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- "In the heart of a Jedi lies her strength."
- ―Kanan Jarrus' voice, to Rey
A Jedi was a devotee to the ways of the Jedi Order, an ancient order of protectors united by their ability to harness the power of the Force. Adhering to a doctrine that favored the light side of the Force, the Jedi aspired to attain a state of inner tranquility through calmness and meditation while avoiding emotions affiliated with the dark side of the Force, such as anger and hatred. Nevertheless, Jedi philosophy did not forbid a Jedi from acting in self-defense or in the defense of others. To that end, the weapon of a Jedi was the lightsaber, a blade composed of pure energy and different colors such as blue, green, purple, or yellow.
Before the time of the Galactic Empire, a Jedi was a guardian of peace and justice in the Galactic Republic. The Jedi's commitment to peace and democracy brought them into conflict with an order of dark side wielders known as the Sith, who sought power and dominion over the galaxy. Emerging victorious from their wars with the ancient Sith, the Jedi carried on in their duty as peacekeepers for over a millennium until the advent of the Clone Wars twenty-two years before the Battle of Yavin. Faced with a pan-galactic civil war between the Republic and Confederacy of Independent Systems, the Jedi adopted the mantle of generals and soldiers in the Grand Army of the Republic. After three years of conflict, the Jedi discovered that the war had been a ploy designed to restore the Sith to power. However, the Jedi were betrayed by one of their own—the Chosen One Anakin Skywalker, who had been seduced to the dark side and anointed Darth Vader by the Sith Lord Darth Sidious. Using the Jedi's own clone troopers to initiate a systematic purge of the Jedi Order, the Lords of the Sith all but eradicated the Jedi in one fell swoop, reducing the order from thousands of Jedi Knights to a handful of survivors who dispersed into exile across the galaxy.
The Sith ruled the galaxy through the Empire for a generation, but did not succeed in completely wiping out the Jedi Order. As a result, Ezra Bridger and Luke Skywalker were, in turn, trained as new Jedi by Jedi Knight Kanan Jarrus and Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, respectively. Skywalker, the son of Vader, was also taught the ways of the Jedi by Grand Master Yoda and fought for the Alliance to Restore the Republic during the Galactic Civil War. On his death bed, Yoda gave his final apprentice the mandate of passing on his lessons to a new generation of Jedi. Shortly afterward, Skywalker succeeded in redeeming his father, who sacrificed himself to save his son by killing his Sith Master, Emperor Sidious, thereby destroying the Sith and fulfilling the prophecy of the Chosen One.
During the era of the New Republic, Skywalker worked to rebuild the Jedi Order by training a dozen apprentices, including his young but powerful nephew, Ben Solo, but Solo fell to the dark side and became Kylo Ren, apprentice of Supreme Leader Snoke, master of the Knights of Ren, and a warlord of the First Order, while Skywalker's training temple and students were destroyed. As the First Order rose to power, Ren and Snoke sought to destroy Skywalker, who, in self-exile, briefly trained Rey in the ways of the Jedi until he sacrificed himself to save the Resistance, after which time Skywalker's sister, Leia Organa, continued her training. When a reborn Darth Sidious—Rey's grandfather—revealed himself to the galaxy, Ben Solo, the opposite in a dyad in the Force with Rey, was redeemed, and Rey sacrificed herself to destroy the phantom Sith Lord, preventing the rebirth of the Sith Order. Rey was saved from death by Solo, who gave his life for hers, allowing the Jedi to live on.
Philosophy
- "The Jedi are selfless. They only care about others."
- ―Anakin Skywalker, to Sheev Palpatine
The Jedi Knights focused on calmness and peace to channel their powers in the Force, using the light side of the Force to serve in the capacity of guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy.[4] Even so, the Jedi sought to preserve balance in the Force; the ancient prophecy of the Chosen One foretold of a being who would restore balance to the Force by destroying the Sith. In combat, whereas an enemy may grow impatient and rely on their overwhelming strength, a Jedi would meditate and find serenity in their mind to focus.[1] A Jedi used their lightsaber only for defense, not for attack, and used the Force for defense and knowledge rather than use it to gain power over others.[2] Because of this, some Jedi were capable of appearing after death as Force spirits.[2][18][9] The Jedi fit themselves as peacekeepers during the time of the Galactic Republic, not soldiers.[5] Knowledge, the Force, and self-discipline were considered the three pillars of Jedi strength.[19]
History
Guardians of the Republic
- "For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the dark times. Before the Empire."
