Luminara Unduli

Luminara Unduli was a Force-sensitive Mirialan female Jedi Master of the final days of the Jedi Order. She commanded the 41st Elite Corps of the Grand Army of the Republic and was the master of the Padawan Barriss Offee, fighting alongside her across many battlefields of the Clone Wars until Offee turned against the Order and bombed the Jedi Temple. Unduli fought in the Battle of Kashyyyk at the war's end and was arrested and executed after Darth Sidious issued Order 66. The Galactic Empire later used her remains to lure surviving Jedi to their deaths. (Revenge of the Sith; The Clone Wars, "Cloak of Darkness" and "The Wrong Jedi"; Star Wars Rebels, "Rise of the Old Masters")

Did Luminara Unduli die in Order 66?#

Not on the battlefield. When the clones turned on her during the Battle of Kashyyyk she was captured rather than killed, and later executed. The Empire kept her remains in the Spire on Stygeon Prime and let the rumor spread that she had survived, to bait other Jedi. (Star Wars Rebels, "Rise of the Old Masters")

Jedi in peacetime#

Luminara Unduli was born on Mirial and taken into the Jedi Order as a child. Over her career she trained at least two Padawans, among them the fellow Mirialan Barriss Offee, in keeping with a long-standing arrangement by which Mirialan Jedi trained Mirialan apprentices. She came to be held in great esteem by her colleagues as a Jedi of patience, bravery, compassion, and discipline, and served as a trusted advisor to both the Jedi Council and the Republic. The youngling Caleb Dume, who would later become Kanan Jarrus, regarded her as a brave, compassionate and disciplined Jedi. (Attack of the Clones; Star Wars Rebels, "Rise of the Old Masters"; Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition; Star Wars: The Secrets of the Jedi)

The Clone Wars#

When war between the Republic and the Confederacy became inevitable, Unduli and Offee joined Mace Windu's rescue force on Geonosis. Inside the packed arena the assembled Jedi ignited their blades in challenge to Count Dooku; over half fell before Yoda arrived with the newly created Grand Army. Unduli raised her lightsaber prepared to die fighting, then boarded a gunship to safety alongside Saesee Tiin and Shaak Ti. (Attack of the Clones)

Tasked with escorting the captured Viceroy Nute Gunray to Coruscant aboard the Tranquility, Unduli was joined by Ahsoka Tano when Asajj Ventress attacked to free the prisoner. Against Tano's warning that Ventress was too powerful for any one Jedi, Unduli pursued the assassin alone. Wounded in the eye and pinned beneath collapsing pipes, she was saved only by Tano's timely disobedience. She afterward admitted she should have heeded the Padawan's counsel. (The Clone Wars, "Cloak of Darkness")

Unduli returned to Geonosis to help Masters Ki-Adi-Mundi and Obi-Wan Kenobi destroy Poggle the Lesser's new droid foundry. After watching in horror as the foundry collapsed with their Padawans inside, only to learn they had survived, she counseled Anakin Skywalker to prepare for the day he would have to let his apprentice go. She then pursued Poggle into an ancient temple, where she was captured by the undead hordes of the Hive Queen Karina the Great and nearly infected with brain worms before Kenobi and Skywalker rescued her and took Poggle prisoner. (The Clone Wars, "Landing at Point Rain", "Weapons Factory", "Legacy of Terror" and "Brain Invaders")

Order 66 and execution#

The defining wound of Unduli's later life was Offee's betrayal of the Jedi Order, when the Padawan bombed the Temple hangar out of anger at the Order's role in the war. Shaken, Unduli sought solace by turning her attention to the Wookiee city of Kachirho on Kashyyyk, spending months repairing its defenses for the coming Separatist invasion. During the resulting Battle of Kashyyyk, fought alongside Yoda and the Wookiees, Sidious issued Order 66. As Unduli directed the hunt for the wounded on the beach, the clones turned against her. (The Clone Wars, "The Wrong Jedi"; Revenge of the Sith; Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition)

Unlike many of her fellow Jedi, Unduli was not killed on the field; she was taken into Imperial custody and later executed, and the Empire kept her remains in the prison known as the Spire on Stygeon Prime. (Star Wars Rebels, "Rise of the Old Masters")

Postmortem and legacy#

The Empire allowed rumors to spread that Unduli had survived the war, using her remains, still held in the Spire, to bait Jedi survivors. One such trap was laid for Kanan Jarrus and the rebel crew of the Ghost, lured by a faked broadcast claiming Unduli was imprisoned in the Stygeon system. Jarrus and Ezra Bridger infiltrated the Spire and found a hologram of Unduli that dissolved into a case holding her desiccated remains, just as the Grand Inquisitor revealed himself. The rebels escaped, and Jarrus resolved to spread word that Unduli was dead so the ruse could claim no more lives. (Star Wars Rebels, "Rise of the Old Masters")

Luke Skywalker later learned of Unduli and her fate and wrote of her in his journal, The Secrets of the Jedi. In 35 ABY, during the Battle of Exegol, her voice was among the Jedi of the past who spoke to Rey, urging her to find the light. (Star Wars: The Secrets of the Jedi; The Rise of Skywalker)

Personality and abilities#

Unduli was known for great patience, control, and discipline, having mastered her emotions as fully as her body. She refused to show anger or raise her voice, kept a cool head even when threatened with brain-worm infection, and could be quietly humorous. Confident in her abilities, she nonetheless gravely underestimated Ventress and was humble enough to admit it and thank Tano for saving her life. (The Clone Wars, "Cloak of Darkness", "Weapons Factory" and "Legacy of Terror")

A powerful Force-sensitive, Unduli was a fine duellist, skilled enough to duel Ventress on even footing even with one eye impaired, and capable in unarmed combat. She recognized Form II when Ventress used it against her, and she was adept at mind-probing, diplomacy, and known for extreme physical flexibility. She wielded a green-bladed lightsaber and piloted a green Delta-7B Aethersprite-class light interceptor. (The Clone Wars, "Cloak of Darkness" and "Legacy of Terror"; Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Character Encyclopedia: Join the Battle!; Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition)