As the son of two powerful and famous Force-users, Skywalker was very strong in the Force from the moment of his birth. Although his growth was hindered by his withdrawal from the Force after the Yuuzhan Vong War, he was able to become a talented Force-user. Skywalker was able to disappear in the Force, a rare power that was taught to him by Jacen Solo, a power which he later taught to his mother. He also learned how to flow-walk, but after an unpleasant experience using the power, he vowed never to flow-walk again. Along with being very strong with the Force, Skywalker was a quick study; he learned to flow-walk in a short time and was able to master sniping within hours. Skywalker was also skilled in telepathy and was talented in reading a person's intentions through the Force. Skywalker, much like his grandfather, was very skilled with machines from a young age and was also a skilled pilot.
Skywalker was skilled with stealth and infiltration, being able to evade detection on Centerpoint Station and inconspicuously reaching the Amulet of Kalara's case. Skywalker was also good with reasoning and logic, something that impressed his father during some of their dialogues, and was able to convince Anakin Sal-Solo that he was actually a droid. Skywalker was gifted with an uncanny ability to remember things he had seen or heard in near perfect detail.
Despite his natural talent with the Force, Skywalker's ability with a lightsaber was rather lacking due to never having properly trained in a Jedi Academy; during their sparring match in the Jedi Temple Skywalker was not able to make his father activate his lightsaber, and his father surmised that he had seen Rontos (Jedi students who were mostly between the ages of eight and ten years old) who were better with a lightsaber. Skywalker made up for it somewhat with his cunning, and nearly injured his father in the match by pretending to be injured.
Eventually after further training with his father and his own ability to learn quickly, Skywalker was skilled enough with a lightsaber to fight on par with Tahiri Veila, a former Jedi Knight and current Sith apprentice, during the Battle on Sheddu Maad. During the duel he convinced Veila that she wasn't a true Sith and to turn herself into the Jedi Order.
Two years later Ben would accompany his father into exile. Eventually the Lost Tribe of Sith sent out a strike team to kill the Jedi Grand Master. One of the Sith threw a parang at Luke, who managed to dodge it. Ben attacked the female Sith, slicing off her hand and stabbing her with his lightsaber. Luke and Ben continued to fight through approximately fifteen Sith and managed to escape, leaving only Vestara alive, so Luke could track her with a Blood Trail.
After following Vestara to Dathomir, the Skywalkers were again attacked by the Sith. Luke dueled Sith Lord Viun Gaalan while Ben, with the assistance of Dyon Stadd, fought three Sith Sabers. Ben rushed toward one of the Sith then suddenly switched directions and the Sith was caught off-balance and dropped his lightsaber, allowing Stadd to shoot and kill the Sith. Gaalan's aide began dueling with Ben. Stadd threw dirt into the face of Ben's opponent and Ben quickly cleaved her in two at the waist before moving to attack the third Sith Saber. Stadd fired on the last surviving Saber, who deflected the shot toward the young Skywalker, who in turn deflected it back at the Saber. The bolt hit her wrist, and as she staggered back, Stadd shot her in the gut and Skywalker decapitated her simultaneously. Gaalan, who was starting to lose, used the arrival of Vestara Khai to escape from the elder Skywalker.
Eventually Luke and his son Ben allied with the Lost Tribe of Sith to confront the entity known as Abeloth. During the confrontation, Luke and several Sith fought Abeloth together. During the battle Vestara was injured and Ben stopped to help her. The Sith betrayed the Skywalkers and began to fight Luke as well as Abeloth. Ben leaped away and attacked Gavar Khai from behind, knocking him off balance. Ben quickly pressed the attack on Gavar, furious at the Sith's betrayal, but Gavar's counterattack slashed through his tunic, grazing the flesh beneath. As Gavar continued his onslaught, Ben allowed his anger to make him reckless, and he was again forced to leap away from Gavar's stroke.
Gavar urged the young Jedi to use his anger and hate against him, but this had an adverse effect, serving only to calm Ben. As the two continued to duel, Ben renewed his attack on Gavar, pressing the Sith Saber back and causing Gavar to worry that he might not win their duel. Suddenly, however, Abeloth released a giant shock wave, hurling aside all of the Jedi and Sith present and headed for the tunnel where she was defeated by Luke.
The Skywalkers dueled High Lord Sarasu Taalon, Sith Saber Gavar Khai, and Vestara Khai, in order to protect the identity of their relative, Allana Solo. Despite being outnumbered, the Jedi were able to escape.
Abeloth had managed to survive Skywalker's attack and the Sith and the Jedi confronted her again, while she was in the body of Luke's former love Akanah. Sarasu Taalon was convinced by Abeloth to aid her. While Luke engaged Abeloth again, Ben fought Taalon and Vestara. Ben was able to hold them off while his father killed one of Abeloth's bodies. Abeloth returned in Callista's body again, and Taalon captured Ben in a Force net. Vestara, horrified at what Taalon was becoming, killed the High Lord and Abeloth fled before she could be confronted again.
The Skywalkers and Vestara tracked down Abeloth to Nam Chorios. While there the group was confronted by Tola Annax, a Sith Saber, who commanded three other Sabers. Tola had the Sabers attack them and each engaged an enemy in single combat. Ben defeated his opponent, decapitating the Sith, shortly after Luke and Vestara defeated their opponents.
