10 Most Powerful ‘Star Wars’ Characters, Ranked

George Lucas’ Star Wars franchise is a pillar of modern science fiction. What started out as a relatively ambitious space opera project became one of the most lucrative and popular franchises in history. Being present for several decades now, Star Wars has raised multiple generations of fans and it still remains one of the best fictional universes ever created with the best fictional characters. This article will be dedicated to those fictional characters, but we won’t be listing the best, but rather the strongest characters in the Star Wars universe. But with a twist!

Okay, the twist is not the list itself – it really will be a list of the 10 strongest Star Wars characters – but rather what characters will be included. In that aspect, we will issue a disclaimer: the list will contain only the characters from the current film and television canon of Star Wars, so it won’t include the former large canon or any characters who have not appeared in the films or series (animated or live-action). While we are sad to exclude the Expanded Universe (now Legends), we decided to do it for practical reasons, so the list will only contain characters who have appeared in the Star Wars films and television series.

The characters will be ranked from 10th to 1st place, with us providing a brief explanation for their ranking.

10. Count Dooku / Darth Tyrannus

A former Jedi-turned-Sith Lord, Dooku was revered as one of the most skilled Jedi, which was also shown in the animated series. He was a wise Jedi, but he wanted more power and authority, while at the same time becoming disillusioned with the Jedi’s teachings. He showed that he was capable of fighting even against Yoda, which definitely means that we can open this list with him.

9. Ahsoka Tano

Anakin’s former Padawan, Ahsoka Tano proved herself in The Mandalorian and her own standalone series. Sure, a lot of her skills and abilities were shown in the animated series, but her prime was portrayed later, and it was something to be admired. She managed to elevate her skills and survive in an era where it was dangerous to wield a lightsaber, demonstrating that she definitely deserves to be on this list.

8. Qui-Gon Jinn

You might be surprised, but Qui-Gon Jinn is an extremely powerful Jedi. He was almost as wise as Master Yoda, he had exceptional control of the Force, and he was also an extremely skilled lightsaber user, all of which was shown in the series. He was able to discover how to return in the form of a Force Ghost, which shows that his skill was indeed amazing. Some theories say that because of his specific views and skills, he was a bigger threat to Palpatine than any other Jedi.

7. Mace Windu

The best swordsman in the history of the Jedi, Mace Windu was a powerhouse Jedi who often lingered on the thin border between the Light and Dark Side. Still, he was a devoted Jedi and has proven his skills on more than one occasion, showing that he is capable of handling and defeating the strongest, including Palpatine (he lost because he did not expect Anakin’s betrayal, otherwise, he had Palpatine defeated). He was not so good with the Force, so he was not as complete as some other characters on this list.

6. “The Master”

This guy is a big enigma. He was recently introduced in The Acolyte, and some information suggests that he is, indeed, one of the strongest characters in the whole canon, but that has yet to be proven. He is powerful, that cannot be denied, but it remains to be seen whether he will make the top five in the end, or fall even lower on the list. So far, we have decided to put him here because his mastery of the Force is quite impressive, seemingly surpassing Windu’s.

5. Darth Vader / Anakin Skywalker

When Vader was first introduced, he was portrayed as an extremely powerful Sith Lord, and the Prequel Trilogy further affirmed his enormous power. On the other hand, after his defeat, it became obvious that some characters managed to surpass him, but he still remains in the top five, which says a lot, knowing how many strong characters we’ve seen in the movies and series. Anakin was destined to save the force, Vader destroyed the balance, but the character received a proper redemption in the end, cementing his place in the top five strongest characters.

4. Luke Skywalker

The Legends version of Luke would probably end up in second place, but while the Sequel Trilogy did establish him as one of the strongest of all time, it was never really proven that he managed to surpass the strongest ones in the cinematic universe. Still, he did become extremely strong, and his feats in the Sequel Trilogy show that he had learned a lot after his initial appearances in the Original Trilogy; plus, there’s the epic scene from The Mandalorian, which did him more justice than the whole Original Trilogy put together.

3. Obi-Wan Kenobi

Obi-Wan Kenobi is a character who has, for the most part, kept his true power hidden. He was exceptionally powerful and was extremely close to reaching Yoda’s level of skill, which has been proven on numerous occasions, as he singlehandedly defeated Darth Maul, Grievous, and Anakin/Vader (more than once), losing to the latter only because he wanted to. There is no doubt that Obi-Wan is among the top three strongest Star Wars characters from the current canon.

2. Darth Sidious / Palpatine

Even if we disregard the fact that his “survival” was one of the worst moments in the Sequel Trilogy in terms of how it was executed, it did not surprise us that Palpatine was, indeed, alive. He is an extremely powerful Sith Lord, arguably the most powerful one ever. What Yoda was to the Jedi, Palpatine was to the Sith, and – in fact – Yoda was the only character who could surpass him in that aspect, which is why we put him in second place.

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Honorable Mentions: There are some characters who did not make the cut but deserve to be mentioned here. Two of them are the villains, Darth Maul and General Grievous, both extremely powerful and skilled characters who were close to making the cut. There is also the Jedi Master Ki-Adi-Mundi, who was killed during the Clone uprising, and Kylo Ren (Ben Solo), who is the only character from the Sequel Trilogy to come close to this list. Leia was also quite close, but we never saw her full potential so we couldn’t put her in front of some of the names. Also, we want to mention baby Grogu, who has the enormous potential to become extremely powerful.

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1. Yoda

There is absolutely no doubt that Master Yoda is the most powerful character in the current official canon; he is, in fact, one of the most powerful characters in the whole franchise (including the EU), with only several god-tier characters more powerful than him. He is a source of knowledge and wisdom, a Jedi who was equally skilled in both lightsaber combat and the Force, although the latter was his specialty. There is no doubt that he can be labeled as the strongest.

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