Jaro Tapal, a Force-sensitive Lasat male, was a Jedi Master who served the Galactic Republic with distinction as a Jedi General in the Grand Army of the Republic during the Clone Wars. Adhering to a firm and disciplined doctrine, Tapal mentored his Padawan, Cal Kestis, in the ways of the Force. In the aftermath of the Bracca Invasion, Tapal and his apprentice were betrayed by their clone troopers of the 13th Battalion during Order 66. Although he was mortally wounded while attempting to escape to Bracca, Tapal managed to get Kestis to safety. Before dying, he urged Kestis to hold the line, await the Jedi High Council's signal, and to trust only in the Force.
Tapal's death haunted his former Padawan for years. Kestis, who kept Jaro Tapal's lightsaber, vowed to honor his Master's teaching and sacrifice as he set out to restore the Jedi Order during the reign of the Galactic Empire.
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Early Years
Jaro Tapal joined the Jedi Order prior to the onset of the Clone Wars and was assigned to Jedi Master Yaddle as her Padawan. He eventually rose through the ranks and became a Jedi Master himself.
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. After the onset of the Clone Wars, Tapal spoke briefly to Anakin Skywalker as the youngling Cal Kestis trailed behind him, following Skywalker's Knighting Ceremony, as well as news regarding a bombing on Cato Neimoidia. In addition to his military responsibilities, Tapal found time to continue the training of Kestis, who had by that point become his Padawan, while away from the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. At some point in his life, Tapal befriended Jedi Knight Cere Junda, who regarded him as a true guardian of the Republic.
Tapal and Kestis served together in the Clone Wars until 19 BBY when, in the aftermath of the Bracca Invasion as they set out on the Albedo Brave to Mygeeto to assist Ki-Adi-Mundi and the 21st Nova Corps, 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, Tapal sensed the impending betrayal and was able to kill the Clone Commander by his side, protecting both himself and his apprentice. Realizing the other clones had turned against them as well, Tapal decided to evacuate his Venator-class Star Destroyer with Kestis.
Tapal quickly devised a plan to escape the warship by separating from his apprentice as they made their way to the escape pods. He instructed Kestis to use the maintenance halls to avoid the clone troopers whilst Tapal himself confronted his former soldiers, killing multiple squads and also rescuing his Padawan from being shot by two troopers in the turbolift shaft. Along the way, Tapal took the opportunity to sabotage the Star Destroyer's reactor, ensuring that the destruction of the Albedo Brave would cover their escape.
Tapal and Kestis reached the escape pod bay at the same time but the remaining clones managed to overwhelm and mortally wound the general. Nevertheless, Tapal was able to save his apprentice's life before they escaped in one of the pods. Tapal gave his damaged lightsaber to Kestis, who lost his own lightsaber during their escape, before telling him to wait for a signal from the Jedi High Council, unaware that it was nearly defunct, and to trust only in the Force. The Albedo Brave's reactor subsequently exploded, destroying the vessel as Kestis returned to Bracca.
Legacy
Tapal was remembered years after his death. Though traumatized by the horrifying experience of Order 66 and haunted by the memory of his slain Master, Kestis regarded Tapal as a hero.
By 14 BBY, both the Jedi Order and the Republic that Tapal served had fallen, replaced by the rule of the Sith through the Galactic Empire. Although Kestis 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 his new master, Cere Junda, Kestis 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 Kestis' journey, memories of his time as Tapal's pupil began to resurface, helping Kestis to remember various techniques as he re-awakened his connection to the Force. During his mission on Dathomir, an apparition of Tapal appeared to Kestis, calling the former Padawan a weak and failed apprentice. But after forging a new lightsaber on Ilum, Kestis 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 Kestis would honor as he moved forward to find his own destiny.
In 9 BBY, Senator Daho Sejan referenced Tapal and called him a traitor to Kestis' face during Kestis' mission to Coruscant.
Story Role: Mentor (Serves as young padawan Cal's mentor, along with being an essential driving force of him re-learning all of his forgotten force techniques)
Enemies: The Sith (The enemy of the jedi), Fallen Jedi (Jedi that have lost there way), The CIS (The enemies of the republic during the galactic civil war)
Lightsaber: This lightsaber was first used by Jedi Master Jaro Tapal. Just before Tapal's death, he passed the weapon to his padawan, Cal Kestis, who used the weapon until its crystal broke while Kestis was on Dathomir. At some point during his tenure as a Jedi, Jaro Tapal constructed a double-bladed lightsaber. He had it on hand shortly before Order 66—a contingency order that forced all clone troopers to execute their Jedi superiors—was enacted, drawing it in defense of himself and his Padawan, Cal Kestis. Despite his efforts, Tapal's considerable skill with the weapon was not enough to fend off the concentrated gunfire of numerous clones while simultaneously defending himself and his Padawan, and the lightsaber was damaged when a bolt sundered the weapon in two. Fatally wounded, Tapal gifted Kestis his lightsaber, knowing that Kestis had lost his own. With his last breath, Tapal told Kestis to trust in the Force.
Notable Techniques
Telekinesis: One of the most common abilities utilized by force sensitive users, the ability to move or otherwise manipulate objects using only an application of the Force. Often this was used by Jedi and Sith to fling away their enemies or hurl items at them.
Mind Trick: Another well-known ability was the mind trick, a power that could be applied to influence the thoughts and actions of another individual, often to the user's advantage.
Force Visions: Force visions are a powerful and mysterious ability that sometimes occurred without conscious application in sleep, allowing the user to get vague premonitions of the future in their dreams.
Force Augmentation: Force users are able to, both consciously and inherently through their connection to the Force, augment their own natural athleticism, allowing for speed, coordination and acrobatic maneuvers beyond natural limits. These included the ability to run on walls. Additionally, by using the Force on oneself, combined with the user's strength of mind and will, a Force user could increase his or her resilience to harm, especially to other Force abilities. This typically allowed both strong and skilled practitioners of the Force to defend against another Force-user's attempt to restrain, throw, repel, mentally influence or evaluate, or otherwise affect or harm them with the Force. Most Force users were, therefore, less able to effectively use the Force on each other and tend to rely on physical attacks to break their opponents guard before attempting to use a telekinetic attack. However, those with sufficient enough skill or power in the Force could more easily overwhelm such defenses with less effort as well as make themselves practically immune to having their protection broken by others, making them extremely dangerous in direct combat.
Mind Probe: A mind probe is a Force power which allows the user to search the thoughts of others. It was possible to resist this ability using the Force; powerful Force users could even turn the effects of the probe around and manage a look into the mind of the user.
Force Sense: Force sense remains the most basic of Force abilities. It can be used to feel another being's feelings, the future, ripples in the Force caused by momentous or traumatic events, impending danger and the presence of the dark side.
Precognition: Closely related also to force sense and force sight was precognition, the ability to hear direction and whispered promptings from the Force about what lay ahead in the immediate future. Jedi and other Force-users would use this ability to sense impending danger, allowing the Force to warn them of a threat. Jedi can also sense the location of hidden beings or enemies from a distance, and through barriers, allowing them to find, engage or avoid a being.
Disturbance in the Force: Disturbances in the Force were caused by serious events such as mass death or the presence of powerful Force users, whose signature in the Force was strong. These disturbances could be quite powerful; when nearly all of the Jedi were killed by Order 66, Yoda felt physical pain, despite the fact that he was on Kashyyyk, thousands of light-years away.
Holocron Manipulation: The holocrons used by both Jedi and Sith, could only be opened via the Force, which protected them from outside intrusion.
Other
Standard Tactics: Jaro Tapal will utilize the force along with lightsaber combat and strong strikes.
↑Star Wars: The Mandalorian Season 1 Chapter 4: Sanctuary
↑Star Wars: The Mandalorian Season 1 Chapter 2 "The Child"
↑Have you ever wondered how much energy is needed to power a phaser set to kill? A trio of researchers at the University of Leicester did, so they ran some tests and found out it would take roughly 2.99 GJ to vaporize an average-sized adult human body.
↑LIGHTSABER The lightsaber is the weapon of a Jedi, an elegant weapon of a more civilized age. It can be used to cut through blast doors or enemies alike. Using the Force, a Jedi can predict and deflect incoming blaster bolts, and reflect them.
↑The Force is a mysterious energy field created by life that binds the galaxy together. Harnessing the power of the Force gives the Jedi, the Sith, and others sensitive to this spiritual energy extraordinary abilities, such as levitating objects, tricking minds, and seeing things before they happen. While the Force can grant users powerful abilities, it also directs their actions. And it has a will of its own, which both scholars and mystics have spent millennia seeking to understand.
↑KYBER CRYSTAL (LIGHTSABER CRYSTAL) At the heart of every Jedi lightsaber is a kyber crystal found on several planets, most notably the icebound caves of Ilum. This crystal is attuned to the Force, and connected to a Jedi Knight on a deeply personal level. In this way, a lightsaber is an extension of a Jedi's Force awareness. Because Jedi let the Force guide their selection of the crystal, the vibration that the crystal creates in the lightsaber blade helps Jedi center themselves and find balance in the Force. In this way, a Jedi can center his or her attention beyond the distractions of combat. A lightsaber crystal is colorless until first attuned and connected to a Jedi -- at which times it glows either blue or green, or in some rare instances, another shade. From that point on, it retains that hue.
↑The lightsaber is a complex instrument consisting of a pommel cap, hand grip, control module, main hilt, focusing lens, and blade emitter, with an energy core powered by a kyber crystal.