While his father confronted Abeloth again, Ben and Vestara managed to hold off Valin Horn, who had much more experience than either of them. After Luke freed Callista Ming from Abeloth, Ben, Luke, and Vestara were confronted by Tola Annax again. Tola had two-dozen Sith with her and ordered them to attack. Despite the odds the Skywalkers and Vestara managed to hold off the Sith long enough for Vestara to kill a Tsil, allowing them to escape.
While looking for the Sith on Dromund Kaas, Luke, Ben, Vestara, and Jaina Solo were attacked by ten Sith Sabers led by Gavar Khai. Despite being outnumbered and the Sith powered by Dromund Kaas' Dark Side Force Nexus, the Jedi and Vestara fought them. Ben defeated three Sith by himself, as Luke and Jaina defeated six, and Vestara killed her father.
During the mission to oust the Lost Tribe from Coruscant, Ben displayed talent in unarmed combat by defeating several of High Lord Workan's subordinates. In the same confrontation, Ben used his considerable abilities as a marksman to kill the High Lord. When infiltrating the Jedi Temple, Ben defeated numerous Sith despite being heavily outnumbered. He also teamed up with Vestara Khai one last time to kill Abeloth's Korelei avatar, using telekinesis to stab the entity in the neck with a shikkar.
Katarn was adept at using a variety of weapons. His training at the Imperial Academy gave him great skill in using Imperial weapons. This training, along with a natural intuition, allowed him to effectively use every weapon he came across in his travels.
Despite being almost completely self-trained, Katarn became one of the New Jedi Order's most respected Jedi Masters. With relatively little lightsaber combat training, Katarn defeated seven trained Dark Jedi: Yun, Gorc, Pic, Maw, Sariss, Boc, and then Jerec himself—an amazing accomplishment for the neophyte he was at the time. However, it should be noted that Katarn did learn many techniques from the spirits of Qu Rahn and the ancient Jedi Tal in the Valley of the Jedi, such as the Flowing Water cut and the Falling Leaf attack. Katarn was a master of the fifth form of lightsaber combat Djem So.
Despite knowing the dangers of the dark side, Katarn utilized the dark powers of Force grip and Force lightning even as a Jedi Master. In spite of this, he was equally strong in light-side Force powers, such as Force absorb and Force protection, which he demonstrated during his mission with Jaden.
During the events led by Desann, Katarn showed mastery of the Force by relearning powers of both the light and dark side of the Force in a relatively short amount of time. However, it should be noted that Katarn revisited the Valley of the Jedi to quickly restore his connection to the Force, which increased his raw Force potential as a side-effect. Katarn showed a strong will, resisting the many taunts and mind tricks Desann used on him in the Yavin temple.
During the events of the Disciples of Ragnos Crisis, Katarn had already become one of the strongest swordsmen in the New Jedi Order and successfully trained Jaden Korr, arguably the most famous hero during those events.
An extraordinary swordsman, Katarn became the New Jedi Order's foremost Battlemaster. His general mastery of the Force was incredible and surpassed all but the strongest Jedi Masters. Even Darth Caedus acknowledged Katarn's abilities, something he rarely did.
Katarn demonstrated a comfortable understanding of Shyriiwook with his old friend Chewbacca, when he and his apprentice Jaden Korr met up with the Wookiee at the Mos Eisley.
Kyle Katarn's preferred weapon was a Bryar pistol that had been given to him by his father. He continued to carry and use it even after becoming a Jedi and obtaining a lightsaber.
Katarn in his mercenary days frequently wore body armor underneath his trademark coat. He was also one of the few non-Mandalorians to own a set Mandalorian Armor, which he recovered when he was captured by Jabba.
Throughout his life, Kyle Katarn wielded at least three lightsabers. The first had a green blade, and originally belonged to Jedi Master Qu Rahn. While journeying to the Valley of the Jedi, this first lightsaber was destroyed by the Dark Jedi, Boc; however, one of the Dark Jedi, Yun, turned from the Dark Side and blocked a death blow to Katarn from Sariss. Yun was killed, and Katarn took Yun's yellow-bladed lightsaber for the rest of his journey through the Valley of the Jedi. This may have been the same blade he later used while training Mara Jade, though at that time it appeared to have a more orange hue. Following the events on Dromund Kaas, Katarn attended the Jedi Praxeum, where he constructed a new blue-bladed lightsaber, which had a longer hilt than most others.
The blue-bladed lightsaber was Kyle's first official lightsaber, as his previous two belonged to other individuals.
And he got his ass trounced every time. Read FotJ: Ben is good for his age, but he's get his sh*t kicked in by TPM Obi Wan, let alone Kyle Katarn. It's also made pretty clear what the NJO power totem is, and Ben is pretty much nothing at this point.
^I think they want to preserve Ben as the young and learning protagonist, typically an underdog, who's still trying to get the hang of things and therefore create stories from that perspective. If they rush his development, he just becomes another Skywalker Force God, and the narrative pathways close. They already have his father for that.
Thanks Scribble!
Oct 26th, 2014 07:35 AM
