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

• 

From the Movies

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. His well-muscled humanoid form filled out the traditional Jedi robes. Koon was present on the Council when Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn presented Anakin Skywalker as a prospective Jedi candidate. He 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.

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.

From the Expanded Universe

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. Koon 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.

Koon 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, Koon 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.

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!"