Jaro Tapal

Master Jaro Tapal (ジャロ・タパル, Jaro Taparu), is fictional character and tritagonist of the Star Wars series created by George Lucas. He was a Lasat Jedi Master during the Clone Wars, the master of Padawan Cal Kestis, and commander of the 13th Battalion.

He served the Republic with distinction as a General in the Grand Army. Adhering to a firm and disciplined doctrine, he mentored Cal, in the ways of the Force. In the Bracca campaign aftermath, they were betrayed by the Battalion's clone troopers during Order 66.

Although he was mortally wounded while attempting to escape to Bracca, Jaro managed to get Cal to safety. Before dying, he urged Cal to hold the line, await the Council's signal, and to trust only in the Force. Jaro's death haunted Cal for years.

Cal, who kept his master's lightsaber, vowed to honor both his teachings and sacrifice as he set out to restore the Jedi Order during the reign of the Galactic Empire.

"This… war is not over, my Padawan. Hold the line. Wait for the Jedi Council's signal. Remember… Trust only… In the Force."
 * —Commander Oda.

Appearance & Biography

 * Voice Actor: Travis Willingham (English), Jiro Saito (Japanese), Not Known (Arabic), Not Known (Basque), Not Known (Brazilian), Not Known (Cantonese), Not Known (Catalan), Not Known (Chinese), Not Known (Croatian), Not Known (Danish), Not Known (Dutch), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (Filipino), Not Known (French), Not Known (Galician), Not Known (German), Not Known (Greek), Not Known (Hebrew), Not Known (Hong Kong), Not Known (Hungarian), Not Known (Indonesian), Not Known (Italian), Not Known (Korean), Not Known (Mandarin), Not Known (Norwegian), Not Known (Polish), Not Known (Portuguese), Not Known (Romanian), Not Known (Russian), Not Known (Serbian), Not Known (Spanish), Not Known (Swedish), Not Known (Tagalog), Not Known (Thai), Not Known (Valencian), Not Known (Ukrainian), Not Known (Brazilian Portuguese), Not Known (Canadian French), Not Known (European Spanish), Not Known (European Portuguese), Not Known (Latin American Spanish), Not Known (Latin Spanish), Not Known (Spain-Spanish)

Appearance
Jaro Tapal was an imposing Lasat male with gray hair, green eyes, and purple skin.


 * Hair Color: Gray
 * Skin Color: Purple
 * Eye Color: Green
 * Age: Not Known (Deceased)
 * Birthday: Not Known
 * Height: Not Known
 * Weight: Not Known

Personality
"He was a true guardian of the Republic." "He was a hero."
 * —Cere Junda and Cal Kestis, remembering Jaro Tapal.

Having served as a member of the Jedi Order, Jaro adhered to a firm and disciplined doctrine, the tenets of which he imparted to his apprentice Cal Kestis through their training sessions together. He participated in the Clone Wars as a general and defender of the Republic, noting that while the Jedi did not seek aggression, they would stand against it.

He also trusted in the will of the Force; with his dying breath, he told Cal to trust the Force also. Among his troops, Jaro was not known for his patience. Shortly before Order 66, the clones that Cal passed on his way to the training area advised the Padawan to not keep his Master waiting for long. During their sessions together, Jaro was not displeased by Cal's mistakes, even when Cal himself began to feel discouraged.

Instead, he taught his apprentice to embrace his failure and learn from it, and to not be weighed down by ego or pretense. Persistence was a trait that Jaro valued, and as such, he encouraged Cal to keep persisting until he achieved success in his trials. As a Jedi, he believed it was important to let go of what one feared to lose in order to rise above their fear.

Abilities and Powers
"The Force is there to shield us. The obstacles in your path define the path. What stands in the way becomes the way."
 * —Master Jaro Tapal, to Cal Kestis.

As a Force-sensitive, Jaro Tapal was skilled in the use of various force powers, particularly telekinesis. During the execution of Order 66, Jaro relied heavily on his telekinetic abilities, using the Force to levitate and incapacitate multiple clone troopers at the same time. Even when wounded by several blaster shots to the torso, he was still able to call on the power of the Force, lifting three clones and slamming them into the ceiling. His connection to that mysterious energy field allowed him to sense a great disturbance in the Force, enabling Jaro to kill the clone commander that attempted shoot the Jedi Master from behind.

As a Lasat, Jaro was also physically strong and durable, managing to subdue several of his former troops with simple kicks or headbutts and was not killed immediately after being struck by an albeit-fatal barrage of blaster shots, notably shrugging off the first of these wounds like it was nothing.

In addition, he was well trained in the art of lightsaber combat, particularly the use of a double-bladed lightsaber. He used his lightsaber with deadly purpose while defending himself and his apprentice, and succeeded in killing numerous troopers on his own before a group of clones managed to overwhelm him with blaster fire.

Clone Wars
During the final years of the Galactic Republic, Jedi Master Jaro Tapal served in the Grand Army of the Republic—holding the military rank of Jedi General—as commanding officer of the 13th Battalion. In addition to his military responsibilities, Jaro found time to continue the training of his Padawan, Cal Kestis, while away from the Jedi Temple on Coruscant.

Order 66
Jaro and Cal served together in the Clone Wars until 19 BBY when, in the aftermath of the Bracca campaign, Order 66 was communicated to the clone troopers by the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, who declared that all Jedi were enemies of the state. However, Jaro sensed the impending betrayal and was able to kill the Commander Oda by his side, protecting both himself and his apprentice. Realizing the other clones had turned against them as well, Jaro decided to evacuate his Venator-class Star Destroyer with Cal.

They made their way to the escape pods, with Jaro killing multiple clone troopers along the way and sabotaging the Star Destroyer's reactor, but the remaining soldiers managed to overwhelm and mortally wound the general. Nevertheless, Jaro was able to save his apprentice's life before they escaped. In Jaro's last moments, he informed Cal that he had sabotaged the reactor to cover their escape before he passed his damaged lightsaber to Kestis, believing he would need it as the war was far from over. With his dying breath, Jaro told Cal to wait for a signal from the Jedi High Council, unaware that it was nearly defunct, and to trust only in the Force.

Legacy
"Master. I will never forget. The loss has become a part of me. I will honor your teaching. And your sacrifice." "Remember. Persistence reveals the path."
 * —Cal Kestis and an apparition of Jaro Tapal.

He was remembered years after his death. Though traumatized by the horrifying experience of Order 66 and haunted by the memory of his slain Master, Cal regarded Jaro as a hero. The former Jedi Cere Junda, whom Jaro had known before Order 66, also held him in high regard, praising him as a true guardian of the Galactic Republic.

By 14 BBY, both the Jedi Order and the Republic that Jaro served had fallen, replaced by the rule of the Sith through the Galactic Empire. Although Cal kept his deceased Master's lightsaber, he hid his true identity in order to avoid becoming another victim of the Great Jedi Purge. With the help of Cere Junda, who became a new Master to Cal, the Padawan was able to move on from his self-imposed exile on Bracca, embarking on a secret mission to restore the Jedi Order.

Over the course of Cal's journey, memories of his time as Jaro's pupil began to resurface, helping Cal to remember various techniques as he re-awakened his connection to the Force. During his mission on Dathomir, an apparition of Tapal appeared to Cal, calling the former Padawan a weak and failed apprentice. But after forging a new lightsaber on Ilum, Cal confronted his fears in the form of his dead Master, and finally managed to put the tragedy of his past behind him. Yet he also vowed to never forget Jaro Tapal, whose teachings Cal would honor as he moved forward to find his own destiny.