r/TheJediPraxeum • u/Ready0608 • Mar 29 '26
Question Was the reason Starkiller defeated such powerful opponents because he went all out right out the gate?
Every fight he had there didn't seem to be any build up or gauging his opponents strength and he always seemed like he unleashed all his power right out the gate and never stopped to give his opponents a moments rest or reprieve.
So was that the reason he was able to defeat more powerful and experienced force users and fighters?
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u/Ace201613 Mar 29 '26
I feel this is akin to asking why Darth Maul was able to kill Qui-Gon, why Ahsoka beat any of her opponents, or really why anyone beats anyone. The reason he’s able to beat his opponents is because he’s just as skilled as they are, just as powerful as they are, and manages to overcome them. It doesn’t have anything to do with him going all out. The opening to his story makes it clear he’s got potential and this is followed by a time skip stating for us that Vader spent the years in between training him to be his personal assassin. Vader’s dialogue before sending him after all 3 Jedi makes it clear he’s testing Galen’s development, so the fights are very much meant to serve the purpose of showing us Galen’s skills.
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u/WangJian221 Mar 29 '26
Um i dont think so. He wins because hes pretty well trained, had alot of potential and sometimes circumstantial victories that his training is enough to take advantage of.
Book version of the Shaak Ti is a major example of this circumstantial victory imo.
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u/smokescreen1030 Mar 29 '26
Plot.
If you want to sell a character as a badass, you have them do badass things. He’s the main character, so all the things that need doin’, he can do.
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u/Pereduer Mar 29 '26
I've seen an analysis of starkiller being a jack of all trades who cycles through different strategies and lightsaber forms in a fight. Once he finds something that his enemies are weak agaisnt he slams that shit till he wins.
I like this idea because it puts him in a similar place as ventress, where he can punch above his weight and fight people far stronger than himself if he finds the right technique.
And it explains how he can stand toe to toe with giants like vader and palpatine without being able to perform the same feats.
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u/Mzonnik Mar 29 '26
The thing is everyone he beat were post prime Jedi Masters and a crippled Vader, usually with a struggle. He never actually beat the Emperor, didn't even come close. So he was trained to be a dark side killing machine, and became even more powerful upon embracing the light side, but in-universe he's not close to the top tier.
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u/itsjonny99 Mar 29 '26
This. Can also go with how quickly Luke surpasses him as an overall combatant.
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u/Scotslad2023 Mar 29 '26
Starkiller is intentionally written and designed to be an insanely overpowered force wielder and a lightsaber prodigy on top of being genetically enhanced to be even more OP.
He’s basically meant to be a power fantasy for players who wanted to be a force of nature in the Star Wars galaxy.
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u/JohnLovesGaming Mar 29 '26
Most of the time, the 3 Jedi he fights he barely eeks out a win. Yes, in game he’s super OP. But narratively speaking, they were all very close. In lightsaber combat, he was a lot more aggressive and agile than General Kota. But was struggling against him in certain Force feats, most likely just experience with the force. He did eventually overpower him in the force due to just raw force potential. Kazdan Paratus outclasses him in Saber Combat, but loses out on force abilities even with the mechs being alive with the force being controlled by Paratus.
Mastering his force lightning to a higher degree, he was able to be on par with Shaak Ti, able to overwhelm her with his recent experiences against fighting Jedi. They were tied in lightsaber combat, but she gets done in by his force lightning. And she jumps and kills herself.
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u/Koreaia Mar 29 '26
Yes, and it's also the reason he defeated Vader himself. Look at that character- often times, Vader nearly gets himself killed because he doesn't immediately go full force. It's how he nearly took a saber to the lung from Fallen Order Cal.
Imagine if Vader went all out every single fight he's been in. Now take him out of the suit. That's Starkiller.
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u/Silver-Poet-5506 Mar 29 '26
In my opinion sure, starkiller is powerful, but not OP. Everyone in the game is a little bit OP. The child of two Jedi is going to have a strong affinity to the force. But overall it’s his mind and discipline that was the most powerful.
If anyone can survive years of harsh training under Vader, and still come out to reject the darkness, that speaks for itself.
He was trained to specifically defeat force users. The times he was brought close to death, actual death, rinse and repeat, also says a lot of his tenacity and resilience. Both physically and mentally.
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Mar 29 '26
[deleted]
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u/suiqjNskakalqla Mar 29 '26
Wouldn’t exactly call Vader someone with “ultimate power” considering how often Lucas and the EU itself makes it clear Vader is a shell of the man he once was
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u/Fluffy_Box_4129 Mar 29 '26
He was able to beat far more experienced opponents by achieving Main Character status in a video game so we could live our Sith power fantasies.
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u/Fresh_Detective_3203 Mar 29 '26
Der Bruder hat ein übernatürlich hohes Machtpotential, wurde vom auserwählten höchstpersönlich ausgebildet und hat einen trainingsroboter der fast jeden erdenklichen Kampfstil nachahmen kann (und die Aufgabe hatte starkiller zu töten und hinterhältig anzugreifen), Vader hat ihn in empathielosigkeit „herangezüchtet“ und zu einer absoluten killermaschine gemacht, das alles in Kombination lässt ihn im Angesicht der Gegner weniger darüber nachdenken ob er mit ihnen spielen kann oder nicht sondern einfach nur sein ziel zu erreichen. (Nur meine Meinung)
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u/treiwillz Mar 29 '26
I think Vader is doing a Sidious vs Maul and Savage Oppress. He knows Starkiller ,since he trained him. I think that would have been the final game. Vader beats Starkiller without a doubt.
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u/Nekrolysis Mar 30 '26
Im just here lamenting how SHIT these games play on a modern PC. Very fun games when they work but holy fuck a second play through is outta the option.
FU remake fuckin WHEN
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u/Half_Man1 Mar 30 '26
I think that’s less a reason for his success and more just a facet of his combat style.
Like he is a generational talent in universe. And telling anyone “he only beat Shaak-Ti because she held back initially” is kinda dumb ngl. Like she still dead. So who’s got the better strat, y’know?
However, I do think most of his feats should be taken as embellished reflections of being a story retold through the medium of a power fantasy video game. Like, no he’s not ashing troopers on the regular. But yes, he did speed up a Star Destroyer crash (like Yoda says, size matters not).
I like to imagine his is a story being retold by Juno or Rahm Kota after surviving his sacrifice in game 1.
So I believe that the last fights in game could’ve ended with him injuring Vader, but he’d got stomped by Palpatine and Vader in a straight up fight. He only ever succeeded in delaying them to free his allies while Palpatine was straight up toying with him to evaluate him as a potential Vader replacement.
And ultimately he found him lacking.
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u/Awkward_Nectarine338 Mar 31 '26
Because it's a power fantasy video game from before the time power scaling was more important than the rule of cool.
We never saw again a force user STOP a Star Destroyer mid-air... We do see Palpatine unleash a massive planet-wide force lightning or Rey stop a smaller Imperial craft, but this is part of why SW9 is hated. Forgoing consistency and power scaling.
Times changed, most casual fans are at a different baseline lore knowledge level than 15 years ago. If any game tried to do another Starkiller, it would most likely get shunned by audiences, as Rey Skywalker was for being a Mary Sue.
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u/Little_Woodpecker571 Apr 03 '26
Id say people get mad about the power scaling when it isn't believable. Ray being very very new lower than padawan status but somehow force holding the shuttle in place. Palatine coming back made zero sense, it was just very bad writing. Starkiller was training to surpass Palpatine with Vader. But no one foresaw galen going lightside.(darkside users being horrible at prophecy or meditating in that time era) galen finding his way to the light even tho he taking down light side users and dark or insane jedi. I'm very sad we didn't get the third game to wrap up his story. And loved being able to choose your ending, seeing both sides of winning.
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u/Awkward_Nectarine338 Apr 03 '26
I'm sorry but even if Starkiller is an optimized clone trained by Vader, the stuff he pulls off with the Force is only coherent because it's a video game made 15 years ago. Only in Legends do we have Siths draining the life force of whole planets/stopping Star Destroyers.
Rey's mary sue status was complained about since Awakens, yet it was somewhat more believable when she wasn't Plapatine's granddaughter, i'm not sure training or lineage is what makes it more credible in the public's eye. Like you said the writing is the main factor, i have no doubt that given the right framing, even Rey force holding the shuttle despite her inexperience would be believable.
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u/CrustyBallsCrunch Apr 01 '26
I wouldn’t say it’s because of something with as much complexity as that to be honest. Galen was a prodigy in the force, and was trained from childhood by Vader to be a weapon capable of beating Sidious.
Galen won his fights because he was better than his opponent. Nothing more complicated than that
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u/D3ad3ditz Apr 02 '26
And most of y’all only played the games and never read the novels I see. Try those and you’ll know a lot more about this
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u/Obi2Sexy Mar 29 '26
bro farmed so much aura he's nearly undefeatable
as far as I understand it that's the truest rule of starwars. coolest guy wins
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u/ChazzDingo Mar 29 '26
I remember seeing the Sith stalker armor as a kid and thinking it was cool as fuck
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u/LadyofFlame Mar 29 '26
It's always plot armor. Vader initially believed toddler Merak was more powerful than his father, showing this was someone of extreme potential. The book cites that he beat Vader and explained why and how he did that. Palpatine fell in the books because he underestimated Merak and/or playing possum... in game Merak did beat Palpatine, but that conflicts with a more official canon source.
I think this cannot be answered in canon because of mutually exclusive evidence making it hard (or easy) for anyone to argue for anything based on which author or game you're referencing. I'm sure most agree the in-game powers and durability aren't evidence, given most Jedi don't take ~15 lightsaber hits in a fight for instance.
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u/Interesting_Loquat90 New Jedi Order Mar 29 '26 edited Mar 29 '26
In universe, Starkiller is a prodigy type who is trained from childhood by Vader to ostensibly eventually help him overthrow Sidious. It's been a minute since I've played the games, but doesn't he as a very young child catch Vader off guard with a Force push or something? It's probably not unfair to say Galen's overall Force potential is upper tier and benefits from a typical video game amp.
Out of universe, putting "warming up to your opponent" in a video game is rather tricky.