Are There Too Many Order 66 Survivors?

 "Luke, when gone am I, the last of the Jedi you will be! The Force runs strong in your family, pass on what you have learned!"

Yoda spoke these words to Luke Skywalker just before he died in Return of the Jedi. For many years, fans have speculated, and George Lucas did confirm that in the OT era, there were only 3 Jedi in the galaxy who were still practicing the Jedi way: Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Luke Skywalker. Until 2005, where we see the Jedi Knights taken down by Order 66 we had no clue how the Jedi fell. But thanks to the Prequels we know how the Jedi Order fell, and just how many Jedi were left when the Clone Wars began (10,000). We are led to believe that 9,998 Jedi died during the Clone Wars and implementation of Order 66. But Legends and even Disney Canon have had characters survive both the Clone Wars and Order 66. Quinlan Vos did in both universes, other Legends Jedi like Tholme, Tr'a S'aa, K'khruk, Tao, Dass Jennir, Beldorian, Jax Pavan, Qu-Rahm, Ferus Olin, A'Sharad Hett (the future Darth Krayt in Star Wars Legacy) and of course Obi-Wan and Yoda (not all Legends survivors are listed). In Disney Canon the survivors are Yoda and Obi-Wan, Kanan Jarrus, Jocasta Nu (killed shortly after by Vader), Luminara Undili (died sometime before the Rebels series aired, her corpse was used to trap potential Jedi), the future Grand Inquisitor, several Inquisitors (Trilla & Reva were Jedi), Cere Junda, Cal Kestis, Quinlan Vos, Ahsoka Tano, Eeth Koth (killed by Vader before Solo A Star Wars Story) and a few more who appear in games, books, etc. Plus other Jedi I haven't named, or have been revealed by Disney  There are a lot of survivors! So the question is, what happened to those that did survive? I'll cover what Legends and Disney Canon have done with the survivors of the Jedi Purge.


1. Some Jedi joined the Inquisitors.

Inquisitors were created for use in the West End Games and were characters who could hunt down your Force sensitive role playing character. In the late stages in Legends they began to appear, the Coruscant Nights Trilogy featured them. In Disney Canon, the Grand Inquisitor was a former Jedi Temple Guard. Those Inquisitors had to come from somewhere, and some people threatened by death can make a drastic decision. It wouldn't surprise me if all the Inquisitors were former Jedi, or Jedi Padawans who failed their Jedi training for whatever reason. While they strayed from the Jedi path, they are Order 66 survivors. The Inquisitors are all believed to be gone in Disney Canon 2 years before A New Hope.

2. Surviving Jedi went into hiding.

Yoda and Obi-Wan did this. So did Ahsoka until the Empire came to her world (Disney Canon Ahsoka young adult novel). In Legends Quinlan Vos did. As did his Master Tholme, and the woman he loved Jedi Master Tr'a S'aa. Same with K'krukh. Both S'aa and K'khruk showed up in Legacy War nearly 140 years after ROTJ! As of now, the only Jedi I know of in Disney Canon was not in training to be a Jedi until after Order 66 is Verla. Verla was trained by Jedi Padawan Ferren Barr. After Vader killed Barr, Verla went into hiding. She stayed hidden until Luke Skywalker found her after Bespin and he survived her surprise trap, thanks to R2-D2. Verla had not practiced her Force skills for a long time and had grown weak in her connection to the Force. While in their exile, Yoda and Obi-Wan still followed the Jedi way, I think more survivors went the way Verla did: find a remote planet and live a quiet life away from Imperial interest. Maybe some Jedi (definitely the younger survivors & Eeth Koth) found love with someone and started a family. Whatever the Jedi who chose this path, they are clearly not practicing Jedi, and do not count as Jedi during the OT, except for Yoda and Obi-Wan of course. I believe the majority of Order 66 survivors went this route.

3. Becoming Bounty Hunters or Mercenaries.

This isn't a stretch. A'Sharad Hett became a bounty hunter, which led him to a Sith Temple where he began his journey to become Darth Krayt in Legends. Baylan Skoll who will appear in the upcoming Ahsoka series, is a former Jedi turned bounty hunter/mercenary, news which was revealed this past week. Obviously a Jedi like Obi-Wan, or even Yoda would stand out as a bounty hunter. Ahsoka definitely could have become a bounty hunter, provided she did some cosmetic changes to her face (A'Sharad Hett in Legends wasn't a known face as he wore a Tusken helmet so he went bare faced) but if say Quinlan Vos in Disney Canon went this route he might need to wear a mask, or find random Mandalorian armor to wear as a disguise because many would recognize him as the Separatist leader Admiral Enigma. In Legends Jax Pavan felt the call to still be a Jedi in some capacity as he aided the Whiplash organization, an early cell of the future Rebel Alliance. It is an obvious danger for any surviving Jedi to go on this path as they may be recognized, which is why my theory is only a few Jedi chose this path. Kanan Jarrus was a smuggler/drifter until he met Hera Syndulla in A New Dawn (a great Disney Canon book, BTW).


Bonus: What happened to the Force sensitive children Dooku was searching for in Clone Wars, and the ones the Inquisitors were hunting down in the Vader 2nd monthly comic series and Rebels?

This is pure speculation on my part, and I'll even go into my own Star Wars AU with this topic. Personally, I think most of the kids collected by Dooku and the Inquisitors ended up the same as the Younglings in the Jedi Council chambers in ROTS. However, during the Empire, especially in Legends, some kids may have been selected for a special assignment. Brakiss, introduced in the Legends Young Jedi Knights books was brainwashed by Imperial Intelligence and infiltrated Luke's Academy. Luke knew what Brakiss was there for, and did everything he could to help him, but Brakiss turned to the dark side eventually. In my own Star Wars AU, which is the fan fiction I am currently working on, I have a character whose sole purpose mirrors Brakiss's story.

It is also possible, but not likely that some of these kids in the OT, or before the OT were being trained to be Inquisitors, or just hadn't been evaluated enough to see if they were useful to Palpy or not. In Disney Canon  Darth Vader got the list of Force sensitive children from Jocasta Nu, but destroyed the data. Jocasta Nu and her assistant Gar could have possibly began collecting potential new Jedi. While Jocasta died, Gar survived, but died presumably before the OT.


CONCLUSION:

Yes, not all Jedi were killed by Order 66, and it doesn't matter about the different continuities, because it happened. How many is not yet fully known. In Legends a great many did survive, in Disney Canon we have only scratched the surface. In the OT, Luke Skywalker is the only practicing Jedi Knight after the Battle of Endor. George Lucas felt maybe 100 Jedi survived Order 66, so I'll stick with the Maker on that (even though he had a higher number of Jedi at the time he said/wrote this, which was 100,000 Jedi). How many of them are alive after ROTJ is the great unknown in Disney Canon, although in Legends we also don't know all of the survivors (especially Quinlan Vos in Legends & Disney Canon). As for the opening quote, remember what Obi-Wan told Luke: "Luke you will find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on out own point of view." Luke is the last Jedi trained by Yoda, but one day, he will be the first Jedi of a new order (Legends, and Disney Canon to an extent).

For my own Star Wars AU, I have only Ahsoka, Verla (who joins as a teacher to help with students early training), Ezra Bridger, and a couple other who stayed hidden. I guess of those 100 survivors,  less than 10 are still alive, and by the time of my fan fictions (Attachements and The Choice, the latter of which I'm now writing take place 5 years after Endor) Luke has met those survivors. And their children.

Thanks for reading! Please copy this link and share on your social media accounts so I can get more readers!