Anti-Jedi sentiment

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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^[src]

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.^[1]

History[edit | edit source]

High Republic Era[edit | edit source]

During the High Republic Era, the 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 Disaster and an attack by the Nihil.^[2]

Clone Wars[edit | edit source]

"No more war!"

―A crowd protests before the Jedi Temple^[src]

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.^[3] Some Mandalorians, most notably members of Death Watch, held a grudge against the Jedi for their perceived crimes against Mandalore^[4] during the Mandalorian-Jedi War.^[5]

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.^[1]

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.^[1]

Dark Times[edit | edit source]

"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^[src]

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.^[1] 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.^[6]

Post-Empire[edit | edit source]

"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^[src]

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 reign 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.^[7] 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.^[8] 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 believe that the Order's legacy was hubris and failure,^[7] and should therefore end with his eventual death as the last Jedi. Rey, a Jakku scavenger who sought Skywalker's help against the First Order, was disturbed by the old master's jaded views and categorically rejected his arguments, reminding Skywalker of his role in the redemption of Darth Vader.^[9]