Favorites - 14 Favorite Force-Wielders from Star Wars

Well, we got a couple of weeks to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. It seems like I’ve been in a Star Wars frenzy lately. The Mandalorian is on Disney+, and yes, I am enjoying yet another streaming service. I played the retro game Star Wars: Jedi Knight 2 – Jedi Outcast and finally beat the dang thing. Seriously, what was up with those Nar Shaadaa levels? That Street level wanted to make me break the TV! Anyway, another game I just finished was the recent Star Wars: Jedi – Fallen Order. Thankfully, Respawn has finally given EA a pretty cool Star Wars game.

 I think I got a couple more posts about the franchise in me. While there may be more movies left to go, it looks like Episode 9 will be the last for the Skywalkers. One of the coolest things about the franchise was the Force and the Jedi/Sith conflict. You had a lot of cool characters on both sides of the conflict. This list will be about my favorite Force-wielders in the franchise. I didn’t want to split up the whole Jedi/Sith thing since I’m kinda lazy tonight. Besides, some of these Force-wielders have towed that light/dark side line. It’s also not in order, but I will put the favorites up top.

1. Luke Skywalker – Yeah, you know Luke’s got to be at the top. He was the main character of the Original trilogy and was just a cool character in general. We saw him grow from a simple, naive farm boy into something more powerful over the three films. While his later years diverge a bit (you can go with the Last Jedi or the Legends stuff, I don’t care), he still was a pretty powerful Force User.

2. Obi-Wan Kenobi – I might as well get the first Jedi we ever meet out of the way too. Old Ben Kenobi was the one who got Luke started into this “damn fool idealistic crusade” of becoming a Jedi. He was wise in his years. Heck, we saw that he was even like that in his younger years before the Jedi Purge. Even though his time was Anakin was… tumultuous (“Why do I get the feeling that you’ll be the death of me?”), he did the best he could. He also had a nice wit which is something most Jedi should have.

3. Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader – Might as well get ‘ole “Dark Vapor” out of the way too. He’s one of the most iconic villains in the franchise and in cinema. While we learned more about him in the Prequel era, that vibe never left him. Even in his light side moments, he was still pretty awesome.  While I wasn’t the biggest fan of how he could be portrayed in the Prequel movies, Anakin was awesome on Clone Wars. That guy seemed like the dude that Obi-Wan held up in the Original Trilogy.

4. Kreia/Darth Traya – Here, I’ll be reaching into something a little obscure: Knights of the Old Republic 2: the Sith Lords. In that game, you meet a character named Kreia who is pretty interesting. She’s basically your mentor in the game.  As you find out more about here, it’s revealed that she’s played with both sides of the Force. While she may not be a flashy fighter, her knowledge of the Force and how it works was interesting. She also threw a lot of moral/ethical quandaries at the Exile (your character), and that made her into one of the more interesting Force wielders in the franchise.

5. Yoda – There must be something about mentors in the Star Wars universe because they all tend to be pretty awesome. Yoda is no exception. When you first meet him, you think he’s just some weird, green hermit waiting for Kermit the Frog to come home. What you find out is that he was one of the greatest and wisest Jedi around. He was especially cool in the Prequels and Clone Wars. One of my favorite arcs involving him was actually in the supposed last season where he learned that there was more to the Force than even he knew.

6. Palpatine – Now, we’ve gotten to ‘ole Sheev Palpatine… and yes, his first name is “Sheev.” What the heck was all that about? Anyway, when Palpatine first came on the scene in ROTJ, you knew there was something about him that made him even more threatening than Darth Vader. It wasn’t until the Prequels where we learned how devious he could really be since he basically orchestrated a galactic war. He was a schemer, a manipulator, and just an evil dude. He played everybody… and it looks like he’s still doing that in the new trilogy. Here’s hoping Sidious will make it a watch.

7. Jolee Bindo – And here is another one from the KOTOR series. Jolee Bindo was a Jedi who left the Order before the events of the first game. instead of going down the dark path, he just ended up squatting on Kayssykk with the Wookies. While he’s not a mentor, he’s one of the wisest characters in the game. He questions the rules of the Jedi, but he’s still beholden to them in some sort of way. He could be considered to be what some call a Grey Jedi, but that’s not really stated. He’s definitely my favorite companion in the first game.