- ―Obi-Wan Kenobi, to Luke Skywalker
The first temple on Ahch-To
The Jedi were an order of ancient origins, having been present in the galaxy for over one thousand generations.[4] Originally established at the first Jedi Temple on Ahch-To by the Prime Jedi,[6] the Jedi Order established numerous sites throughout the galaxy on Coruscant, Ossus, Tython, and Jedha. The Jedi eventually came to align with the democratic Galactic Republic and owed their allegiance to the Galactic Senate.[8]
Decimating the Mandalorians and Sith
- "The Sith have been extinct for a millennium."
- ―Ki-Adi-Mundi
An ancient rivalry existed between the Jedi and the Sith.
When a rogue Jedi was exiled from the order due to embracing the dark side of the Force, they gained followers which led to the creation of the Sith[20] during the Hundred-Year Darkness.[21] The Jedi and Sith became bitter enemies,[22] engaging in a number of battles and wars like the Sith war,[23] Battle of Takodana,[24] the Great Scourge of Malachor,[25] the Great Sith War,[26] and the defeat of Darth Momin.[27]
Also during the reign of the Old Republic, the Mandalorians, the warrior people of the planet Mandalore, launched a number of wars, often coming into conflict with the Jedi.[28] Battles between the Mandalorians and Jedi dated back to the time of the Mandalorian crusaders.[29] According to legend, Mandalore the Great led the Mandalorians against the Jedi in a number of battles.[30] Eventually, the Mandalorians developed their distinctive armor[31] in order to combat their Force-sensitive enemies.[19]
Nevertheless, the Jedi won the war against the Mandalorians,[32] with the final battle between the Mandalorian warlords[33] and Jedi Order devastating Mandalore itself.[34] Also at some point, as recounted in legend, a Force-sensitive Mandalorian named Tarre Vizsla was inducted into the Jedi Order. His lightsaber, the Darksaber, was stored in the Jedi Temple after his death until members of House Vizsla broke in and stole the blade[32] during the fall of the Old Republic. The Darksaber went onto be used to cut down many Jedi[28] and unite the Mandalorian people as a symbol of leadership.[32]
The fall of the Old Republic resulted in its crumbling, but its remnants and the Jedi still waged the final war against the Sith.[35] Ultimately, the Sith's greed for power caused them to turn on each other, which helped the Jedi defeat and nearly decimate the weakened Sith. However, one Sith Lord, Darth Bane, secretly survived the destruction and continued the Sith by creating the Rule of Two[22] and initiating the Great Plan.[36]
The supposed "Great Peace"
Jedi of the Republic
- "I remember a time when Jedi were not generals, but peacekeepers."
- ―Satine Kryze
Jedi Sskeer and Keeve Trennis during the High Republic Era
After the assumed defeat of the Sith, the Jedi Order enjoyed a political ascension and saw an increase in recruitment. During the so-called "Great Peace" enjoyed by the Galactic Republic,[37] which had reinvented itself after the defeat of the Sith,[35] the Jedi maintained a reputation[38] and role of being peacekeepers despite their limited numbers.[5] The High Republic Era in particular was a time of greatly expanded Jedi activity throughout the galaxy, allowing them to stretch out far from the Core Worlds.[39]
The Jedi were involved in a number of the conflicts that sectors and planets faced during the so-called "Great Peace." Though these conflicts could at times force them to act as military officers,[37] the Jedi never viewed themselves as soldiers.[5] The Jedi would also work as warriors, troubleshooters, and diplomats for the Republic but claimed to be impartial judges. However, given that they were working for the Republic, trust in the Jedi was not the same for everyone. The citizens closer to the Core Worlds trusted them more than those in the Outer Rim Territories. The Jedi became involved in conflicts like the Mandalorian Civil War,[37] the battle for Ontotho,[40] and the Stark Hyperspace War.[41]
The rise of Darth Sidious
- "Rage… it fuels us. But it won't be enough to stop the Jedi alone. They have numbers on their side. And the faith of the Republic."
