Padawan/Legends

"When I left you, I was but a learner; now I am the Master."

- Darth Vader to Obi-Wan Kenobi

A Padawan, Padawan learner, or Jedi Apprentice in Basic, was a child, or in some cases an adult, who began serious training under a Jedi Knight or a Jedi Master, chosen by the Knight or Master himself from the ranks of the younglings.

Role
Padawans followed and helped their Master everywhere, unless seen unfit by the master, from simple tasks to dangerous missions, so that they learned from experience and personal guidance. Male Padawans were given a buzzcut, although there were a few acceptances among species including humans. When a Padawan passed the 'trials', he or she was elevated to knighthood, and their braid was cut off during the knighting ceremony (Padawans who belonged to haired species wore a small braid on the side of their head). There was no fixed age when this happens: Padawans could even be adults, but for a Human, it usually occurred in the Padawan's early- or mid-twenties.

If a youngling was not chosen by any Jedi Knight to be their Padawan by 13 years of age, the youngling was placed into another, lesser role in the Jedi Service Corps &mdash; a tradition abandoned by Luke Skywalker when he created the New Jedi Order.

History
"Be mindful of the living Force, my young Padawan."

- Qui-Gon Jinn

Since the time of the Old Sith Wars, the practice of multiple Padawans learning under a single Master was discouraged, due to their apparent predilection to defect to the dark ways of the Sith. Thus, while ancient masters such as Arca Jeth and the Jedi Exile had several apprentices at any given time, tradition came to dictate a single Padawan, allowing his or her master to better focus on their pupil, and give them more of their attention. Ironically, the inclusion of this practice in the Jedi code closely mirrored the Sith Rule of Two, with the Sith equivalent of the Padawan being the 'Shadow Hand'.

There were some exceptions in the Padawan age-limits. Revan (who without knowing was a Jedi Knight before his fall), after losing his memory and being reprogrammed by the Jedi Conclave, was re-trained as a Padawan following Bastila Shan due to the "urgency" of his mission.

Anakin Skywalker became a Padawan under Obi-Wan Kenobi without ever training as a Youngling, due to his relatively advanced age of ten years.

Post-Republic
After the Great Jedi Purge, several early Jedi that eventually formed the New Jedi Order never had the "rank" of Padawan, since there were no Masters to train them. Among these were Luke Skywalker, who was privately trained by Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and Grand Master Yoda, and Kyle Katarn, a Force-sensitive who was self-taught with guidance from Qu Rahn's Force ghost.

Yoda and Obi-Wan were Qui-Gon Jinn's "Padawans," learning from his Force Ghost during the Great Jedi Purge. It was these lessons that let Obi-Wan and Yoda become Force Ghosts instead of dying completely.

When Skywalker established the New Jedi Order, things were quite different: the traditional Padawan's braid, as well as the term "Padawan" itself, disappeared at this time. The New Jedi Order used the term "Apprentice" instead.

Due to the small number of Jedi Knights, Luke Skywalker loosened the restrictions on the number of apprentices a Jedi could train at once. Skywalker, for example, simultaneously mentored his nephews Jacen and Anakin Solo. The problems of this new system were soon noticed, since the Master could not pay full attention to both his students &mdash; an example of this would be Kyle Katarn's students Jaden Korr and Rosh Penin (who turned to the dark side for a brief time), so this rule may have been replaced with the original rule, but this is yet unknown.

By 40 ABY, the traditional Padawan braid had made a reappearance on Jedi apprentices such as Ben Skywalker, even though the term "Padawan" itself did not. By 130 ABY, the traditional Padawan title was back in use, such as was the case of Cade Skywalker, who was addressed as a Padawan by his Master, Wolf Sazen.

Behind the scenes
The term Padawan first appeared as far back as George Lucas' first story treatments for Star Wars.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II &mdash; The Sith Lords
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
 * Star Wars: Jedi Knight II &mdash; Jedi Outcast
 * Star Wars: Jedi Knight &mdash; Jedi Academy
 * Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
 * Star Wars Legacy 1: Broken, Part 1
 * Star Wars Legacy 2: Broken, Part 2