Ask A Jedi: Most powerful Force-user ever? Also, Mandalorian Jedi Redux

If you spend any time on the official Star Wars: The Old Republic forums, you are sure to have seen his passion and prose regarding all things Jedi. You know him as Professor Walsh. Each week (or thereabouts,) Professor Walsh will answer a few reader-submitted questions in order to enlighten us all with the ways of the Jedi. You can submit your own question at the end of the article!

This week we got a whole mailbag to go through, so let me do my Ask A Jedi thing, and see what answers we can get out there!

First let us cover a follow up question from “Sneakymailman” where he writes:

Dear Jedi,

This isn’t a question, but its a comment/helpful answer to one of you’re previous questions. While there may not have been a Mandalorian Jedi in the sense you were talking, there was Bardan Jusik, who was a Jedi in the Clone Wars, then left the order to join the Skirata clan. He is force sensitive uses his force powers, and wears Mandalorian armor and is accepted in Mandalorian culture. So I think if there was ever a Mandalorian jedi, he would fit the bill. Hope this was helpful.

Dear Sneaky,

Bardan Jusik left the Jedi Order; he was not a Jedi any longer. He was a Force Sensitive and he engaged in the lifestyle and culture of the Mandalorians but he wasn’t a Jedi still. This is why I said that there were Mandalorian Force Users but not Mandalorian Jedi. He no longer follows the tenets and the code of the Jedi Order.

Next, from across the bay, meaning coming straight from the UK, comes this question from reader Snodge. Snodge writes:

Dear Jedi,

How do Jedi find force sensitive children to train? Considering the size of the Star Wars Universe, it must be a bit like finding a needle in a haystack.

Dear Snodge,

A few methods are used, and these differ from era to era. In the time of the Prequel Trilogy for example, children are tested via their blood, this looks for Midichlorians. In other eras the Jedi had seers who could foresee the birth of potential Jedi. In the era of the New Jedi Order children are taken to the Order to be tested voluntarily by their parents or guardians.

In all eras though, of course, there are people who slip through the cracks. There are some who are overlooked, like Anakin was, and there are others who distrust the Jedi or who don’t notice their children’s gifts (or can’t) and thus wouldn’t bring their children to be tested by them, as was the case with Zekk in the Young Jedi Knights. (Zekk was an orphan and so was never tested for Force Sensitivity despite knowing Jacen and Jaina Solo.)

Dedalek had this inquiry to share with Ask A Jedi:

Dear Jedi,

Who are the most powerful Force-users ever? I know many people think Vader was one of them, but honestly wasn’t he so great because there weren’t many Jedi who could challenge him? What about ancient Siths like Marka Ragnos, Naga Sadow, Freedon Nadd? Their power affected the galaxy centuries after their death.

Dear Dedalek,

You would be incorrect about Darth Vader; Darth Vader had, according to George Lucas, the highest Force Potential. His Force Potential however was damaged when his body was. There is no definitive list of who the most powerful Force Users were, but here are my top 5 and why I ranked them as such:

Luke Skywalker – Luke is the most powerful Force User we have ever seen. He is head and shoulders above all others at this time. The amazing things that he has been able to do dwarf everyone else, and also we know that he has the potential Darth Vader had but didn’t destroy his body the way Vader did.

Darth Sidious – Emperor Palpatine was, according to canon, the most powerful Sith ever, with the exception of Vader if his power was realized. As such we have to give him a high position on this list. Palpatine was defeated by Luke in a test of both Lightsaber combat and Force abilities though and was found lacking. Thus I put him right below Luke in terms of sheer power.

Yoda – I met him in a swamp down on Dagobah, where it bubbles all the time like a giant carbonated soda… Y-O-D-A Yoda. We have to give it up for the muppet master who taught us all that size matters not. Able to match Darth Sidious blow for blow, and even overpower him in a pinch Yoda only “lost” to Sidious due to his small stature. As such Yoda must rank in on this list.

Darth Vader – Vader was said to be somewhere around 80% of Sidious’ power, and he would have been stronger if he had not ignored the benefit of the high ground. While he is no slouch, he simply can’t rank any higher than this on my personal list.

Nomi Sunrider – I have to give Nomi her proper respect. She is a little known character outside of the high EU circles but she is one bad mamma jamma. Nomi Sunrider was able to cut a Dark Sider off from the Force until they completely repented, a feat normally requiring a whole group of Jedi Masters. Had she been the main character in KoTOR II she would have mopped the floor with Sion and Nihilus with ease.

Hardcore fans will note a couple of names are left off this list, the reason for that is because there are specifically two I did not consider as valid entries. That is because one is a planet and we have no clue what the other is supposed to be. That would be the planet Zonema Sekot and the creature known as Abeloth. I don’t count them under the general term of Force User.

Now we have a non-Jedi specific question from reader Totaldarkness, and they write:

Dear Jedi,

Given that BioWare has stuffed down the heroic and story aspect of the game, many people feel that resource gathering and crafting don’t fit into either aspect. I’ve also read that while “heroic story” is the main focus, developers have said ” were using the standard training thing. There are many, many places where you don’t want to over-think the story side compared to the gameplay. Story is hugely important, until it makes gameplay or economy worse. (Daniel Erickson)” So since crafting is directly related to economy do you think we can step out of the “heroic” and “story” box, and think what crafting might be?

Dear Totaldarkness,

I personally hope we don’t get a system like crafting from WoW or even Warhammer. I don’t think it feels very “Star Wars” to gather minerals and then turn those into components and then turn those into items. (Sorry SWG fans.) I have never seen that happen really in the movies or the books and as such I have to go with a resounding “no.” I hope that we get some kind of “assembling” system in TOR where we purchase components and put them together because that is what it seems people usually do in Star Wars.

Our final question this week comes from reader EinarKuusk::

Dear Jedi,

Were there Jedi Wizards who did not wear skirts but cool pants and robes in The Old Republic?

Dear Einar,

I don’t know, to be honest. I would assume so. I can tell you the following: Don’t knock the skirt. I recently saw some utilikilts being sold at DragonCon and those things are starting to become majorly main stream. So all I can say is if a Jedi has the legs for it they should walk around in their skirt proudly.

That is all the questions we have for this week, so until next time, this is ProfessorWalsh saying, “May the Force be with you.”

Do you have a question for our Jedi-in-residence, Professor Walsh? Submit it via the form below, and we’ll be sure to pass it along to him when he emerges from meditation.