Why Starkiller Is So Much More Powerful Than Anyone Else 

Wish there was a R rated movie with Starkiller as the main character

One of my favorite things about Starkiller was what Sam Witwer said about his audition for the role: They had him act out the scene where Starkiller is meditating and assembling his lightsaber, and he was straining and had a painful look on his face, and when they asked Sam why he was doing it like that, Sam said something like “because he’s a Sith and he doesn’t know how to meditate. Vader would never have taught him to meditate properly, so that’s how he would do it.” And I love that understanding of the character.

You forgot to mention that Galen’s power with the force was so great that even as a child Vader mistook him for a fully fledged Jedi master and that his father was rather the Padawan he said something to the extent of “I sense a great power nearby where is your master” to Galen’s father

The simple answer: he was Anakin's apprentice, and Anakin was both a sith traditionalist and the most powerful force user of the time. The sith way is supposed to be that the student outgrow the master and eventually kills him to cement his power. Palpatine abandoned this way, but Anakin embraced it.

Fun Fact: He's the only force user that ever scared Boba Fett to the core. Mostly because of the path of destruction Starkiller left in his wake.

I really like the whole notion of never being taught restraint allowing him to push his powers further into their extremes than would otherwise be possible - or at least likely. Galen brings the idea of utilizing the Force as an extension of themselves to a new level. He incorporates it into everything he does almost all the time. Jedi refrain from using the Force like a tool and even Sith will hide their power for a myriad of reasons. Galen uses the Force like he breathes.

Something that gets overlooked a lot is that Ahsoka Tano, apprentice of Anakin, and Galen Marek, apprentice of Vader became hugely powerful dual-wielders who ended up being not quite Jedi or Sith. Anakin’s apprentice had a more light side slant, and Starkiller had a more dark side slant, but both had an awful lot of similarities, as they were undoubtedly their master’s students. Force potential of course helps, but these were both students of one/two of the strongest Force user(s) of all time.

I’ve heard before that the Force is always seeking balance. I always thought that lore wise Starkiller was so strong because the force needed him to be. He was also raised with no ego, constantly being told he would fail, so his drive was unmatched

As palpatine would say it: The dark side of the force is a pathway to many abilities some considered to be unnatural”

The way he was trained seems to resemble the philosophy of the ancient sith lords, where personal power was their only goal, and it defiantly shows in him

If they made Rey as psychologically broken and emotionally raw as Galen Marek was both before and after cloning, she might have actually been at least a more interesting character and have a logical reasoning to her absurd outbursts of raw, illogical force abilities.

I believe sam wittwer mentioned that while the character was intensely focused on the power, other abilities eluded him because he could never find any sort of peace. Seeing the future, sensing others and even basic meditation were difficult for him and other more passive abilities were outright lost on him because he was never trained on how to explore them. Where other force users were trained to be precise scalpels, he was a grenade, but that was all he knew how to be.

Since,Starkiller embraces neither the light or dark sides that gives him insight on how truly balance both.

Much like with maul, Starkiller was trained to be an assassin, a weapon, not a Sith Lord. That’s why he was so good. He practiced combat, not deeper philosophical concepts. 24/7 experience in fighting will get you really well versed.

Starkiller is the physical embodiment of the most primal force abilities. He would not reach the levels of GM Luke, Yoda, Vader or Sidious in the more eloquent and knowledgeable teachings, but he would of turned out to be the best combatant. The nuclear warhead of the force.

I remember playing the PS2 version of The Force Unleashed, and thinking how cool it was that force repulse eventually caused things in the environment, as well as enemies, to levitate around Starkiller before being blown away. It was kinda disappointing that they didn't do the same for the PS3 version, but they changed a decent amount of the game play between the two versions. Also, its crazy that they really went and made two different versions of the same game for each console

If Disney ever makes a Starkiller movie they will destroy his character, it would only be a good movie if George Lucas or Dave Filoni or both directed it

Starkiller is easily my all time favorite Star Wars character. Hopefully we get to see more of him in the future.

