99 Fun Facts About The Jedi

George Lucas summed up the Jedi in which two-word phrase?

Warrior-monks: the idea shaped everything from their plain robes to their creed of compassion and self-discipline, with fighting meant only as a last resort.

The word Jedi may come from jidaigeki, a Japanese term for what kind of film?

Period drama: the term covers the samurai films of directors like Akira Kurosawa, whom Lucas names as a major inspiration, and he is said to have picked the word up while in Japan.

Which author's Barsoom novels, with their jeds and jeddaks, may also have inspired the word Jedi?

Edgar Rice Burroughs, the creator of Tarzan: on his Barsoom, a fictional Mars, lords carry the title jed or jeddak. When Disney finally filmed the first book as John Carter in 2012, it lost the studio some $200 million.

In Rogue One, the Death Star's first test shot destroys the holy city on which moon?

Jedha: one of the first civilisations to study the Force arose on the moon, and the Empire occupied it to strip out the crystals that power lightsabers before erasing its holy city.

Which Akira Kurosawa film, told through two bickering peasants, is most often named as a model for Star Wars?

The Hidden Fortress: its two squabbling peasants became the droids C-3PO and R2-D2, and by his daughter's account Lucas offered its star, Toshiro Mifune, the part of Obi-Wan Kenobi, which he turned down.

Which Joseph Campbell book directly drove Lucas to build his modern myth?

The Hero with a Thousand Faces: Lucas studied it while drafting Star Wars but met its author only in the 1980s, after the original trilogy was finished, and came to call Campbell 'my Yoda'.

George Lucas, raised a Protestant, sums up his own religious outlook with which label?

Buddhist Methodist: he was raised a Methodist and, as he once joked of his California home, 'It's Marin County. We're all Buddhists up here.'

What does the Jedi Order forbid its members to form, warning that it leads to the dark side?

Attachments: Lucas insisted that Jedi may love, and are even expected to; what they must not do is cling, because the fear of losing someone curdles into anger and hate.

The Jedi Code opens "There is no emotion, there is" what?

Peace: the mantra goes on to set knowledge against ignorance and serenity against passion, and a real-world church of Jediism, founded in 2005, has adopted both its versions as doctrine.

Which Jedi Master, dropped from the High Council, secretly ordered the Republic's clone army?

Sifo-Dyas went to the Kaminoan cloners behind the Council's back. The Sith then had him killed and took over his order, so the army the Jedi came to lead was secretly their enemy's.

Jedi and Sith alike recorded their teachings in which palm-sized crystalline devices, opened only through the Force?

Holocrons: the Jedi Temple kept its most guarded ones locked in a restricted vault, which is why Cad Bane's theft of one during the Clone Wars was such a coup.

In The Phantom Menace, Qui-Gon Jinn tests Anakin's blood for which microscopic life forms that signal Force potential?

Midi-chlorians: Lucas called them a loose depiction of mitochondria, the tiny power plants inside our own cells, and Anakin's count came back higher than Master Yoda's.

Ben Burtt built the lightsaber's hum from an old film projector's motor and the buzz of which household object?

A television set: Burtt was carrying a microphone past one when it picked up a buzz from the picture tube, quite by accident, and he blended that half and half with the projector's hum.

Which is the first of the four stages of Jedi training?

Initiate: these are the younglings, schooled together at the Temple, where Yoda himself taught them, until they pass their tests and a Knight or Master takes each one on as a Padawan.

In the rite called the Gathering, Jedi younglings travelled to which planet to find the crystals for their first lightsabers?

Ilum: in its ice caves each youngling had to trust their instincts and overcome an inner obstacle before the one crystal attuned to them appeared, then build a lightsaber around it under the old droid Huyang.

What did Old Republic Padawans traditionally wear on the right side of their head?

A braid: Padawans of hairless species wore a string of beads in its place, and the braid came off for good on the day its wearer was made a Knight.

What military rank did Padawans hold in the Grand Army during the Clone Wars?

Commander: with Knights and Masters made generals, their teenage apprentices outranked veteran clone officers, which is how Ahsoka Tano came to give orders to Captain Rex.

Alongside the Trials of Skill, Courage, Spirit and Insight, which fifth test must a Padawan pass to become a Knight?

Trial of the Flesh: it tested how a Padawan bore pain and loss, and in the older novels Anakin Skywalker is judged to have passed it when Count Dooku took his arm.

What trial did Yoda set Luke so he could become a full Knight?

Face Vader a second time: the dying Yoda tells Luke that no more training is needed, only that meeting, and Luke passes it by refusing to strike his father down.

Obi-Wan earned Jedi status through the extraordinary act of defeating whom?

Darth Maul: he was the first Sith the Jedi had faced in a thousand years and had just killed Obi-Wan's own master, so the Council counted the victory as the Padawan's trials.

Which Muppets performer gave Yoda his voice and movements in The Empire Strikes Back?

Frank Oz: Lucas first approached Jim Henson, who was too busy and put forward his fellow puppeteer, the performer of Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear.

