Felanil Baaks was a male Jedi Knight of the Duros species, a male who served the Jedi Order during the final decades of the Galactic Republic. Uncommonly, Baaks was known as an artisan who specialized in the creation of lightsabers.
As with most Jedi of that time, Baaks' Force-sensitivity was discovered while he was on his home planet of Duro, and he was given to the care of the Jedi Order when he was still very young. He journeyed to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant where Baaks entered the academy and received lightsaber instruction from Grand Master Yoda. During training exercises with his clan, Yoda told Baaks that he was skilled in "Form Zero," which is lightsaber combat that does not use an ignited blade. Although not particularly skilled with a lightsaber, Baaks graduated from the academy and was chosen by a Jedi Master to become their Padawan. Following years of individual training, Baaks successfully completed the Trials of Knighthood and was elevated to the rank of Jedi Knight.
As a Jedi Knight serving the Galactic Republic, Baaks chose to continue his education by studying as a Jedi Consular. He chose a unique area of focus, becoming one of the few artisans within the Order. Baaks concentrated his efforts on the lightsaber, and he differed from other Jedi because he channeled the Force through creative endeavors instead of diplomacy or lightsaber combat. While he declined to take on a Padawan officially, Baaks would often instruct older Padawans or Knights in accelerated lightsaber construction to help them refine the lightsabers they had already built. As was common for an artisan, Baaks gifted several of his lightsabers to other Jedi in the Order, including Master of the Order Mace Windu. Master Windu then gave the lightsaber to a student at the Almas Academy in the Cularin system.
Soon after that, Baaks himself journeyed to Almas with the intention of training five students in the ways of the artisan. Still refusing to take on any Padawans, Baaks chose five Knights who already possessed their own lightsabers, hoping that they would be able to improve their tools and continue to create more. While Baaks was on Almas, the Clone Wars broke out across the galaxy, and the Jedi High Council summoned all Jedi back to Coruscant to be assigned to the Grand Army of the Republic. Like many Jedi in the Cularin system, Baaks exercised the Right of Denial, a decision that was not accepted by the Office of the Supreme Chancellor. In response to the defiant Jedi, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine declared martial law in the Cularin system, demanding that all Jedi who refused to follow the High Council's orders surrender their lightsabers if they wished to remain in the Order. Baaks then illegally re-equipped many of the Jedi there by crafting several new lightsabers.