Jedi Order

The Jedi Order, also known as the Order of the Jedi, was a noble monastic and nontheistic religious order united in devotion to the light side of the Force. Its members served as mediators, warriors, teachers, and explorers, and for over a thousand generations they stood as the guardians of peace and justice in the Galactic Republic. Renowned for their lightsabers and their command of the Force, the Jedi were the Order's defining champions. Their ancient rivals were the Sith, and their fall came with the rise of Darth Sidious and the Galactic Empire.

Beliefs and structure#

The Jedi followed the ways of the light side of the Force, acting in pursuit of knowledge, enlightenment, balance, and the protection of others rather than personal power or wealth. The Jedi Code governed their way of life, and every Jedi was bound to uphold it or risk expulsion. Younglings trained in the Temple under Jedi Masters, gathered their own kyber crystals during the rite known as the Gathering, and graduated to the rank of Padawan as the apprentice of a single Master. The Jedi Trials determined whether a Padawan was worthy of becoming a Knight.

The Order's highest authority was the Jedi High Council of twelve Masters. Its leaders were the Grand Master, the title reserved for the wisest Master, and the Master of the Order, the Council's appointed head. A central tenet was non-attachment, the discipline of letting go rather than being ruled by possession; teachers such as Yoda framed this not as the suppression of love but as the willingness to release what could not be held.

Locations#

The Order was originally established on the ocean world of Ahch-To, the site of the first Jedi Temple, raised by a figure remembered as the Prime Jedi. Over the millennia the Jedi Grand Temple on the Core World of Coruscant became the central hub of all Jedi activity, serving as school, monastery, and seat of the High Council. The Order also held sacred and ancient sites across the galaxy, including the ice world of Ilum, source of lightsaber crystals, as well as Ossus, Jedha, and others. Scholars later disputed which world was truly the Order's birthplace.

Wars with the Sith#

The Sith Order arose from a schism in which a rogue Jedi and his followers turned to the dark side and went into exile. For centuries the Jedi and Sith warred, and although the last great conflict ended with the fall of the Old Republic and the apparent extinction of the ancient Sith, a new Republic rose under Jedi protection. Unknown to the Order, the Sith survived in secret through the Rule of Two established by Darth Bane, who passed his knowledge down a hidden lineage that would culminate in Darth Sidious. During these ancient struggles the Mandalorians sacked the Temple on Coruscant, and the Sith were driven from the capital before being reduced, the Jedi believed, to nothing.

Generals of the Clone Wars#

In the final decades of the Republic, the Jedi pledged their service to the Galactic Senate as political instability gave rise to the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Lacking the numbers to police the galaxy, the Jedi became generals in the newly formed Grand Army of the Republic and for roughly three years led clone troopers through the Clone Wars against the Separatist droid armies of Count Dooku and General Grievous. The Order was divided over the decision; some felt they had betrayed their role as peacekeepers, while Masters such as Mace Windu argued the Jedi had a moral duty to defend the citizens of the Republic.

The war cost the Order dearly. Some Jedi died in battle, others fell to the dark side, and the public increasingly regarded the Jedi as warmongers more interested in politics than in the people they were sworn to protect. The bombing of the Temple hangar and the wrongful accusation of the Padawan Ahsoka Tano, who left the Order in its aftermath, deepened the rift.

Order 66 and the purge#

The Sith deception culminated in Order 66, a secret protocol embedded in the clone troopers' programming that turned them against their Jedi generals across the galaxy. The vast majority of an estimated ten thousand Jedi perished in the Great Jedi Purge. The newly proclaimed Emperor blamed the Jedi for the galaxy's crises and supplanted the Republic with the Galactic Empire, while Anakin Skywalker, turned to the dark side and renamed Darth Vader, led the assault on the Temple itself. Survivors went into hiding, and the Empire hunted them with the Inquisitorius. Captured Jedi were taken to Mustafar for interrogation and execution; a few preserved holocrons, lightsabers, and archives to keep the teachings alive.

An order reborn#

Within a generation, the survivors Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda trained Vader's son, Luke Skywalker, in the Jedi arts. Luke ultimately redeemed his father, who fulfilled the prophecy of the Chosen One by destroying his master at the Battle of Endor. After the Empire's defeat, Luke sought to rebuild the Order and train a new generation, including his nephew Ben Solo. Seduced by the dark side, Ben took the name Kylo Ren and destroyed the new temple, leaving Luke to vanish into exile.

The scavenger Rey followed a star map to Ahch-To and the first Jedi Temple, where Luke at last agreed to teach her before becoming one with the Force. When the resurrected Darth Sidious revealed himself at Exegol, Rey, strengthened by the spirits of past Jedi, destroyed him and prevented the rebirth of the Sith. Though the Skywalkers were gone, Rey took their name to honor her mentors and carry the Order forward.