Cal Kestis was introduced as a Padawan refugee inStar Wars Jedi: Fallen Orderand swiftly became a knight-errant in an era bereft of his kind byStar Wars Jedi: Survivor. Cal may either have to willingly choose to retire his lightsaber or fall in battle by the time credits roll inStar Wars Jedi’s third and final chapter, and unless something truly dramatic occurs in this upcoming entry it appears as if Cal has nowhere left for possible character development to meaningfully take him.
Turning to the dark side of the Force like so many whom he’s come across and cut down wouldn’t be too surprising given the fact that he’s let his grief slip into particularly violent bouts, but doing so for the sake of shock value in what is likely to be Cal’s last appearance would be a waste of all the benevolence he’s exhibited to this point. Indeed, who Cal has decided to kill and how he had come to those decisions was not on a whim. Rather, betweenStar Wars Jedi: Fallen OrderandStar Wars Jedi: Survivor, Cal has stayed his hand as often as he could and gave swift deaths to those who’d seek no other mercy.
Cal Kestis Doesn’t Kill Any Key Characters in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order’s Narrative Beats
Cal obviously dismembers and slays countlessstormtroopers, Purge Troopers, bounty hunters, droids, and the like inFallen Order. But, when it comes to antagonists fought in a scripted story beat or cutscene, he never lands a killing blow—whether that’s for a lack of trying or not.
Cal’s indiscrimination when it comes to killing faceless foot soldiers of the Galactic Empire suggests that he would’ve had no problem killing Taron Malicos, for instance, and yet Respawn doesn’t have him kill any story-related antagonist or has someone else or some circumstance interrupt the fight before Cal can. Perhaps this was a conscious decision made to preserve Cal’s youthful innocence, and certainly his morality, since the last time he brandished a lightsaber beforePrauf’s death on Braccawas presumably when he was attacked as a Padawan during the Jedi Purge.
Cal cuts the Ninth Sister’s hand off on Kashyyyk but Force-pushes her from the boss arena platform and that’s the last players see of her before she becomes the tutorial boss fight inSurvivoron Coruscant;Malicos is buried alive by Merrin on Dathomir; and Trilla Suduri is killed by Darth Vader in Nur’s Fortress Inquisitorius.
Cal Kestis Kills Often in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, But Only Out of Mercy, Honor, or Necessity
Cal now being shown to kill his enemies in scripted narrative moments reinforces that he isno longer an 18-year-old Padawan refugee but a fully-fledged Jedi Knight in his early 20swho has experienced enough fighting and loss for a lifetime. Cal has all the motivation he may need for wanting to cut down the Ninth Sister after her arrival causes the deaths of all of Cal’s new crew minus Bode Akuna.
Yet, when he knows he’s bested her, he grants her a mercy killing as he understands—or believes—that Masana Tide is too far gone and full of the dark side’s rage to be reformed following years of abuse and manipulation at the hands of the Empire. Cal tries appealing to theNinth Sister’s past and calls her by her real name, but her unbridled rage is apparently indicative of her inability to reform in the same way that Trilla does in her final moments.
This is at least wishful thinking seeing as how Trilla was able to show a sign of rehabilitation from her Inquisitor brainwashing in her last moments alive; therefore, it’s arguable that Cal didn’t need to put Masana down and did so anyway.
Cal’s conviction in choosing to kill these characters is not callous. Instead, he is either avenging others and bringing a villain to justice, putting someone out of their misery, or honoring their wishes to be slain in battle. The only time Cal is about to kill someone with selfish or malicious intent is when he’s willing to asphyxiate Denvik—whose actions also resulted in the death of Cal’s close ones—with a Force choke before Merrin talks him down.
EvenCaij Vanda, who Cal defends himself against once he learns she had him take out bounty hunters so her competition wasn’t steep, is given a chance to surrender before Boba Fett intervenes. If the thirdStar Wars Jedigame tests Cal with any more losses it could become not only a repetitive plot device Respawn has employed too consistently but also cement the idea that he’s pushed to his limits and unable to fully resist the dark side of the Force himself. Either way, it is unsurprising why Cal’s willingness to kill his foes has become such a natural and reasonable conviction, and the fact that he does normally give every foe a chance to surrender is a testament to how composed he still is as a character amid so much distress.
As Cal states inFallen Order, the Jedi were “peacekeepers” and he is a stalwart beacon of that regardless of the Order being vanquished. The final databank lore entry for Cal inSurvivor, titled ‘Legacy,’ is the surest sign that he’ll continue to be stalwart in hispath on the light side of the Force: “Cal makes a vow that he will honor Cere’s legacy by rebuilding the Jedi archive and protecting the Hidden Path on Tanalorr.”
