Star Wars Legends has remained one of the most beloved parts of the Star Wars universe despite its de-canonization. For years, the old Expanded Universe was keeping the Star Wars fires burning, with Legends creating many of the greatest Star Wars characters ever. Legends was much more Force-centric than canon is, presenting tales from the Jedi and Sith’s past, present, and future. This meant that the level of Force powers that Legends fan saw was straight up insane. This has become one of the problems some fans have with Legends — the power-scaling can get to be a little much — but it’s also created a cadre of extremely powerful Star Wars characters.
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While Star Wars definitely has its share of powerful characters in canon, there are some Legends Force-using characters who would easily trounce any canon characters. They benefit from the higher threshold of Force powers and lightsaber tactics, and have battled threats like the characters in canon could never imagine. These ten Star Wars Force-using Legends characters would be able to laugh off assaults from anyone in canon.
Grand Master Luke Skywalker
Grand Master Luke Skywalker is basically Luke’s final form. In Legends, Luke spent decades relearning the teachings of the old Jedi, mastering as many esoteric Force powers as possible, and becoming the deadliest lightsaber combatant ever. To challenge Grand Master Luke Skywalker was to challenge death itself, as he became such a skilled warrior that very few could even attempt to challenge him in battle without some major skills of their own. Luke Skywalker in Legends is as over powered as they come, a man with the experience in battle that his canon self could never even imagine.
Grand Master Luke Skywalker has pulled off Force feats that would humble even the most powerful canon character, and he’s basically unparalleled in armed and unarmed conflict. Luke survived everything in Legends and by the time he became the Grand Master of the Jedi Order, he was as wise and powerful as any Jedi ever. Luke really was that good in Legends; even when he was faced with completely overwhelming odds, he always found a way to persevere. There was no quit in the Grand Master, which would make a huge difference in any kind of battle. Even canon Star Wars’ greatest lightsaber combatants would find themselves hard pressed to deal with Luke.
Mara Jade Skywalker
Mara Jade Skywalker was found by Emperor Papatine at a young age. He trained the young woman in the Force and made her one of his Hands — although she thought she was the only one — sending her on missions across the galaxy to consolidate the power of the Empire. She was one of the greatest assassins in the galaxy, her Force and black ops trainings allowing her to think in ways that other Force users just wouldn’t. The death of the Emperor changed her life forever, leaving her with a mental command to kill Luke Skywalker. It would take five years before she was in a position to do so, but Luke’s earnest goodness saw her instead slowly fall in love with him over the years he trained her in the Jedi way. Eventually, the two of them married and became one of the most formidable duos in the galaxy.
What made Mara Jade Skywalker so dangerous wasn’t her Force powers — which always seemed to be on the higher end of average — but her unconventional fighting style and training. Mara was a killer first and foremost; she had trained with every weapon she could get her hands on and was proficient with all of them. She didn’t follow the accepted forms of lightsaber combat, always had a blaster on her, and could use her environment as a weapon against her foes. Mara was ridiculously deadly, to the point where even when she was dying from a wasting disease that completely sapped her strength, she was still one of the deadliest Jedi. Mara Jade Skywalker is in a class all her own, and out of the class of every character in canon.
Kyp Durron
Kyp Durron’s parents spoke out against the Empire, and in the night, the family was arrested and taken to the spice mines of Kessel. Kyp survived when the rest of his family didn’t, eventually meeting Han Solo and Chewbacca when they were sent to Kessel by crime boss/prison administrator Moruth Doole. Kyp showed some remarkable skills and after they all escaped, Han had Luke test Kyp for Force sensitivity. Kyp proved to be one of the most powerful Force talents Luke ever encountered, and the young man began his training. Kyp ran afoul of a Sith ghost, but was able to come back to the Light. He became a powerful and outspoken Jedi Master, but the Yuuzhan Vong War changed him forever. He went from headstrong prodigy to wise Jedi Master, while losing none of his effectiveness in battle.
