Summary
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars was filled with dozens of villains and threats to the Jedi, but not all of them were as strong as the rest.
- The Clone Wars did a great job of highlighting just how many problems the Jedi had to deal with, and how many enemies they had to fight at the same time.
- Some of the Clone Wars’ villains would never be able to fight a Jedi, while others were able to wipe them out with ease.
There were dozens of major villains in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, but they didn’t all pose the same threat to the Jedi. Some of the most important groups in Star Wars were in conflict during the Clone Wars, and there were plenty of opportunities for them to go up against the Jedi. Throughout the timeline of The Clone Wars, various threats, enemies, and crises rose and fell. Some of those threats were rather small and personal, but others could have destroyed several Jedi or even the entire Order if they had the chance.
One of the many great things The Clone Wars did was highlight just how many enemies the Jedi had near their eventual fall during Order 66. From individual planets to monstrous creatures to the Separatists and their different members, the Jedi were being pulled in every direction for years. Facing that many threats at the same time was enough to wear the Order down, but not all of those threats were as dangerous as the rest. The Clone Wars‘ villains ranged from people who inspired jealousy all the way to the man who ruled the galaxy,
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29 Rush Clovis
The Senator With An Eye For Padmé Amidala
The least physcially threatening villain in The Clone Wars was Rush Clovis, a member of the Galactic Senate and a liason to the Banking Clan. The reason Rush gets put so low is that he was more threatening to Anakin Skywalker personally than any other Jedi in combat. Rush was romantically interested in Padmé Amidala, which made him a great way to expose Anakin’s darker, angry side, but it didn’t do much for him in terms of holding his own against a Jedi.
Padmé Amidala
The elected Queen of Naboo, Padmé Amidala won galactic acclaim for her heroism when she led her people against the Trade Federation. She became an influential member of the Republic Senate, but her life changed forever when she fell in love with Anakin Skywalker. Padmé Amidala found herself torn between her love for Anakin and her belief in the principles of the Republic, especially when Anakin became Darth Vader. She was brutally attacked by Anakin on Mustafar, and died in childbirth.
28 Tal Merrik
The Would-Be Assassin Of Duchess Satine Kryze
Several different people tried to kill Duchess Satine Kryze through the timeline of The Clone Wars, and one of the least impressive attempts came from Tal Merrik. Tal tried to kill Satine so Death Watch could take her place as the rulers of Mandalore, but his plot was fairly easily thwarted by Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, even though they had to use less offensive means than normal at Satine’s behest. Essentially, Tal was quite like Rush: he only posed a threat to Obi-Wan specifically, as he took advantage of his past with Satine, but he was also more openly violent than Rush.
Obi-Wan Kenobi
The Padawan of Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi became a Jedi Knight after his master’s death. Obi-Wan trained Anakin Skywalker as a Jedi, with his own apprentice knighted after the Battle of Geonosis. The Jedi Master became a key player in the Jedi during the Clone Wars, and was heartbroken when Anakin turned to the dark side; Obi-Wan critically wounded Anakin before taking to the shadows, watching over the young Luke and Leia for years. He sacrificed himself for his two charges, becoming a Force Ghost and continuing to mentor them.
27 Lok Durd
The Separatist Creator Of The Defoliator
The Clone Wars were essentially an arms race for the Separatists, and they tried several different ideas in search of a superweapon to defeat the Republic. One of the least effective attempts came from Lok Durd, a Neimoidian arms dealer. He created the Defoliator, a weapon that could destroy organic life while preserving machines like battle droids. It was a good weapon, and General Grievous eventually used it against the Nightsisters, but the problem was with Durd himself. His attempt to use the Defoliator was quickly stopped by an injured Anakin Skywalker and a handful of Jedi. Without the Defoliator, Durd was essentially useless.
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26 Nute Gunray
A Trade Federation Figurehead
Nute Gunray is hard to give a definitive ranking as a threatening character. He was mostly used as a pawn throughout the Clone Wars, and most of the threat he posed was from his droid troops, not Gunray himself. Most of the big moves Gunray made also came in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace instead of The Clone Wars, and he wasn’t a significant challenge for the Jedi during the show. He was also a good strategist, though, and he proved to be very valuable to Palpatine, which made him a central figure in the war.
25 Ziro The Hutt
A Disavowed Hutt Clan Member
The Hutt cartel and the other criminal families of Star Wars played a rather passive role in The Clone Wars, but one member made himself very prominent during the conflict. Ziro the Hutt had access to the Hutt’s resources for a while, and he became a bit of a problem when he hired a team of bounty hunters to hold Senators hostage and ransom him out of jail. Other than those simple plots, though, Ziro didn’t do much in The Clone Wars. He also eventually lost favor with the Hutts, and he quickly met his end when he had to fend for himself.
24 Garnac
The Trandoshan Big Game Hunter Who Nearly Killed Ahsoka Tano
Ahsoka Tano found herself a captive of her enemies quite a few times over the course of The Clone Wars, and one of the most dangerous situations she got into was at Garnac’s hands. Ahsoka was captured by Trandoshan big game hunters who then hunted her for sport. Garnac was the leader of that outfit, and he very nearly ended Ahsoka’s life. He was a skilled hunter, but he also failed to kill Padawans who didn’t have their lightsabers and had the cards stacked against them. Garnac was a coward who preyed on the weak, but he was a dangerous coward.
23 Riff Tamson
Separatist Agent Sent To Foment Civil War On Mon Cala
Of all the Separatist agents that appeared in The Clone Wars, Riff Tamson was one of the most memorable. As a Karkarodon, Tamson was essentially a humanoid shark, which made him incredibly deadly in water. That worked perfectly for his main mission, which was to start a civil war on Mon Cala and turn it over to Separatist control. Tamson was a major threat during his mission and in the waters of Mon Cala, but if he was on land or on his own, he would have been just a fairly good fighter with sharp teeth: easy for a Jedi to defeat.
22 Nuvo Vindi
Evil Scientist Who Recreated The Blue Shadow Virus
Nuvo Vindi is quite like Lok Durd in that the biggest threat he posed over the course of The Clone Wars was not himself, but his creation. The reason Vindi is placed so much higher than Durd, however, is because his weapon was wildly more deadly. Vindi recreated the Blue Shadow Virus, a disease that could have wiped out all intelligent life in the galaxy if it had been dispersed. Vindi didn’t pose any threat on his own – he only had a small attachment of droids at his disposal – but the Blue Shadow Virus was a much more difficult weapon to destroy than the Defoliator.
21 Almec
The Corrupt Prime Minister Of Mandalore
Mandalore played a major role in The Clone Wars, and Prime Minister Almec was a key character to most of the planet’s story. That being said, he wasn’t terribly threatening to Jedi. Almec was more of an existential threat to Democracy, as he infected Mandalore with his own corruption and eventually supported Maul and Death Watch. He could hold his own for a while in a fight, but he was also easily defeated by Bo-Katan Kryze, and he would have fared even worse against Jedi.
20 Hondo Ohnaka
Morally Ambiguous & Opportunistic Pirate
Hondo Ohnaka is a bit of an unorthodox villain in The Clone Wars because he never really committed to being a villain. Hondo was more of an opportunist than an actual antagonist, and he helped the Jedi just as much as he fought them, which makes it hard to call him a massive threat to the Jedi. That being said, he did also command a crew of pirates and had a fairly strong hold over a large portion of the Outer Rim. If Hondo wanted to be a villain, he could have become quite a danger to the Jedi.
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19 Boba Fett
The Angry Young Orphan
Boba Fett is one of the most iconic bounty hunters both the galaxy ever saw, but he wasn’t always that deadly. During The Clone Wars, Boba was still just an angry, orphaned child. He didn’t have the resources, weapons, connections, or skills he did as an adult, and he wasn’t nearly as dangerous because of that. Still, however, Boba caused quite a few problems in the show, and he proved himself to be a prodigy. He nearly killed Mace Windu and Anakin Skywalker, and only his age prevented him from succeeding.
Boba Fett
A perfect clone of bounty hunter Jango Fett, Boba Fett inherited his father’s profession and operated as a bounty hunter through the Clone Wars and the Dark Times of the Empire’s reign. Believed killed on Tatooine, he survived and sought redemption of sorts after he was helped by native Tusken Raiders. In The Mandalorian era, Boba Fett now operates as a crime lord – having taken over Jabba the Hutt’s old empire.
- First Appearance
- The Star Wars Holiday Special
- Alliance
- Bounty Hunters, Crime Syndicates
18 Miraj Scintel
The Zygerrian Slaver Queen
The Zygerrians were ancient enemies of the Jedi due to their historic involvement in the galaxy’s slave trade, but their role in the Clone Wars was more complicated. They didn’t have a standing army and weren’t directly involved in the war, which makes it hard to rank their queen, Miraj Scintel. She did very effectively handle Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Ahsoka during their secret mission, and she caused quite a bit of an internal conflict in Anakin, but Miraj also helped Anakin save his friends. Miraj could have been a threat, but she never really tried to be one.