Another reason for his strength in the force that also makes a lot of sense with the Jedi's rule prohibiting marriage is his heritage: both of his parents were Jedi, while those parents themselves were force sensitive children with normal parents. The rule prohibiting marriage makes more sense now as a measure to limit the midi chlorian count in children and prevent the creation of strong force wielder dynasties

Galen is one of my favorite characters from Legends. I think much of his power came from being the product of two Force-sensitives, combined with his training from Darth Vader, and likely his repressed feelings concerning his parents deaths. Vader, reduced as he was, was still the second-strongest being alive until Luke fully came into his own. Starkiller is, I think, a glimpse of what Luke could have been if he gave into the Dark Side, a dark reflection so to speak.

It’s a good point to highlight that the Inquisitors never progressed to their full potential because Vader never wanted to train them to replace him.

Personally? I've always been able to rationalize Starkiller into canon, although I know no one agrees. Vader's suit was designed to be weak against lightning, and Galen used force lightning against him. Sidious let Galen win because he wanted to turn him and when that didn't work, he got back up and killed Galen. As for the Star Destroyer, I would like to mention 2 quotes; "Size matters not" and "the power to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the force." It has always been hinted at that the force has unlimited potential, and even though we haven't seen Vader or Yoda pull in a Star Destroyer, it doesn't mean they aren't capable of it. Anyway, that's just my two cents on Starkiller. I just really like his character and story

I've always thought galens fighting style with its heavy use of the force makes way more sense than the way most jedi/with fight

The Creator said Vader held back against Star Killer everytime.

I look at him like any other prodigy. While yes his parents were both jedi which undoubtedly aided in him being force sensitive. Regardless of race or status you could be born incredibly gifted or not. Look at Vaner Shan for example, he was the son of both Revan and Bastilla Shan, yet he wasn't force sensitve. Palpatine's parent's weren't force sensitive and yet he was and ended up becoming the most post powerful sith lord ever. Some are lucky, some aren't. Galen was lucky.

Starkiller is such a fun character to play in star wars

I personally think the reason he was so powerful was that he was a sith that became a jedi. You see jedi become sith all the time because of the constant temptation of the dark side and all that comes with releasing the restraint that most jedi have. However for a sith to turn jedi would take an incredible amount of mental fortitude and discipline to build restraint and calm when all your life you've been nothing but angry and destructive. this is the source of his power, he mastered both the light and dark so it would make sense that he would be stronger than both. Thank you for listening to my starwars ted talk.

Starkiller isnt overpowered. His parents were Jedis who left the order. Having the genes of 2 force sensitive is very good force-potential wise. Darth Vader needed someone with a strong Potential and connection to the force to become his apprentice, he wouldnt choose some weak creature. Thats why he chose Starkiller and trained him for over 12 years everyday. Vader didnt care for meditation and becoming one with the force, he focused on training him on dark-side abilities and lightsaber combat only. The training droid allowed Starkiller to master all lightsaber forms and when it came to dark side abilities like lightning, it was pretty clear that Starkiller was a natural. Even Sidious was impressed because Starkiller invented the "Sith Seeker" something no Sith ever did. For those who think hes owerpowered: He beat Vader because hes really strong AND because he duelled his master like every day for the past 12 years. He knew every trick and used his speed, agility and a lot of lightning, aka Vaders kryptonite. He didnt win against Sidious. Sidious was testing him, so he could evaluate his Potential, so he could be his new apprentice. Him acting to be beaten was only so he can bring Starkiller back 2 the dark side. But here is why Starkiller is REALLY strong: He resisted the dark side and when Sidious attacked Kota with lightning he selflessly went in between the two and embraced the force for the first time in his life (instead of the dark side). When he went one with the force, Sidious became super scared because Starkiller was able to absorb his lightning. The resulting big explosion killed Starkiller but he succesfully saved his friends, the Rebellion and the reason why he merged one with the force: Juno.

In the first game he gathered the empire's enemies, eventually kickstarting the rebellion. He had a destiny to play a strong role in balancing the Force across the galaxy. I always thought that was why he was so powerful.

When playing the game,I'm glad Starkiller is so OP. A Damn Tragedy He's Not Canon.

Always loved Starkiller, Because he was really the only one I knew of that truly harnessed the force to its peak because he wasn't just using one side of the force but both trained by Jedi and sith he was versed in harnessing the force in ways other force users couldn't or Wouldnt because of their moral standing.