8.  Ahsoka Tano – Ahsoka took some getting used to. She was introduced in the Clone Wars movie, and that wasn’t the best outing for her or that show. Still, she ended up being one of the best characters from the show. We saw her grow from being a plucky Padawan into a strong woman. She even saw how screwed up the Order was during the Clone Wars which led to her elaving the Jedi. I haven’t caught up with her exploits on Star Wars Rebels, but from what I’ve heard, she only gets better.

9. Mace Windu – It’s Sammie L. Jackson as a Jedi. What more can I say? Alright, I can make a paragraph out of this. Mace was a skilled Jedi Master. He helped lead the Order against the Separatists and other bad guys. He even was real close to taking out Palpatine until “Mr. I Hate Sand” got involved. My favorite moment with the character would actually be from the 2003 Clone Wars series. The sequence where he just dismantled a whole Droid army was and still is magnificent.

10. Rey – Well, it was time to get to the new protagonist in the Sequel trilogy. Rey is an interesting character. Like Luke and Anakin, she grew up on desert world. Unlike those two, she had to grow up quicker, learn things, and take care of herself. That’s one of the things I like about her in TFA. While she does get the Force quicker than most, I got no problem with that since we still don’t know much about her. I’m not counting that “You came from nothing” excuse form TLJ either. Here’s hoping we can get a good resolution on her character in Episode 9.

11. Qui-Gon Ginn – While we only got Qui-Gon in one movie, he’s definitely a Jedi who was interesting. He served as a nice mentor to Obi-Wan, and he found Anakin. In some ways, he felt more like a Jedi when compared to the stodgy Jedi Council. He seemed to act with the will of the Force in mind. I wonder if he had that in mind when my next pick stabbed him, though. At least he figured out that whole “Force Ghost” move.

12. Darth Maul – Maul was just cool. I mean, how else could you really describe him? He was a horned alien in black with a double-bladed lightsaber. Luckily, there was more added to the character than him meeting his demise in THe Phantom Meance. On Clone Wars, he returned and became a thorn in the Jedi’s side and even in Darth Sidious’s side. He also seemed to have an interesting role on Rebels.

13. Ben Solo/Kylo Ren – Next up, we have the wanna-be Darth Vader of the Sequel Trilogy. Like Rey, there’s not too much to Kylo Ren. We know that he was a Padawan who was turned to the dark side by Supreme Leader Snoke… who comes up with these names? Anyway, even though he’s on the bad side, you can tell he’s conflicted at points. Still, my favorite moment with him was when he took out “his true enemy” in TLJ. That movie has some issues, but Snoke’s demise (even though I wish we learned more about him) wasn’t one of them.

14. Aasajj Ventress – Next up is another Dark side user. Asajj was Count Dooku’s apprentice during the Clone Wars. We’d see her go up against our heroes quite a few times. During the show, we saw her go from pretty dark to somewhat of an anti-hero. She didn’t get interesting for me until she was betrayed by Dooku and tried to get revenge on him. We also learned of her people, the Nightsisters, and they also use the Force in interesting ways.

Before I leave, I thought I’d list a couple of honorable mentions. I didn’t have too much to say about then, but I did think they were sort of cool:

• Revan/Darth Revan – I got one more from the KOTOR era: Revan. Revan was a Jedi who left the order to fight in the Mandalorian War. He later became a Sith and tried to take over the galaxy. He’s also… the character you play in KOTOR. You can do a lot of cool stuff with him and I’ve heard that he does make other appearances in the former EU.
• Count Dooku – While I can never not make fun of his name, Dooku was pretty cool. Not only was he portrayed by Dracula, he was also the Separatist leader. Of course, “Mr. I Like Dictatorships” got him in the end.
• Kit Fisto – Yeah… what’s up with these names? Anyway, this the green alien with the dreads. He looked cool even though you barely see him in anything.
• Darth Nihlius – It’s another one from KOTOR 2. While he does nothing but speak in another language and does make for a cool boss battle, that look with the mask is so cool. Too bad there’s nothing else behind it.

Well, that does it for now. While I may have left off some other favorites, maybe I’ll come back to this list when I catch up on some other Star Wars stuff. Anyway, I’m off to bed. Until then, Peace, God Bless, and may the Force be with you.