Kyp Durron was one of the Legends Jedi Order’s greatest Jedi. His raw Force power was on a level that equaled, maybe even exceeded, Luke’s own, and while he wasn’t trained in too many esoteric Force disciplines, he would be powerful enough to master any of them. Kyp honestly didn’t really need any fancy powers, though; with his power levels, even run of the mill Force powers were devastating. Kyp was also an accomplished lightsaber duelist and fighter pilot, making him one of the most deadly Jedi ever. Kyp Durron would run through basically anyone in canon without even knowing that they were there.
Jacen Solo/Darth Caedus
Jacen Solo is the son of Han and Leia Solo. Jacen and his twin sister Jaina were both superlatively powerful in the Force, but Jacen was always the more measured of the two, doing his best to stay on the Light Side and debating the ethics of being a Jedi and using the Force constantly. The Yuuzhan Vong War would change Jacen; he would struggle with how to ethically fight against the invasion. He was captured and tortured by the Old Republic Jedi/secret Sith/Yuuzhan Vong familiar Vergere (it’s a long story), and eventually gained a new understanding of the Force thanks to her twisted teachings. Jacen would leave the Jedi Order after the war and travel the galaxy for five years, learning the ways of the Force from multiple sects and mastering powers beyond any Jedi. He helped fight against the Killiks in the Swarm War, but was much darker than before, something that would culminate a few years later when he decided to become a Sith under the tutelage of Lumiya, eventually becoming Darth Caedus and conquering the galaxy for a short time through some shrewd political maneuvering.
Darth Caedus was a master of the shatterpoint, could flow walk through time (he could only witness events in the past and couldn’t really affect them), could absorb all types of energy, and was a master of killing in every way imaginable. He was powerful on another level, and only the most powerful beings in Legends could hold a candle to him. His Force powers and combat mastery take him far beyond anyone in canon.
Darth Bane
Darth Bane was the most powerful Sith of his generation, joining the Sith Brotherhood and quickly seeing that their methods were antithetical to gaining power in the Dark Side. He went on a quest to commune with the Sith of the past, mastering forgotten powers which allowed him to destroy both the entire Sith Brotherhood and the Jedi Army of Light. Bane then instituted the Rule of Two, finding a young girl named Zannah to become his apprentice. Bane spent the rest of his life mastering the powers of the Sith, excelling at lightsaber combat, rediscovering the path of Sith sorcery and alchemy, and creating the traditions that would eventually lead to Darth Sidious. Bane had an amazing body count of Force using foes, even taking away his use of the thought bomb to destroy the Jedi and Sith armies.
Darth Bane was always on another level. There were some who believed him to be the Sith’ari, the prophesied perfect Sith. Bane was able to win battles that should have killed him, especially when his using his nearly impregnable orbalisk armor. The orbalisks were hard-shelled parasites that fed off Force energy and allowed their wearer to tap into their energies as well. He lost the armor after a battle with the Jedi, but was able to survive the process of removal, which no one had before. In his old age, Bane became less of physical combatant, but his Force powers were greater than ever. Bane in his prime would run through canon, but even later he would be a nearly unstoppable foe.
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Revan
Darth Revan was a Jedi who fought in the Mandalorian Wars four thousand years before the Battle of Yavin. Revan led the forces of the Jedi against the Mandalorians, building a battle-tested army unlike anything the galaxy had ever seen. He and his apprentice Malak began searching the galaxy for Force secrets to help them win and soon embraced the path of the Sith, finding the StarForge of the Rakatan’s Infinite Empire and gaining the ability to create ships from nothing. Revan’s army eventually followed him and Malak to the dark side, and the Sith were reborn. Revan was mindwiped after a battle with a Jedi team led by Bastilla Shan and eventually turned from the dark side, saving the galaxy from Darth Malak, and later battling against the Sith Emperor Vitiate.
Darth Revan was a master of the Light and Dark Side. He was the most formidable Jedi of his generation, and only gained power and skill as the years went by. Revan found himself able to fight off foes who were many times more powerful than him, and while his battle against Vitiate wasn’t technically a win for him personally, it was still an extremely impressive showing before a being who was basically a god of the Dark Side. Revan would hardly be challenged by anyone in canon.
Darth Krayt
Darth Krayt is a long story. He was once a Jedi of the Old Republic named A’Sharad Hett, raised as a Tusken Raider by his father Sharad Hett. A’Sharad Hett fought in the Clone Wars but was captured by advanced elements of the Yuuzhan Vong. Hett was tortured and experimented on by the Vong, and eventually escaped. At some point, he began studying the Dark Side to figure out a way to survive what the Vong did to him and became Darth Krayt, the One Sith, keeping himself hidden from Palpatine, the new Jedi Order, and any other Sith who showed up, creating an army. Krayt became extremely powerful in the dark side, even helping Luke Skywalker defeat Abeloth. Krayt ended up living for well over a century, partly because of the Force, the Vong experiments, and hibernation, and he and the One Sith conquered the galaxy.
Darth Krayt would eventually face death because of his years of using the dark side and the Vong implants, trying anything to find someone who could heal him. Krayt would die, but before then Darth Krayt was especially powerful. Even in his advanced age he could defeat any Dark Side or Light Side Jedi, and was a force of nature in his younger days. As the One Sith, Darth Krayt embodied the powers of the Dark Side for decades. Power and skill like Krayt’s would make him more than a match for any canon foe.
Darth Nihilus
Palpatine said that the dark side of the Force is a path to many powers that some would find unnatural and Darth Nihilus embodied that. Darth Nihilus made himself known to the galaxy during the next phase of the Sith Wars from four thousand years after the Battle of Yavin, restarting the conflict after Revan’s defeat of Malak. Darth Nihilus was known as the Lord of Hunger, using the power of the Dark Side to drain the life from anything in front of him. He’s then able to convert that Force power, making him even more powerful than ever. Darth Nihilus could even drain an entire planet of its Force energy, giving him an insane amount of power.
Darth Nihilus is powerful on his own, and that’s before he even starts to drain the energy from those around him. It’s this power that would allow Nihilus to defeat nearly everyone in canon. Nihilus’s powers are already on a scary level, and the fact that he can get even stronger makes him even more impressive. On top of all of that, he’s also an extremely skilled lightsaber combatant, making any fight against anyone in canon a win for Darth Nihilus.
Sith Emperor Vitiate
The Sith Emperor Vitiate was known as the Immortal Emperor. Millennia ago, he was a member of the Sith species known as Tenebrae, a powerful Force user and conqueror. Eventually, he became known as Darth Vitiate, ruling planets and mastering Dark Side powers that would allow him to keep himself vital by draining the Force energies of others. He mastered the power of essence transfer, and began to jump from body to body, forming a powerful and secret Sith Empire in the shadows of the galaxy. Revan and Malak discovered Vitiate’s empire, which is partly why they formed their own Sith army to combat his. Vitiate was a master of the Dark Side unlike any other, using the Dark Side in unimaginable ways.
Vitiate’s power level makes him possibly the most powerful Sith of all time and probably the second most powerful Force user in Legends. Vitiate lived for millennia, and during that time he mastered the arts of the Dark Side and combat to an unfathomable extent. Vitiate is ridiculously powerful, and would ice entire sections of the canon Jedi Order in combat all by himself.
Abeloth
Abeloth is the most powerful Force user in Legends and it’s not even close. She’s basically the embodiment of the Dark Side of the Force and is related to the Ones of Star Wars: The Clone Wars fame. She became the fourth member of the group, the Mother, but as she was a mortal she would eventually die. She drank from Fount of Power and bathed in the Pool of Knowledge, becoming a Force god in the realm called Beyond Shadows, which could be reached through the black holes of the Maw. Abeloth eventually escaped the Maw, and began to jump from body to body, using her Force powers and a heretofore hidden sect of Sith as an army and nearly destroying Coruscant and the Jedi Order. Abeloth was a foe beyond just about anyone, and Luke Skywalker and Darth Krayt were barely able to defeat her.
Abeloth has Force power on the next level. Her ability to control minds allowed her to suborn enemies on a grand scale. She never used a lightsaber, her Force powers allowing her to take on groups of Jedi and Sith at once. Abeloth is a Force god, and even if every Force user in canon came after her, it’s doubtful they’d be able to defeat her; they’d probably just become a part of her army.
