Koon, Plo

• Appeared in:
  
  I
  II
  III
  IV
  V
  VI
  CW

• Homeworld:
  Dorin

• Species:
  Kel Dor

• Gender:
  Male

• Size:
  1.88 meters

• Weapon:
  Lightsaber

• Vehicle:
  Jedi starfighter

• Affiliation:
  Jedi Council

• 

In the waning days of the Republic, the ranks of the Jedi Order were commanded by a High Council of Jedi Masters who convened in a towering temple on Coruscant. Twelve Jedi sat in a circle to contemplate matters of the Force, and dispatch Knights to scattered crises across the galaxy. One such Jedi Master was Plo Koon, an imposing alien whose face was concealed behind a forked facemask.

Before The Phantom Menace

The Force runs strongly in Plo Koon's family; he was a descendent of a long line of Jedi. He shared a long history with fellow Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, and the two have fought beside each other in battle. Plo had hoped to see his friend join the Jedi Council, but Jinn's maverick views kept him from ascending to that position.

Plo Koon was a Kel Dor from the planet Dorin. His physiology was such that he wore protective goggles and his face-concealing antiox mask whenever in oxygen-rich environments. As a Dorin, Koon naturally possessed highly developed extrasensory organs that supplement his already formidable Jedi attributes, as well as a hardy physiology that could withstand exposure to hard vacuum for brief periods.

Plo was more martial a Jedi than most. Kel Dor natives have a reputation for seeing moral issues in black and white, with clear distinctions between right and wrong. As such, Plo often took decisive action with little contemplation. This initiative served him well during the Stark Hyperspace Wars, when he took up the Republic banner after a great Jedi Master was killed. Koon rallied the disheartened troops to an unlikely and miraculous victory.

It was Jedi Master Plo Koon who discovered the infant Ahsoka Tano, and brought her to the Jedi Temple to be trained as a youngling. The two maintained a close friendship for years, often exchanging a warm Kel Dorian greeting, koh-to-ya.

Episode I: The Phantom Menace

Plo Koon was present on the Council when Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn presented Anakin Skywalker as a prospective Jedi candidate. He also attended the funeral of Qui-Gon on Naboo, as well as a celebratory ceremony that marked the liberation of that besieged world.

Episode II: Attack of the Clones

Plo Koon also served the Council a decade later when the Jedi faced one of their greatest conflicts: the Clone Wars. Plo Koon was present at the first battle site of the Clone Wars, fighting against Geonosians and battle droid forces in the cauldron of the Geonosian execution arena. Koon served valiantly as a general in the war on many battlefronts in the years that followed.

The Clone Wars

Plo Koon's taskforce, headed by the flagship Triumphant, was charged with scouring the spacelanes for any clues as to General Grievous' new superweapon, Malevolence. The flotilla was crippled by the titanic ion cannon, and torn apart by turbolaser blasts from the Malevolence. Only Plo Koon and a trio of clones: Commander Wolffe, Sinker and Boost, survived and were rescued by Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano.

Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

During the Outer Rim Sieges, Plo Koon was stationed on Cato Neimoidia, flying scouting missions over the bridge cities of the conquered world. It was then that Order 66 was enacted, branding every Jedi in the galaxy as an enemy of the Republic.

Plo Koon's clone wingmen carried out the order, communicated to them directly from Chancellor Palpatine. Aboard ARC-170 starfighters, the clone commander pilot opened fire. Plo Koon's starfighter spun out of control and crashed into the Neimoidian city below.

Behind the Scenes

"We had to come up with names for them," says Episode I's Live Action Creature Effects Supervisor Nick Dudman about the Jedi Council characters his crew constructed. "I decided to call one of the Jedi 'Plonkoon,' because we called my son that during the first year of his life. I wrote down Plonkoon, George [Lucas] crossed out the 'n' and Plo Koon was born!"