Greatest Jedi in All of Star Wars

Set a long time ago in a Galaxy far far away, Star Wars is arguably the biggest movie franchise ever. From the Original Trilogy starring Mark Hamil, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford to the countless movies and TV shows that followed. The Star Wars franchise has expanded into something that creator George Lucas never even dreamed it would become.

The amount of merchandise that has been sold since the inception of Star Wars is out of this world literally! With over $42 billion in merchandise sales since the first toy was made. It’s pretty safe to say that everyone knows about Star Wars. Even if they haven’t seen a film or know any facts. Odds are almost everyone alive today is aware of the existence of Star Wars. 

People love the original characters and the force. The force was a pretty mystical concept throughout the original trilogy. It’s really only through the expanded video games, TV shows and sequel/prequels that we know so much about the force. What’s so cool to me is that the more you nerd out about Star Wars, the more captivating the plot becomes. If you just watched the Original Trilogy, the light and dark side of the force is rather straightforward.

The light side is good, and the dark side is bad. Or simply the Jedi are good and the Sith are bad. But the deeper you go into the lore, the more complicated that statement becomes. Of course, Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine are pure evil, nobody debates that. However, the act of burying your feelings and refusing to have attachments doesn’t make you “good”.

Inherently the jedi are supposed to be focused on inner peace through suppression of emotions. The idea is to always act from a place of logic and not make emotionally charged mistakes. While the Dark Side teaches you to lean into these feelings and wield them. Of course, Sith tend to get consumed by unlimited power, but the Jedi have similarities.

The Clone Wars made the Jedi war mongers but they hid behind the phrase “keepers of the peace” as justification for their actions. This is a prime example of Star Wars being far deeper than mainstream media tells you. All of the amazing characters and stories expanded on throughout the years have made the franchise wildly more fascinating.

There are now a vast number of interesting storylines and unique characters. The franchise has done an exceptional job of giving these numerous characters attention through expanded tv shows, comics and even video games.  While not always holy warriors, the Jedi still have countless amazing heroes. But who is the greatest Jedi of them all?

One of the most powerful and oldest force users in all of Star Wars. Yoda is perhaps the most well-known Jedi next to Luke Skywalker. Although small in size, Yoda is a master of the light side of the force and has aided in the training of thousands of padawans. He is arguably the most powerful Jedi when it comes to his mastery of the force. He is one of the few force users who learned how to transform your life force into a "force ghost" upon your passing.

Qui-Gon Jinn is similar to Yoda in the fact that he is one of the most powerful Jedi when it comes to his force mastery. He doesn't get a ton of screentime in the movies. But he really gets a ton of justice for his character in Star Wars Tales of the Jedi. He may not have been the strongest duelist with the lightsaber, but his force powers were supreme. He too learned the ability to become a force ghost as Yoda did.

Anakin Skywalker would have perhaps been the most powerful Jedi in all of Star Wars. Skywalker had unlimited potential and was already a better duelist than any master at an incredibly young age. His path to becoming the most powerful Jedi was altered by his turning to the dark side and eventually becoming Darth Vader. In the Clone Wars Tv series, this fall to the dark side proved to happen over many years. This means he could have been steered in the right direction with the right help. Truly a "what if" story on how powerful Anakin would have become.

If you take into account all the feats that Luke Skywalker accomplished in the Star Wars Legends comics, Luke is by far the most powerful Jedi of all. Even taking that out, he is the one who truly brought balance to the force in Return of The Jedi. He walked into a room with Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine, and he was the only one who walked out alive.

This may sound insane, but Obi-Wan Kenobi is the greatest Jedi that ever lived. Is he the most powerful with the force? No, he is not. Nor is he the most skilled dualist. However, Obi-Wan is the greatest Jedi of them all because he is the most well balanced. Kenobi did break the rules a little bit and formed an attachment to the leader of Mandalore. He even had an attachment with Anakin Skywalker that the Jedi order would have frowned upon. He wasn't perfect by any means.

But Obi-Wan possessed the perfect combination of intelligence, battle experience, defensive skills, adaptability and deadly counter striking abilities. Obi-Wan mastered the lightsaber form "Soresu". Essentially anyone who master's this defensive lightsaber form is virtually unbeatable. This along with Kenobi's calculated demeanor makes him the perfect Jedi master. Obi-Wan never lost a duel, even in death he gave up in order to save Luke and his friends. Obi-Wan Kenobi is the Jedi of all Jedi.