So I'm sure this question has been asked many times before, albeit not for many years, but I saw this thread on Lucas Forums - but I can't reply because after a month and three messages, I still haven't gotten a registration email!

Therefore, you all are the victims of my frustration.

As I see it, there are several things to consider when picking who you
think the most powerful Force-user could be.

1. Indirect Power - i.e. Military/economic/political. I'd say Revan takes top spot here. Charismatic and brilliant, he's basically Thrawn with Force powers. Palpatine's a close second, because of his skillful political manipulations, plus the war machine of the Empire he ruled. After that comes Darth Krayt, simply because of the Imperial military he controlled. Next comes Lord Hoth, because he built a massive Jedi army to take on the Brotherhood of Darkness and led them to victory.

2. Skill with the Force - How many things can they actually do? I'd have to say Jacen Solo/Darth Caedus. He had training from several sects: Jedi, Sith, Aing-Tii, Fallanassi, Theran Listeners, etc., and demonstrated several amazing abilities, including long-distance eavesdropping, timedrifting, amazing precognition, Sith battle meditation, Force obscurity, etc. Of course, after he became a Sith, he grew stupid and stopped using a lot of those powers.

3. Potential Force Power - How much potential does he have, for example, midi-chlorians? Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, of course, has the highest midi-chlorian count ever, and Lucas has stated Luke has the same amount. Of course, Kyp Durron was demonstrated as having more potential than Leia (and presumably Luke her twin) in "Jedi Search", but I'm not sure how valid that is, since Luke and Anakin were supposed to, in Lucas canon, be the most potent.

Also, Jaina and Jacen have at least Leia/Luke's potential, and Zekk and Anakin Solo have been demonstrated as having more potential than the twins. So it's kinda murky. Yoda, of course, is pretty high on the list, too.

4. Demonstrated Force Power - How BIG are his powers? Bastila was so good at Battle Meditation she outstripped her masters and could lead entire fleets to victory.

Darth Nihilus was effectively an immortal spirit in the shell of his armor and was able to wipe out all life on a planet of Force-sensitives which included a council of nearly all the Jedi Masters in the galaxy. He was only defeated when the Exile confronted him, whose unique "hole in the Force" status meant there was nothing in her he could absorb.

Palpatine in Dark Empire had his Force storms, vast storms of energy (sometimes said to be dark side power, sometimes side to be hyperspatial energies) that effortlessly wiped out star fleets. Darth Plagueis could supposedly create life and make people immortal. Exar Kun survived for 4000 years; the Sith Emperor for half that long at least.

Galen Marek telekinetically moved a crashing Star Destroyer. Qui-gon Jinn discovered how to live as a spirit beyond death. Luke Skywalker has the most impressive list of accomplishments far beyond anyone else, however. Look at star wars wikia for it. However, no single one of them outdoes the others in this paragraph.

5. Lightsaber Skills - Yoda, Mace Windu, Palpatine, and Luke Skywalker probably head this list. Palpatine was able to pretty effortlessly strike three or four Jedi Masters with his saber, where Mace Windu and Yoda were able to match him. Luke skywalker, in his later years as a Jedi Master, has done some pretty darn impressive things with a lightsaber, particularly if you look at the NJO era and beyond.

Also on this list would be Galen Marek, Kyle Katarn, and Darth Revan, though how they compare to the first four I don't know.

6. Accomplishments - Power, skill, resources, and such are all fine and dandy, but maybe it's what you actually achieve that matters. Luke Skywalker, Darth Revan, Lord Hoth, Darth Bane, and Darth Sidious shine here.

Luke, of course single-handedly rebuilt the Jedi Order and fought off multiple threats to the galaxy. Again, see his list of accomplishments at Wookieepedia.

Revan was singlehandedly responsible for unifying the Republic fleet and pwning the Mandalorians. Hoth defeated the Brotherhood of Darkness with an army he raised and led himself.

Darth Bane re-established the Sith Order that lasted for a thousand years and succeeded in his stated long-term goal of overthrowing the Jedi and the Republic. Of course, it was Palpatine who actually achieved the goal and ruled over the mightiest war machine in galactic history for two decades; plus, he ruled over the entire galaxy, as opposed to the ancient Sith empire.

7. Writer Bias - It must also be taken in consideration that different writers have different views. As far as George Lucas is concerned, no one outstrips Anakin and Luke. Writers such as Dave Wolverton, Tom Veitch, Kevin J. Anderson, and whoever wrote "The Force Unleashed" have the opinion that the Force is just that powerful; it's less the power of the particular person, and more the power of the Force that any Force-user could tap into. Timothy Zahn and Michael Stackpole, on the other hand, consider the Force more subtle.

A final note - nearly all the greatest Force powers are always attributed to "ancient" Jedi and Sith. It's never the villain or hero of the day that developed it. Sever Force and Battle Meditation, two of the Jedi Order's greatest tools? In "Golden Age of the Sith" and "The Sith War", the earliest recorded uses of those abilities, they are referred to as ancient techniques.

The thought bomb? Kaan got it from Bane who got it from Revan who got it from an unnamed ancient source. Nihilus learned his Force-draining abilities from Kreia, who presented them as an ancient Sith technique. Sith alchemy? Originally developed by the Jedi Exiles who became the Dark Lords of the Sith, who are by and large unnamed and undeveloped.

The exceptions are Plagueis (who himself discovered the secret of life) and Palpatine (who himself developed Force storms).

Now that my rambling overanalysis is through - what do you think? Is it a Sith? A Jedi? Or am I completely bonkers?

Well, I won't dispute the last one.

You know, even though I'm not as anti-EU as I used to be, on this question I only take the movies into account. Thought Bomb started to border on the "oh God, is Star Wars really turning into full-fledged DBZ" thing and Starkiller finally broke the camel's back. Why use even just a little bit of creativity when you can just do handjobs for a big bunch of fanboys? (Money)

So I went with Anakin. He was supposed to be much much more powerful than Palpatine but after not taking THE HIGH GROUND into account he only ended up 80% as powerful as him. And after all, I also think that the Star Wars films are ultimately the story of Anakin.

Then again, I guess I should have chosen Luke because he actually retained the power instead of getting barbecued. Huh.

But if I really had to choose some EU character it'd be Revan.

I wish the EU and other sources didn't make The Force into a sort of superpower-gene. I always liked to think about it as a way of "knowing" the nature of things, and thus being able to manipulate the "will" of anything, including objects as well as people both physically and mentally. The cascade of lightening from Palpatine's fingers seemed more of a manifestation of the Sith's wrath, and not exactly a distinct power. In that sense, I'd say Luke makes the largest force of will to kill his father and withstand the temptation of the dark side.

Bane. Even with the thought bomb excluded(because it was retarded), I think he takes the cake, from ability to manipulate others to skill with a lightsaber to skill in wielding the force.

omg

NERDS!!!! They're everywhere!

Honestly, if you came to Massassi looking to get away from nerds, you're in the wrong place.

I'm fairly certain no one read my lengthy dissertation... not that I can blame them.

I skimmed it, but being unfamiliar with anything beyond the movies I discarded most of it.

Anyone who says Corran Horn is getting slapped.

I answered other because it's my dick

Admiral Ackbar.

Why? Because I ****ing said so.

Batman.

Maybe I should pick up all these post-NJO books with Jacen Solo going bat**** in them.

KYLE KATARN.

Seriously? Force powerwise with knowledge behind it? Luke or Jacen.

Revan was power. It was like staring into the heart of the Force.

Kreia said it best

dark side users obviously, with the exception of Luke when he found that travelling force planet and discovered the uber force, or some sh**.

3 nominees:

Palpatine, especially after he came back after RotJ. Force storm? bloody hell

Exar Kun - just heard of him being ridiculously powerful

erm, cant remember his name now, one of the ancient sith lords during the hyperspace war. He made a star go supernova using sith magic/power. that gives me wood.

if(getThingFlags(source) & 0x8){
  do her}
elseif(getThingFlags(source) & 0x4){
  do other babe}
else{
  do a dude}

That would be Naga Sadow, Ruthy

Based solely on the movies I would say Sidious.
-kept everyone in the dark about his identity (ie Jedi council in its prime)
-amassed two armies essentially under his control
-masterminded the death star
-orchestrated the entire clone wars
-dominated the galaxy in a matter of what seemed to be a week give or take
-kicked yodas ass in a saber battle (this part surprised me completely)
-converted the most powerful Jedi in existence to the dark side

Now yes I know some say mace whooped his ass but I honestly think it was staged in order for anakin to take that first plunge into the dark side. Being as powerful as he was, I'm sure he had foreseen the whole scenario beforehand. I usually pick Jedi over sith any day of the week but I really have to hand it to Sidious on being badass and not just a crippled old man.

Yeah, I think the fight with Mace Windu was a combination of getting his ass kicked and manipulating Anakin.

These are examples of extreme power being attributed to them without being demonstrated. Don't get me wrong, both demonstrated great power and skill and were among the finest Sith in history, BUT compared to Naga Sadow who can blow up stars and Palpatine who can destroy fleets just by getting worked up, it's not much.

For those who read DE, Palpatine was defeated by Luke, Leia, and the unborn Anakin Solo uniting in a "wall of light" or "sever Force" deal. But for Exar Kun, it took ALL the Jedi to sever him. On the other hand, he was drawing on the powers of all the Massassi at the same time, as well as had those Sith temples on Yavin 4 which were stated to focus dark side power into him/the world.

Kun was a master of lightsaber combat. He wielded a saberstaff with which he destroyed his own former Jedi Master in combat in the very Senate itself - his "Sith hypnosis" having instantly paralyzed the entire room except for the Jedi. He had a Sith amulet which could fire blasts of pure dark side energy, which he used to annihilate a gigantic beast. He was able to, with the help of Kyp Durron, telekinetically draw the Sun Crusher out of the gas giant Yavin. He resisted the attempt by Odan-Urr (one of the greatest Jedi Masters in history, who lived longer than Yoda and whose commentary on the Jedi Code was still studied in the PT timeframe) to sever him, and instead killed the old Master.

So he does have quite an impressive list of accomplishments.

I refuse to vote on this poll because it includes all these bull**** EU characters like Kyp Durron.

Going by the movies, I'd say Yoda.

**** i'm glad i stopped reading star wars fiction when i did because it clearly became a load of total jerkoff bull****

I was not a big fan of NJO (so much that I never read the last 5 books, though I keep meaning to go back and do it), and Legacy of the Force was often painful, despite the many good ideas in it. Dark Nest Trilogy was decent, and I really the Legacy comics.

Something I've noticed is that in the past few years, SW books have gone back and explored mysteries and things otherwise untouched or forgotten.

In Crosscurrent, they have a tie-in with the Great Hyperspace War led by Naga Sadow and insane clones of various Jedi and dark Jedi.

In Fate of the Jedi, they are finally delving into the mystery of the Maw cluster.

Basically they've started becoming more integrated, which I like. Honestly, I'm waiting to see how the big three - Luke, Leia, and Han - go out, because they're all getting older, and we know they're all gone by the time of Legacy. We've already had Chewbacca, Anakin Solo, Mara Jade, and Jacen be killed - who's next?

I voted Darth Vader because...well, he's Darth Vader. I also never began any of the NJO books...so I really don't know who a lot of these characters are. I pretty much stopped reading Star Wars books after the Young Jedi Knight series (I enjoyed them, but then got side tracked into other genres and such) but this thread has got me interested in maybe picking up where I left off!

Yoda because suck my ****.

They're working on a Plagius and a Nomi Sunrider book. I've been reading through NJO again since January and I've got two left. Then I can finally read Conviction... I wanted to see how long NJO would take to read and its gonna be able 7 months with taking my time.

Nomi Sunrider? AWESOME! I knew about the Plagueis novel, which I am slavering over, but there is also a Revan novel coming out, written by Drew Karpyshyn, who wrote the Darth Bane novels and was a writer on KotOR. It's supposed to reveal, among other things, his final fate.

Of the Plagueis and Revan novels, one comes out December 2011, the other 2012, but I can't remember which.

If Jerec got the full power of the Valley then he would be number 1

Definitely, without a doubt. But that would be true of ANYONE who got it. Heck, in the game IIRC, Rahn talks about the ability to snuff out stars with a thought. That's some heavy juice.

you can't really attach any weight to these relative power levels, though. it's easy to say that about jerec, because it's just you saying it. snuff out stars with a thought? haven't there been descriptions of other dudes doing that in this very thread? it's all such BS. I went and skimmed (and the skimming took 15 minutes) the Luke Skywalker article on wookiepedia. it's like ****ing 50 pages long, full of superlative descriptions of how each successive author tried to top the previous in the 'how much raw power luke wielded and melded into a pure light-thought-force-bubble-wave-wall-beam-aura as he transcended even our previously set highest expectations for JUST HOW completely over-the-top his power could be, nyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaangnnghh"

i understand the subconscious draw of creating these hierarchies, i feel the pull of it. i used to sometimes get slightly obsessive compulsive about trying to learn the final definitive listing of best guitarists ever, or whatever, and it's just a compulsion based on nonsense.

sorry sorry sorry for ranting.

I find this pissing contest to be equally as retarded as when people would try to compare DBZ characters back in junior high. There is no quantitative scale except for midichlorians which is ****ing stupid, it's all described with hyperbole so you never really know.

That being said, Luke's "supposed" to be the most powerful force user but he's a pussy so he never uses it.

i almost pooped myself. the darth bane novels are my favorite! and i had no idea he was doing a Revan one!!!

Jerec had some cool abilites tho, like what he did to Rahn in the intro cutscene

C'mon, tell us what you really feel.

No, I completely understand.

[QUOTE=Darth Alran]i almost pooped myself. the darth bane novels are my favorite! and i had no idea he was doing a Revan one!!! [/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Darth Alran]i almost pooped myself.[/QUOTE]

Um, I'm sorry about that?

I always thought that was supposed to be Force Destruction, just with better special effects.