Unidentified young new recruit

"Welcome to the Palace of the Jedi! Brave you must be, a great challenge have you."

- Yoda, greeting the recruit

In the aftermath of the Battle of Naboo, a young new recruit was brought to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant and placed under the responsibility of Master Yoda. The old Jedi assigned various tasks to the young recruit related to helping the planet Naboo return to a state of peace after its invasion by the Trade Federation, and to keeping Anakin Skywalker, a rising star of the Jedi Order, content in his new role as a Jedi Padawan.

Early life
"Six missions there are."

- Yoda

Around 32 BBY, the Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi recruited a young Force-sensitive on behalf of the Jedi Order and sent the individual to be trained on the galactic capital of Coruscant. The child boarded a Consular-class space cruiser bound for the Jedi Temple and, upon arrival, was immediately directed to Yoda, Grand Master of the Order, who had returned from the planet Naboo after the funeral of Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn. The recent events of the Naboo crisis, in which the Trade Federation invaded Naboo with an army of battle droids, had left many scars. Despite victory over the Trade Federation's troops and the possible discovery of the Chosen One&mdash;a being who would restore balance to the Force&mdash;in the person of Anakin Skywalker, much remained to be done. The elder Jedi thus commissioned the child to undertake six missions directly linked with the late crisis. It was rather unusual for a mere Jedi Initiate to be allowed to venture offworld, but the Grand Master placed exceptional trust in the recruit as he bestowed his blessing to leave the Temple.

Restoring peace on Naboo
"A great victory the Republic won on Naboo. A celebration there is. Queen Amidala challenged Jar Jar Binks with a race between friends."

- Yoda

Yoda first tasked the young Jedi recruit with helping at the Victory Races of Naboo, which were organized to celebrate the friendly relations between the two peoples of the planet, the Naboo and the Gungans. Queen Padmé Amidala of the Naboo and Bombad General of the Gungan Grand Army Jar Jar Binks, two of the key actors in the recent reconciliation between the two peoples, were to participate in the races. Yoda tasked the young Jedi recruit with advising them on choosing from the available paths through the terrains the race circuit covered. The youngling favored one of the competitors.

Despite the fact that the Federation Droid Control Ship had been destroyed, deactivating most of the B1 battle droids and droidekas stationed on Naboo, active battle droids were discovered destroying the Sacred Forest of Naboo. The Jedi recruit helped Jar Jar Binks activate droid traps hidden throughout the woods. The traps were triggered by a drum-like mechanism. In order to make them work properly, the recruit needed to reproduce a specific beat.

Due to a mistake by Jar Jar Binks, Amidala's personal computer on her royal starship had malfunctioned. The fluke resulted in the loss of files of great importance to the Queen. After resolving tangram puzzles, the recruit fixed the computer and restored valuable pictures related to the conflict on Naboo, acquiring knowledge about it in the process.

At the request of the Gungans, the young recruit was sent to find four sacred statues inside the ancient Gungan Caves. Each relic was hidden behind a sealed door, and the youngling had to find ten jewels per door that, together, acted as keys to open the door. The recruit explored a maze of tunnels filled with doors decorated with red spiders, colorful lizards, and mysterious carvings. The youth successfully discovered the jewels hidden in the caves system, relying on visual cues such as plants and rocks. Once the doors were opened, they finally revealed their treasures.

Missions on Tatooine
"C-3PO, Anakin's droid. To him, knowledge of the Jedi you must bring."

- Yoda

Yoda also tasked the Jedi recruit with traveling to the desert planet Tatooine, where the protocol droid C-3PO had been left unfinished by his creator, the young Anakin Skywalker. Yoda asked the young recruit to program stories into the droid's memory. The young Jedi input tales and anecdotes related to Anakin, Amidala and the Jedi into C-3PO. These tales notably included a conversation between Anakin and Amidala in which the boy confessed he missed his mother. Despite this new programming, the droid later claimed that he never was good at storytelling.

Anakin Skywalker had been forced to leave Tatooine and his mother in order to join the Jedi Order, and Yoda suggested to the recruit that they help put together a songbook to remind Anakin of his home planet. The new recruit ventured to a cantina and worked with a Bith band, the Jawa singer Tili Tili and a Tiperoo to record thrity-one songs on a musical keyboard. These songs were Skywalker's favorite, and most of them directly referenced events from Anakin's life or from the Battle of Naboo. The musical pieces included Growing up on Tatooine, Ja Ja Jabba, I Want to Go to Naboo, Everybody's Got Something to Sell and Watto Steals You Blind.

Personality and traits
"With you, I will always be."

- Master Yoda

While Jedi Initiates were usually attached to a clan under the training of an instructor and rarely left the Jedi Temple, Yoda showed trust in the youngling and tasked the new recruit with missions that required travel offworld from Coruscant to remote planets like Naboo and Tatooine. The young recruit showed bravery in navigating the underground passages on Naboo, and aptitude for music, problem solving, programming and tangram puzzles. Grand Master Yoda thought highly of the young recruit's courage and logical thinking, and he took great personal interest in following the completion of the child's tasks.

Behind the scenes
In 1998, Lucas Learning released the educational video game Star Wars: Yoda's Challenge Activity Center, in which the player assumes the role of a promising Jedi recruit. The game never specifies the recruit's name, species or gender, simply describing the character as a "young new recruit," and allowing the player to give the character a name of her or his choosing. The game is targeted at children aged six to eight and includes six different puzzles. These puzzles can be played in any order; this article arranges them in the order they are presented on the in-game menu. Unlike most player characters in the adult Star Wars games&mdash;like Meetra Surik from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II or Jaden Korr from Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy&mdash;the Jedi recruit has not been reused or given an identity in later canon.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Yoda's Challenge Activity Center