course, this is not limited only to a choice of preference or ideology. If a Jedi trains more on a specific power, it will better use it compared to a power that he did not train a lot in. Therefore, a Jedi's Force Lightning may be inefficient when used without the proper training, even if he can practically use it.

So yes, they can use it, but to be efficient that would require training, and Force lighting training is not provided by the Jedi, therefore Force Lightning will only be efficiently used by the Force users that had Sith training.

Of course, using something inefficient is illogical, therefore there is no good reason for a Jedi to use Force Lightning in a conflict/duel.