Great Jedi Purge

"Order 66" redirects here. For the 1713 British Parliamentary procedure, see Standing Order 66.

The Extermination of the Jedi Order – referred to in-universe as Order 66, Operation: Knightfall and The Great Jedi Purge – is a fictional historical event in the Star Wars space opera series created by George Lucas. It is a major plot element in the 2005 film Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith,[1] and is referenced in the Star Wars expanded universe. In the film, Mace Windu led a failed attempt to arrest the rogue Chancellor as part of a coup d'état. Consequently the Jedi Order were systematically eliminated by the Galactic Republic Clone Army, on the order of the Sith Lord Darth Sidious. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda were among a handful of known surviving Jedi.[2][3] The first person to be issued this order was Clone Commander Cody (who until then was under the command of Jedi General Kenobi).

Order 66

In the episode "Fugitive" of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, it is revealed that Order 66 was genetically programmed into every clone's inhibitor chip so that they would be more obedient when the order was given.

Depiction

Order 66 begins shortly before the end of the Clone Wars, which had been conceived as part of a scheme by Chancellor Palpatine to eliminate the Jedi and establish himself as the Emperor of the galaxy. Operation: Knightfall refers to Order 66's execution against the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, led by Darth Vader himself.

At some point between Episodes II and III, members of the Jedi council begin to suspect the Chancellor is tied to Sidious and Count Dooku's Separatist army. In Revenge of the Sith, Jedi Master Mace Windu openly states to the Jedi Council that he distrusts the Chancellor with Obi-Wan Kenobi expressing similar misgivings.

In the sixth season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, taking place before Revenge of the Sith, Order 66 was nearly prematurely exposed due to a malfunction in the biochip of clone trooper Tup as he killed Jedi Master Tiplar during a battle that resulted in a forced Republic retreat. Darth Sidious and Count Dooku are informed of this turn of events from Admirl Trench, the former wanting Tup kidnapped during a transport to Kamino to investigate his erratic behavior as this would exposed the Sith's true plans for the war. The ARC Troopers Fives and Rex managed to retrieve Tup, although this also results in the former uncovering the order and thus the conspiracy. Fives is eventually killed due to Palpatine framing him for an assassination attempt, and unable to tell either Anakin Skywalker or Rex about the contingency order, the overall conspiracy, or the Supreme Chancellor's involvement in it due to being drugged earlier. However, as revealed in Star Wars Rebels, after listening to Fives's dying words, Rex uncovers the conspiracy and decides to remove the inhibitor chip from himself and two fellow clones to not partake in Order 66.

When Anakin Skywalker informs him of Palpatine's identity as Darth Sidious in the final days of the Clone Wars, Mace Windu leads a small team of fellow Jedi Masters—Agen Kolar, Saesee Tiin, and Kit Fisto—to arrest the chancellor. In the ensuing lightsaber duel, Sidious kills Windu's companions before being overwhelmed by Windu. But Palpatine takes advantage of Anakin's arrival by tricking him into interfering in the duel, enabling Palpatine to kill the Jedi Master. With Anakin as his new apprentice Darth Vader, Palpatine sends him and the 501st Clone Trooper Legion to decimate Jedis at the Jedi Temple and kill the Padawans. Palpatine then proceeds to have all clone troopers across the galaxy carry out Order 66. Among the most notable Jedi killed at the very beginning of the purge are Ki-Adi-Mundi, Aayla Secura, Plo Koon and Stass Allie. As Palpatine proceeds to declare the Jedi traitors, reorganizing the Republic into the Galactic Empire, Masters Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi return to the Temple and re-encode a secret retreat signal planted by the Sith to instruct all surviving Jedi to not return to Coruscant.

Aftermath

Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi survive the initial purge and are picked up by Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan aboard his diplomatic cruiser Tantive IV. Organa, after witnessing the young Jedi Zett Jukassa being killed by clone troopers, secretly remained loyal to the Jedi as he brought them to Coruscant so they can re-encode the Siths' signal to instruct all surviving Jedi to not return to the Jedi Temple. While Yoda's attempt to kill Palpatine failed with the fight ending in a draw, Obi-Wan traveled to Mustafar and faced Anakin in a fight that ended with Obi-Wan leaving his former apprentice for dead. As the two Jedi realize they were in no position to fight the newly born Galactic Empire, Obi-Wan and Yoda decide to go into hiding for the time being with the latter entering self-imposed exile on an uninhabited planet in the Dagobah System he once visited during the Clone Wars to mask his presence. Furthermore, to protect the twin children of Anakin and Padmé (who had died giving birth to them) from being sensed by the Sith, Obi-Wan takes Luke with him to Tatooine to be raised by Anakin's stepbrother Owen Lars while Organa adopts Leia to be the child he and his wife always wanted. With the establishment of the Empire, and no longer needed as they had fulfilled their purpose in Palpatine's rise to power, the creation of Clone Troopers was phased out within a few years in favor of naturally-born Storm Troopers.

Few Jedi survived the Purge, one being a Padawan of Jedi Depa Billaba named Caleb Dume who now is known as Kanan Jarrus. In the Star Wars Rebels episode "Path of the Jedi", Kanan stated that "...there were around 10,000 Jedi Knights defending the galaxy." But the aftermath of the Clone Wars forced those who survive the initial purge to reside in temple outposts with the Empire's Sith-like enforcers called Inquisitors given the task to exterminate the surviving Jedi and recruit Padawans. Another notable Jedi is Anakin's former Padawan Ahsoka Tano, who left the Jedi Order a year before Order 66 and is one of the founding members of the Rebel Alliance which Kanan joined.

Expanded Universe ("Legends")

The Star Wars expanded universe Legends indicates that other Jedi also survive the initial stages of the Purge, though few of these Jedi, if any, live to see the fall of the Empire. In some instances, clone troopers that had developed individual self-identity played a key role in the Jedis' survival. Survivors include Quinlan Vos, General Rahm Kota, Kazdan Peratus, A'Sharad Hett, K'Kruhk, T'ra Saa, Tholme, Jax Pavan, Quar Trom, Corwin Shelvay, Kai Hudorra, Dass Jennir, Na Noirrah, Kai Justiss, and Shaak Ti, with the latter escaping with some 3000 younglings, including Maris Brood, from the Temple, eventually going into exile on Felucia, while the boys were disseminated and hidden throughout the galaxy.

According to Timothy Zahn's The Hand of Thrawn Duology, Palpatine begins killing Jedi before the Great Jedi Purge occurs. Shortly after the Battle of Naboo (depicted in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace), the Jedi Council approved the "Outbound Flight Project." A group of Jedi masters would travel to the edge of the galaxy and attempt to use the Force to punch through the hyperspace turbulence surrounding the galaxy, thereby allowing them to attempt contact with life in other galaxies.

The ship is intercepted on Palpatine's command and all hope of contacting life outside the galaxy ended. It is noted that the Chiss, one of whom would become Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn, were involved in the interception of this ship. Further details of the Outbound Flight Project were elaborated upon in Zahn's Survivor's Quest and Outbound Flight novels.

One of those Jedi Masters killed by Thrawn is Jorus C'Baoth. His clone, which serves the Empire, is subject to fits of insanity and eventually betrays Thrawn in the Heir to the Empire series.

In the Coruscant Nights series, Jedi Knight Jax Pavan survives the Purge and goes into hiding in the seedier districts of Coruscant, where he begins operating as a private investigator.

X-wing Rogue Squadron pilot Corran Horn discovers a museum chronicling members of the Jedi Order whom Palpatine had killed, filled with destroyed statues of former Jedi on Coruscant.

In the strategy game Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, after crash-landing on the planet of Krant, Princess Leia and C-3PO, along with a small group of rebels, discover a Jedi who survived the purge, Echuu Shen-Jon. He helps them win many victories on Krant, then travels with them to the Geddes asteroids to reclaim a Jedi artifact. When they land there, they are helped by a small army of Wookiees. In this mission, Shen-Jon dies at Darth Vader's hand, sacrificing himself so Leia and the other Rebels could escape. It is revealed in the expansion that he exiled himself to Krant after briefly succumbing to the Dark Side and killing Sev'rance Tann (a CIS general who had killed his padawan), at the cost of the lives of many clone troopers and Wookiees.

In the New Jedi Order series, Vergere is revealed as a Jedi Knight from before the Empire. She was sent on a mission to investigate the living planet Zonama Sekot, where she encounters the Yuuzhan Vong. Considering them to be a threat, Vergere convinces them to take her as an advisor and jester of sorts to their Warmaster, Tsavong Lah. The Great Jedi Purge takes place after she leaves with the Yuuzhan Vong. Her connections to the Old Jedi Order prove important in the training of Jacen Solo and allow her to provide Luke Skywalker with a small view of the old order. Before she can finish completely instructing them, she dies protecting Jacen from Tsavong Lah's forces.

In the video game Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II, Jedi Qu Rahn is executed by the Dark Jedi, Jerec who leads a group of seven Dark Jedi: Sariss, Boc Aseca, Maw, Picaroon C. Boodle, Gorc and Yu who are the antagonists in the game. Kyle Katarn is the games Jedi protagonist, although he does not actually become a Jedi until part way through the game.

In the Dark Times series by Mick Harrison, it is revealed that a never-before mentioned member of the Jedi Order, Dass Jennir, also survived and took refuge on the planets of the Nosaurians and helped them fight off Storm Troopers before helping his Nosaurian friend Bomo Greenbark find his kidnapped wife and child. Once in Dark Times, Jennir mentioned something about his escaping alive because his clone troopers did not receive Order 66.

In the video game Star Wars Battlefront II, some Jedi survive the purge and were sheltered on Naboo by the current Queen. The 501st Clone Trooper Legion then invaded the planet, killed the current Queen and 'adjusted' the government of the planet. All of the Jedi were killed in the invasion.

In the 2008 video game The Force Unleashed, it is revealed that several Jedi, including Jedi Master Shaak Ti, had survived the initial purge, only to be later killed by Vader's apprentice Galen Marek. However, in a deleted scene from Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, Shaak Ti was killed by General Grievous and another deleted scene depicts her being slain by Lord Vader in the temple. These scenes are, however, not canon as it depicts Anakin's first face-to-face meeting with General Grievous, which in the film happens later on the bridge of the CIS ship. Other Jedi include Rahm Kota and Kazdan Paratus. The former escaped death due to having a squadron of ordinary soldiers fully loyal to him; the latter went insane from the destruction of his way of life, and was killed by Galen Marek shortly before Shaak Ti's fate. Maris Brood is another survivor who escaped with Shaak Ti, but due to Felucia's harsh environment, she becomes a Dark Jedi, and lives the rest of her life being further corrupted.

The exact number of Jedi who ultimately survive both the Great Purge and Vader is not known, though it was estimated around two hundred.

In the Dark Empire II comic book, a pre-Order 66 Jedi, Kam Solusar, is depicted.

Partial list of known survivors

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

References

  1. ↑ Freeman Fly, Jamie Hanshaw (2013). Weird Stuff: Operation: Culture Creation. Freeman Fly. p. 107. ISBN 0989098818.
  2. ↑ Stafford, Nikki (2009). Finding Lost. ECW Press. ISBN 1554905591.
  3. ↑ "Obi-Wan's Final Message - Star Wars Rebels". YouTube. Retrieved 29 December 2014.

Resources

External links

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