"For the moment. In time, and with careful planning, they will lose both." - ―Darth Maul and Darth Sidious
At the same time, the Sith had survived under the Rule of Two, influencing the galaxy from the shadows instead of battlefields. After around a thousand years of Sith Masters and Sith apprentices,[37] the Sith Lord who held the rank of Master was Darth Sidious,[8] a Naboo who had been trained by the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Plagueis.[42] Having killed Plagueis in his sleep, Sidious sought to accomplish the Sith plan to bring the galaxy under his control as its Galactic Emperor.[8] Sidious also had his own Sith apprentice, Darth Maul. Due to his desire to kill Jedi, Maul killed Padawan Eldra Kaitis on the moon of Drazkel, but her death did not satisfy his bloodlust.[43] Thus, establishing a fake cartel under Kaitis's name, Maul continued his hunt and killed the Force-sensitive thief Zek Peiro. Not wanting the Jedi to learn of his plans, Sidious brought Maul to[44] the ancient Sith world[25] of Malachor to teach him about patience. Maul experienced a Force vision of a life where he was a Jedi before being surrounded by dozens of them, teaching him that their light side rivals had numbers and the respect of the Republic for the time being.[44]
The Jedi High Council during the Invasion of Naboo
Under his public identity of Sheev Palpatine, Sidious was the senator of his homeworld of Naboo. He planned to become Supreme Chancellor of the Republic to bring about his rule, so he ordered his pawns in the Trade Federation to blockade his own home planet[1] to generate sympathy in the Galactic Senate[45] and make Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum look weak.[46] When Valorum sent two Jedi, Master Qui-Gon Jinn and Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi, to negotiate an end to the blockade, Sidious ordered them killed, but the two Jedi escaped to Naboo's surface and rescued Queen Padmé Amidala and her entourage.[1]
Thanks to damage sustained during their escape, the Naboo Royal Starship needed to land on the desert planet of Tatooine. On Tatooine, Jinn met Anakin Skywalker, a young Force-sensitive human who he came to believe was the Chosen One. In fact, thanks to his power in the Force, Skywalker won the Boonta Eve Classic, which won him freedom from his slavery under Watto the junk dealer, albeit without freeing his mother Shmi, and a new T-14 hyperdrive generator for the Royal Starship. Before leaving the planet, Jinn was suddenly attacked by Maul, who had been sent to Tatooine by Sidious. Jinn escaped, marking the first time a Jedi had contact with a Sith[1] and survived to warn the Order[43] in a thousand years.[1]
On the Republic capital of Coruscant, the Jedi High Council were disturbed by the potential return of the Sith and unwilling to begin Skywalker's training, citing his fear and believing it could lead to the dark side. They then dispatched Jinn and Kenobi back to Naboo when Amidala chose to return, as she had only managed to call for an election that Palpatine would soon win. During the ensuing Battle of Naboo, Jinn and Kenobi engaged Maul in yet another duel, while Skywalker, joined by astromech droid R2-D2, joined the space battle against the Lucrehulk-class Battleship Vuutun Palaa in a N-1 starfighter. Skywalker eventually crashed aboard the warship and, in an attempt to take out advancing OOM-series security droids, fired two proton torpedoes that instead collided with a reactor. The ensuing explosion rippled throughout the battleship, destroying the craft and therefore shutting down the entire Trade Federation Droid Army below.[1]
The funeral of Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn
Elsewhere, Maul managed to kill Jinn while he was separated from Kenobi, though the Padawan then engaged Maul and cut the Sith Lord in half, ending the duel. In his dying breaths, Jinn asked Kenobi to train Skywalker, which the Jedi Council agreed to. Additionally, at the funeral of Qui-Gon Jinn, Jedi Masters Yoda and Mace Windu spoke about the Sith, unsure whether it was the Sith Master or Sith apprentice who had been defeated.[1] Kenobi was promoted to be a Jedi Knight with Skywalker as his Padawan.[5] Though presumed dead, Maul had survived the duel. Sustained by his newfound hatred of Kenobi,[47] he was left in exile on the garbage world of Lotho Minor for years to come.[48]
Fall of the Republic
The Clone Wars
- "I am sure you are aware that the Jedi did not initiate the Clone Wars. Our only intention is to end it and restore peace to our galaxy."
