Anger leads to hate, which is not the way of the Jedi. However, there simply are some Jedi in the Star Wars franchise that fans hated from the get-go. Some make the Sith look appealing by comparison thanks to poor character development, bad acting, or their arrogance as Jedi Masters.
This is not just limited to the Star Wars films. Even the games or the expanded universe have their own fair share of really unlikable Jedi. If someone is still not convinced that the dark side of the force is a better option than putting up with the celibate warrior monk social club, the most hated Jedi can take the blame if they join the Sith.
Updated on May 18th, 2022, by Shawn S. Lealos: The Jedi Warriors are returning in the 2022 Disney+ streaming series Obi-Wan Kenobi. In this series, the Jedi who trained both Anakin Skywalker and started working with Luke Skywalker is back with a look at his life after Revenge of the Sith and before A New Hope.
The series will also bring back Darth Vader, and there is a chance more Jedi Warriors could pop up before all is said and done. This brings up a lot of debate from fans about why the Jedi Masters are almost as bad as the Sith, or at least as easy to hate. From the movies and TV shows to the games and expanded universe, there have been plenty of Jedis that made it hard to cheer for the good guys.
Pong Krell
Anakin Skywalker trusted bellicose general Pong Krell with his 501st Clone Trooper division when he had to return to Coruscant. However, this Jedi was nothing like Anakin was at the time and didn't care about the Clone Troopers at all, dismissing any humanity they showed and possessed.
This was because Pong Krell had already fallen to the Dark Side and sabotaged the Republic. His goal was to become Count Dooku's new apprentice. By this time, he had become one of the most hated Jedis in the franchise and when he died at the hands of Trooper Dogma, fans celebrated.
Ki-Adi Mundi
When it comes to the prequel-era stories, one of the most prominent Jedi Masters was Ki-Adi Mundi. He was also someone that was easy to hate as a Jedi because he represented everything that was wrong with the Jedi Order at the time, and was a big reason the Order fell.
He was someone who liked to play contrarian to anything that could have worked and saved the Order. He refused to believe the Sith were still out there and that Count Dooku was a threat. He even wanted to expel Ahsoka Tano. When he died during Order 66, it was karma at its best for this hated Jedi.
Luminara Unduli
When it comes to Luminara Unduli, her biggest fault was being part of the Jedi Order in the prequel era. These Jedis were under the strict protocol to remain emotionally unattached and that made Luminara, a person who mastered this attitude appear callous and that made her a hated Jedi to many viewers.
She seemed like a terrible person, orphaning the Martez sisters without seeming to care and even leaving her Padawan Barriss Offee to die. This made her fate when her own apprentice fell to the Dark Side seem almost deserved.
Sifo-Dyas
Sifo-Dyas is hated for one big reason. He was one of the main contributing factors to the Jedi Order's destruction. He was a close friend of Count Dooku before he left the Jedi Order. Sifo-Dyas should get some credit for his attempts at creating an army after premonitions of the Clone Wars.
When this was rejected, he went to do it himself and doomed the entire Jedi Order. He went to Kamino and ordered the creation of the Clone Army, after which he was assassinated and Count Dooku took control of the Army himself.
Mace Windu
Mace Windu was one of the strongest Jedi of all time. This was thanks to his military training and overall raw power. There could be arguments that he was even stronger than Yoda. He was strong enough to actually defeat Darth Sidious in battle and would have killed him and saved the Jedi Order if not for Anakin Skywalker's betrayal.
Being powerful means nothing if you can't control things as a Jedi Master, and Mace stood by as the corruption and evil destroyed the Order while making dark and dangerous decisions that came back to kill the Jedi in the end. It could be argued that his refusal to accept Anakin turned the Jedi to the Dark Side and destroyed everything.
Bastila Shan
Bastila is from the award-winning Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic game from EA and Bioware. She's a young and gifted Jedi prodigy. Bastila gets annoying once you actually interact with her in-game. She has a blatant superiority complex and takes every opportunity to be self-righteous.
One would think that Bastila is the perfect Jedi. Underneath all her tough facade is insecurity and a lack of willpower. She fell to the dark side quite easily - provided the user lured her into it. While this makes her character a lot more interesting and deeper, she's still remained patronizing even as a Sith.
Coleman Trebor
Coleman Trebor was a cannon-fodder Jedi who got more hate than necessary because of what he did in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Coleman, despite his name, is not a human, however, he is every bit as reckless as one. He was the Jedi Master who tried to sneak up on Count Dooku and failed.
