Lanius Qel - Bertuk Lanius Qel - Bertuk was a renowned male Human Jedi Master who was Headmaster of the Jedi academy on Almas . Lanius Qel - Bertuk was considered by some to be one of the wisest Jedi in the Order and somewhat of a maverick by the Jedi High Council . Qel - Bertuk was possessed with ice - blue eyes , raven - black hair and a graying beard in a friendly , commonly - smiling face . He had a burn scar on his left cheek and was missing the third finger on his left hand . Biography . Discovered to be Force - sensitive by Acquisition Division recruiter Jonas Fel ' Kona , Lanius Qel - Bertuk was taken to the Coruscant Jedi Temple when he was old enough to dream of his future achievements , although he might have already began his training at that point somewhere else . It was there that he discovered the legends of the Jedi he knew were quite different from reality . Qel - Bertuk was trained in the Force as a Padawan by the Twi ' lek Jedi Master Nerra Ziveri . Ziveri brought Qel - Bertuk with him when he became headmaster of the Almas Academy , and began training Qel - Bertuk to replace himself as headmaster for the future . Achieving the rank of Jedi Knight after passing his Trials of Knighthood , Jedi Qel - Bertuk found he had a talent for teaching , and was one of the most popular instructors there . Honing his precognitive talents at this point , Jedi Qel - Bertuk was selected to become the Jedi Watchman of the Cularin system . In 56 BBY , Ziveri suddenly made Qel - Bertuk a Master , as well as the headmaster of the academy , before disappearing on a mysterious mission . Qel - Bertuk continued Ziveri ' s policies , even the experimental ones that some frowned upon , such as the Jedi quest s . He also increased the student ' s lessons in areas not directly related to the Force , believing that " A Jedi should know as much as possible about everything , " reflecting his studies as a Sentinel . Master Qel - Bertuk had a great talent for discerning the future , something Grand Master Yoda commented upon when visiting Almas . He sensed the disturbances associated with the return of the Sith and the growing strength of the dark side before others . He began to spend more time in meditation trying to disern the source of the disturbance clearly , which was a detriment to his teaching duties . Around 42 BBY , Tarasin Jedi Constanten finished her training at the Almas Academy and was faced with a choice : Remaining on Almas or being transferred to Coruscant . Qel - Bertuk explained to her that there was no wrong answer , but she would face a greater challenge on Almas , because a Jedi must be free of any attachment , and this is something hard to do when living in your native system . Constanten decided to leave , but she returned to the Almas Academy two decades later , as a Jedi free of attachments . Later , Qel - Bertuk contacted Coruscant - trained Jedi Valiri , who had recently finished his own training . Qel - Bertuk offered Valiri a job at the Almas Academy as an instructor and protector of the Academy . Valiri , who knew Qel - Bertuk only because of his reputation , meditated on it and eventually agreed . In 31 BBY , Master Qel - Bertuk felt a disturbance in the Force coming from the nearby planet Cularin , which he correctly assumed was related to recent disappearances of people from the cities of Gadrin and Hedrett . Assuming that he and his Jedi were too famous on Cularin to be effective as investigators , he sent E1 - 6RA to search for some independent agents who would perform the research , in exchange of having Qel - Bertuk as a contact . The results of this outsourcing are unknown . The missing people had really joined the Cularin resistance to find proofs of the illegal acts of the Metatheran Cartel in the planet and expel them from the planet , something they eventually achieved . . The Cartel blamed his envoy Velin Wir for the crimes and sent a new envoy , Thurm Loogg , to ask for permission to remain in the planet . Governor Barnab Chistor of Gadrin left the matter up to a vote . Some Padawans attending the celebration abstained , although many people had thought that the Jedi Order were going to vote as a block . Master Qel - Bertuk did not assist , although he sent E1 - 6RA as a representative . When the Clone Wars erupted between the Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems , Master Qel - Bertuk exercised his Right of Denial and turned in his lightsaber rather than become a General in the Grand Army of the Republic . In 20 BBY , the Almas Academy controlled the Almas Sith fortress , built centuries before by Darth Rivan on the other hemisphere of the planet . Qel - Bertuk sent a group of Jedi there , both as researchers and to protect the fortress from a possible attack of a dark side sect , the Believers . As the fortress was laid with mechanical traps and the power of the dark side , many parts of it had not been studied by the Jedi yet . Qel - Bertuk organized the shifts so that there would always be twenty Jedi at the fortress at any given time . The fortress was attacked , although by an unknown group . During a sandstorm that disturbed communications and recordings , the invaders took care of six Jedi guards in one entrance ; three of them would be found dead , and the other three were missing . Qel - Bertuk organized different elite search groups to explore the insides of the fortress . As he was afraid of the attack being a bait to attract the most powerful Jedi of the Academy , and due to the enemies being able to defeat some of the most powerful Jedi warriors he had , he wanted to recruit some non - Jedi , and sent Jedi apprentice Janiah with messages to some of them . Qel - Bertuk met with at least three search teams , one of which probably included Jedi Mistress Devan For ' deschel and six high - ranking Jedi , and divided the fortress in parts for them to search . The search was fruitful : At least two of the missing Jedi ( Constanten and Valiri ) were found , alive but without their Force essences . Other five people , including Dark Jedi Karae Nalvas , were found in a similar state . The " empty " bodies were carried to the Almas Academy . There , Jedi librarian Oden Malksch accidentally possessed Nalvas ' s body and accessed to a part of his memories , providing Qel - Bertuk with important information such as the involvement of Chevin slaver Phylus Mon . Qel - Bertuk assumed that Phylus Mon could also be responsible of the disappearance of several Force - sensitive Tarasin children . Qel - Bertuk organized then a new team to attack Phylus Mon ' s secret headquarters , as pinpointed by Malksch , and to recover the lost Force essences . After the success of this mission , Qel - Bertuk greeted the heroes and organized a little celebration at his own office , where they would know the gratitude of many knights of the Academy , Governor Barnab Chistor , Senior Counselor Westa Impeveri , Nadin Paal , and Senator Wren ' s assistant Sa ' arli . Qel - Bertuk died in circa 19 BBY , while defending the ch ' hala heart tree from the Wyrd . He returned as a Force ghost and tried to comfort the Padawan Meera Lisso following the destruction of the Almas Academy . Personality and traits . Master Lanius Qel - Bertuk always remained the picture of composure , the serious - but - kind educator who took the lives of his pupils , and the rest of the galaxy , very seriously . He had a phenomenal memory , always recalling the names of the Jedi he had met . He had a disconcerting habit of not looking at the face of the person he was speaking to , instead wandering around and muttering to himself because of his ability to perceive movements in the Force .