Image: Lucasfilm
Order 66 is one of Star Wars’ most defining moments—even before we knew its name and the intricacies of its machinations, we have known since the very beginning of the saga that there were once thousands of Jedi Knights, only for them to be systemically eradicated by the Empire. But even as Star Wars has detailed this moment more and more, it’s also revealed more and more Jedi that slipped through the Empire’s grip.
The more contemporary Star Wars media interacts with the time of the prequels, and even moreso the interstitial years now known as the Reign of the Empire, the more it cannot resist the allure of either introducing a new Jedi that escaped the Order’s downfall, or revealing that a familiar face survived the great purge. It’s a number that has been growing for years and years—both before and after the reboot of continuity that came with Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm—and will likely continue to grow the more we chart this turning point in the Star Wars galaxy.
Naturally, as we’re going to be covering a lot of Star Wars media—from games to comics and books to TV shows—there are going to be some spoilers, including for even recent Star Wars releases, about the fates and returns of certain characters. Click through if you dare...
Image: Lucasfilm
Let’s start with the big one, why don’t we? We saw Yoda survive the beginning of Order 66 on Yashyyyk, and then eventually, after failing to stop Palpatine on Coruscant, fleeing to live out his days on the world of Dagobah. Oh and maybe train one of the children of Darth Vader for a couple years at some point.
Image: Lucasfilm
The former Librarian of the Jedi Archives, Nu survived the initial purge and remained hidden for a while, constructing a smaller library of information she had managed to take with her in her initial escape. Returning to Coruscant to retrieve a Holocron containing information on Force-sensitive children scouted by the Order, she was captured and ultimately killed by Darth Vader.
Image: Lucasfilm
Here’s your other big one, of course! Obi-Wan survived Commander Cody’s attempts to execute him on Utapau, and then exiled himself to Tatooine to watch over young Luke Skywalker in secret. Eventually making himself known to Luke once more, he died facing Darth Vader aboard the Death Star to give Luke, his sister Leia, and the smugglers Han Solo and Chewbacca time to escape.
Image: Lucasfilm
Ahmed Best’s Jedi gameshow host-turned-Mandalorian key player has become one of the most important Jedi survivors of Order 66 thanks to his connection to one Youngling he managed to save: Grogu. Rescuing the young child thanks to the sacrifice of several other Jedi, Beq, working with unidentified members of the Royal Naboo Guard, managed to get passage off-world for himself and the child.
Image: Lucasfilm
Star of Respawn’s Star Wars: Jedi games, Cal was a padawan when Order 66 was issued, surviving the initial assault thanks to the sacrifice of his master, Jaro Topal. Cal was eventually knighted by a fellow survivor of the purge we’ll get to later, Cere Junda, formally recognizing him as a Jedi Knight.
Image: Lucasfilm
The ancient, snakelike Thisspiasian was revealed by the Inquisitorius as one of the purge’s survivors, and remained in hiding despite their best efforts to locate him.
Image: Lucasfilm
A Jedi General during the Clone War, Malicos fled to Dathomir after surviving an execution attempt by his own forces. Captured by the Nightbrothers, Malicos eventually succumbed to the Dark Side and began manipulating the brothers to his own end, becoming their leader. After attempting to turn Cal Kestis to the Dark Side, the fallen Jedi was seemingly killed when he was entombed within Dathomir’s surface by the Nightsister Merrin, who had allied herself with Kestis.
Image: Lucasfilm
Quinlan Vos’ freewheeling, often rebellious reputation among his fellow masters led to him taking many missions behind the scenes of the Clone War, rather than the frontlines. Having survived the Battle of Kashyyyk at the war’s end, eventually Vos came to the attention of the guerilla movement known as the Hidden Path, and aided them in hiding Force-sensitive beings from the Empire.
Image: Lucasfilm
Like Vos, Unduli was present for the Battle of Kashyyyk when Order 66 was relayed to her soldiers. Unlike many of her Jedi allies however, Luminara was arrested rather than executed on sight—but was quickly executed in captivity on Stygeon Prime, where her remains were used by the Inquisitorius to lure former Jedi or Jedi sympathizers to the Imperial facilities there.
Image: Lucasfilm
Briefly appearing in Star Wars Insider short fiction, Uvell was a Jedi who survived the first waves of the purge, and like Nu before him, sought to keep the history of the Jedi Archives alive. Trusting a shipload of Jedi artifacts and relics, from lightsabers to ancient texts, to an antiquities dealer, Uvell vanished into hiding.
Image: Lucasfilm
A former master, Kcaj survived the purge for almost a decade, but was ultimately captured and killed by the Imperial Inquisitorius—entombed in the depths of their Fortress base on the moon of Mustafar, Nur.
Image: Lucasfilm
A Jedi researcher, Cordova vanished after exploring the galaxy for the mysterious race known as the Zeffo, surviving Order 66 after being given a vision of the Jedi’s downfall. He eventually crossed paths with his former padawan, Cere Junda, and established an archive on the planet Jedha that operated as a base for the Hidden Path. The base was ultimately discovered, however, and Cordova was killed during an Imperial assault on the facility.
Image: Lucasfilm
Fleeing the death of his master Depa Billaba—and let go by the Clone commando operative Hunter—the young Caleb Dume eventually took on the name Kanan Jarrus as he went into hiding. Eventually working with the Twi’lek pilot Hera Syndulla, Jarrus helped form a rebel cell on the planet Lothal, and helped establish the early unification of the fledgling Alliance to Restore the Republic—but tragically died after liberating Syndulla from Imperial captivity on Lothal
Image: Lucasfilm
A Jedi youngling who watched her fellow initiates slaughtered at the Jedi Temple, Sevander went into hiding before re-emerging to join the Imperial Inquisitorius, falling to the Dark Side as the Third Sister. During the events of the Obi-Wan Kenobi Disney+ series, it’s revealed that Sevander actually joined the Inquisitors in an attempt to enact revenge on Vader, and after encountering Kenobi multiple times, she was left by the former Jedi master on Tatooine to decide her own fate.
Image: Lucasfilm
Alibeth was a former Jedi initiate who eventually chose to leave the order in the early period of the Clone War, allowing her to survive the purge that laid it low. Decades later, she had become a bounty hunter.
Image: Lucasfilm
The Pau’an male who would go on to lead the Inquisitorius was formerly a member of the Jedi Temple Guard, who exchanged his survival for swearing fealty to the new Emperor. Helping to establish the Inquisitorius by hunting down former Jedi and either killing them or turning them into his own agents, the Grand Inquisitor was eventually killed by Kanan Jarrus aboard his flagship.
Image: Lucasfilm
A former Jedi Master, Infil’a survived Order 66 by actually having largely left the Order behind—at some point prior to the Clone War, Infil’a undertook an act of penance known as the Barash Vow, essentially forcing himself into exile. His technical non-Jedi status didn’t stop Vader hunting him down and killing him though, so he could take the Jedi’s lightsaber and build his own by corrupting its kyber crystal core.
Image: Lucasfilm
Gera gets by on a technicality—he survived Order 66 because he had actually been kept in suspended animation for hundreds of years, missing the Clone War and the Empire’s rise entirely. A master during the High Republic era, Gera was driven to the Dark Side by his desire to discover the hidden world of Tanalorr—but was eventually defeated by Cal Kestis after he inadvertently woke Gera up from his cryogenic slumber during the Reign of the Empire.
Image: Lucasfilm
Akaris was one of several survivors of Order 66 that would go on to become an agent of the Inquisitorius. After a mission to kill former Jedi master Eeth Koth (more on him soon), Akaris was revealed by Vader to be a traitor to the Inquisitorius, having developed a relationship with a fellow Inquisitor and planning to leave the Empire’s service in secret. After making an escape attempt, she was killed on Coruscant.