I love how Vader isn't scared of not learning him to restrain his power so he cannot defeat Vader when the time comes, countering what Palpatine did with Vader. (For example making his suit weak against force lightning etc.) Vader always said the force is way stronger than a Deathstar etc. , and trying to make Starkiller as strong as he possibly can without restraining him is a perfect example of Vader at his best.

Playing Starkiller in both Force Unleashed games and DLC made me think how truly gifted Starkiller was. He was taken at the right age to be imprinted on by both Jedi and Sith teachings, the former from his father, Kento, and the latter from his master, Vader. He was trained to use all of his power all the time. He even forced himself to release his restraints on his own time when Vader was busy. I believe the reason he turned back to the light and denounced his Sith training was because of his father's ghost and teachings when he was younger. He tried to get rid of his lineage, but deep down he couldn't. He knew he was better than what Vader taught him to be. If I had control over the canon universe, I would put Galen back into the universe, but in a different time. I would put him long after the events of the sequel trilogy, where he was born force sensitive and had to be a really tough kid to survive in a harsh environment. He'd grow into an unstoppable machine, but learn that killing indiscriminately is inherently wrong. The details would be better worked out if I had the time, but you get the idea.

Starkiller is the second REVAN.

Bro im so glad you made this video. Ive been describing Galen Merrick/ StarKiller to my friends for so long. Def sending this vid out

I like the fact of what you said about Starkiller being the avatar for the Dark Side because of his lack of restraint when using the force. That perspective says a lot and gives more depth to the Force, Light or Dark, as being “living”. I also believe that Vader groomed Starkiller to be as powerful as he was because, as Anakin and the Chosen One, he was denied the opportunities and knowledge HE sought. Also, because of his new limitations, he knew he couldn’t kill Sidious without the help of someone extremely powerful.

Yessss I see starkikler I click

The guy was born from two Jedi masters and then raised by Darth Vader the chosen one born from the force. It makes sense why he’s so powerful.

I got to work in QA for the first Force Unleashed game. When I understood I was going to be testing that game, which was the first real game I was being assigned to test. It blew my mind. The story was great. Fun fact, in the PS2 version. Initially the devs made it so if you switched models for your character, it would carry over inside cutscenes. So you could see Vader or The Emperor kiss Juno at the end. Anyway there were a lot of funny moments where swapping models made the scenes absurd and extremely hilarious. But it was cut out before release. Where I can t recall if you swapped models it would play the OG scene with StarKiller regardless of what you had picked, or it just skipped the cutscene altogether. Sad.

I always thought, If Vader could construct a droid that could mimic lightsaber forms and fighting styles and change their appearance to the force users they mimicked, wouldn’t it of made more sense for Vader to mass batch them? Basically a droid like the infiltrator Terminators in the Terminator franchise, Scouting out enemies and hiding in plain sight using another’s appearance. For example as Obi Wan, could of easily of infiltrated Alderaan and uncovered the rebellion plot from Bale Organa etc. especially cus Vader and Sidious know 100% Obi Wan and Yoda survived, so they could of used their image to gain trust from enemies before finding out their secrets then destroy them.

What made Galen so powerful in his physical and force abilities was the combination of training, study, experimentation, and experiencing both the light and dark sides of the force. As Vader was training Galen under the pretext of dethroning the emperor, Galen had to be in top condition and trained to be at his peak ability. This meant that he could not be crippled or handicapped in any way be it physically, mentally, or psychologically. Vader also had his apprentice study the teachings and techniques of the jedi as well as master all 7 of the main and variant forms of lightsaber swordsmanship. Vader also made him take the jedi trials and with his crossing to the light side was able to become more powerful in his force abilities adding skills such as precognition and foresight into his arsenal. Also, though it was something of a shadow victory, he "fought" all 12 original members of the Jedi Council during the twilight of the republic and clone wars and won each time. So to say that he is a juggernaut and a force to be reckoned with would be very spot on a description to describe the man formerly known as Starkiller.

So Starkiller used 100% of the Force every time he fought his enemies?! Well that explains a lot.

i love it. I love every video from you. It's so detailed so interesting. I always love the star wars universe if u explain it.

I think it’s safe to say that this boy, had felt a lot of pain, but who also experienced a lot of passion and love from his parents, scared and soon controlled he gained so much power. He was probably scarred from seeing death and violence and loss with the confusion fate, being able to control your mind being raised how he was…. It just transformed him into an absolute weapon 💪🏼 I always loved these games for how OP you felt 👌👍

Starkiller = Absolute freak of nature for a force sensitive He may not be Canon but he is head Canon for me

I think this is a very valid explanation. After reading the novel & the comic I too think he’s not all powerful but he’s just very loud. He’s my favorite character and I’d like to see them bring him into canon.

thanks for the insight

I enjoy how the lack of restraint taught to Marek (personally) feels like it comes from Vader having been a fallen Jedi. He understood the "way of the force" as it has its own will, where Sith try to bend the force to their own will. I think Starkiller was probably taught a hybrid closer to, "give yourself to the force and use it for yourself." By completely giving himself to the force, he was able to use maximize his connection the dark side and THEN bend it to his will.

A Vader series is coming after Obi-Wan. Only Character who can stand toe to to w/Vader/Palpatine...Starkiller. I truly hope MUCH of SWTFUI&II makes it into a Vader series? I'd absolutely be over the moon&would absolutely love to see Starkiller made Canonical!

This is a good video breaking down Starkiller’s immense power through no restraint

S.K deserves another run! 👏 lord knows the fanbase could use it EDIT: A show staying true to the game with Sam Witwer at the helm would actually work! He's a massive SW geek and has what it takes

Starkiller is what you get when survival, combat, and enhancing your own power are the only 3 aspects of your life. Then once Vader starts sending him after Jedi he becomes so strong with the dark side to only then learn about his light side and embrace both aspects. Not being held down by sith or Jedi teachings really helps and him pulling that Star destroyer out of the sky still is the coolest use of the force I’ve ever seen.

Focused hate drove his inhabited training over the 20 years. He had nothing but time to push his abilities. Hard to imagine, Vadar tormenting you from an early age. But as you've discussed in prior videos, uninhibited raw power in the force does not make you a powerful force user.

Out of all the force users I've ever seen or read about, this guy is the only one I've ever truly considered a walking calamity. A good chunk of that is probably due in part to me playing both TFU games and getting to experience the carnage firsthand. Still, Galen is truly a damn beast

I think it's a pretty insane feat that in the OG game when Vader went to Galen's home to track down his father, he asked him where his master was as to assume that there were 2 force users here but the other was so much more powerful that Galen's father couldn't be the master. But in fact it was Galen who Vader sensed and he was so powerful at such a young age that Vader killed the troopers who were going to kill young Galen and then took him as his apprentice. That's some unreal potential.

This is an awesome pretty much spot on description😂

My favorite character yes. Dunno if he'd be the MOST powerful, UNLESS, your saying he could or can take on the likes of Abeloth an full powered Luke Skywalker. It was plot he crossed sabers an lighting with Sideous an having raw power likes of Anakin is probably why suit Anakin spared him. Being reminded of himself an all. Don't see any movie made by Disney even remotely being good. They just CAN'T be trusted to turn a controversial even fan favorite Justice even if Disney made an honest attempt to honor his character an source material.. there's just too many that are dead set on ruining this franchise. ONLY way I see a Disney series, show or movie dedicated to Galen an his story is if they follow what made him popular an the character's creators' an those like George Lucas are PERSONALLY involved with considerable control of it. An thus leaving a good chance we'll get something respectable. Gotta admit his Game lore story DOES make him unique. He was very special in his NEVER holding back BUT he easily switched to Lightside when he really wanted to WHILE STILL being a top tier duelist not even Vader or Palps could take lightly lest he do something unexpected to beat him. Like with Vader, apparently, Galen was the finest Padawan, though be it a Sith version, that Anakin EVER made.

Force Unleashed was/is still my Fav Star Wars game! It makes you feel like a Jedi!

I enjoy your videos regarding Star Wars and Marvel. I am curious though what is this music that is playing in the background?

