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Every duelist is an expert on a different sword art (kendo, fencing, etc.),
but Utena isn't, so she shouldn't be able to beat them.

That being said, there's the prince's image that falls from the castle into
her, before she wins. Is that image why Utena can beat the other duelists? If
so, what is the explanation for that image?


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Why is Utena able to beat other duelists?


**tl;dr: Utena probably wins because of some sort of spiritual or moral
quality she has.**

# Why is Utena able to win?

In Utena's second duel, Utena is losing until she "absorbs" power from the
prince. Moreover, Touga, who is watching the duel, says:

> What was that just now?! Was that the power to bring the world revolution?
> The Power of Dios?!

This indicates that Utena is probably aided by something that has nothing to
do with her sword skills---probably whatever the image of the prince
signifies, as the image frequently appears falling from the sky or imposed on
Utena's body just before she deals a finishing blow.

Incidentally, in ep. 15, Mamiya says, of the Student Council members:

> Swords strong enough to defeat Utena Tenjou may have crystallized inside of
> their hearts!

Mikage counters this by saying that the "weak-hearted fools" on the Student
Council have already been defeated by Utena before. The emphasis here isn't on
the physical abilities of the duelists. Thus, there might be some "spiritual"
or "moral" aspect to some of the duels.

I should also note that in some of the cases, it's not surprising that Utena
is able to beat the duelists, even if we don't consider any "unnatural"
causes. For example, in ep. 5, Utena wins the duel after Miki becomes
distracted (when Anthy cheers on Utena). Similarly, in ep. 29, Juri leaves the
duel after her locket is broken.

# Who is the prince?

In Saionji and Touga's ep. 33 conversation, Touga says that Akio saved Utena
as a child by showing her "something eternal".

Later, in ep. 34, the flashback to Utena's childhood in ep. 34 indicates that
the prince who saves Utena is the prince whose image appears in Utena's duels.
This is the Rose Prince, who in second flashback is revealed to be Dios and
Anthy's brother.

Akio must then be a degraded version of the prince, or a "fallen" Dios---in
the flashback, it is stated:

> the prince [the Rose Bride] loves is no longer the prince she knew. Not
> anymore. He is now the End of the World.

Thus, Touga might be right about Utena winning with the "Power of Dios".
(Being not entirely sure what the "Power of Dios" is, I hesitate to say that
this completely explains Utena's victories.) If so, perhaps she is channeling
this power towards the end of the duels, when the image appears.


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