Who do you think was the greatest Jedi in the Saga?

The council were reluctant to take in Anakin in Episode I because he was 9 years old- considered too old to embrace the ways of the force when they should start out younger.

But Luke was 19, ten years older than his father when he began his training. He mastered the force and dueling within a very short time and did not give in to the dark side. Luke is the greatest Jedi of all time for what he accomplished.

 

Luke is greater than the sum of his individual parts. Greatest duelist, strongest in the Force, most powerful, most knowledgeable, probably not in any case. But for me he's the greatest because he was able to achieve that which no other Jedi did. Even if he didn't directly do each of these things, he facilitated the redemption of Vader, the destruction of Sidious, the termination of the Sith and ... the Return of the Jedi!

 

I'm coming into this cold without reading past posts, so first I will consider the two big candidates from the movies.

Yoda and Qui-Gon.

Well, I don't think it was Yoda. Far from it actually, since he failed the Jedi order as its leader (big responsibility, that is). The question is how much weight goes into Qui-Gon's discovery? I don't know, but quite a lot I'd have to guess.

He also found the Chosen One.

kenobi is worth a shout. He lacks the experience and power of Yoda, but he was as true to the order and himself as possible. I can't say I'd have as much Faith in the ideals of the Jedi as he did, but he is a personal favorite of mine.

Then of course, there is Luke. Gee, I'd have to give him a shout too, but the EU after ROTJ is a bit murky to my eyes at the moment.

I don't think I'd wish to name Thee Greatest, but the guys I've mentioned (including Yoda, despite his considerable failings) were all good Jedi.

Before the PT era there are quite a few cretins that achieve Jedi Master status, so I'll leave them out at the moment.

 

I don't know. this is a really Abstract question. There are A LOT of Jedi. Even in this Saga, nevermind the KOTOR(knights of the old repub) Thinking back, normally everyone would pick between Yoda, Anakin, and Obi-wan. However, i don't know. If you think about it, from TPM to ROTS, Mace window Plays a very big role for the safety of the concil and the galactic senate. But he however, is taken down, therefore he is not part of the Full Saga. Also Luke is not part of it either, seeing that he only makes an Appearance in 3 movies. So if you think about it, Yoda, Anakin, and
Obi-wan are the only ones that have been there. I'd have to say that i think Yoda is the strongest. Even though he was not powerful enough to take down the Emperor, or Anakin. He was very Spiritual with the force. He had great control over the midi-clorians and he was probably the one that you'd always notice was very calm, relaxed, and in a metitated state. An he was the one who suggest that Anakin was too old. Which he was correct, and he was correct about luke being the only one who could possibly stop the evil Sith Lord, Darth Vador. Who incidently, and ironicaly fo-filled the Prophesy, through his son. Seeing his son dying like that, made he realize it. And Yoda was always there to be wise and push it on him. But yoda was also a very big part of the Temple in ATOC and the prequil Triligy. He baiscally commanded the army, and saved the Jedis that were kept under heavey fire power at the base of Genenosis. So therefore, i concer that Obi, or Anakin were the true Jedis, becuase with what power they had, they could never meet up to Yoda's Wise Choises. [image=http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_rkNx7MV7JTc/R170BQwsCfI/AAAAAAAAAaE/2SUNYEHE65w/s320/YodaSanta.jpg]

 

Quinlan Vos

First off, Obi-Wan mentions that "Master Vos has moved his troops to Boz Pity" in Episode III, giving him a Saga appearance.

And yes, the "Master Vos" mentioned is indeed the same character as Quinlan Vos.

"Intrigued by the character of Vos, George Lucas included him in the script of Revenge of the Sith. But since his scene never made it past the animatics stage, an actor was never cast. However, the character is still mentioned in the final film?Obi-Wan Kenobi notifies Anakin Skywalker that "Master Vos has moved his troops to Boz Pity."
-Wookieepedia article for Quinlan Vos

Secondly, when I say greatest, I do not mean that he is the most powerful or the wisest or even the most significant Jedi. What I do mean is that he is the most intriguing character with the best storyline. His temptation by the Dark Side is much more convincing than Anakin's, and his ultimate rejection of it was far more powerful than Luke's.

 

My favourite Jedi are definitely Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon, in that order but with very little to choose between them.

However, to try to work out who I think is the greatest, I tried scoring Qui-Gon, Yoda, Obi-Wan, Anakin and Luke out of ten for various Jedi traits and abilities. Here are my results:

Qui-Gon, Yoda, Obi-Wan, Anakin, Luke
---------------------------------------------

Sensitivity to the
Living Force 10, 9, 8, 10, 9

Sensitivity to the
Unifying Force 8, 9, 10, 10, 8

Follow the Jedi Code 10, 10, 10, 3, 6

Obey the Jedi Council 6, 10, 10, 2, 4

Wisdom 9, 10, 10, 1, 8

Knowledge 8, 10, 9, 7, 2

Lightsabre Skill 7, 8, 10, 10, 6

Power 8, 9, 9, 10, 6

Negotition Skills 9, 9, 10, 2, 6

Meditation 10, 10, 9, 9, 5

Teaching Skills 8, 10, 9, 2, 5

Acceptance of the
Will of the Force 10, 10, 10, 1, 6
---------------------------------------------

TOTAL 103, 114, 114, 67, 73


(I'm sorry, tables don't come out too well on here. My final results were:
Qui-Gon: 103
Yoda: 114
Obi-Wan: 114
Anakin: 67
Luke: 73)

Obviously this method is highly dependent on what I think is important in the make up of a 'Great Jedi' (and it assumes that all traits and abilities are of equal value which is a bit of an assumption too!)

I've based my scores on my personal impression of each Jedi from the films and novels only. It's worth noting that because, even in ROTJ, Luke is still new to the whole Jedi way of life, and is already beginning to redefine what being a Jedi means, I suspect his scores come out artificially low.

I was generally surprised by the results. I found it very telling that, although Anakin is clearly extremely powerful, it doesn't necessarily make him a good Jedi. For me, his failings clearly outweigh his strengths. I think Qui-Gon's results were about what I expected but Obi-Wan's were much higher.

Regards,

Muddy

 

A bit tough on Luke as in the OT there was no Jedi Council to obey and no-one for him to teach. Interesting results though.

 

Yes, I agree. When I was thinking about Luke 'Obeying the Jedi council' I had in mind Luke's responses to Yoda's teaching and the guidance of Obi-Wan's force ghost since they were the remnant of the old Council. He listened to them sometimes and other times not.

In terms of the teaching thing, since there wasn't any in the films, I gave him a 5/10 because he hadn't demonstrated any ability or disability in the area. 50% seemed as close to fair as I could get.

Whichever way you cut it though it is tough on him since he had to make do with no real Council, no Temple, no early training, no archives, no community of other Jedi and no fellow padawans. Considering how little he had I think it's fair to assume that he was 'greater' than my points exercise suggests. I've not read much post ROTJ stuff but I assume that in the New Jedi Order etc. he grows into his role and learns to demonstrate more of his potential power, skill and wisdom. In the films though, he's young, relatively untrained and less self-disciplined than most of the Jedi we see in the Saga.

Thanks!

Muddy

 

That's a cool way of doing it Muddyfox.Perhaps an X-Factor category should be added to better take into account there greatest contribution and greatest failure.

If I'm reading your scoring correctly,you have Obi and Anakin ranked higher in lightsabre skill then Yoda?Don't the films make it pretty clear Yoda is higher on the food chain then Obi and Anakin.Mace,Yoda and Palp are on one level then it's everybody else,no?

 

That's a great idea. It might be a way to balance things out a bit more because even though Luke is young, impetuous and relatively untrained he accomplishes a great deal. Perhaps you could have a maximum of ten points available for greatest contribution and the ten negative points for greatest failure?

I know what you mean. The way I interpreted the films was that Yoda and Mace were the most highly regarded duelists of the Jedi but that Obi-Wan was better than his reputation suggested and was therefore able to beat the chosen one. I guess I was also influenced by Yoda's failure to beat Sidious. I felt that although, overall in the force, Yoda was stronger than Obi-Wan, that Obi-Wan's lightsabre skills were better.

That said, I am reading the novelisation of ROTS at the moment and I think Matthew Stover's view of Obi-Wan might show his light-sabre skills in a better light than the films - maybe that's why I regard him so highly and perhaps I shouldn't? I will have to watch the films again and think it through.

BTW: I think I would rate Mace as 11 for lightsabre skills - the best of the best!

 

Honestly, I have to say either PT Obi-Wan or Qui-Gon.

I want to say Luke because he's my favorite character overall, but he's not, according to what the movie tells us, an actual jedi until the very end of ROTJ.

Qui-Gon started that whole third way Luke would later adopt.

I think I have to tip it in Qui-Gon's favour.

