The Jedi Order

The Jedi Order was a noble, religious order of protectors united in their devotion to the light side of the Force. With a history dating back thousands of years before the rise of the Galactic Empire, the Jedi Knights—noted for their lightsabers and natural ability to harness the powers of the Force—stood as the guardians of peace and justice in the Galactic Republic. Originally established on Ahch-To in the Unknown Regions, the Jedi Temple on the Core World Coruscant served as the hub of all Jedi activity in the galaxy during the Republic Era. The Temple was also a training school for younglings and Padawans, who learned the ways of the Force under the supervision of Jedi Masters, twelve of whom were elected to serve on the Jedi High Council—the Order's highest governing authority. The High Council's staff officers were the Grand Master, a title reserved for the wisest Jedi Master, and the Master of the Order, who served as the Council's appointed leader. The Jedi Code governed the Order's way of life; therefore, every Jedi was duty-bound to observe and uphold the Code or else risk banishment from the Order's ranks.

The emergence of the Sith Order was the result of a schism that fractured Jedi unity, dividing the Order between the Jedi who remained faithful to the light and a group of renegades that followed a rogue Jedi into exile for exploring the dark side of the Force. Henceforth, the Jedi and Sith warred with each other for centuries. Although the last conflict concluded with the fall of the Old Republic, the ancient Sith all but perished as well, allowing a new Galactic Republic to rise under the protection of the Jedi Order. Unknown to the Jedi, however, the Sith endured in secret for a millennium beginning with Darth Bane, the sole-surviving Dark Lord of the Sith who reformed the Sith way by creating the Rule of Two—a rule limiting the Sith Order's ranks to two members; a Sith Master to embody the power of the dark side; and a Sith apprentice to covet that power. While the Jedi and Republic moved on, their ancient wars with the Sith all but fading from memory, Bane's legacy spawned a lineage of Sith Lords that culminated in the rise of Darth Sidious approximately three decades before the Battle of Yavin.

During the final years of the Republic, the galaxy was beset by political instability and social unrest which, in turn, created a secessionist crisis that ultimately resulted in the formation of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Lacking the sufficient manpower needed to protect the galaxy, the Jedi became commanders and generals in the newly-formed Grand Army of the Republic. For roughly three years they commanded armies of clone troopers in a conflict known as the Clone Wars, engaging the Confederacy's battle droid forces led by Count Dooku—a former Jedi Master who became a Sith Lord—and the cybernetic warlord General Grievous. Though the Jedi fought to preserve the Republic, the government they served was secretly taken over by Sidious who, as Senator Sheev Palpatine of Naboo, rose to power in the Senate and became the last Supreme Chancellor of the Republic.

The Chancellor's machinations culminated in the execution of Order 66, a secret protocol that turned the Jedi's clone soldiers against them, leading to an all but total extermination of the Jedi Order. With the Jedi eliminated, Sidious supplanted a thousand years of democracy with a new government known as the Galactic Empire. In addition, Sidious succeeded in turning Anakin Skywalker—the prophesied Chosen One who was destined to bring balance to the Force by destroying the Sith—to the dark side and anointed him Darth Vader. As a Sith Lord, the former Jedi Knight served the self-proclaimed Galactic Emperor by hunting down the few surviving Jedi who dispersed into hiding across the galaxy. In spite of the Sith's efforts, however, the Jedi continued to endure. Within a generation of the Empire's rise to power, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda—both of whom survived the initial purge of the Order—trained Vader's son, Luke Skywalker, in the Jedi arts. Redeemed by his son's love, Anakin returned to the light and fulfilled his destiny as the Chosen One, destroying both himself and his Master during the Battle of Endor.

The Empire dissolved into various remnants as a result of their defeat in the Galactic Civil War, allowing the Alliance to Restore the Republic to rise as the New Republic. Under the new era, Luke Skywalker endeavored to restore the Order by training a new generation of Jedi. Among Skywalker's students was his nephew Ben Solo, the son of his twin sister, Princess Leia Organa, and the famed smuggler Han Solo. Ben, however, was seduced by the dark side of the Force at the coaxing of Snoke, an enigmatic figure who spearheaded the Imperial-inspired First Order. As a result, Ben adopted the name and persona of Kylo Ren, a First Order warlord and master of the Knights of Ren.

The new generation was betrayed and destroyed by Ren, who left the Jedi training temple burning by the time Skywalker recovered from the attack. Feeling responsible for Ben's fall and the massacre of his apprentices, he went into exile and disappeared from the galaxy, leaving only traces of his location on a star map. The First Order and the Resistance both sought to acquire the map, but ultimately it was the latter that succeeded due to the actions of the Jakku scavenger Rey. She followed the map to the planet Ahch-To, where the last Jedi had taken refuge in the first Jedi Temple.

Skywalker, stricken by grief and believing his return would only cause more problems, was reluctant to train Rey or another generation of Jedi. However, the last Jedi eventually returned to the fight, buying time for the Resistance to escape the siege of Crait led by Kylo Ren, who became the new Supreme Leader after killing his master, Snoke. Skywalker became one with the Force after exerting a great amount of energy to project himself across the galaxy to face his fallen nephew, but not before acknowledging that he would not be the last Jedi. His heroic tale spread across the galaxy, inspiring others and giving hope in a time of rising darkness.