Inquisitorius

"You're the fourth Inquisitor we've seen. How many are there?''" "''More than enough for the two of you. Nothing can save you."

- Kanan Jarrus and the Eighth Brother

The Inquisitorius was an organization of Force-sensitive agents who worked for the Galactic Empire. Members of the Inquisitorius were known as Imperial Inquisitors, Inquisitors, Red Blades and sometimes even Jedi hunters. They were tasked with hunting down the remaining Jedi who had survived Order 66 at the end of the Clone Wars. In the years leading up to the Battle of Yavin, the Inquisitors came into conflict with the Lothal rebels, a rebel cell that included the Jedi Purge survivor Kanan Jarrus and his Padawan Ezra Bridger. Their pursuit of the Lothal rebels also brought them into contact with another Jedi Purge survivor, the former Jedi Ahsoka Tano, as well as the former Sith apprentice Maul, who sought revenge against the Sith for casting him out and killing his brother and mother.

Operations
The Inquisitors' primary mission was to hunt down and kill surviving Jedi who had survived the Jedi Purge. A secondary mission was to identify and abduct Force-sensitive individuals including infants and Imperial cadets. If these individuals would not serve the Galactic Empire, then they would be eliminated. The Inquisitors wore black and grey bodysuits with armor and were equipped with double-bladed spinning lightsabers, that were also capable of spinning in a helicopter-like motion for escape. Besides hunting Jedi, the Inquisitors were also known to pursue other Force-sensitive opponents of the Sith, like the renegade Maul.

Serving the Sith
"You would question me, Seventh Sister?''" "Only when you're wrong, Fifth'' Brother"

- The Fifth Brother pulls rank on the Seventh Sister

When the Clone Wars ended, Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine formed the Galactic Empire and declared the Jedi Order its enemy. Using Jedi Master Mace Windu's attempt to have him arrested as justification, the new Emperor activated Order 66 which had been hardwired into every single one of the Republic's clone troopers and instructed them to kill their Jedi commanders. The majority of the Jedi were killed by the clones but several managed to escape, especially after Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi sent out a distress signal from the Jedi Temple, warning the survivors off. As such, several Jedi had survived the initial purge and gone into hiding. Fearing the threat the surviving Jedi posed to his rule, Emperor Palpatine created the Inquisitors to track down and eliminate the last remaining Jedi.

The Inquisitors were trained by Darth Vader, the Emperor's apprentice, in the ways of the dark side of the Force and wielded double-bladed spinning lightsabers with a ringed emitter, allowing the blades to rotate. At least one of the Inquisitors, the Pau'an individual known as the Grand Inquisitor, was known to have been a former Jedi Knight who had served as Jedi Temple Guard. They also developed Interrogation chairs to assist in their questioning of suspected rebels or Jedi.

Several of them also studied the records of the Jedi Order to familiarize themselves with their enemies' fighting techniques, making them dangerous fighters. Due to the nature of their mission, Inquisitors had the power to commandeer any required Imperial Military forces, and all officers were to obey their orders. Any Imperial officer who came into contact with Force-sensitive beings was to immediately contact an Inquisitor to investigate the situation. However, due to Palpatine's inherent fear of Force-users, the Inquisitors were never made too powerful. In addition, some Imperial officers disliked the interference of Inquisitors with some, such as Admiral Kassius Konstantine, dismissing them as 'mystics'.

The Inquisitors were heavily involved in efforts to prevent Force-sensitive children from falling into the hands of the remaining Jedi or from using their skills against the Empire. As part of this strategy, an operation, codenamed Project Harvester, was designed to identify cadets in Imperial academies across the galaxy who met the criteria that would identify them as Force-sensitive.

Hunting the Jedi
About one year after the rise of the Empire, an Inquisitor known as the Sixth Brother was active and searching for Force-sensitive children. However, he later abandoned this task after receiving word of a Force-sensitive old enough to have received Jedi training was hiding in the Outer Rim and set out to hunt the individual in question, hoping to earn a promotion. The supposed Jedi was in fact former Padawan Ahsoka Tano, who had left the Jedi Order before the end of the Clone Wars after being wrongfully accused of treason. Laying a trap for Tano, the Sixth Brother battled her on the moon of Raada, but due to his lack of finesse and Tano's power, he was defeated and killed, with Tano taking his lightsaber crystals before fleeing the system. Shortly afterwards, the Grand Inquisitor arrived and, unaware of Tano's identity, decided to hunt her himself, but not before informing Darth Vader.

When rumors emerged of a Jedi leading a rebel cell on the planet Lothal reached the ears of the Empire, Vader sent the Grand Inquisitor to take care of the problem. After several encounters, the Grand Inquisitor succeeded in capturing Jarrus, but was defeated by the latter in a lightsaber duel during a rescue staged by the rebels and Jarrus's Padawan, Ezra Bridger. Rather than face his Master's punishment for his failure, the Grand Inquisitor killed himself.

