Zez-Kai Ell

"It is easy to cast blame, but it is perhaps time the Order accepted responsibility for their teachings, and their arrogance, and come to recognize that perhaps we are flawed."

- Zez-Kai Ell

Zez-Kai Ell was a male Human Jedi Master and member of the Jedi High Council during the Mandalorian Wars. He wielded a purple double-bladed lightsaber and fought with double-bladed variants of Ataru, Shien, Niman, and Juyo. He had also mastered the advanced Force forms. He was also close friends with fellow Jedi Master and Council member Kavar.

Biography
Ell was one of the Masters on the Council that banished the Jedi Exile from the Jedi Order. His own Padawan fell to the dark side during the Mandalorian Wars, but Master Ell did not blame his apprentice for choosing to go to war.

After the Jedi Civil War, with the onset of the First Jedi Purge, Ell went into a voluntary exile on Nar Shaddaa in an attempt to escape detection by the Sith. When he encountered the Exile, he told her that he believed Revan's redemption had not actually been Revan's choice, despite the fact that he had learned his identity, and the fact that he had kept to the way of the Jedi before the destruction of the Star Forge. He believed that the Council had committed a crime in reprogramming Revan's destroyed mind, despite the good that came from it. He also told the Exile that she had done the right thing to take action and fight in the Mandalorian Wars, when so few Jedi had followed her example.

"Not once did I hear one of the Council claim responsibility for Revan, for Exar Kun, for Ulic, for Malak&hellip; or for you. Yet&hellip; you were the only one who came back to face our judgment. And rather than attempting to understand why you did what you did, we punished you instead. Our one chance to see where we had gone wrong, and we cast it aside. And now that decision has come back to us, and may carry with it our destruction."

- Zez-Kai Ell to the Jedi Exile

Soon after the Exile sought him out, he gathered with Masters Vrook Lamar and Kavar at the rebuilt Jedi Enclave to answer the Exile's questions. Ell was eventually killed when Darth Traya used Force Drain on him and the other Masters to strip them of their connection to the Force, after they tried to sever the Jedi Exile from the Force in order to seal the breach she had created.

Personality
Zez-Kai Ell was more thoughtful and introspective than many of his fellow Masters, and was quick to point out that the Council's inaction led to Revan's fall&mdash;even going as far to say that blame was not solely on the Jedi who left to fight, but on the Council as well. After the Jedi Civil War, he no longer considered himself a Jedi, claiming to have left the Order in disgust because of both the Jedi and himself. Indeed, when the Exile met him, he appeared to have fallen into a brooding depression, displaying something close to a death wish at times during their conversation. Despite this feeling of disillusionment, he still remained loyal to the Order, and continued to trust in Master Kavar's plan to draw out the Sith by finding the Exile.

Behind the scenes

 * If the player chooses to follow the dark side in Knights of the Old Republic II, the Exile and Ell fight on Nar Shaddaa, a battle during which the Exile kills him and learns his lightsaber combat technique. The Exile can still choose to kill Ell should the player take the light-side path.
 * Zez-Kai Ell appears to be identical to the character Stroth from Star Wars Republic: Show of Force. Presumably the comic character was based on early character designs from the game.
 * It is possible that Master Ell was not privy to the knowledge that Revan did eventually learn of his true identity but still remained loyal to the Jedi and the Republic. This could partly be the reason he did not believe Revan's redemption was his own choice.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 9: Flashpoint Interlude: Homecoming
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords

Zez-Kai Ell