Wookieepedia:Featured article queue/Week 9, 2015/1

In 3964 BBY, the Jedi Masters of the planet Taris' Jedi Tower killed their Padawans at a false Knighting ceremony that became known as the Padawan Massacre. The Masters were all members of the Jedi Covenant, a secret faction within the Jedi Order dedicated to keeping watch for and preventing the return of the Sith, and the five comprised the Covenant's First WatchCircle. During the Padawans' final trial, a blind traverse of Taris' hazardous rogue moon, the Masters had shared traumatic and violent Force visions depicting not only their deaths but the destruction of the Jedi Order and the Galactic Republic. Believing that one of their Padawans would be the one to bring about this doom, the Masters made plans to slay them all in a preemptive strike. After the Padawans completed their test and returned to Taris, the Masters scheduled a banquet and a Knighting ceremony&mdash;after the banquet, the group retired to the Masters' chambers, supposedly for the Padawans to discover which of them would be Knighted. There, the inquiries of Padawan Shad Jelavan, who felt that something was amiss, forced the Masters to strike quicker than they anticipated. Four of the five Padawans were slain, but the fifth, Zayne Carrick, was able to escape because he arrived late.

Framed for the murders, the fugitive Carrick eventually learned the truth of the Padawan Massacre and set out to clear his name. Now one of the most wanted men in the Republic, Carrick investigated the murders, discovering more and more about the Jedi Covenant and its secret operations. Along the way, he encountered the five members of the WatchCircle, and events were put in motion that led to the Masters meeting their ultimate fate. Raana Tey was killed on Taris in the midst of a Mandalorian invasion of the planet&mdash;an offensive that was prompted by the Padawan Massacre&mdash;and the Feeorin Master Feln was slain by his own tribesmen on his homeworld of Odryn after a violent encounter with Carrick. Their deaths led the Khil seer Xamar to confess the Covenant's secret activities to the Jedi High Council and clear Carrick's name. Both Xamar and the Miraluka Q'Anilia died soon afterward, however, during an insurrection against the Council led by the failed Padawan Haazen. After Haazen was defeated, Lucien Draay, the only survivor of the First WatchCircle, dropped out of sight, and Carrick refused an offer to rejoin the Jedi Order in favor of entering into business with his "accomplice," Marn Hierogryph.