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An anti-Jedi sticker proclaiming "Stop corrupt Jedi"
- "The Jedi are no different from Dooku, and this one shall pay in part for their crimes against Mandalore."
- ―Pre Vizsla
Anti-Jedi sentiment referred to negative feelings, dislike, or hatred of the Jedi Order, a Force-based monastic organization whose members served the Galactic Republic as guardians of peace and justice.[2]
History[]
High Republic Era[]
- "The Force is precious. The Force is life. There are those who would use it for their own ends, endangering our families and our homes. Endangering our entire planet. They come from the stars with a message of hope, but they are hypocrites who think only of what the Force can do for them, how they can twist its incredible power to fulfill their own desires. But their unnatural practices cause imbalance, putting us all in danger. Join us to combat this evil. Join your neighbors, the Path of the Open Hand. Together we can strive for freedom, justice, and purity in the face of such irresponsibility. Together we can free the Force from their tyranny."
- ―Path of the Open Hand propaganda
Jedha City was at one time controlled by the Jedi Order, whose governance over the city was seen by some as an oppressive rule.[4] In the end, the other religious of Jedha came to feel like the Jedi were presenting themselves as the only real faith and urged the Jedi to step down, which the Order did. The Jedi continued to call Jedha holy[5] but acted as only as one of the many religions who did so.[6] However, Jedha was still the site of some anti-Jedi sentiment during the High Republic Era due to their prior control over the city.[4] However, while there were Force groups and sensitives on Jedha who hated the Jedi, others welcomed their presence. Ultimately, most Force orders and users on Jedha were ambivalent towards Jedi.[7] The anti-Jedi sentiment on Jedha was small enough that any Jedi on the moon could easily deal with it and carry on, at least in the opinion of Jedha-based Padawan Matthea Cathley.[4] The Battle of Jedha, however, represented centuries of old grievances, including old upset towards the Jedi, boiling over into bloodshed.[5]
Attempting to spread its word and faith during the High Republic Era, the Path of the Open Hand espoused anti-Jedi and anti-Force user rhetoric that culminated in violent action.
The Path of the Open Hand believed the Force needed to be "free" by not being used. As such, they regarded the Jedi as an order who abused the Force and feared its use would have detrimental effects on other parts of the galaxy. One devout follower, Marda Ro, fell for a Padawan named Kevmo Zink but still disagreed with his beliefs. When Zink was killed by the Great Leveler unleashed by the Path, she was overwhelmed with grief but came to blame the Jedi Order, believing they had brainwashed the Padawan into a dangerous belief system.[8] During the Battle of Jedha, Elder Delwin of the Path preached that the Jedi and their "abuse" of the Force was responsible for the destruction, reasoning that the Force was acting to re-balance itself through the battle. In truth, however, the Path's own leader[9]—Elecia Zeveron,[3] known widely as "the Mother"—was responsible for the incident[9] and the subsequent Battle of Dalna.[10] Path Herald Werth Plouth was also able to spur on a riot against the Jedi and overall Convocation of the Force as part of the Battle of Jedha.[9]
The later Elders of the Path taught that the Force was something that should not be felt, let alone used, by any living being. To this end, individuals raised by them, including Zeen Mrala and Krix Kamerat, resented and feared the Jedi Order. However, Mrala's resentment was complicated by the fact that she was hiding their own Force-sensitivity, as Mrala feared her own powers due to the elders' teachings and intended never to use them. The members of the group were forced to decide whether to accept Jedi assistance after the Great Hyperspace Disaster and an attack by the Nihil.[11] The Nihil had originally been formed by Marda,[12] who embarked on her own crusade to destroy the Jedi Order after the Battle of Dalna[3] and set in motion a plan to be fulfilled by later generations of her family.[13] One such later Ro, Kufa, wrote off the Jedi as vain figures who were leading the galaxy towards destruction, just as she claimed the Path of the Open Hand had foreseen.[14]
Wane of the Republic era[]
Obi-Wan Kenobi on the planet Lenahra, where he was faced by anti-Jedi sentiment espoused by Loegrib.
In 41 BBY,[15] during the waning days of the Galactic Republic, the Jedi Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi traveled planet Lenahra which he discovered possessed an unusual Power somewhat like that of the Force, but which was connected inherently to all of the planet's flora and fauna. He also discovered a group of youths that were using this power and succeeded in convincing them that doing so was damaging the planet. When Loegrib arrived on the planet with the intent of harvesting as much of the Power as possible, Kenobi tried to convince him of the wrongness of this as well. Loegrib, however, would not be persuaded and tried to use anti-Jedi sentiment to turn the others to his side as well, stating that Jedi desired to keep power for themselves and used mind tricks to bend others to their will. Kenobi found it hard to counter these arguments, as he was only a Padawan and himself had come to the planet in part because he was having doubts regarding his place within the Jedi Order. Ultimately, however, it turned out he did not need to, as the youths had already seen and accepted the truth of his words.[16]
Clone Wars[]
- "No more war!"