Image: Lucasfilm
A Zabrak Jedi survived with several other Jedi by hiding in an Order shrine on the planet Anoat. Eventually discovered by the Inquisitorius, Akonori helped his fellow survivors escape Anoat by offering himself as a distraction, splitting the group up, only to be killed by an Inquisitor in the process.
Image: Lucasfilm
Another member of the Inquisitorius, Valen became the Inquisitor known as the Sixth Brother. He eventually tracked down the former Jedi Ahsoka Tano on the Outer Rim moon of Raada, where she killed him by forcing his double-bladed lightsaber to explode. Taking the crystals within the saber for herself, Ahsoka re-purified them and constructed a new pair of lightsabers of her own to wield as the Rebel agent Fulcrum.
Image: Lucasfilm
Former Council member Eeth Koth stepped away from the Order during the Clone Wars when he was removed from his seat on the Jedi Council. Becoming a priest, Koth settled down and started a family, only to find himself the target of Darth Vader and the Inquisitorius. In spite of his resignation from the order, Vader still fought and killed Koth, capturing his Force-sensitive newborn child.
Image: Lucasfilm
Similarly no longer a Jedi by the time of Order 66, Ahsoka had left the Jedi Order after she was framed for a bombing on the Jedi temple by the disillusioned padawan Bariss Offee. Ahsoka went into hiding but remained largely affiliated with the Republic during the climax of the Clone War, participating with a detachment of Clone Troopers in the siege of the planet Mandalore. Escaping her clone detachment after they turned on her during the purge, Ahsoka went into hiding once more, before becoming the Rebel operative Fulcrum during the nascent formation of the alliance—and then went into hiding once more, surviving the eventual galactic civil war, reuniting with the son of her former master, Luke Skywalker, as he sought to re-establish the Jedi.
Image: Lucasfilm
Another fallen Jedi who joined the Inquisitorius, Tide became the Ninth Sister, and crossed paths with Cal Kestis multiple times while he remained in hiding. Eventually duelling him once more during a mission on Coruscant, Kestis was forced to kill her after failing to convince her to leave the Empire behind.
Image: Lucasfilm
The Wookiee padawan Gungi survived Order 66 but was ultimately captured by slavers early during the reign of the Empire. Rescued by the rogue group of genetically-modified clone commandos of Clone Force 99, Gungi returned to his homeworld and decided to remain there to protect his people from Trandoshan mercenaries enslaving the Wookiees on behalf of the Empire.
Image: Lucasfilm
Another Jedi who survived by hiding in the Anoat shrine, Mususiel died there holding the Empire off to allow some of her fellow Jedi survivors to escape.
Image: Lucasfilm
A former padawan, Barr survived Order 66 and, investigating the fall of the Jedi during his exile, uncovered the conspiracy behind the order as well as Anakin Skywalker’s transformation into Darth Vader. Using his Force abilities to recruit acolytes into a resistance cell, Barr sought to incite rebellion across the galaxy, starting with an uprising on Mon Cala—only to be discovered by Vader and the Inquisitorius, and killed during a duel with the Sith Lord.
Image: Lucasfilm
A former padawan who left the order before the Clone Wars broke out, Med went on to live his own life and start a family. Although hunted by the Inquisitorius for his Force sensitivity regardless, Med managed to escape into exile and live to the times of the New Republic, before passing away in his old age, and survived by his great-grandson Karr Nuq Sin (pictured above).
Image: Lucasfilm
Another Inquisitor, Suduri—known as the Second Sister—was the former padawan of Cere Junda, and survived the initial purge with her. Eventually captured by the Empire, Junda and Suduri were tortured, but while Junda escaped, Suduri was broken by her imprisonment and fell to the Dark Side. Attempting to track down her former master as well as the fugitive padawan Cal Kestis, Suduri was eventually defeated by the duo at the Fortress Inquisitorius on Nur—only to be executed by Darth Vader himself for failing to kill her former master.
Image: Lucasfilm
Another Jedi known to the Inquisitorius as being in deep hiding, Eluos’ minor appearance on a list in the second volume of the Darth Vader comic series is an tuckerized Easter egg nod to series writer, and High Republic author, Charles Soule.
Image: Lucasfilm
Likewise another Jedi on that same list is a nod to Soule’s primary artist on volume two of Darth Vader, Giuseppe Camuncoli.
Image: Lucasfilm
Rescued from the Jedi Temple during the 501st’s siege, Grogu was taken from Coruscant by the Jedi master Kelleran Beq. Decades later, after the rise of the New Republic, Grogu encountered the Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin and was adopted into his clan, as both a foundling and eventually Djarin’s son.
Image: Lucasfilm
Another survivor of the Anoat shrine, Nuhj escaped the Empire’s assault on the shrine with fellow Jedi Kandra, fleeing to another planet in the Anoat system, the mining colony Burnin Konn. However, the Inquisitorius caught up and killed them both.
Image: Lucasfilm
As previously mentioned, Junda survived Order 66 and escaped Imperial captivity without her padawan in the wake of the Empire’s rise. Eventually crossing paths with Cal Kestis, she went on to become an agent of the Hidden Path, working with her former master to establish an archive for the group on Jedha. After the location of the base was leaked to the Empire, Junda died during its evacuation when she was cornered by Darth Vader.
Image: Lucasfilm
Nuhj’s fellow escapee from Anoat, Khandra died alongside him when they were discovered by an Inquisitor on Burnin Konn.
Image: Lucasfilm
A former Jedi who went into exile on Tatooine, Nari was discovered by the Imperial Inquisitorius. After escaping an encounter with them in the cantina he was staying in, Nari was captured and executed by the Inquisitorius shortly after, his body left to hang in the city of Anchorhead.
Image: Lucasfilm
An initiate alongside Mill Alibeth in the early days of the Clone Wars, Stag eventually survived Order 66 and went on to reunite with Alibeth as adults—with the duo becoming Bounty Hunters together.
Image: Lucasfilm
A mysterious Jedi who appeared briefly in the short story book Dark Legends, Vantala saved an orphanage of Force-sensitive children being stalked by the Grand Inquisitor himself, before vanishing back into hiding.
Image: Lucasfilm
A former Jedi intelligence officer during the Clone War, Akuna fell in love with a woman while on a mission for the Order, and left the Jedi behind, becoming a mercenary to support his new family. Found by the Empire, Akuna exchanged the safety of himself and his young daughter by becoming an operative for the Imperial Security Bureau officer Lank Denvik. Infiltrating Cal Kestis’ rebel group, Akuna eventually revealed himself as an agent of the Empire and a former Jedi when he betrayed Kestis on Jedha—only for Kestis and his surviving friends to hunt Akuna down and kill him on the mysterious planet Tanalorr.
Image: Lucasfilm
We’ve already dealt with the members of the Inquisitorius for whom knew details of their pre-Imperial lives. But as an organization made up pretty much entirely of fallen Jedi, even the the Inquisitors we know nothing more than a name about still survived Order 66 in some capacity. Here’s the remaining loosely identified members we’ve not already discussed:
Eighth Brother (Died 3BBY) - Killed by his own damaged dual-bladed saber on Malachor.Fifth Brother (Died 3BBY) - Killed by Maul on Malachor.Fourth Sister (Fate Unknown)Seventh Sister (Died 3BBY) - Killed by Maul on Malachor.Third Brother (Fate Unknown) Unidentified Twi’lek Inquisitor (Died 14BBY) - Killed by Darth Vader after attempting to leave the Inquisitorius.Unidentified Female Inquisitor (Died, Date Unknown) - Killed by her apprentice, JeserraUnidentified Male Inquisitor (Died, Date Unknown) - Killed by Ahsoka Tano while in hiding at an unknown farming village.
English (United States) ·