Apart from the fact that sneaking up on Dooku alone was a bad idea, it wasn't Dooku who killed him. Jango Fett shot him, and Coleman failed to deflect properly as a trained Jedi should. It made him one of the worst Jedis in the battle.
Agen Kolar
Agen Kolar was another cannon fodder Jedi like Coleman Trebor. However, Agen's sin was quite heavier. He was one of the few people Mace Windu trusted to help take down an exposed Chancellor Palpatine. He immediately died at the hands of Darth Sidious without getting even one shot.
Granted, Darth Sidious defeated Yoda. Still, Agen is a Jedi Master and a master swordsman of the Jedi Order. Mace Windu sent him in to arrest one of the most dangerous Sith Lords ever. He threw his life away so Mace had to fight him himself.
Starkiller
Starkiller, or Galen Marek, was introduced in the video game and lore of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. His name is an indication of his prowess; he is powerful enough in the Force to be able to telekinetically control a whole Star Destroyer.
He was initially groomed and trained to be a Sith but due to the rule of two, attaining his goal was not possible. He was made too important despite his story lacking any dramatic depth or conflict. Moreover, he's just too powerful to be relatable.
Ahsoka Tano
Ahsoka Tano was Anakin Skywalker's padawan in the Star Wars: Clone Wars cartoon series which first debuted on Cartoon Network. Ahsoka Tano was a character in a Star Wars cartoon that had children in mind, making her character a little too childish for adults.
A lot of people simply could not stand Ahsoka, especially in the first couple of seasons of Clone Wars. Thankfully, she improved a lot in terms of character development throughout the later seasons. By the time she appeared in the live-action universe, fans finally fell for her, but those early appearances made it tough.
Rey
This may be a controversial one, but there's no denying that Rey gets plenty of fan hate. Rey was perhaps, disliked for the same reason that Starkiller was uninteresting; a lot of fans thought she was a bit overpowered without much backstory, reason, or hard work.
The movies made Rey more powerful than a Skywalker and a Sith Lord and a better pilot and mechanic than a veteran smuggler, all without training. She's just like Starkiller, except less powerful and more canon.
Shaak Ti
Shaak Ti is another one of those crazy powerful Jedi Master and Council members that were underutilized in the films. Hence, most of the representation for her came from the Clone Wars cartoon. During the Jedi temple burning and slaughter of all Jedfis by Order 66, Shaak Ti was on site and was not on a mission, unlike the other Jedi Masters or Knights.
She could have helped at least save what's left, but she meditated instead. Apparently, Shaak Ti also could have uncovered the corruptible inhibitor chips in the clone troopers which allowed them to carry out Order 66 but failed at that too, another incompetent Jedi Master.
Qui-Gon Jinn
Qui-Gon Jinn was far from a powerful Jedi Master when it came to fighting. He couldn't even defeat a single Sith Lord's apprentice. He was also the Jedi Master who put too much trust in Anakin Skywalker as his apprentice, which was a proven disaster.
The repercussions of that decision are not exactly something the Jedi fully recovered from. To his credit, if he had been allowed to work with Anakin rather than Obi-Wan, who was not as attuned to the Force as Qui-Gon, maybe things would have ended differently.
Old Luke Skywalker
When Luke Skywalker showed back up in the sequels, it got old-school fans excited. While his portrayal made a lot of sense in the lore of the Star Wars world, it was still something that many fans hated. Luke had become a hermit on an old planet and it seemed his fate was the same as the one that befell Yoda.
However, part of the problem was why he ended up there. Luke tried to kill Ben Solo when he thought his nephew was going to turn to the Dark Side. As a result, he pushed Ben into becoming Kylo Ren. While fans can hate Luke all they want for becoming more like Yoda, it was Luke betraying what made him a hero, to begin with, that was unforgivable.
Anakin Skywalker
While fans can hate Luke for betraying his Jedi training and trying to kill his own nephew, what Anakin did was worse tenfold in his transition from Jedi to Sith. He massacred defenseless children with his own hands.
However, fans hated Anakin long before he went on this rampage, killing kids in the Jedi temples. From his first appearance as a child, Anakin was precocious and when Hayden Christensen took over the role, he became angsty and impossible to care about. Fans loved to hate Darth Vader as one of the most powerful Jedi in the universe, but in the prequels, Anakin was just the most hated Jedi because of who he was.