Caleb Dume was born on Coruscant eleven years before the outbreak of the Clone Wars.
He was quickly discovered to be Force-sensitive by the Jedi Order who took him to be raised at the Jedi Temple.
One day before his Initiate Trials, he met Jedi Master Depa Billaba
who was recovering in a bacta tank
after a disastrous defeat fighting against General Grievous on the planet Haruun Kal.
She almost immediately took a liking to young Caleb,
and he hoped that she would choose him as her Padawan.
He had an inquiring reputation that some Masters found troublesome, but Depa found amusing.
During one of his inquisitive streaks,
he asked Obi-Wan Kenobi if it would be possible to alter the beacon in the Jedi Temple to warn Jedi of danger
an idea Kenobi would use in only a few short months.
The day Caleb passed his Initiate Trials,
Captain Rackham Sear of the Confederacy brazenly attacked the temple.
Dume faced the terrorist by himself and was easily captured, but Billaba came to his rescue.
Impressed by the thirteen-year-old,
she invited him to become her Padawan, joining her return to the Clone Wars.
His first campaign was to the planet Kardoa with Billaba's new battalion
which was itself led by the few survivors of her previous command: Commander Grey and Captain Styles.
Caleb became friends with CT-1157 who had not yet received a nickname.
They were ambushed by droids and the fresh Padawan ventured too far beyond the battle lines.
He was wounded but rescued by his clone friend who stood over the boy
an act which earned him the nickname Stance.
By the time Caleb had recovered, the battalion was ordered to move on to Mygeeto.
During the Third Battle of Mygeeto they were pinned down by battle droids
but were rescued by the Mandalorian Fenn Rau and his Skull Squadron.
When they returned to their camp, they were attacked by General Grievous
and Colonel Coburn Sear who was the brother of the captain that attacked the Jedi Temple.
Caleb defeated Sear and Grievous retreated, but Stance was killed in the fight.
At the age of fourteen, Caleb and his master had moved on to the planet Kaller
taking part in a Republic victory against the Separatist General Kleeve.
After the fight, a Kalleran named Janus Kasmir expressed his distaste for the Separatists and
Republic alike which earned him the ire of Caleb.
In response, Billaba gave him a Holocron so that he could study the role of peaceful dissent in war.
That night, Order 66 was activated in clone troopers across the galaxy.
Depa ordered Caleb to flee and she gave her life to save him.
He prowled the streets of Kaller for several days, taking food from dumpsters
until he was found by Janus Kasmir.
The Kalleran took pity on him and agreed to hide him and help him survive.
It was then that the Jedi Temple beacon was activated, recalling Jedi to Coruscant.
Unaware of the trap, Caleb stole Kasmir's ship and traveled home.
On the way, he received Obi-Wan's altered message
and was able to escape the squadron of fighters waiting for Jedi to return.
Kasmir was understandably upset with Caleb, wanting nothing to do with him.
So the young man followed the Kalleran until he was able to rescue him from some thugs to get back on his good side.
Janus eventually came around and convinced Caleb to cut all ties with his past life.
They worked together as thieves and smugglers becoming friends
but all the while they were being tracked by Grey and Styles.
During one of their jobs, they met back up with General Kleeve
and Caleb was forced to set aside his old grudges from the Clone Wars.
But the clones caught up to them and captured their former Jedi friend.
His inquisitive nature popped back up and he demanded the clones question their orders for once.
They refused, and Caleb opened up the airlock ejecting himself into space where he was picked up by a trailing ship piloted by Kasmir.
The clones came about to open fire, but the spell of Order 66 was broken in Grey.
He opened fire on his brothers to save Caleb and make up for the murder of Depa Billaba.
Fearing that Kasmir would never be safe with a former Jedi around,
they parted ways and Caleb took on the name Kanan Jarrus.
For eight years he hid his Force sensitivity working as a freighter pilot, bounty hunter, and more.
He drank heavily and drifted from planet to planet to avoid making connections.
Eventually he made his way to the planet Gorse where he worked as a freighter pilot for a mining operation on the planet's moon.
It was there that he met Hera Syndulla,
who was investigating a newly arrived Imperial named Count Vidian,
intent on finding new and cruel ways to improve mining efficiency.
Enamored with Hera, he helped her take the Imperial down, and they also ran afoul of Captain Rae Sloane.
By the end of Hera's mission, she had learned of his Force powers
and invited him to become a crew member on her ship, the Ghost.
For six years they worked together, built their crew and were occasionally romantic.
On the Outer Rim planet Lothal they met a fourteen-year-old Force sensitive boy named Ezra Bridger.
On their first adventure together,
Kanan revealed himself as a lightsaber-wielding Jedi to the Imperial Security Bureau Agent Kallus
and began to embrace his Jedi heritage once more.
He offered to train Ezra as a Padawan
which proved to be frustrating since he had never completed his own training.
When he heard that Jedi Master Luminara Unduli was still alive, they attempted to rescue her
but fell into a trap set by the Imperials' Grand Inquisitor.
They escaped but Kanan knew he was being hunted yet again.
Kanan was eventually captured and taken to Mustafar where he would eventually be questioned by Darth Vader.
But the crew of the Ghost, Bail Organa and Ahsoka Tano came to his rescue and the Grand Inquisitor was killed.
Darth Vader and two more Inquisitors were then sent after Kanan and Ezra as they joined a rebel cell known as Phoenix Squadron.
They met with three clone troopers and Kanan was again forced to set aside old grudges and fears
leftover from the Clone Wars.
They also somewhat forcefully recruited the help of the Mandalorian Fenn Rau
who had saved Kanan on Mygeeto so many years before.
Needing guidance, Kanan, Ezra and Ahsoka all travelled to the Jedi Temple on Lothal
where they each communed with Master Yoda.
In Kanan's experience he was officially elevated to the level of Jedi Knight.
Yoda instructed Ezra to travel to Malachor, so the three Force users went together.
Before leaving, Hera expressed her concern over their safety and Kanan promised that they would see each other again.
On Malachor they met Maul and three inquisitors.
Maul sided with Kanan and Ahsoka and all three of their enemies were killed.
But Maul then turned on Kanan, blinding him.
Darth Vader then arrived and Ahsoka confronted him so that her two friends could escape.
Hera was heartbroken at Kanan's injuries.
Back at Phoenix Squadron's new base on the planet Atollon
Kanan began to neglect his duties as a master as he coped with his blindness.
He met the Bendu, a powerful Force-using creature that claimed to stand in the middle of the light and dark sides of the Force.
He helped Kanan to master his other senses and reconnect with his Padawan.
After the Mandalorian crew member of the Ghost, Sabine Wren, came to possess the Darksaber
Kanan briefly took on a second apprentice, training her in lightsaber combat.
His instructions allowed her to wield the weapon with enough skill to rally her family and other Mandalorians to fight against the Empire.
When Grand Admiral Thrawn discovered the location of Phoenix Squadron's base, they retreated to Yavin 4.
But the crew of the Ghost returned to Lothal to shut down the Empire's TIE Defender factories there.
The attack was a failure and Hera was captured in the aftermath.
Kanan raced off to save her on his own
but was stopped by a Loth-wolf that mysteriously spoke his old last name: Dume.
He returned to his crew and requested that Ezra lead the mission to save Hera,
fearing that his own feelings about her would compromise them.
They successfully infiltrated the Imperial center of Lothal and saved her.
Kanan and Hera were chased to the fuel depot of the city
and while they waited for Ezra and Sabine to pick them up
Hera finally admitted that she loved him and they kissed.
But as they boarded their getaway craft the Empire opened fire on the depot causing it to explode.
Kanan held the fire at bay with the Force, sharing one final look with Hera and Ezra.
His eyes were restored, fulfilling the promise he made to Hera, and then he pushed his friends
to safety before the explosion consumed him.
Since the death of Caleb Dume was the result of the destruction of the fuel depot,
the Rebel mission to Lothal wound up being a success.
His presence in the Force comforted both Ezra and Hera briefly after his physical death
but ultimately his spirit passed into the Cosmic Force.
The example he made for Ezra enabled his Padawan to do something similar
by sending himself and Grand Admiral Thrawn to an unknown part of the galaxy
allowing the Rebellion to grow without the threat of the master tactician.
Not long after his death, Hera gave birth to Jacen Syndulla, Kanan's son, who was likely force sensitive like his father.
The story of Kanan Jarrus is, of course, mostly told in the four seasons of Star Wars Rebels.
You can read about his life before the series in the twelve-issue comic: Kanan The Last Padawan by Greg Weisman
and the book A New Dawn by John Jackson Miller.
Both stories are great but the comic actually includes one of my favorite Star Wars moments.
But that's it for today.
Are there any other characters you'd like to see me cover like this?
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