"What difference does it make who started the war, and who only wants to end it? No side is free of fault. It takes two to fight."
"But isn't liberty worth fighting for?"
"But is it worth killing for? Fighting for something doesn't necessarily mean that you have to destroy everything in your path. Only when you lay your arms down and pursue a course of non-violence, can you make this claim to me that the Jedi are peacekeepers." - ―Aayla Secura and Tee Watt Kaa
From 24 BBY[49] to 22 BBY,[50] the galaxy was faced with the Separatist Crisis. Several thousand star systems sought to secede to the Confederacy of Independent Systems, a breakaway government led by its Head of State, Count Dooku.[5] Dooku was a former Jedi Master[42] who had been trained by Yoda himself. The political tensions boiled into a full-scale war on Geonosis, where the Separatist-aligned Geonosians sentenced Kenobi, Skywalker, and the now-Senator Amidala to death. They were rescued by the arrival of a Jedi assault team led by Windu and then a force of clone troopers, an army of cloned soldiers recently discovered by Kenobi on the planet Kamino, led by Yoda. In the subsequent actions of the Battle of Geonosis, the Jedi led the clones into battle against the Separatist Droid Army, but Dooku managed to escape from Kenobi, Skywalker, and Yoda. Thus, the battle had served to launch the Clone Wars, the first pan-galactic war[5] since the alleged extinction of the Sith[37] over a thousand years prior. Dooku himself was the new Sith apprentice to Sidious, and they had plotted to begin the war[5] to bring about Sith rule.[8]
The Jedi became warriors during the Clone Wars, leading battalions as battlefield generals.
There were ten thousand Jedi in the galaxy before the Clone Wars,[51] but many were killed during the conflict,[52] with one Separatist leader, General Grievous, even being a Jedi hunter[53] who took the lightsabers of his victims as trophies.[54] Another one of Dooku's agents was the dark acolyte Asajj Ventress, who had been a Padawan to Jedi Knight Ky Narec in the years before the Clone Wars.[55] During the war, Jedi Knights and Masters became the Jedi Generals in the Grand Army of the Republic, while their Padawans became lower ranking Jedi Commanders.[56] The war against the Separatists was fought across the galaxy for three years,[57] during which the Jedi inspired creative thinking and independence in the clones.[58] Jedi like Plo Koon,[59] Kenobi,[60] Yoda,[61] and Skywalker respected the clones as individuals.[62]
By fighting the Clone Wars, the Jedi, particularly younger members of the Order, ran the risk of losing their way by focusing on power to win.[54] Their new role as battlefield generals also made some cast doubt on their role as "peacekeepers,"[63][38] with one Padawan, Barriss Offee, and other Republic citizens even coming to view the Jedi to be responsible for the war. Thinking her Order had fallen from the light to be an army that only benefitted the dark side, Offee arranged for a bombing of the Jedi Temple hangar and framed her friend, fellow Padawan Ahsoka Tano, to take the fall. One of the few people to stand with Tano was Skywalker, who was Tano's master and friend. He uncovered and exposed Offee as the true culprit during Tano's trial. Nevertheless, with her faith in the Order shaken, Tano left the Jedi to go on her own path,[64] but she remained on the light side and acted, according to Rafa Martez, in the way the Jedi should have been.[65] Meanwhile, Skywalker greatly missed his Padawan[66] and was frustrated with the Jedi Council, feeling they had betrayed his friend.[67]
The Jedi fall
Following the Battle of Coruscant, Skywalker had visions of Amidala, who he had secretly married, dying in childbirth. Shortly thereafter, Palpatine, who had long since befriended Skywalker to manipulate him, informed the Jedi Knight that he was in fact Darth Sidious, the Sith Master behind the war and the target the Jedi had been searching for. After Skywalker informed Windu of the truth, the Jedi Master led Kit Fisto, Agen Kolar, and Saesee Tiin to arrest the Supreme Chancellor. The mission ended in failure, with Sidious cutting down all but Windu, and Skywalker himself arriving. Convincing Skywalker that he had the power to save Amidala, the Jedi Knight helped take out Windu before kneeling before the Sith Master. Thus, Sidious had used Skywalker's anger with the Council and fear of losing Amidala to turn him to the dark side of the Force, making the Jedi's own Chosen One into his new Sith apprentice, Darth Vader.[8]
In the aftermath of the Clone Wars, the Jedi were all but extinct with the exectuion of Order 66.
To launch the Great Jedi Purge, Sidious ordered the clone troopers across the galaxy to execute Order 66,[8] which branded the Jedi and any clone who tried to help them as traitors who needed to be executed. Many of the clone troopers had befriended their Jedi leadership, but their compliance was enforced by the behavioral modification biochips implanted in them during their youth.[68] Jedi across the galaxy were therefore gunned down by their own soldiers. Additionally, Vader led[8] his elite[69] 501st Legion into the Jedi Temple itself, murdering everyone, even the younglings, they found inside.[8] Though Order 66 only explicitly targeted the Jedi, other Force-sensitives would find themselves in its crosshairs; Maul and Tano were both targeted aboard the Venator-class Star Destroyer Tribunal by the 332nd Division, though Maul escaped aboard a Nu-class transport, while Tano and Clone Captain CT-7567 "Rex," whose control chip had been removed by the former Padawan, fled aboard a BTL-B Y-wing fighter-bomber as the Tribunal crashed.[70]
As Vader cut down the Separatist Council on the volcanic world of Mustafar, Sidious used Windu's strike against him as an excuse to brand the Jedi as traitors before vowing to hunt down the surviving members of the Order and transforming the Republic into his Galactic Empire. When Amidala confronted her husband on Mustafar, he was enraged to see Kenobi, who had secretly stowed away aboard her J-type Naboo star skiff. After encasing Amidala in a Force choke, Kenobi and Vader engaged in a lightsaber duel, which ended when Kenobi left Vader to die near a lava river. A short time later, Amidala died in childbirth, with her two children, Luke and Leia, separated to keep them safe. Leia was taken to live with the House of Organa on Alderaan, while Luke was taken to Tatooine to live with his aunt and uncle, Beru and Owen Lars, while being watched over by Kenobi. Meanwhile, Vader had survived as well and was given a suit of life support armor to survive.[8] Immediately after his reconstruction, Sidious tasked Vader with taking a kyber crystal from a Jedi to bleed it to be his own.[71]
Needing to find a Jedi who had survived the purge, Vader used the database on the Jedi space station Brighthome to locate a Jedi who had taken the Barash Vow, pointing him to Jedi Master Kirak Infil'a[72] on the Mid Rim river moon of Al'doleem. After arriving,[73] Vader and Infil'a began a duel that ended with the Sith Lord killing the Jedi Master and flooding the city below. Vader also successfully stole Infil'a's lightsaber for its kyber crystal.[74] Thus, as Sidious ordered, Vader went to Mustafar to bleed the crystal to his will. Though it presented the Sith Lord with a vision where he returned to the light side of the Force, Vader rejected this and twisted the crystal to the dark side.[75]
Age of the Jedi Purge
The Empire's official explanation for the end of the Clone Wars[57] correctly stated that[8] the Jedi had been killed in massive numbers, with the Empire stating it was by the thousands, that the Jedi Temple had been the site of a battle, and that the few survivors had fled throughout space. However, they also claimed the Force had dispersed. Though this explanation was not universally accepted, most people in the galaxy accepted the destruction of the Jedi, just as they had accepted the sacrifices of the clones, if it meant the war was over. To Lyra Erso, it seemed as though mere weeks passed before, without much grief or mourning, the Jedi Order had almost entirely been reduced to a myth.[57] In fact, many celebrated the destruction of the Jedi,[71] having believed Sidious's claims of a Jedi rebellion[8] and other Imperial propaganda.[71] It was illegal to help Jedi during the Imperial Era; the parents of Dak Ralter were given lifelong sentences for smuggling surviving Jedi Knights to safety.[76]
With Order 66 still in effect,[77] the Empire continued to hunt Jedi who had survived the protocol, with Sidious establishing the Inquisitorius to seek out and kill the survivors.[78] Over the years, Vader and the Inquisitorius hunted down what remained of the Jedi Order.[25] Additionally, a Force-sensitive criminal named Kilmera Skale, who allied with ISB Special Agent Malor Phiatt, pretended to be a Jedi to entrap those who survived the execution of Order 66.[79] In 5 BBY,[80] one survivor, Kanan Jarrus, formerly known as the Padawan Caleb Dume,[81] took on a Padawan of his own, Ezra Bridger. Both of them worked as part of the Spectres, a rebel crew based out of the VCX-100 light freighter Ghost that often struck at the Empire on Lothal.[82] During the action at Mustafar, Jarrus and Bridger confronted the Grand Inquisitor, who chose to take his own life instead of facing the wrath of his masters for failing to defeat them. The Spectres then joined up with the larger Phoenix Cell, which let Jarrus and Bridger work with Ahsoka Tano, who had become a Fulcrum agent for Bail Organa's resistance movement and the overall growing rebellion. These rebel cells entered into a Galactic Civil War against the Empire.[13]
Kanan Jarrus and his Padawan, Ezra Bridger, encounter Darth Vader during the Siege of Lothal.
Master Yoda had also survived the purge, having survived both Order 66 and a duel in the Galactic Senate against Sidious.[8] He based himself on the remote planet of Dagobah to avoid Imperial hunters,[42] though he was able to connect with the Lothal Jedi on two occasions through the World Between Worlds.[83][84] On the second occasion, Tano learned Vader was in fact her former mentor Skywalker, Yoda told Bridger to go to Malachor when he asked for advice on fighting the Sith, and Jarrus was knighted by a vision of the Grand Inquisitor.[84] During the Mission to Malachor, Tano finally encountered Vader. She again affirmed she was not a Jedi in order to seek revenge for her mentor's demise, as Skywalker had effectively died when he became Vader. At the end of their duel, Tano was presumed dead at Vader's hands,[25] but she had actually been saved by Bridger sometime later using the World Between Worlds.[85]
Before he reached the point in his life where he rescued Tano, Bridger and the other rebels lived through much.[85] In 2 BBY,[86][87] the Spectres and other rebel cells officially formed into the Alliance to Restore the Republic,[88] and the former Sith Lord Maul was struck down on Tatooine by his old nemesis, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Before dying in his enemy's arms, Maul asked if the individual Kenobi was guarding on the desert world was the Chosen One. Believing Luke Skywalker was, Kenobi said as such, giving Maul hope that they would be avenged.[89]
Around 0 BBY,[90] Jarrus's lover,[91] General Hera Syndulla, was captured after a failed Rebel Alliance assault on the heavily-occupied Lothal.[92] Jarrus was able to rescue her, but he soon had to give his life to protect Bridger, Syndulla, and the Mandalorian Sabine Wren.[91] A short time later, Bridger entered the World Between Worlds and rescued Tano. While making sure Sidious would be unable to secure the power of the World Between Worlds, Tano and Bridger again parted ways, with Tano promising to find him when the time came.[85] Bridger then led the effort to liberate his homeworld of Lothal. During the battle, Bridger spoke with Grand Admiral Thrawn, who stated the Jedi had been reduced to those who were beaten, hidden away, or inexpertly trained Padawans. After again denying Sidious entrance into the World Between Worlds and having had a pod of purrgil summoned to Lothal, Bridger used beast control to have the creatures take him, Thrawn, and the Star Destroyer Chimaera away[93] to deep space.[94] Though Bridger's disappearance took another Jedi out of galactic affairs, the purrgil had taken out the 7th Fleet, and the Padawan's effort against Thrawn had successfully liberated Lothal.[93]
The new generation
- "He was training a new generation of Jedi. One boy, an apprentice turned against him, destroyed it all. Luke felt responsible. He just walked away from everything."
- ―Han Solo
Nonetheless, Luke Skywalker would be trained by Jedi Masters Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda during the Galactic Civil War.[4][2] Luke went on to redeem his father, who killed Darth Sidious, the Dark Lord of the Sith and ruler of the Galactic Empire, and thus destroyed the Sith and brought balance to the Force. With his masters and father dead, however, Luke had become the last of the Jedi.[95]
Luke Skywalker trained a new generation of Jedi in the ways of the Force.
Skywalker worked to rebuild the Jedi Order in the years after the Galactic Civil War during the time of the New Republic, eventually gathering a group of Jedi students, among them his nephew, Ben Solo.[18] the Quarren Hennix, and fellow humans Tai and Voe.[96] However, Luke sensed a growing darkness in Ben and eventually went to confront his nephew in the night. When Luke peered into his nephew's mind while he slept, he saw the machinations of the mysterious dark side wielder Snoke and Ben's darkness, which would lead to death, destruction, and despair in the galaxy, and, in a moment of pure instinct, ignited his lightsaber. Luke, whose family had a history with the dark side, was quickly overcome by shame and regret, but before he could put away his blade, his nephew woke up, and, in the confusion of the moment, ignited his own lightsaber to clash with his uncle and brought down his hut on him.[9]
When Ben lashed out against his uncle, he destroyed the Jedi Temple of Luke Skywalker along with most of its students.[97] Ben had emerged from the wreckage of his hut enraged about his uncle's actions, but he was horrified when a lightning storm appeared and razed the temple. Shortly after that, Hennix, Tai, and Voe returned on their starship Verity. Sensing only Ben's presence, they confronted Ben, who told them Skywalker had tried to kill him. In response to Ben's evasive and confrontational behavior, they fought and pursued him. In despair and confusion, Ben turned to his friend Snoke.[96] When Skywalker emerged from the rubble, he saw that Ben had burned the temple, but mistakenly believed that Ben had slaughtered most of his students while taking the rest with him.[9]
Ben fled the other Jedi students to become Snoke's student and contacted Ren, the leader of the Knights of Ren, offering to join the dark siders.[98] Tai, Voe and Hennix cornered Ben on Elphrona, leading to a duel which resulted in Hennix's death. Reaching the Knights of Ren on Varnak, Ben was deemed not yet ready by Ren,[99] who allowed him to accompany the group to obtain a Force artifact called the Mindsplinter on the Minemoon. There, Ben succumbed to the dark side when Ren murdered Tai, making him kill Ren and then Voe, thus killing the last remaining Padawan. Now consumed by the dark side of the Force, Ben Solo became Kylo Ren and assumed leadership of the Knights of Ren.[100]
A ray of hope
- "The rebellion is reborn today, the war is just beginning, and I will not be the last Jedi."
- ―Luke Skywalker
Skywalker took the scavenger Rey as his last apprentice, despite vowing to never train another generation of Jedi.
Sometime later, as war erupted between the First Order and the Resistance for control of the galaxy, an orphaned scavenger named Rey approached Luke at the first Jedi Temple on Ahch-To, seeking to be trained as a Jedi, having been sent by General Leia Organa, leader of the Resistance, Luke's sister, and Kylo Ren's mother. Though Luke rejected her at first, he eventually agreed to train her. A Force bond that connected Kylo Ren and Rey brought her to the Supremacy, where Kylo turned her over to his master, Supreme Leader Snoke. However, Kylo killed his master, and fought with Rey against his Elite Praetorian Guard.[9]
When Kylo usurped his master's power, Rey abandoned him and joined with the fleeing Resistance on Crait, where the Battle of Crait had erupted. As Rey helped the few Resistance survivors escape aboard the Millennium Falcon, Luke projected an image of himself on Crait to distract Kylo Ren and the First Order. He warned Kylo that he would not be the last Jedi, naming Rey his successor, before becoming one with the Force. Luke's tale went on to spread across the galaxy as a symbol of hope in a dark time as the First Order rose to power.[9]
The Jedi Rey and Ben Solo stood together against the phantom Sith Lord Darth Sidious.