- ―A crowd protests before the Jedi Temple
Some people in the galaxy found the Jedi's custom of inducting Force-sensitives into their Order at infancy controversial. Notably, the Dagoyan Masters of Bardotta regarded the Jedi as thieves and kidnappers because of that practice.[18] Some Mandalorians, most notably members of Death Watch, held a grudge against the Jedi for their perceived crimes against Mandalore[1] during the Mandalorian-Jedi War.[19] Similarly, several Zygerrians resented the Order for holding brought down their people's slaver empire, with Darts D'Nar derogatively referring to Obi-Wan Kenobi — now a Jedi Master — as "filth", while Queen Miraj Scintel contemptuously derided the Jedi for having chosen to serve a "corrupt Senate", forsaking their ideals and thus becoming "slaves" to the Galactic Republic.[20][21]
An anti-Jedi sticker
During the Clone Wars, anti-Jedi sentiment further developed in a segment of the galaxy's public opinion. Although the Jedi aroused admiration from those who witnessed them in action, they remained forever mysterious to the Republic citizenry at large. On the other side, the Confederacy of Independent Systems branded them as hypocrites, thanks to firsthand criticism by Count Dooku, leader of the Confederacy and defrocked Jedi Master. That the Jedi led an army of clone soldiers—"slaves bred for war," as Confederate propaganda proclaimed—did not speak well to their character.[2] Many that identified as Separatists held the Jedi Order and Galactic Republic accountable for the war, including the husband of Senator Mina Bonteri of Onderon.[22] Even within the Grand Army of the Galactic Republic itself, there were individuals who exhibited anti-Jedi sentiment even while directly serving under members of the Order, ranging from the Clone Sergeant "Slick" to Captain Wilhuff Tarkin.[23][24] While Tarkin believed that the Jedi Order's nature as peacekeepers left them at a disadvantage during wartime,[24] "Slick" came to resent the Jedi Commanders he served beneath, believing them to be both incompetent[25] and using him and fellow clone troopers as slaves in their war against the Confederacy of Independent Systems, which Slick began passing information to.[23]
The Kaleesh Supreme Martial Commander of the Separatist military General Grievous — a sworn enemy of the Jedi that had been trained in Lightsaber dueling by Count Dooku — exhibited an adamant loathing for the defenders of the Republic, garnering a fearsome reputation for hunting and killing numerous prominent members of the Order during the Clone Wars.[26] Frequently referring to the Jedi in a derogative manner, the cyborg warlord celebrated his victories by collecting the lightsabers that had previously belonged to his fallen opponents, but now served as trophies for their killer to display within his lair on the third moon of the planet Vassek.[27] While confronting Master Eeth Koth aboard the Venator-class Star Destroyer Steadfast, Grievous answered accusations regarding his murderous reputation by wondering out loud if it was truly murder to purge the galaxy of the Jedi, who he referred to as "filth". Later, while duelling with Obi-Wan Kenobi on his own light destroyer, Grievous was asked about what he had to gain with his allegiance to Dooku. In answer, Grievous simply stated that his reward was a future without the Order.[28]
Anti-Jedi signs used by protesters during the Clone Wars, which also included anti-Republic imagery. First sign reads: "Stop cloning violence" and the third sign reads: "The Jedi are corrupt."
Additionally, the Jedi's deliberate absence from the Republic's wartime propaganda adversely affected their reputation. In the absence of a proper response, disaffected Confederate worlds imagined the Jedi to be cultural elites from the Core Worlds that not only neglected them, but actually advocated war.[2] These Separatist efforts helped to propagate the "Jedi Menace."[29]
Dark Times[]
- "Through the grace of our Emperor Palpatine, we were saved from their treachery. The Jedi are gone. The Emperor saw through their Separatist plots, their lies. He survived their attempt to assassinate him."
- ―Mas Amedda denounces the Jedi before a crowd of spectators
Mas Amedda leads the public in an anti-Jedi demonstration.
