Pong Krell was, without a doubt, the worst being
to be a member of the Jedi Order since Phanius, the Jedi-turned-Sith Lord whose own
students murdered him for being obnoxious. Krell, too, was murdered by his subordinates
for being obnoxious, though it was a soldier, not an apprentice, who killed him. It was an end
befitting one who had fallen as far as Krell did. For all the power he put on display during
the Umbara arc, he went out like a chump. But what if Krell hadn’t fallen? In this video,
we’re going to be exploring that question and considering how Krell had the potential to
become one of the Jedi Order’s most powerful. We actually know very little about
Pong Krell outside of the Umbara Arc. We know he was a Besalisk Jedi Master and a highly
competent tactician, despite his units having the highest clone casualty rates in the GAR. We also
know he was very by-the-book, and that he was both extremely cunning and strong. But that’s pretty
much all we know for sure. No sources detail his earlier career in the Clone Wars, nor his life
before the conflict broke out. There are, however, a few details we can comfortably speculate
about, based on what we saw in The Clone Wars. For those unaware, the Jedi Order divided
its members into three distinct classes, which each had different approaches to life as
a Jedi Knight and different Force-power focuses. Jedi Guardians focused on combat techniques, and
used blue lightsabers. Jedi Consulars focused on using the Force for more cerebral purposes,
like healing, foresight, and negotiation; they used green lightsabers. Jedi Sentinels used
yellow lightsabers, and concentrated on seeking out and overcoming the Dark Side; by the time of
the Clone Wars, they had become somewhat rare. Krell used both blue and green lightsabers,
but his approach to using the Force tells us that he was almost definitely a Jedi Guardian. He
might actually have been more than that, however. There were specialized prestige classes
within the three main classes of Jedi, one of the most notable of which
was the Jedi Weapons Master. Weapons Masters were Jedi Guardians who
focused their studies solely on using the Force for physical combat. They were some
of the greatest warriors of the Jedi Order, and many served with distinction during the
Clone Wars, including Mace Windu and Sora Bulq. One thing Weapons Masters were known
for was their use of exotic weapons. For example, Jedi Master Waldan Bridger was known
for his mastery of the San-Ni Staff, though this mastery ultimately didn’t save him from General
Grievous, who took less than twenty seconds to kill him in the Battle of Togoria. By the time of
the Clone Wars, among the exotic weapons largely reserved for Weapons Masters was the double-bladed
lightsaber, which Pong Krell not only mastered but used two of. This means he was almost definitely
a Jedi Weapons Master, which gives us a pretty good sense of his power level. Keep this in
mind because we’ll be coming back to it later. Another interesting thing to speculate about is
that Krell was capable of foreseeing Order 66. This is extremely significant, because very few of Krell’s contemporaries were able
to do so, as we discussed in a recent video. This could mean one of two things. The first
and more interesting possibility is that Krell, like Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas, was particularly
skilled in using the Force to see the future, either due to years of training or, more likely,
due to natural predisposition. If this was the case, it implies he was much more powerful than
his performance in The Clone Wars might suggest. There is an alternate explanation
for Krell’s foresight, however. The Jedi were unable to foresee Order 66
due to Dark Side shrouding, and as a result, Darksiders had a much easier time seeing through
the veil, even less powerful ones like Maul. It’s possible Krell foresaw Order 66 because
he had already fallen to the Dark Side, or was close to falling. Considering how
much combat he saw, it’s not out of the question that he was already slipping long
before his vision tipped him over the edge. With that said, there is reason to believe the
first explanation is correct. During the Umbara arc, the clones briefly noted that, while
Krell’s units had the highest casualty rate, Krell also had an extremely good tactical
record, and won most of his battles. If he was gifted with powerful foresight, this
would make sense - it’s possible he was able to foresee what moves the enemy would make, enabling
him to win battle after battle despite how badly he mistreated his men. Alternatively, Krell
might have been able to use battle meditation, a rare Force power that allowed Jedi to
essentially move armies with their mind, leading them to execute strategies with perfect
precision without the need for any communication. Admittedly, this is far less likely, but
it’s an interesting possibility to consider. Now, before we put all that together and
take a look at how powerful Krell was, we first need to discuss power as a concept.
We’re not just being pedantic here - as some of you may remember from a very old video we
made on whether Jedi or Sith were more powerful, power within the Force is an extremely subjective
thing. Power is in the eye of the wielder, so to speak, so if we’re talking about
someone being powerful in the Force, it’s extremely important that we nail down
what kind of power we’re talking about. Yoda, for example, is widely regarded as one of
the most powerful Force-wielders of all time, and yet, at the end of the day, he kinda
sucked at combat. Sure, he could disorient people with cool Force-assisted acrobatics,
but he wasn’t all that good of a duelist, and his Force powers weren’t focused on combat.
