Plo Koon: The Legendary Jedi Master

Who is Plo Koon?

Plo Koon was a Force-user Jedi Master from the planet Dorin and a prominent member of the Jedi High Council in the last years of the Galactic Republic.

As a Jedi General in the Clone Wars, he played an important role in the conflict between the Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems.

Throughout the war, Koon led the 104th Battalion on perilous missions. He wore a breath mask to filter the air to match that of his home planet, Dorin, and goggles to protect his eyes from drying out.

After training his Padawan Bultar Swan to become a Jedi Knight, Plo Koon fought in and survived the First Battle of Geonosis, which resulted in the deaths of nearly two hundred Jedi and marked the beginning of the Clone Wars.

At the outset of the conflict, he set out on a mission to locate the Separatist warship Malevolence. Following several attempts to destroy it, Koon and his peers succeeded in bringing it down. He frequently collaborated with Ahsoka Tano, whom he had discovered years before the war and with whom he shared a special bond.

During the war, he played critical roles in many battles, including those on Felucia, Lola Sayu, and Kadavo. As the war progressed, Ahsoka Tano was wrongly accused of bombing the Jedi Temple and expelled from the Jedi Order. When the true culprit was found, Koon and the Council offered her the chance to rejoin, but she refused and left the Order.

In the final days of the Clone Wars, after the battles of Coruscant and Utapau, Plo Koon led the 442nd Siege Battalion in the Battle of Cato Neimoidia. Following their victory, as he and a squadron of ARC-170 starfighters flew over the bridge cities, he was shot down and executed by his troops due to Order 66, which commanded the massacre of Jedi across the galaxy by their own soldiers. Shortly after, Anakin Skywalker, now serving Darth Sidious, killed Viceroy Gunray and ended the Clone Wars by shutting down the battle droids.

Force Abilities and Combat Skills

Plo Koon was a Jedi Master of such immense power that even the Sith Lord Darth Maul regarded him as one of the greatest Jedi warriors of his era, despite never having dueled him. Koon had the ability to quickly replenish his power, excelled in telekinesis, and could manipulate objects without needing to see them. He also employed a forbidden Force technique known as Electric Judgment, which many Jedi found disturbingly similar to the Sith’s Force lightning. Koon’s armored talons, based on traditional Kel Dor design, protected his sensitive fingertips and enhanced his Force abilities.

Plo Koon was also highly knowledgeable in the physical sciences. He used his expertise in physics combined with the Force to alter his environment, such as controlling the elements to deflect attacks. He could create small whirlwinds, dense fog, and even ice over limited areas. A notable example of these abilities was during the Yinchori uprising when he manipulated clouds to conceal Jedi movements, causing a blinded enemy to fall off an edge.

Collaborating with other Jedi, Plo Koon once unleashed a wave of power to defeat Yinchori warriors. Alongside Qui-Gon Jinn, he brought down a tunnel to protect Vos and Kenobi during the Stark Hyperspace War, and later crushed another tunnel after a brief pause. While stranded in an escape pod after the Malevolence destroyed his fleet, he used the Force to telekinetically turn around another pod, hoping to greet its occupant, only to discover its front had been destroyed.

Despite the challenges of fighting in space, he managed to defeat a droid with a Force push, maneuver objects to aid a clone in outflanking the droids, and once safe from enemy fire, cut a Droch-class boarding ship off his escape pod and sent it drifting away with a thrust of the Force.

With his Jedi abilities, Koon could strike foes and defend against Force attacks, even redirecting them back at attackers or disarming them. He could also sharpen his senses, enhance his physical traits, leap high—sometimes over enemy base walls—and use the Force to dash into battle. He once defeated a spider droid with a single, swift Force push.

Working with Ahsoka Tano, he used their combined powers from atop a Low Altitude Assault Transport to hold the ruins of the Endurance’s bridge steady, allowing clones to rescue Anakin Skywalker and Mace Windu. Soon after, he used the Force to unlock a lock, pull Boba Fett into his arms, and hurl a table at an assassin. He also demonstrated his skill with Force barriers by holding off a snowstorm.

In addition to being a Jedi, Plo Koon was also a member of the Baran Do, a Force sect from his homeworld of Dorin that predates the Jedi. Many of his family members had been part of this sect over the centuries, and he mastered several of their techniques, including ayna-seff. Koon could use the Force to enhance his observational skills and was adept at seeking guidance from the light. He could also employ malacia, a power used to subdue others.

On one occasion, Koon sent a message across the galaxy to his niece with the help of other Jedi, focusing deeply on the Force. He later used a similar technique on Stark, convincing him to switch sides in exchange for a pardon. If he had been closer, he could have fully controlled Stark and made him surrender outright. Koon could also give brief mental orders to other Jedi and warriors. He attempted to dissuade Ranulph Tarkin from killing his enemies through telepathic exchange. Although he couldn’t perform such feats across great distances without assistance, he successfully contacted Ahsoka Tano when she was nearby, giving her a sense of his location while stranded in space.

Koon could influence others’ thoughts, foresee the future, sense emotions (using this skill on Thyferra to detect Obi-Wan’s fear), and identify Force users. During meditation with Qui-Gon Jinn and Adi Gallia, he planted the thought of a swarm of attacking ships in a pilot’s mind to divert an assault, playing the most important role in this task.

Plo Koon possessed great strength and was a master of hand-to-hand combat, using the light side of the Force to enhance his fighting abilities. He was also a master of Form V/Shien lightsaber combat and was considered one of the most skilled swordsmen in the Jedi Order. He could fend off the infamous Jedi hunter Asajj Ventress even with a broken arm. Additionally, he was trained in Form IV/Ataru and excelled at deflecting blaster bolts and defending himself with a lightsaber.

Koon studied warfare and could use the Force to anticipate his enemies’ general moves. He also had the ability to heal the wounded. Moreover, he could use the Force to unleash a purple-blue energy attack and blast enemies a few feet outward in all directions.

A skilled pilot, Koon was renowned for his piloting abilities, nearly as much as for his lightsaber skills. He was considered the third-best pilot in the Jedi Order, after Anakin Skywalker and Saesee Tiin. Thanks to his thick Kel Dor hide, he could breathe and survive in space for short periods. He was fluent in Basic, Kel Dor, Huttese, and Shyriiwook.