Is Cal Kestis a Jedi Master & Will He Become One?

In Star Wars, one of the characters that fans have become more interested in is Cal Kestis because he is a rare instance in the sense that he is the only canon Jedi character that fans can control. After all, he is the main protagonist of the Star Wars Jedi video game series. As a Jedi, Cal was able to show exceptional skills that make the game quite exciting, and we do know that he has become more skilled than most other Jedi we’ve seen. So, does that mean that Cal Kestis became a Jedi Master?

Cal Kestis is still a Jedi Knight because he cannot obtain the rank of Jedi Master in the conventional sense. After all, there is no Jedi Grand Master that would give him the position. As such, it is highly unlikely that Cal will become a Jedi Master unless he plans to give himself the title.

The thing about the ranks of the Jedi is that these are actually just ranks and are not always going to determine just how strong the Jedi is. Of course, the ranks are also given out by the Jedi High Council itself, and that means that the Jedi Order must exist for the ranks to actually matter. So, in Cal’s case, let’s look at what we know about his rank as a Jedi.

Cal Kestis Is Still a Jedi Knight

When we first met Cal Kestis during the Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order events, we learned a lot more about his background as a character and what happened to him five years before the game’s events. It was shown that he was a Jedi Padawan learning under Jedi Master Jaro Tapal during the events of the Clone Wars. But because of Order 66, he lost his master and had to go into hiding for five years while keeping his Force powers suppressed to stay under the radar.

As such, when the game started, Cal was just a Jedi Padawan who was re-learning everything he learned from Tapal five years ago. That was why he wasn’t exactly the strongest character in the game at the start, as he had to remember how to be a Jedi. The struggle was for him to recall everything that his master taught him so that he could perform his mission effectively.

But during the game’s events, Cal proved worthy enough to carry the Jedi Knight title. Jedi Master Cere Junda, who revealed herself as a Jedi that had lost her connection with the Force, knighted Cal on the field. That means that Cal, ever since that moment, was a true Jedi Knight.

Of course, when the Jedi Order still existed, a Jedi Padawan was usually knighted after passing the Jedi Trials set by the Jedi High Council. However, there have been exceptions to this rule because Jedi Padawans can be knighted on the field by Jedi Masters. Kanan Jarrus was knighted by the Grand Inquisitor, who used to be a Jedi Temple Guard, in a Force vision. Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker was knighted by Jedi Master Yoda.

In fact, during the events of the Clone Wars, the Jedi Council tried to knight Ahsoka Tano without allowing her to go through the Jedi Trials because the members of the council believed that the experience that she underwent when she was framed for the bombing of the Jedi Temple should have been greater than the actual Jedi Trial.

Meanwhile, in Cal’s case, he was knighted by Jedi Master Cere Junda after proving himself worthy of the title. As such, Cal carried the Jedi Knight mantle five years after getting knighted as he was a full Jedi Knight during the events of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. Zee, a droid from the High Republic era, was surprised that there was a blatant breach of protocol when Cal became a knight without going through the Jedi Trials.

But while the rank of Jedi Knight can be achieved on the field, the rank of Jedi Master is an entirely different topic. As such, Cal is still a Jedi Knight because the rank of master is something that he has yet to achieve, considering that we know that Jedi Masters should be able to prove that they are wise, strong, and experienced enough to earn that title. And because Cal is just 23 years old in Survivor, he still has a long way to go before he can get close enough to that title.

Will Cal Become a Jedi Master?

It is important to know that the Jedi Master title isn’t just something the Jedi Order could freely give out. The Jedi Knight was once a more difficult title to hand out, but it eventually became easier when the Jedi Order sped up the training of younglings and Padawans. Meanwhile, we also know that Jedi Masters could knight a Padawan on the field, as was the case for Cal.

However, the rank of Jedi Master can only be given by the Jedi High Council after the Grand Master recognizes the abilities and accomplishments of a Jedi Knight. That means that there has to be a Jedi Order for there to be a Jedi Council. And that is no longer the case during the time of the Empire because Emperor Palpatine wiped out the Jedi Order from the galaxy.

As such, in Cal Kestis’ case, it is unlikely that he will ever be a Jedi Master because the Jedi Order no longer exists. Of course, the former Grand Master was still around because Yoda was hiding in Dagobah. But the fact is that there is no Jedi Order or High Council that could confer the title of Jedi Master to Cal Kestis. That is why it is unlikely that he will ever be a Jedi Master because there is only one instance wherein a Jedi Knight became a Jedi Master without a true Jedi Order.

Nevertheless, the rank of Jedi Master is just a title that doesn’t mean anything when no Jedi Order exists. As such, even if Cal never reaches that rank, he has proven himself just as capable as any other Jedi in Star Wars. And the fact that he was able to survive ten years into the era of the Empire while almost all of the other Jedi Masters were already dead is proof of his abilities.

But there’s also a chance that Cal might bestow the title to himself, as that was the case with Luke Skywalker, who became a Jedi Master when he re-established the Jedi Order. Because he needed to start training a new generation of Jedi, he needed to become a Jedi Master. So, in Cal’s case, if he plans on training a new generation of Jedi on Tanalorr, there’s a chance that he would proclaim himself a Jedi Master.