It should go without saying that Plo Koon
was one of the best Jedi of all time, if not the best Jedi of all time.
Anyone who’s watched Star Wars: The Clone Wars knows full well how much of a king
this Jedi Master was; he was bold but cool-headed, decisive but deeply compassionate. By the end of
the Clone Wars, he may well have been the purest Jedi left in the Order, one who closely followed
the path of the light. Now, if you’re a regular on this channel, you probably already know all
this - but what you might not know is that Plo Koon was set up to be this way from birth.
In this video, we’re going to explain why. In general, Plo Koon was pretty damn cool. He was
a highly skilled lightsaber duelist, a master of telekinesis, and a formidable pilot. Additionally,
he practiced a number of rare Force techniques, including a Light Side version of Force Lightning
called Electric Judgement and techniques that allowed him to alter the environment, creating
small whirlwinds or clouds of fog. In combat, few could withstand him, yet Plo
Koon wasn’t prideful or overzealous. He was fiercely devoted to justice, to be sure,
but he exercised great restraint in the use of his power and displayed a great deal of wisdom
in determining when and how to take action. Plo Koon embodied the role of the Jedi Guardian,
those Jedi who focused on direct action in response to injustice. He had a keen sense of
justice, and his methods of resolving injustices bordered on vigilantism. He saw many issues in
black and white, but he was never vindictive, and he always made sure to consider the nuances
of situations as well. Above all, he cared deeply for those around them, be they fellow Jedi
or the clone troopers under his command. In his youth, he was described by his
master, Tyvokka, as “humble, polite, stubborn, and difficult,” and really, those
four traits describe his character quite well. Plo Koon was a Kel Dor, and he was a good
representative of what the average member of his species was like. Like Koon, many Kel Dor
had black and white views of justice and morality, yet they were also known for
being kind and hospitable. Their justice was harsh, but they never turned
away those in need, and they were devoted to the preservation of life above all else. As you
might expect from such a culture, there were quite a few Kel Dor Jedi aside from Plo Koon. Sha
Koon, Plo’s niece, was also a member of the Order, and Gnost-Dural, one of the Order’s
greatest historians, was a Kel Dor as well. It was no accident that many great Jedi were
Kel Dors, despite the overall rarity of the species in the galaxy. Their society as a whole
was very Jedi-like, so the Kel Dors were highly receptive to the Jedi Order, and they had an
easy time acclimating to the general culture and philosophy of the Order. Additionally, Force
sensitivity was unusually common among Kel Dors, and members of the species had learned to
harness these gifts long before they came into contact with the Jedi, or the Republic.
This was likely a part of why Plo Koon ended up becoming a perfect Jedi - he was pretty
much set up to be, by means of his heritage. Now, let’s take a bit of a broader look at the
Kel Dors. They were native to the planet Dorin, which was located on the edge of the Northern
Dependencies, a part of the Expansion Region. The planet was extremely hard for spacecraft
to reach, since its star system was situated between two black holes, which made space
travel in the area extremely hazardous. Dorin itself was also dangerous. It was
inhospitable for most forms of life, as its atmosphere contained very little oxygen,
and was constantly wracked by fearsome storms. Likely the result of the gravitational influence
of the black holes, Dorin’s storms were violent, spontaneous, and unsparing, an ever-present danger
that all life on the planet had to adapt to. These storms played a major
role in shaping Kel Dor culture. When they struck, Kel Dor were expected to open
up their homes to any unfortunate enough to be caught outside, and this became the foundation
of their species’ trademark altruism. This, in turn, likely gave rise to the stark, black
and white Kel Dor sense of justice, as simple matters of kindness and generosity became matters
of life or death on their unpredictable homeworld. Dorin’s storms also gave rise to another unique
element of Kel Dor culture - the Baran Do Sages. As we mentioned earlier, the Kel Dor had an
unusually high rate of Force sensitivity. In the early days of their society, the Force
adepts among them discovered that sometimes they could sense storms brewing before
they happened, allowing them to warn others before disaster struck. Thousands of years
before the Republic or the Jedi discovered Dorin, these Kel Dor banded together
and founded a Force tradition called the Baran Do. Members of this order
became known as the Sages, and they proved instrumental in the development of Kel Dor
society due to their precognitive abilities. The Kel Dor, it seems, were naturally
drawn towards the Light Side of the Force, or at least the Baran Do Sages quickly defined
themselves as Lightsiders. From their inception, the Sages focused on finding inner peace so as to
be able to hear the Will of the Force, allowing it to guide their actions and judgements. Like
the Jedi, the Baran Do Sages spent much of their time in meditation, and acted in subservience in
the Will of the Force. They sought to preserve the balance of life, at first through predicting
storms and later by predicting other disasters and stopping them before they became reality.
The Baran Do focused on developing keen senses of foresight, but they only acted on what they
saw if they believed the Force willed them to. Unlike the Jedi, the Baran Do Sages weren’t
a militant order. Like most Kel Dor, they were keenly devoted to justice, but they
preferred to enact justice through precise, simple actions, not combat. They trusted in
the Will of the Force to guide them to resolve problems peacefully, or in the least-violent way
possible. Sages didn’t use lightsabers and they weren’t required to train in combat, though
some did anyway. Those that did usually made use of simple wooden staffs, telekinetic Force
techniques, and environment-altering powers. As Kel Dor society developed, members of the Baran
Do Sages became prominent community leaders, at first because of their ability to predict storms
and then because of their ability to predict wars and other catastrophes. Their advice helped
prevent countless tragedies, and as a result, virtually all Kel Dor respected the
Sages and did their best to imitate them. Thus, the Light Side-centric
philosophy of the Baran Do bled into wider Kel Dor society, influencing
the planet’s development for the better. The influence of the Baran
Do began to wane, however, when Dorin was discovered by the Republic and the
Jedi. The planet joined the Republic in 5975 BBY, though it was never really integrated into
Republic culture, since it was hard to reach and inhospitable to most species. The
influence of the Jedi affected Dorin more; when the Order learned of the Kel Dor, they began
recruiting members of the species into the Order. This led to a bit of a decline in the
prominence and membership of the Baran Do Sages, as the Jedi had a much more comprehensive view
of the Force and the two groups were recruiting from the same pool. Additionally, Republic
membership brought new technology to Dorin, which included satellites and weather sensors that
rendered the Sages’ foresight largely obsolete. As a result, the Baran Do became a lot more
obscure over the millennia after Dorin’s integration into the Republic. Other orders in
this position might have changed their ways in a bid to retain their power in relevance, but like
true followers of the Light, the Baran Do accepted this, and bore the Jedi Order no ill will. In
fact, the Jedi and the Baran Do actually ended up on good terms. By the time of the Republic Golden
Age, the Jedi allowed their Kel Dor members to return home and join the Baran Do. Since the two
orders had compatible ideologies, there weren’t really any problems with this sort of parallel
membership, and the Jedi Council saw Baran Do philosophy as a welcome secondary perspective on
the Force. Plo Koon was a member of the Baran Do Sages, and it’s likely their influence was a
large part of what made him such a great Jedi. As a final note, the Jedi ended up benefiting
greatly from their close friendship with the Baran Do. Because of Dorin’s remote nature
and the relative obscurity of the Sages, the Baran Do managed to survive the rise of
the Empire unscathed. During the Dark Times, they preserved a whole lot of Jedi artifacts and
teachings, keeping them safe from the Inquisitors. When Luke Skywalker set out to build a New Jedi
Order after the Empire’s fall, the Baran Do reached out to him and offered him what lore they
had kept safe, which Skywalker gladly accepted. The Baran Do Sages and wider Kel Dor society
shaped Plo Koon into the Jedi Master we all know and love, and we think it’s high time they
got credit for that. But what do you think? Would you like to hear more about
obscure Force traditions like this one? Feel free to post your
thoughts in the comments below.