When Darth Sidious was revealed to be resurrected in the year following the Battle at Crait, Rey, who had continued her Jedi training under Leia Organa, and her companions in the Resistance undertook a series of missions to find a way to safely navigate through space to Exegol, where Sidious's lair and his followers were located. After learning from Kylo Ren that Darth Sidious was her grandfather and that she was a Palpatine, Rey briefly considered exiling herself at the first Jedi Temple as her old master had, but the spirit of Skywalker appeared before Rey to encourage her to confront her fear, teaching his student that it was the destiny of all Jedi. Rey and a redeemed Kylo Ren, who renounced the dark side and reclaimed his birth identity Ben Solo, confronted Sidious during a battle at Exegol. Sidious used their bond as a Force dyad to rejuvenate himself, but Rey was restrengthened when she reached out to and heard the voices of the past Jedi, allowing her to stand and destroy Sidious. Rey was killed as a result of the ensuring explosion, but she was revived when Solo gave his life for hers. Although the Skywalker bloodline ended, their actions allowed the Jedi to prevail and prevent the return of the Sith. Rey chose to adopt the surname "Skywalker" when she visited the Lars homestead on Tatooine and saw the spirits of Luke and Leia in the distance.[101]
Jedi ranks
Members of the Jedi Order held various positions within the Order at times. These included:
A female Jedi Padawan
- Jedi youngling: A young child who was Force-sensitive would be identified at birth and taken to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant to be trained as a Jedi.[1] They were to be put into classes of other Jedi younglings[5] and trained together before being taken as an apprentice by a Jedi Knight.[56] Younglings were not to be trained once they had reached a certain age, with the sole exception to this rule being Anakin Skywalker.[1] Younglings would participate in the Gathering, which was the pilgrimage to the Ilum Temple to gain a kyber crystal for their lightsaber.[102]
- Padawan: A youngling who had been chosen by a Jedi Knight or Jedi Master to train under their tutelage personally into becoming a fully fledged Jedi Knight. Their readiness was decided by the Initiate Trials. Padawans wore a braid. [1]
- Jedi Knight: Once a Padawan has successfully passed the Jedi trials, they were be granted the rank of Jedi Knight and went out on missions of their own, no longer under the tutelage of a master and may take on a Padawan themselves.[1]
- Jedi Master: A Jedi Knight was granted the rank of Jedi Master and offered a seat on the Jedi High Council when they had shown great skill, wisdom and devotion to the Force. [1] When a Jedi Knight successfully led a Padawan to becoming a Jedi Knight themselves, they would also be granted the rank of Master.[8]
- Grand Master: The leader of the Jedi High Council, the position of Grand Master was given to the oldest and considered to be the wisest member of the Jedi Order.[103]
Jedi occupations
Some members of the Jedi Order had specific titles and roles within the Order. These included:
- Master of the Order: This position was assumed by the leader of the Jedi Order. He or she had to be voted unanimously into the position by the Jedi High Council.[104]
- Jedi Temple Guard: Headed by Cin Drallig during the Clone Wars, these anonymous Jedi guarded the Jedi Temple with lightsaber pikes.[105]
- Jedi investigator: These Jedi were detectives who aided police with the use of the Force.[106] They also used crime scene analysis droids.[107]
- Consular Jedi: These Jedi devoted themselves to the study of diplomacy or science and avoided combat and warfare duties.[108]
- Chief Librarian: This Jedi oversaw the Jedi Archives and Holocron Vault.[109]
- Jedi seeker: These Jedi searched the galaxy for Force-sensitive children in order to recruit them into the Jedi Order.[110]
Jedi military ranks
At the onset of the Clone Wars, the Jedi, the guardians of peace and justice in the Galactic Republic, were chosen by the Galactic Senate, whom the Jedi owed their allegiance to,[8] to lead the new Grand Army of the Republic. They were thus given either of the respective ranks in the Republic Military:
- Jedi Commander: Granted to Padawans and Jedi Knights, who served as second-in-commands to Jedi Generals in the Grand Army of the Republic.[56]
- Jedi General: Granted to Jedi Knights and Jedi Masters, who served as the highest ranking officers within the Grand Army of the Republic.[3]