At the end of the conflict, Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine of the Republic shocked the galaxy by accusing the Jedi Order of treason, claiming that four Jedi Masters had attempted to assassinate him and overthrow the Republic. Although his account of a "Jedi rebellion" was an outright lie, Palpatine easily spread that claim by reminding the galaxy that Dooku, the Republic's greatest threat in a millennium, had once been Jedi. He then reorganized the Republic as the First Galactic Empire, and started a purge to erase the Jedi from the pages of history.[2] In the very early days of the Empire, the newly appointed Grand Vizier Mas Amedda gave a public demonstration on Coruscant—which housed the headquarters of the Jedi Order—to both take advantage and strengthen the anti-Jedi sentiment of the citizenry.[30] Despite having once been a Jedi herself,[31] the Fourth Sister—a member of the Inquisitorius—expressed feelings akin to anti-Jedi philosophy while addressing several citizens during her hunt for a surviving member of the Order, declaring that such Force users were threats to be eliminated wherever they were to be found.[32]
As a survivor of the massacre that had wiped out her sisterhood, the Nightsister Merrin (pictured above) was manipulated to believe this event had been the work of the Jedi and thus expressed mistrust for their Order.
The Nightsister Merrin—a survivor of the massacre that had seen her entire coven eradicated during the Clone Wars—initially exhibited hostile attitude towards members of the Jedi Order. Although the aforementioned genocide had in fact been carried out by the Separatist Droid Army, Merrin was manipulated by the fallen Jedi Master Taron Malicos, who sought to learn the secrets of the planet Dathomir from her, telling Merrin that the Jedi were responsible for orchestrating the events that had seen her people slaughtered. Believing this, Merrin was told by Malicos that member of the Order he had once belonged to were "thieves and selfish liars" that brought nothing but death with them. Although Merrin's opinion of the Jedi gradually began to change upon meeting Cal Kestis—a Padawan and survivor of Order 66—before this, when she confronted Malicos about his lies, she claimed that her people were different from the Jedi Order in that the Nightsisters of Dathomir would never turned against their own.[33]
Despite the support the Naboo had shown the Jedi during the Republic Era,[34] Reyé Hollis heard stories that the Jedi were mere glory seekers who left situations as worse outcomes.[35] Even though the Alliance to Restore the Republic was largely supportive of the Jedi[36] and even based its guiding principles on Jedi works,[37] Hollis retained his anti-Jedi bias while serving in the Rebellion, but he started to change his outlook as he escaped a cave in with Commander Luke Skywalker during the construction of Echo Base.[35]
The New Republic Era[]
- "Now that they're extinct, the Jedi are romanticized, deified. But if you strip away the myth and look at their deeds, the legacy of the Jedi is failure. Hypocrisy, hubris…"
"That's not true!" - ―Luke Skywalker and Rey, debating the legacy of the Jedi Order
The public's collective view on the Jedi, who were all but extinct, gradually softened following the Empire's defeat in the Galactic Civil War. Under the period of the New Republic, the Age of the Jedi was romanticized while the Jedi themselves were venerated as gods. Nevertheless, there were those who continued to harbor anti-Jedi views.[38] One such person was Sconto, the son of a clone trooper who died in the Clone Wars. Holding the Jedi responsible for his father's death, he regarded them as power-hungry renegades and violent traitors who the clones were right to eliminate.[39] In 28 ABY,[40], after it was revealed that Luke Skywalker and his twin sister Leia were the children of the much-despised Darth Vader, Lady Carise Sindian publicly expressed her worries to the Galactic Senate regarding the danger that Skywalker could pose to the galaxy, should he even use his renowned mastery of the Force for evil purposes like his father before him, much to the anger of Leia, who hotly reminded the Senate of the vital role that her brother had played during the Galactic Civil War. Although Sindian—who was secretly a clandestine agent of the mysterious First Order—retorted that, in light of the recent revelations, these claims might not in fact by accurate, Senator Tai-Lin Garr argued that the New Republic constitutional passage clearly stated that a person should not face punishment for the crimes of their parents and vouched for Skywalker's credibility.[41]
Even Jedi Master Luke Skywalker grew disillusioned with the Jedi over time. Having failed in his efforts to fully rebuild the Jedi Order, a consequence of his nephew Ben Solo's fall to the dark side, Skywalker grew to realize that the Order's legacy was failure of hypocrisy and hubris and,[38] and believed it should therefore end with his eventual death as the last Jedi. Rey, a Jakku scavenger who sought Skywalker's help against the First Order, ignoring the mistakes of the past by disagreeing with the old master's views and categorically rejecting his arguments, reminded Skywalker of his role in the redemption of Darth Vader.[42]
Appearances[]
Sources[]
- Star Wars Propaganda: A History of Persuasive Art in the Galaxy (First identified as anti-Jedi sentiment)
- Star Wars: Scum and Villainy: Case Files on the Galaxy's Most Notorious
- Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire
