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 human Jedi Master and member of the Jedi Council during the Mandalorian Wars and the Jedi Civil War. He wielded a purple double-bladed lightsaber, and fought with a double-bladed variant of Ataru.

Ell was one of the Masters on the Council that banished the Jedi Exile from the Jedi Order. Zez-Kai Ell lost a Padawan during the Mandalorian Wars but did not blame his Padawan for his choice to go to war.

After the Jedi Civil War, he 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 Revan had learned of who he was and kept to the way of the Jedi before the destruction of the Star Forge. He believed that the council had commited a crime in erasing Revan's mind, despite the good that came from it. Based on his dialogue, it is possible that Ell was present when Revan's mind was erased. 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 did. "Not once did I hear one of the council claim responsibility for Revan, for Exar Kun, for Ulic, for Malak... or for you. Yet... you were the only one who came back to face our judgement. 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

Zez-Kai Ell was more thoughtful and introspected than many of his fellow masters, and was quick to point out that the council's inaction led to Revan's fall, even going as far to say that blame was not solely on the Jedi who left to fight, but the Council as well. He also no longer considered himself a Jedi, claiming to have left the Order in disgust, both because of 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 his conversation with her. Despite this feeling of disillusionment, he remained loyal to the order and continued to trust in Master Kavar’s plan to draw out the Sith by finding the Exile.

Zez-Kai Ell was eventually killed by Darth Traya, on Dantooine along with Masters Vrook and Kavar after they tried to sever the Jedi Exile from the Force to seal the breach in the Force she created.

Behind the scenes

 * If they player chooses to follow the dark side path in KotOR2, then the Exile and Ell fight on Nar Shaddaa in which the Exile kills him, learning his lightsaber combat technique. Should the player take the Light Side path on Nar Shaddaa, there is still an oppurtunity to kill Ell if the player kills either Vrook or Kavar.
 * 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.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords