Cal Kestis is one of the few Jedi that survived the events of Order 66, as we got to play him as the main character of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, which is a video game that’s canon to the Star Wars lore. Of course, Cal is a pretty strong character in the game while we are controlling him, considering that he is able to defeat powerful enemies and large monsters alike. But just how strong is Cal Kestis?
Because his training was never completed, Cal Kestis only knows the basic fundamentals of lightsaber combat and Force powers. But as the game progressed, Cal eventually developed his fundamentals to become good enough to fight the Inquisitors on par and defeat a fallen Jedi Master.
The fact that Cal Kestis is still a comparatively young Jedi that hasn’t experienced a lot of battles throughout his lifetime is what makes him a very relatable character to the player. He didn’t come into the storyline with overpowered capabilities but is simply a character that needed to re-learn his training and grow more as a Jedi. Now, with that said, let’s look at just how strong Cal Kestis is.
How Strong Is Cal Kestis?
One of the most intriguing parts of the Star Wars lore is the 19-year gap between the events of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope because a lot of things can happen in nearly two decades. Of course, while this 19-year gap was hardly ever explored by Lucasfilm before the Disney acquisition, it became one of the most interesting parts of the Star Wars lore due to how there were many stories that took place during that time.
Of course, one of the characters whose story was explored during the time after the rise of the Empire at the end of Episode III is Cal Kestis. Introduced as the main playable character of the canon video game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Cal was a canon Jedi Padawan that survived the events of Order 66 because he and his master were stationed away from Coruscant during the time that the clones attacked the Jedi. His master had to sacrifice his life for Cal to escape.
After escaping, Cal hardly ever used his Force powers while he was hiding from the eyes of the Empire, which had sent out Inquisitors that Darth Vader himself personally trained to be strong enough to hunt down any of the remaining Jedi that survived the destruction of the Jedi Order. As such, Cal needed to make sure that he wasn’t using his Force abilities so that he wouldn’t end up on the radar of the Inquisitors.
Then again, the game opened up with Cal Kestis using his Force powers during a life-and-death situation. As such, the Inquisitors found him, as he had to be rescued by Cere Junda and the crew of the Mantis. Since then, he started his new journey of learning more about the Jedi Holocron, which contained information about all of the Force-sensitive children in the galaxy.
While Cal was still able to keep himself in shape because his job demanded him to perform acrobatic stunts, he ended up forgetting a good part of his Jedi training when he was still just a Padawan. As such, at the start, he only knew some of the basics of lightsaber training and was not strong in the use of the Force. But as the game progressed, Cal became more skilled in the use of his lightsaber and was able to unlock and learn new Force powers that he learned when he was still a Padawan.
In terms of his lightsaber, he initially only knew how to handle a single-bladed saber but eventually became skilled in handling a double-bladed lightsaber. He also learned how to use the Jar’Kai dual-blade combat style that only a few Jedi or Sith are skilled at. As such, Cal became good enough with a lightsaber that he could handle his own against Purge Troopers and Inquisitors alike.
Meanwhile, his Force powers grew steadily because he began to relearn the things that he already knew before Order 66. Cal could only use Force Stasis at the beginning but rediscovered his ability to use other Force powers like Force Dash and Force Push, among others. In that regard, he knows almost all of the fundamental Force powers that most Jedi Padawans are taught.
Due to his improved skills with the lightsaber and his reconnection with the Force, Cal Kestis proved to be able to fight the fallen Jedi Master Taron Malicos on par. However, Cal was no match for the former Jedi Master on his own, as the Nightsister named Merrin needed to intervene in the fight. As such, Cal was able to defeat Taron Malicos, thanks to the help of a new ally.
Cal was also able to prove himself good enough to handle the Inquisitors. He defeated the Ninth Sister on his own. And after losing to the Second Sister a few times in the past, Cal eventually defeated her in the final parts of the game.
Cere Junda, who was actually a Jedi Knight, also knighted Cal Kestis after he had accomplished so much during his journeys. This allowed him to rise to the rank of Jedi Knight, as it was clear that he was now strong enough to earn that title after mastering the fundamentals that all Jedi Knights need to learn.
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How Does Cal Kestis Compare To Other Jedi And Sith?
As strong as Cal Kestis is, it is still important for us to compare him to other Jedi and Sith to determine just how strong he is. Of course, you’ll be surprised to see just how far he still has to go.
Darth Vader VS Cal – Jedi Fallen Order Ending EPIC! (HD)
Darth Vader appeared near the end of the game to murder the Second Sister after she failed to defeat Cal Kestis. The former Jedi Knight named Anakin completely overwhelmed Cal Kestis with his Force powers, as there was nothing that the playable character could do against the might of the Sith Lord. In that regard, Cal is nowhere near the level of Vader, who is head and shoulders above him.
While Obi-Wan Kenobi may have lost his connection with the Force during the early part of the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, he eventually reconnected with it during the latter part of the storyline and managed to defeat Darth Vader in their duel. As such, even though Kenobi hardly uses overwhelming Force powers, he does so in that fight against his former Padawan. And because Obi-Wan is the only character who has defeated Anakin/Vader multiple times, he is much stronger than Cal Kestis.
Ahsoka Tano trained under Anakin Skywalker and was always on the frontlines during the Clone Wars. As such, her experience as a Padawan was so vast that she was basically as strong as any other Jedi Knight. While she left the Jedi Order during the Clone Wars, she continued honing her skills and was able to fight Darth Vader on par long enough for Kanan and Ezra to escape during the events of Star Wars: Rebels. That means that she is just as strong as a Jedi Master and is far ahead of Cal Kestis in terms of her training, skills, and experience.
It was shown during the events of Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi and Star Wars: Rebels that Ahsoka Tano was the superior Padawan compared to Kanan Jarrus, who still had a long way to go. In fact, in Rebels, Kanan was still a Padawan that hardly used his lightsaber or Force powers. That means that he is much closer to Cal Kestis’s level than any other Jedi or Sith because they are both former Jedi Padawan that never completed their training due to the events of Order 66. At the start of Rebels, Kanan was probably as strong as Cal but eventually became stronger at the time of his death due to how his connection with the Force improved when he lost his eyesight.