Good explanation.

Would love to see him brought back into canon as an Inquisitor.

Starkiller was largely left to "work it out". as a result he wasn't guided so much as explored. even trained sith are reluctant to delve into things without foreknowledge of the subject but SK was trained simply by reinforcement learning. though not strictly positive or negative per say it basically motivated him to do better. this lack of a rigid training and more of a survival of the fittest approach was far more akin to the sith of old who were vastly more powerful for this very reason. simply put modern sith have the same flaw as modern jedi. they are complacent in their understanding of things and uninterested in exploring or experimenting within the force. while darth plageus and his apprentice seems to have been an exception to this trend to an extent the fact remains, both modern jedi and sith are self limiting. SK however was never told not to experiment or dabble. the irony of this is through the "dark" side he found light. while he may not have understood it consciously SK had actually attained enlightenment IMO. he had come to a point where his attunement to the dark side had been distilled to the TRUE purest aspect of the dark side in cosmic terms. will to live. survival. self preservation. the light and the dark serve the same engine. a cycle of life and death. an engine of perpetual change. the dark disrupts the light not to destroy it but simply to renew it. he did not fear the dark side nor did he see himself as superior per say. despite everything he was relatively humble. always seeking to learn more and better himself. i mean, he even achieved essence transfer (all be it unintentionally). Kota was correct. you cant clone a jedi. BUT you can clone their body. this is exactly what sideous did on exogal in TSWS (and one could make a case that it means a version of SKs story has potential to be canon. unlikely but a thread is there. though TBB did destroy the main cloning facility so...). then, with a body to occupy and a will to protect the one he loves, its not unreasonable to consider that he was able to make his way back from the force. ofc this process would not be smooth nor pleasant as we see him not only struggle with his memories but he seems to have first hand recollection of the other clones as though its taken several tries to get back.

I believe that starkiller after having fought all his battles began to have a lot more time to learn more about the force and learn about other aspects for instance he knew that if he stopped training his strength and power would diminish so I firmly believe that he started to study all àspects of the force focusing on perhaps pioneering new abilities and more

star killer is a beast for sure ! thank you 4 this great vid .

*Luke:* "Is the Dark Side stronger?" *Yoda:* (shamelessly lying as usual) : "No, no."

I would say that his inner conflict as far as a light side and a dark side is what makes him powerful. I think he is a Grey Jedi in a sense. Otherwise besides the explinations in this video how else could he contend with Vader or Palpatine?

Galen is the ultimate force user. No restraints but a heart so pure it couldnt be corrupted even after decades of sith indoctrination

Vader probably reflected on his encounter with Quigon Ginn. Plus Vader’s “training” definitely was boarder line torture and always pushed himself further and further almost to the point of breaking.

I wish they made him canon. Sam Witwer is an OG.

I belive that anakin was in fact the chosen one, bringing balance to the force by purging the majority of the jedi and bringing the dark side back to the forefront. That being said I think that anakin and Palpatine went further than the force had intended and Starkiller was an attempt to rectify this issue. As despite being trained solely in the dark side of the force he was constantly drawn to the light while simultaneously dismantling the darkside forces that he was confronted by.

Great video, just wish it didn't have so much bass in the background, I'm in my car on lunch break watching this in my car and my 12s won't shut up lol

Wished they made force unleashed 3 the physics and using the force was so awesome in part 1 for a 2006 game that's crazy that first mission with darth vader is legendary 🙌

I imagine that no restraint must damage the body in some way. Which when using the dark side would just power him more. During his long training he probably got used to that pain

I want a movie of him so bad

Your voice was just destined to breakdown stories!

Great video. I have a dumb question... the clip of Vader being force pushed through all the walls looks amazing, is it from an animated show or a cutscene from a game? I want to play/watch whatever it's from.

He's the most amazing in the force for sure.. He completely breaks canon. There's no feasible way to have someone of his calibur in the overall publicly known Star Wars universe.

I know that he was strong as hell but he went all out even on just rebels and stromtrupers holy shit dude that is insane 😳

Just finished replaying both unleashed games and it makes me want a 3rd iteration even more

Im still hoping for a spin off about him. Would be such a cool series for sure.

