Jedi

"I am a Jedi, like my father before me."

- Luke Skywalker

A Jedi was a Force-sensitive individual, most often a member of the Jedi Order, who studied, served, and used the mystical energies of the Force; usually, the light side of the Force. The weapon of a Jedi was the lightsaber, a blade made of pure energy. Jedi fought for peace and justice in the Galactic Republic, usually against their mortal enemy: the Sith, who studied the dark side of the Force.

The Jedi were all but destroyed by the Sith during and after the execution of Order 66, leaving very few Jedi survivors until there was only one known living Jedi, Luke Skywalker, at the end of the Galactic Civil War.

Skywalker rebuilt the order in the years after the Galactic Civil War, but his nephew and apprentice, later dubbed Kylo Ren, massacred all of its members, leaving Skywalker once again as the last remaining Jedi.

Jedi Ranks

 * Jedi youngling: A young child who was Force-sensitive would be identified at birth and taken to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant to be trained as a Jedi. They were to be put into classes of other Jedi younglings and trained together before being taken as an apprentice by a Jedi Knight. Younglings were not to be trained once they had reached a certain age, with the sole exception to this rule being Anakin Skywalker.
 * Padawan: A youngling who had been chosen by a Jedi Knight or Jedi Master to train under their tutelage personally into becoming a fully fledged Jedi Knight.
 * Jedi Knight: Once a Padawan has successfully passed the Jedi trials, they were be granted the rank of Jedi Knight and went out on missions of their own, no longer under the tutelage of a master.
 * Jedi Master: A Jedi Knight was granted the rank of Jedi Master when they had shown great skill, wisdom and devotion to the Force. When a Jedi Knight successfully led a Padawan to becoming a Jedi Knight themselves, they would also be granted the rank of Master.
 * Grand Master: The leader of the Jedi High Council, the position of Grand Master was given to the oldest and considered to be the wisest member of the Jedi Order.
 * Master of the Order: This position was assumed by the leader of the Jedi Order. He or she had to be voted unanimously into the position by the Jedi High Council.

Non-canon appearances

 * William Shakespeare's The Phantom of Menace: Star Wars Part the First
 * Epic Yarns: A New Hope
 * Epic Yarns: The Empire Strikes Back
 * Epic Yarns: Return of the Jedi