Escapee of Order 66 and companion of one of the cutest droids in the franchise, Cal Kestis is one underrated Star Wars character.
He appeared initially in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order as the main and only playable character. Cal Kestis was a young member of the Jedi order and trained under Jedi Master Jaro Tapal. Cal quickly found that he was much more naturally suited to the physical aspects of his Jedi training. He struggled with dealing with and overcoming his personal failures.
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Cal Kestis and Order 66
Like many other Padawans, Cal served in the Republic Army during the Clone Wars as a commander along with General Tapal. And like many other Jedi, both Padawan and Master found themselves under Clone Trooper fire when Order 66 was declared. Cal managed to escape by traveling through their ship’s maintenance passages. General Tapal covered his escape and sabotaged the ship’s reactor. But Tapal was fatally injured in the escape pods, allowing Cal to escape with his former master’s lightsaber.
Cal spends the next five years on Bracca with the Scrapper Guild, both of whom appear in season one of The Bad Batch. After half a decade of successfully pretending to be a normal, not force-sensitive person, Cal uses the force to save a friend. This attracted attracted the Imperial Inquisitors. Cal was found by the Second and Ninth sisters, who forced him to go on the run once more. Greez Dritus and former Jedi Cere Junda save Cal and befriend him. He joins the crew of the Stinger Mantis and journeys across the galaxy.
He then decides that it is time for him to complete his Jedi training and stay true to the Jedi path as his master had asked. The crew decides to help him on his quest.
Jedi Training
This newly reignited goal takes him to the vaults of Gofano. There, he found a Jedi Holocron as well as an adorable explorer droid BD-1, Kashyyyk, to assist a Wookie liberation movement. He proceeded to Ilum to get a kyber crystal for a lightsaber of his own. Finally, Kestis traveled to Dathomir to face trials before Junda deemed him worthy of holding the title of Jedi Knight.
Cal Kestis Faces Vader
But one of the most memorable and terrifying parts of Cal’s story in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order comes at the end of the game. He and Junda defeat the Second Sister only to be immediately attacked by Darth Vader himself. Unsurprisingly, and despite being the player character in this game, Cal Kestis isn’t quite able to defeat Vader. However, with some assistance from Junda and BD-1 they are able to injure him slightly. They cause just enough chaos in the terrible encounter to escape with their lives.
After this encounter, Cal understands the true danger facing the Force-sensitive children across the galaxy. To protect them, he destroys the Holocron.
Cal Kestis and The Rebellion
Cal’s journey wasn’t done with his encounter with Darth Vader. He fought in a crew alongside Saw Gerrera, the Stinger Mantis crew, and mercenary Bode Akuna, who eventually betrayed them. They were part of a mission to recover classified Imperial intelligence on Coruscant and were ambushed by the Ninth Sister and her troops. Cal was able to send the data to Gerrera before making a narrow escape to Koboh with the crew.
After his narrow escape, the Jedi Knight became aware of Tanalorr, a planet that could possibly become a refuge for those persecuted by the Empire. He reunited the crew of the Stinger Mantis, and, with the assistance of a droid he found in a Jedi chamber and Jedi Master Dagan Gera, they set out to locate Tanalorr by navigating the Koboh Abyss. Treachery derailed the mission – and Cal Kestis was forced into a lightsaber duel with a conniving Bode Akuna.
In the Games
Throughout his story, Cal Kestis rebuilds his damaged connection to the force. But he also managed to retain his force stasis and psychometry abilities throughout the five years he was in hiding. But even if he hadn’t gone back to the Jedi path, Cal Kestis probably would have done okay for himself. He was, after all, a skillful mechanic with an understanding of the droid language, Binary. But that would have been a much different and arguably more boring game.
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Pop culture writer and news editor that has been on the BoLS team since 2010. Contributor on the One of Us podcast. Marvel, Vertigo, Batman, and dystopian sci-fi fan. Enjoys bad movies, amazing stunt performances, and the internet. Hates rom-coms. (she/they)
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