 

I don't think it really counts as a negative as long as you pull back like Obi and Luke,and don't do what Anakin did.Stuff like that happens as long as you deal with it,it's fine.To me beating Vader,the last Jedi not falling to the dark side then turning Anakin back to the light side while putting Palp and the Sith in the position to lose is beating the Sith and Palp.Luke is MJ Anakin was Scotty Pipen.Anakin had 2 chances to beat the Sith.Anakin is present during both times,Luke is the deciding factor.Anakin fulfills the prophecy threw his son,but Luke is the one who beats the Sith..''You've failed, Your Highness. I am a Jedi, like my father before me.My fave line

Without even bringing simi official EU material into this,and just using the movies,I'm not sure Anakin does have more achievements then luke.I agree everything should be used.

I think the difference is Yoda was never tempted in the way Anakin or Luke was in his 800 years.I think the temptation for Anakin was greater but not by much as him and Luke have many similarities.Anakin might get the edge I think cause his good friend turned out to be a Sith.Though Luke wasn't raised by Jedi either and the Galaxy was worse when Luke was making his choses.

 

but remember, Luke loses his self control twice - using his anger when trying to bring down Palpatine before Vader blocked... then attacking Vader as well. I honestly think the only thing that brings Luke back from the brink is having the monster that is Vader there infront of him to show him what he will also become. So you can say Luke redeemed Anakin just by being present, but if you think about it, Anakin also redeemed Luke by showing him what his destiny might be if he joins the dark side. isnt it rather beautiful in its own way? they both save each other. remember luke looking at his mechanical hand and seeing himself becoming his father.

Personally, I disagree. I look at Star Wars as a movie series and anything outside of it really isn't official or part of the same story. I can only judge Luke on what I see in the movies. He may well go on to become the greatest Jedi. He has the potential. But we don't know. I still think Yoda and Qui-Gon should stand higher in these rankings than both Luke or Anakin, so its pretty irrelevant in the end.

 

That's all true,what a great scene.


No question QuiGons awesome but did he really do enough to be at the top of the list?

 

well he did enough that Yoda (arguably the most gifted all round jedi) would come to think of himself as qui-gon's student. and thats not just any jedi - thats Yoda!

 

I have to say Luke Skywalker.

1. He was older when he begane his training.

2. Learning your family history when your training is stressful.

3. All the pressure was on him to redeem his Father.

4. He kept his word.

5. Unlike his father he kept a clear head and didn't lose control of his anger.

 

Except for that whole part about never coming back to Tatooine.

 

I think Yoda became very powerful in the end because while he was exhiled on Dagobah he was training with Qui Gon. The Sith had been evolving with the times, and the Jedi had been using the same training they had been for thousands of years and it gave the Jedi a huge disadvantage during Darth Sideous' reign. Yoda was old near the end and I doubt he would have been as skilled at fighting, but in the practice of the jedi way of life, he had basically learned a whole new way to do things, which led Luke to teach things differently when he opened his own jedi academy.

So Luke or Yoda. Qui Gon doesn't count because he didn't learn all of that until after he died.

 

Although it could be argued that Qui Gon was given the opportunity to learn what he did in death because of his superior understanding during his life. I've always felt that he was portrayed as a renegade, non-conventional Jedi for a reason.

 

What you do you mean by that? What reason do you think he was portrayed that way?

 

I think TPM set Qui-Gon up as a guy who had a different take on the Force to the other elders, such as Yoda. He was about openness to the Force at any moment in time, rather than being restricted by rigid rules or dogma. His attitude to Anakin was the obvious case in point. There may have been many reasons against training him, but Qui Gon was only interested in the will of the Force.

I think ROTS illustrates that Qui Gon had the knowledge of the Force that the other Jedi masters lacked at that time. Having Yoda and Obiwan become his students makes this point clear I think.

So all in all, I think Qui Gon gained wisdom in his life which enabled him to do what he did in death. I don't think it was a fluke.

 

Word. Well put.

 

The more I think about it, the more I realize there was no such thing as the greatest Jedi. Which makes me wonder why it is so important to so many fans that some fictional character has to be the most powerful or the greatest.

 

Greatest is a relative term. I mean, what is a measure of greatness? Great deeds, great wisdom, great power? It's hard to say.

Fans like to see a greatest for the simple reason that they want to believe there is a greatest. Everyone would like to think that their favorite Jedi is the greatest because nobody wants to like a loser.

 

Why is it so important to you that no fictional character is viewed as the greatest or most powerful?Seriously,are you for real? It not important at all,it's just having some fun and talking about SW with other fans.