During a skirmish with Jarrus's cell, Vader learned that Ahsoka Tano, who had been his apprentice, was still alive. Upon learning of this news, the Emperor ordered Vader to dispatch another Inquisitor to hunt the rebels down. At least two Inquisitors, the Fifth Brother and the Seventh Sister, were assigned to do so and confronted several crew members of the Ghost during a skirmish aboard an abandoned Republic medical station. Due to Garazeb Orrelios' quick-thinking, the rebels managed to escape the Inquisitors aboard the Phantom.

The death of the Grand Inquisitor was a great surprise for the other Inquisitors who saw new opportunities in hunting down the ones responsible. In addition to the Seventh Sister and the Fifth Brother, several other Inquisitors began to scour the galaxy searching for the two Jedi who had defeated their leader. While intercepting transmissions from Mustafar, Tano discovered that the Inquisitors' second mission was to kidnap Force-sensitive children. Meanwhile, the Seventh Sister and the Fifth Brother kidnapped the infants Alora and Pypey above the planets Chandel and on Takobo respectively. This brought them into contact with the crew of the Ghost and Ahsoka, who defeated them in combat. Later, the Seventh Sister and the Fifth Brother took part in an unsuccessful attempt to capture the Phoenix rebel cell in Garel City.

Three years before the Battle of Yavin, the Fifth Brother and the Seventh Sister spent several months pursuing the Jedi Kanan and Ezra. On one occasion, they managed to track the Jedi fugitives to the planet Oosalon where they fought with them. Despite their efforts, the Jedi managed to escape and regroup with the Lothal rebels. Later, the Inquisitors followed Ezra, Kanan, and Ahsoka to the Lothal Jedi Temple. After forcing their way into the temple, the two Inquisitors were attacked by ghostly apparitions of the Jedi Temple Guards, which had been conjured by the Jedi Master Yoda. One of these apparitions was the former Grand Inquisitor, who had once been a Jedi. The Fifth Brother and Seventh Sister survived the encounter and managed to alert Darth Vader, who vowed to put an end to the Jedi threat.

Mission to Malachor
Some time after the events of the Lothal Jedi Temple, Kanan, Ezra and Ahsoka traveled to Malachor, under the guidance of Master Yoda. When they arrived there, the Eighth Brother, who was already there hunting the mysterious shadow known as Darth Maul, attacked them. Soon after, Ezra became separated from the others and encountered the former Sith apprentice. As this was happening, Ahsoka and Kanan chased and captured the Eighth Brother, who unbeknownst to them sent a distress signal to his fellow Inquisitors, the Fifth Brother and the Seventh Sister. Maul and Ezra together entered the Sith temple on Malachor and retrieved the Sith holocron inside.

Shortly later, they found the Fifth Brother, Seventh Sister and Eighth Brother dueling Ahsoka and Kanan. Maul and Ezra intervened and forced the Inquisitors to retreat. While attempting to plant the Sith holocron in the Sith temple's obelisk, they encountered the Inquisitors once again. Maul began force choking the Seventh Sister and urged Ezra to strike her down. When Ezra could not bring himself to do it, Maul then slung his lightsaber at her; killing her instantly. Maul and Ezra then found Ahsoka and Kanan once more fighting the Fifth and Eighth Brothers. After Ahsoka destroyed the Fifth Brother's lightsaber, Maul made quick work of him by stabbing him with his lightsaber. Kanan sliced the Eighth Brother's lightsaber. Cornered and outnumbered, the Eighth Brother attempted to escape by using his lightsaber to hover away from his three adversaries. This did not work, as the lightsaber malfunctioned in flight and sent the Eighth Brother plummeting to his death at the base of the temple below.

End of the hunt
"The Jedi are extinct. Their fire has gone out of the universe. You, my friend, are all that's left of their religion."

- Wilhuff Tarkin to Darth Vader

Approximately three years after the incident on Malachor, the Jedi Order was largely thought to be completely extinct by the Empire, rendering the Inquisitorius useless. Eventually, it ceased to exist entirely. At a meeting aboard the first Death Star, Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin confidently expressed his belief that the Force itself had disappeared from the galaxy, and that Darth Vader was the only living practitioner of what he termed "the ancient religion".

Behind the scenes
Inquisitors were originally created for The Star Wars Sourcebook, a 1987 sourcebook for a Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game written by Bill Slavicsek and Curtis Smith. Their role was expanded upon in many sources that are now labeled Star Wars Legends, and thus not part of official canon. However, the Inquisitors were canonized by their inclusion in the animated television series Star Wars Rebels.

Non-canon appearances

 * Angry Birds Star Wars II
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens