Jedi

• 1. Introduction

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  The Jedi Order is a fictional organization at the center of the Star Wars franchise, yet its influence has spilled far beyond movie screens. George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars, describes them as "warrior-monks who keep peace in the universe", with a mission to "use their power to keep the governments of all the planets in line, so that they don't do terrible things". The Jedi have the "moral authority to do that", Lucas says, because they are "the most moral of anybody in the galaxy". That premise raised a set of questions that would fascinate audiences for decades: how does an order of peacekeepers resist the pull of violence? What does it cost to train soldiers in compassion? And what happens when an institution devoted to justice fails to save itself?

• 2. Roots of the Word

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  The name Jedi carries a surprising tangle of possible origins. One theory links it to the Japanese term jidaigeki, which means period drama films about samurai. Another traces it to Jed and Jeddak, words for Leader and King in Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom series, a property Lucas had once considered adapting for film. Arabic offers another thread: Al-Jeddi, meaning "master of the mystic-warrior way". In The Secret History of Star Wars, author Michael Kaminski suggests Lucas may also have been drawn to the Hebrew term yadid, meaning friend, since Lucas had cited Jewish mysticism as an influence and may have wanted his heroes to be beloved protectors. J.W. Rinzler's book The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film reveals that Lucas originally considered the term Jedidiah before settling on jedi. Within the Star Wars universe itself, according to the Star Wars: Rogue One - The Ultimate Visual Guide, Jedi is said to derive from Jedha, a planet that once housed a Jedi temple and supplied the kyber crystals used to power lightsabers.

• 3. Philosophy and Belief

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  Lucas drew on Buddhism, and potentially Taoism, when shaping the Jedi creed, identifying himself as "Buddhist Methodist" or "Methodist Buddhist" and pointing to San Francisco as the "Zen Buddhism capital of the United States". In 2020 he stated that the Jedi were "designed to be a Buddhist monk who happened to be very good at fighting". The works of mythologist Joseph Campbell, especially his 1949 book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, directly influenced Lucas and drove him to build what he called a modern myth. The Jedi Code runs through five lines: "There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force." Central to the philosophy is the concept of non-attachment. Lucas explained that Jedi are trained to love people, including their enemies, but not to form attachments, since attachment breeds fear of loss, which feeds greed, anger, hate, and eventually suffering. The light side, by contrast, focuses on compassion and giving; it is, in Lucas' framing, "everlasting joy, devoid of fear of loss". In the character of Qui-Gon Jinn in The Phantom Menace, this is distilled to a single line addressed to Anakin Skywalker: "Your focus determines your reality".

• 4. Ranks, Training, and Structure

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  Candidates for Jedi training are identified by Jedi Sentinels known as Seekers, who test children for Force sensitivity. Human children typically enter the Jedi Academy at the age of five, with their parents' consent; training demands segregation from outside distractions for the first ten years, designed to reinforce detachment from earthly emotions including loyalty and love for parents. This is the reason Yoda initially refused to train both Anakin Skywalker and Luke Skywalker, considering them too old. Younglings who complete fundamental training become Padawans, apprenticed to a Jedi Knight or Master; in the Old Republic, Padawans wore a hair braid on the right side of their head, severed by the Grand Master's lightsaber upon attaining knighthood. The jump to Jedi Knight requires passing five trials: the Trial of Skill, the Trial of Courage, the Trial of the Flesh, the Trial of Spirit, and the Trial of Insight. The rank of Jedi Master is reserved for those who successfully train at least one Padawan all the way to knighthood. At the apex sat the Grand Master, described as the oldest, most experienced, and best trained of all Jedi, voted into position unanimously by the Jedi High Council. The Council itself comprises twelve members at any given time: five who serve for life, four who serve long-term, and three limited-term members. Three divisions defined a Knight's career path: Jedi Guardians, identified by blue lightsabers, focused on combat; Jedi Consulars, identified by green lightsabers, pursued diplomacy and scholarship; and Jedi Sentinels, identified by yellow lightsabers, blended both with intelligence work and technical skills.

• 5. The Great Jedi Purge

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  Darth Vader led the 501st Legion in what became known as Operation Knightfall, burning and slaughtering all Jedi within the Jedi Temple, including Temple-Defender Shaak Ti. The mechanism of the broader massacre was Order 66, a verbal command issued by Sheev Palpatine, also known as Darth Sidious, that activated chips implanted in every clone trooper, brainwashing them into viewing their Jedi generals as traitors and executing them on the spot. As revealed in Star Wars: The Clone Wars series, Kanan Jarrus' statement sets the scale: "There were around 10,000 Jedi Knights defending the galaxy." Sidious then deceived the Republic's citizens into believing the Jedi were corrupted warmongers who had prolonged the Clone Wars, labeling them criminals with bounties placed on their heads. Among the handful who survived the initial purge were Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, Ahsoka Tano, Kanan Jarrus, and the young Cal Kestis, who had witnessed his master Jaro Tapal's death during Order 66. To protect Force-sensitive children from being exploited by the Sith, Yoda destroyed the Jedi Archives records of every known Force-sensitive child before Vader assaulted the Temple. The Inquisitorius, a group of former Jedi who had turned to the dark side, was then commissioned by Sidious to help Darth Vader hunt down any survivors during the early years of the Galactic Empire.

• 6. Legacy and Reinvention

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  Luke Skywalker attempted to rebuild the Jedi Order after the fall of the Galactic Empire, but his nephew Ben Solo was seduced to the dark side by Snoke, a puppet created by a revived Darth Sidious, and destroyed Luke's new temple along with the other apprentices. The sequel trilogy directly engages with the failure of the Jedi legacy; in The Last Jedi, Luke declares that the past Jedi "allowed Darth Sidious to rise, create the Empire, and wipe them out". Yoda, appearing as a Force spirit, burns the tree housing the ancient Jedi texts and teaches Luke that failure is just as important as success, and that masters are defined by those who surpass them. Rey, who had taken the sacred Jedi texts from Ahch-To before she left, eventually channels the power of all past Jedi to destroy Sidious in The Rise of Skywalker. At the film's close, with Luke and Leia's blessing, she adopts the Skywalker surname and lives on to restart the Jedi Order. The Jedi's cultural reach has also extended beyond fiction: the fictional organization inspired a real-world new religious movement and online community called Jediism. Lucas himself acknowledged that the Jedi archive's appearance in Attack of the Clones bears a striking resemblance to the Long Room of Trinity College Library in Dublin, a likeness that generated controversy since permission had not been sought, though Lucasfilm denied the connection and Trinity College officials chose not to pursue legal action.