Every once in a while, social media is set abuzz with chains of posts asking fan to tell their favorite of a movie, a series, or a franchise. It's inevitable, all of us has either seen or taken part in one of those. Search your feeling, you know it to be true. When it comes to Star Wars, these often spark a larger debate within the fandom, because, well, it's Star Wars. If the subject are the Jedi, there are a few favorites, like Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) or Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor). But if the intent is to debate who would be the ultimate Jedi in that universe, then there's only one possibility: Star Wars: Rebels' Kanan Jarrus (Freddie Prinze Jr.).
Luke Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) and Obi-Wan are indeed the most commonly mentioned Jedi, and it's comprehensible. When someone is feeling particularly daring, they might even go with Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson). They all have their merits, no doubt, and no one owes anybody an explanation for their preferences. Each one of them embodies a different aspect of what being a Jedi is all about, but if we take into consideration all the aspects of the Jedi doctrine (and not the rulings of the Council), Kanan Jarrus is the name that represents the best the Jedi have to offer. Let's see why.
Caleb Dume was a young Padawan training under Jedi Master Depa Billaba's guidance during the Clone Wars. The conflict lasted only four years, but was enough to kill not only most of the Jedi themselves, but also the faith ordinary people had in the fabled warriors. Young Caleb still had a little time to experience what it was like to be one of them, but the Jedi he witnessed were not the ones of legend, for wars make no one great... And the Jedi were neck-deep in one. When Order 66 was issued, he managed to survive and escape, having to adapt to a whole different life in order to not draw any attention. Those events are shown in the first episode of the Bad Batch animated series and the great comic series, Kanan: The Last Padawan.
When we meet him in Star Wars: Rebels, he already goes by a different name. Kanan Jarrus still carries his disassembled lightsaber, but only for when a blaster can't help (uncivilized a weapon as it is, right?). He had to do some questionable things to survive, but does his best by working with a rebel cell to help the citizens of a small planet on the Outer Rim and is even in a relationship with the leader of said rebel cell, Hera Syndulla (Vanessa Marshall). Only when he meets Ezra Bridger (Taylor Gray) does his maturing really begin, both as a person and as a Jedi.
Thing is, judging a Jedi by a narrow and dogmatic doctrine such as the one we know is not really ideal. That's the set of rules that got them extinct, after all. What makes fan favorite characters such as Ahsoka Tano so popular is precisely the fact that they defied the rules of the Jedi. Ahsoka herself went so far as to leave the Order. Before her, Qui-Gon Jinn was even denied a seat in the Council for his defiant posture. But both of them had to deal with the institution that the Jedi were, with all their rules and procedures that eventually turned out to be their downfall. Kanan didn't, and had a lot more room to explore the limits of his religion without abandoning its basic principles. In doing so, he became what a Jedi should be rather than what they actually had been years before. He even got through past grudges of the Order and helped a Mandalorian master the ways of the Darksaber. Had that taken place a decade before, he would never have heard the end of it.
Romanticized and deified as they were, the Jedi Order was an outdated institution and held its members on a very tight leash. It didn't allow itself to change and evolve with the galaxy. A Jedi had to live basically as an overpowered monk, and that's a difficult lifestyle to lead in such a huge galaxy. Especially regarding personal attachments. Romantic relationships, especially, were banned because they could eventually lead to the fear of loss. That's what happened to Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen), but we already know that story.
But for a well-trained Jedi, that really shouldn't matter. Romantic relationships may be a form of attachment, but if the basic principles of the Jedi religion are firmly rooted in a person, being married or dating shouldn't take away any of their focus or dedication to the Force and those who need help. Quite the contrary, really, as Hera was often what kept Kanan on the right path. She helped him get clarity even in the darkest of moments and always drove him to do the right thing. So much so, that even when he managed to contact Yoda, the old Master didn't reprimand Kanan for being in a relationship. And when the time came to choose between love and greater good, he knew very well which way to go.
Again, Kanan's luck was that he didn't have to deal with the ruling of a regulatory institution, of course. He was only able to be with Hera because there was no Jedi Order to forbid him of doing so like they did Anakin. Kanan most likely knew about the celibacy rule, but chose to live according to what he felt was right, once again without straying from the basics of his religion. Perhaps the galaxy would be a very different place if Anakin was allowed to be with Padmé (Natalie Portman), but Kanan got to live what the Chosen One was denied, and we can get a sense of how things could have been. Romance is not bad for anyone, not even for Jedi. One might argue that even Ben Solo (Adam Driver) came back to the Light because of Rey's (Daisy Ridley) pull, fueled by a romantic connection, not just the Dyad.
Kanan is the living proof that Jedi can serve the galaxy, help people, be selfless and altruistic, without having to live in constant denial of who they are. He got to experience what serving the Force truly meant, without having to worry about political bickering or dogmatic rulings. And if his Padawan Ezra Bridger decides to pass on what he has learned, future Jedi and the galaxy will be all the better for it.