I feel like live action star killer would be one of the best live action starwars characters so far. Like his voice acting , his acting, his love and respect for starwars would honestly be magic

I absolutely love Starkiller, his potential to bring the Star Wars franchise back from the pit is evident.

One thing that really made me like my Boi Galen is because of his implementation of using the force while in combat so flawlessly, whilst other Jedi and sith would just focus on combat and use the force in a brief moment, like losing their lightsaber or to mess with guards (these are not the Droids you are looking for). Galen is a problem because he can either be a problem with both saber and force in combat at the same time or just using his saber skills or his force abilities by themselves in combat.

I think this is one of those times I don't even look for plausible in-universe explanations, because ultimately I don't find them satisfying. Starkiller is beyond OP, and can only exist in the context of being a legends-era video game protagonist.

Because he is Vader's apprentice

What's crazy is Vader had 0 fear facing Starkiller. Starkiller said square up, Vader said bet

That makes a lot of sense. Wish I had read the book & played the game.

When personal power is more important to you than any rules or doctrine, the only limit is how far you're willing to go.

Would love to see Starkiller in live action. The actor is amazing too, so he works well in voice and live action. Just make sure to scale him down to fit the universe haha.

Both of his parents were Jedi, how is that not a very notable lineage? To me, that stands out as a very notable Lineage. What better Lineage would you expect from such a powerful force user?

It’s about time too talk about Starkiller 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

One aspect I'm surprised you didn't cover is the fact that he was a deeply hatefully person with a good heart beneath it all. You mentioned how he tried to repress his light side, but the stories makes it clear that he failed, and I think this definitely helped boost his power. Basically, while definitely not in balance, he didn't purely rely on the dark side, but allowed the himself to feel all aspects of the force , and I would describe him as a grey jedi or more accurately, a grey sith. This, in combination with everything you said helped him fully immerse himself in the force in a way few if any ever could.

Given that Galen was only around 17 during the first game and that he was trained similarly to Maul in that he was trained purely to kill his master's enemies.. Galen couldve been crazy strong if he was given proper training and allowed to reach his full potential, maybe even as strong or stronger than Luke and Anakin.

I still remembered when he drew down the entire starkiller fleet. Kind of made me laugh how insane it was. And also made me realize how insanely powerful this guy truly is compared to the rest

Starkiller will always be my favorite star wars character unlike other games to where you are out classed and far out matched by darth vader the idea that a person can become powerful enough to stand and fight him as an equal will always appeal more to me then running away

I think SK would be a likely candidate for the Grey Jedi. I could most definitely see him as one. What would really be interesting would be to see a return of SK in some fashion, not to fight Sidious, Vader, or the empire, but as a Guardian protector of some kind to Jedi Artifacts, Force users, Knowledge, take your pick. Jedi and Sith alike revered the Guardians. and since I know I haven't seen any of the SWU wield twin sabers the way that SK did in TFU1&2, it would definitely be a sight to behold! Perhaps a "Duel of the Fates" scenario?

I have a headcannon when it comes to the force in legends, i definitely think that a part of his power was that starkiller was naturally strong in the force but no where near the levels of anakin or luke, more on the levels of mace windu but was due to his lack of restraint, and that the force (in legends) is sort of like exercising, whilst Jedi and sith in the modern era meditated (which is what I see as a light jog) and occasionly used their powers with restraint (more like a 400 metre sprint) galens lack of restraint meant that he was doing the force equivalent of a 100 metre sprint but all of the time, meaning that he was growing much stronger much quicker than other force users, I also think this could be a good reason as to why the jedi and sith in legends seem so much more powerful then they do in cannon, especially in the old Republic era, as in war time they showed less restraint and therefore gained more power quicker than their modern day counterparts.

I believe "Starkiller" was supposed to be Luke's last name in the first iteration of SW but then Lucas realized that's not very becoming of a Jedi

I don't recall if it was in the PS2 or PS3/X360 versions. But in the cutsene where Vader finds the boy. When he realizes his potential. I think he either sabers or force chokes the troopers who are witnesses. It is very badass. lol

The music at the end when you were showing merch, is that from the game “Gun”?