17 Wat Tambor
The Leader Of The Techno Union
Wat Tambor was yet another of Palpatine’s pawns in the Confederacy of Independent Systems, albeit a fairly dangerous one. Tambor was the leader of the Techno Union, a group that specialized in creating some deadly and horrific inventions throughout the Clone Wars. Most notably, Tambor turned ARC trooper Echo into a cyborg to extract his knowledge of the Republic’s battle plans. That plot, along with some of Tambor’s other creations, made him a massive threat on the battlefield. Personally, however, he wasn’t much of a danger, and his troops weren’t much more effective than standard battle droids.
16 Poggle The Lesser
The Military Leader Of The Geonosians
Poggle the Lesser, like Nute Gunray, is one of The Clone Wars‘ villains who had a much more threatening presence in the movies. Poggle was the leader of the Geonosian military, and the droid foundries on the planet. While he was the main Separatist commander at both the first and second Battles of Geonosis, he was also defeated both times. That being said, he had not only a droid army at his command, but also his own Geonosian army, which made him doubly as dangerous as Gunray. There was one Geonosian who was more important than Poggle, though, and more dangerous to the Jedi.
15 Aurra Sing
The Expert Assassin & Bounty Hunter
There are quite a few bounty hunters in Star Wars, but Aurra Sing was one of the most effective during the Clone Wars. She carried out quite a few missions over the course of the war, and some of them put her in direct conflict with Jedi. Her mission to assassinate Padmé Amidala, her work with Cad Bane in taking the Senate hostage, and her mentorship of Boba Fett all gave Sing a chance to fight Jedi directly. While she didn’t win any of those fights, she did more than hold her own, and she lived to tell the tale.
14 Droid Army
The Confederacy Of Independent Systems’ Main Attacking Force
While they often couldn’t compare to the quality of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Separatists’ droid army was no pushover. A truly innumerable number of droids were produced over the course of the Clone Wars, and they used their sheer numbers to great effect. There was also a measure of quality to the droid army, though, as some variants – like the B2 Super Battle Droid and the BX Commandos – could prove very effective. In most cases, the Jedi could easily defeat the droids, but there were more than a few who fell to the CIS’ army as well, making them fairly formidable.
13 Karina The Great
The Queen Of The Geonosians With The Power To Resurrect The Dead
Poggle the Lesser was the face of the Geonosians, but Karina the Great was the true ruler of the planet and its people. She had direct control over the Geonosians and effectively acted as Poggle’s superior, but she also had some major advantages that almost no one else in Star Wars did. Karina could resurrect dead Geonosians and use them as her soldiers, and she could also use the same brain worms to infect the mind of living beings like Jedi. That control over another being’s mind made Karina a great threat, but her glaring weakness to light held her back.
12 Gar Saxon
Maul’s Right Hand Man & A Deadly Mandalorian Assassin
The average Mandalorian warrior was more deadly than any soldier, but Gar Saxon was much more than an average Mandalorian. During the Siege of Mandalore, Saxon allied himself with Maul and carried out his bidding, both leading the Death Watch through the streets and carrying out the assassination of Almec. He was an extremely effective warrior, strategist, and sharpshooter, and he proved his worth to Maul. He never directly faced a Jedi, but if he had, Gar Saxon would have been a very difficult enemy to best.
11 Admiral Trench
The Separatist Strategist With Countless Lives
Of all the Separatists’ strategists and military commanders, Admiral Trench was far and away the most effective. Trench saw more than his share of battles throughout the Clone Wars, and though he lost many of them, he inflicted some devastating losses on the Republic. Most of his defeats also only came at the hands of Anakin Skywalker and his morally questionable warfare practices. On top of his strategic prowess, Trench was also incredibly durable: he survived at least two different emergencies that should have ended his life. Trench was as threatening to the Jedi as a non-Sith Separatist ever could be.
10 Cad Bane
The Greatest Bounty Hunter In The Clone Wars
Cad Bane was far and away the most effective hired gun in The Clone Wars, and one of the Jedi’s biggest threats. He proved on multiple occasions, like his plot to free Ziro the Hutt and his mission to steal a holocron, that he could outsmart the Jedi at every turn. Bane mostly relied on his strategic mind, but he also showed he was more than the Jedi’s equal in combat. Bane once defeated both Quinlan Vos and Obi-Wan Kenobi in at the same time, and he even used Vos’ lightsaber briefly. He was proof that the Jedi could be beaten by a bounty hunter.
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