Yoda was powerful not because of his combat skill, but because of his foresight, his healing
abilities, and his strong connection to the Unifying Force. He was the pinnacle of what
a Jedi Consular strived to be, essentially. As far as the Order was concerned, the most
powerful Jedi weren’t the ones who could do the coolest tricks, but rather those
who had the closest bond with the Force. What this meant was different depending
on a Jedi’s class and school of thought. For Consulars, this meant having a deep connection
to the Unifying Force, and mastering the abilities that such connections granted. For Sentinels,
it meant being closely attuned to the currents of the Force and being able to sense
them clearly. And for Jedi Guardians, it meant being so in tune with the Force that
combat became just another kind of meditation. Since we’re talking about Krell, we’ll be
assessing his power from the perspective of the Jedi Guardians. The peak of Force power
for Guardians was what we’re going to call Force Enlightenment, which made Jedi virtually
unstoppable in battle. It was connecting with the Force on such a level that everything,
from a Jedi’s weapon to their opponent, became almost like an extension of the self,
because all those things were part of the Force. Jedi who mastered this technique could overcome
virtually everything when they were in this state. It’s hard to tell whether Krell had mastered
Force Enlightenment because it’s not really a visible power, but we have reason to believe
he did. We don’t get all that many good looks at Krell in the heat of combat, because he
wasn’t taking his fights with the clones at the end of the Umbara arc seriously,
which was how the clones were ultimately able to defeat him. The surging emotions he
displayed in those sequences, furthermore, would have interfered with his ability to enter
Force Enlightenment. But there is one quick clip of Krell in action where he is taking things
seriously and isn’t as emotionally clouded. In this sequence, Krell moved quickly and
decisively, pulling off just the right moves at just the right time and killing
those banshees like it was nothing. Considering how easily those creatures were able
to dodge the clones’ blasterfire right before this clip, this was a display of extreme skill
on Krell’s part, and of a strong attunement to the flow of combat. This was probably the work
of a Jedi Guardian at the height of his power. For all his clouded judgement, Krell did perform
similar feats of knowing almost instinctively how and when to strike during his battles with
the clones. This was how a Weapons Master at the height of their power engaged in combat
- their movements would flow naturally in accordance with the tides of battle, achieving
maximum effectiveness with minimal effort. All told, this all suggests that
Krell was an extremely powerful Jedi. By the standards of the Jedi Guardians, he may
well have been the most powerful Jedi of his time - barring Anakin Skywalker, who doesn’t
count due to him being the Chosen One and all. At minimum, he mastered the techniques of a Jedi
Weapons Master, and he was likely extremely gifted either in foresight or battle meditation
on top of that. This would have made him uniquely devastating. Not only would Krell have
been unstoppable when fighting in the moment, but he would have had a strong
understanding of the future as well, owing either to battle meditation-enhanced
strategy or powerful foresight. But, you may be asking, if this was the case,
how did the clones take Krell down so easily? The answer is pretty straightforward - he fell to
the Dark Side. The Light Side and the Dark Side worked in different ways, as they were opposite
and fundamentally irreconcilable. The greatest powers the Light Side could afford a Force-wielder
came from surrendering oneself to the Force, by letting the Force use oneself instead of using the
Force. The Dark Side just didn’t work that way. It was based around bending the Force to one’s
will, subduing it with passion, anger, and desire. When Krell slipped over to the Dark Side,
those sorts of emotions began to dominate him, as he showed in his final battle with the
clones. But since he had been trained as a Jedi, he didn’t quite know how to use them yet.
Worse, they interfered with his existing powers, because just as Lightsiders were unable to use
Sith battle rage, Darksiders were unable to enter states of Force Enlightenment. Krell wasn’t
completely lost to the Dark Side, so he was still able to rely on his Jedi powers, but when
those darker emotions began to surface in him, they hindered his abilities. Tup, unknowingly,
exploited this on Umbara; his taunts likely broke Krell out of Force Enlightenment,
allowing him to be surprised and captured. So, that’s why Pong Krell could have been
one of the Jedi Order’s most powerful Masters had he not fallen to the Dark Side. Just for the
record, for all you lovely Krell haters out there, there’s a subreddit out there dedicated to hating
that four-armed monster, which we can’t name due to monetization reasons but will link in the
description*. Anyway, do you like these sorts of in-depth analyses of characters’ powers? Feel
free to post your thoughts in the comments below.
