After playing through Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and its following sequel Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, you may be shocked to see the power that Starkiller holds in the series.
From tearing down a Star Destroyer to beating both Darth Vader and Darth Sidious in combat, Starkiller flexes his strength multiple times throughout the series.
However, the origins of Starkiller’s powers are covered in obscurity, giving rise to numerous popular theories behind his strength.
Here’s what you need to know about Starkiller’s powers.
Why Is Starkiller So Powerful?
Starkiller’s powers are often believed to have come from his training under The Chosen One, Darth Vader. Whilst traditional Padawans are taught to use the force in small ways, Vader pushed Starkiller to use his abilities full throttle from the start, giving rise to special abilities such as force lightning.
This allowed Starkiller to develop a stronger relationship with the force with a looser grip on his control of it, providing him with abilities that typical Jedi and Sith are unable to tap into.
Beginning from the death of Starkiller’s father Kento Marek, Vader quickly began to push Starkiller into the dark side, growing his powers at unseen rates.
Here are the 5 most popular reasons explaining why Starkiller is so overpowered.
#1 Starkiller’s Training Under Darth Vader
Many believe that the greatest reason for Starkiller’s overpowered nature is due to Vader’s cruel and torturous methods of training.
Darth Vader was not a kind guardian to Starkiller, teaching him to draw on his hate and rage for power, whilst giving him training in only the basics of the force before forcing him to develop his own methods through sparring and brutal tests.
As Darth Vader’s experiment, he was pushed to the extreme to see just how powerful a force user could become. A lack of meditation, philosophy and wisdom was replaced with a lifetime of mastering combat.
This combat training allowed Starkiller to defeat prominent Jedi Masters such as Shaak Ti on Felucia on the orders of his master, Lord Vader.
#2 Starkiller’s Natural Abilities
Starkiller’s natural abilities were amongst the greatest in all of Star Wars history, hence his status as non-canon in the wider Star Wars universe. As the son of Jedi Knights Kento and Mallie Marek, Starkiller’s raw strength in the force was what attracted Darth Vader towards him in the first place.
It is well-documented that Starkiller was born with an extremely powerful connection to the Force. When Vader defeated his father in combat, the young child used telekinesis to pull the lightsaber from his hands.
This only progressed as he grew older and more powerful, where in one case Starkiller was chained immobile in the dark, deprived of nourishment, until he had successfully assembled a lightsaber through telekinesis.
Whilst on the surface this may seem like a simple feat, perhaps it hinted towards Starkiller’s unnatural force abilities later on in the series.
#3 Starkiller’s Legacy
Perhaps the most important of Starkiller’s features that led to his powerful status may be his legacy. As a force user capable of tapping into both the Jedi and the Sith’s typical abilities, he came to become equally feared by both orders.
In Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, ex-Jedi Master and General of the Grand Army of the Republic Kazdan Paratus is slain by Starkiller whilst hiding on the planet Raxus Prime. His ability to execute such a prestigious and noble Jedi survivor, alongside the assasination of Jedi Master Shaak Ti, made Starkiller feared by the remnants of the Republic.
On the other hand, Starkiller was also greatly resented and feared within the Sith Order. In a Star Wars interview celebrating the re-release of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Sam Witwer (Starkiller’s voice actor) had this to say on Starkiller’s legacy:
#4 Starkiller’s Force Abilities
The most interesting of Starkiller’s features, and perhaps the greatest reason for his overwhelming power, is his abilities to use the force. The most notorious of Starkiller’s force abilities, force explosion, was a never-before-seen skill where he was able to implode the air around him using the force.
Whilst striking fear into the hearts of the Empire’s Stormtroopers, we can only assume that this ability was a great problem for Darth Vader on his quest to subdue his project into doing his bidding.
Other features of Starkiller’s force abilities include force lightning, where multiple assailants could be disintegrated, or his more defensive use of the power that saw him create a lightning shield that could deflect Palpatine’s force lightning back at him and cripple Darth Vader into defeat.
Lastly, our protagonist also had vast control over the power of telekinesis, creating more devastating and savage attacks through the use of force push, force repulse and force throw.
These devastating abilities allowed Starkiller to dominate any opponent he faced, most notably in his victories against Darth Vader and Darth Sidious throughout the series.
This would help to suggest that Starkiller was so overpowered mainly due to his unique force abilities, some of which we had never seen before within the Star Wars universe. This may be as a result of his Midi-chlorian count of 22,000, falling just short of Darth Vader’s 27,000 and topping Darth Sidious’ 20,000.
#5 Starkiller’s Hate and Anger
Primarily taken from Darth Vader’s betrayal in both Star Wars: Force Unleashed and Star Wars: Force Unleashed II, Starkiller suffered pain and agony at the hands of his master for the purpose of an attachment with the dark side.
In one instance, Darth Vader, after being caught by Sidious raising the secret apprentice, admitted to Starkiller that he had been nothing more than a tool, then swiftly stabbed him from behind with his lightsaber. This betrayal signified the distrust and displacement of Starkiller within the Sith Order, helping to nurture feelings of anger and hate within him to become more powerful.
In the end, Starkiller managed to kill Vader at the end of The Force Unleashed I, and you can find out more about that here.
This was followed by the ambush of the Rebel Alliance on Corellia by Darth Vader after promising his apprentice that he would stay away, leading to the capture of rebel allies such as Rahm Kota and Bail Organa that would further contribute to the anger and hatred fuelling Starkiller’s emotions.
This would suggest that Starkiller’s hate and anger at the actions of his master fuelled his power and helped him to grow more powerful throughout the series, explaining his overpowered nature within Star Wars.
Conclusion
Starkiller’s overpowered nature may be due to a range of influences, most notably his training under Darth Vader which helped to grow feelings of hatred and anger within him to build his naturally-significant strength.
You can find out more about Starkiller with this guide here, as well as the differences between Starkiller and Galen Marek.
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