Who was Chief Librarian of the Jedi Archives around the time of the Clone Wars?

Jocasta Nu: she was so sure of her records that she told Obi-Wan a planet missing from them could not exist, when in truth someone had erased it.

Who chaired the Jedi High Council as Master of the Order in the last years before the Clone Wars?

Mace Windu: he was on the Council both times it turned Anakin Skywalker down, first refusing to have the boy trained and later withholding the rank of Master, which left Anakin furious.

Which actor asked George Lucas for a purple lightsaber so he could pick himself out in a crowded battle scene?

Samuel L. Jackson: blades until then had been red, blue or green, and he argued that his character, the most formidable Jedi after Yoda, had earned one of his own.

In Jedi lore, which of the Order's three branches were its contemplative scholars, seers and healers?

Consular: the least warlike of the Jedi, they drew a lightsaber only as a last resort and were the ones sent to negotiate when a dispute could still be talked down.

The masked guards of the Jedi Temple carried double-bladed lightsaber pikes of which colour?

Yellow: the Temple Guards were Knights who gave up their names and faces for the post, serving anonymously behind identical masks and robes for as long as it lasted.

Which prequel-trilogy actor returned in The Mandalorian as Kelleran Beq, the Jedi who rescues Grogu from the Temple?

Ahmed Best: the performer behind Jar Jar Binks had first played Kelleran Beq as host of a children's game show in 2020, and the series made that Jedi the hero of Grogu's escape.

Kylo Ren's lightsaber has a crossguard because of what?

A cracked kyber crystal: the flawed stone would overload the blade, so two side vents bleed off the excess power, and those jets of plasma are the crossguard.

The Jedi fighter of Attack of the Clones was shaped to echo which original-trilogy ships?

Star Destroyers: the echo was meant to suggest that the Empire seized and twisted the Republic's noble designs, and the next film's Jedi fighter went further by borrowing from the TIE fighter.

Which prequel design director called the Jedi starfighter a bridge to the original trilogy's look?

Doug Chiang: seeing the original Star Wars at 15 sent him down to the family basement to shoot stop-motion films of his own, and he grew up to lead the art department on its prequels.

The Jedi Archives in Attack of the Clones closely resemble which real library?

Trinity College Dublin: the Archives match its Long Room down to the rows of marble busts. Nobody had asked permission, but Lucasfilm denied copying it and the college chose not to sue.

The Coruscant Jedi Temple was built on top of what?

An old Sith shrine: the Jedi razed it after a great war and raised their Temple on its foundations, as a sign that Sith rule was over and in the hope of smothering the dark energy left in the site.

What did the Jedi Temple become after the fall of the Order?

The Emperor's Palace: Palpatine kept the Temple's ziggurat and its crown of spires on the skyline and set his throne room in the central tower of the Order he had destroyed.

Which actor's performance as a Jedi in the original 1977 film earned an Oscar nomination?

Alec Guinness: he had written to a friend that the film was fairy-tale rubbish, and by his own account it was he who talked Lucas into killing Obi-Wan Kenobi off.

Which Jedi Council member seen in The Phantom Menace belongs to the same mysterious species as Yoda?

Yaddle: a later animated story explains why she vanished from the Council. She follows a wavering Count Dooku, uncovers his new master, and is killed by him, his last step into the dark side.

In Rebels, Kanan Jarrus estimated how many Jedi Knights once defended the galaxy?

10,000: Kanan offers the figure to his apprentice Ezra as a measure of how much has gone, and Ezra finishes the thought for him: now there are just the two of them.

In Legends, the Je'daii precursors studied light and dark equally on which planet?

Tython: the Je'daii built their philosophy of balance around its two moons, Ashla and Bogan, and the planet returned on screen in The Mandalorian, where Grogu calls out from its seeing stone.

Which Star Wars publishing era, launched in 2021, shows the Jedi in their golden age centuries before the films?

The High Republic: it opens with a hyperspace catastrophe and the marauding Nihil testing an Order that had grown used to calm, and its era reached live action in The Acolyte in 2024.

Dooku was the last of which group of Masters who left the Order?

The Lost Twenty: a bust of each stood in the Temple Archives, Dooku's the newest, kept there so that the Order would not forget the Masters it had failed to hold.

Which order of fallen Jedi did Darth Sidious create to help Vader hunt down the survivors of the Purge?

The Inquisitorius: its recruits were Jedi who had turned, and each gave up their own name for a number and a title, which is why Reva Sevander is known only as the Third Sister.

Which Jedi Master discovered Ahsoka Tano on her homeworld of Shili?

Plo Koon: he brought her to the Temple as a toddler and stayed close to her ever after, which made it harder when the Council he sat on expelled her on a false charge.

A Jedi Master is shot down by his own clone wingmen under Order 66 above the bridge cities of which planet?

Cato Neimoidia: the pilot was known for the care he took of his clone troops, and his own squadron opened fire on him moments after they had won the battle there together.

What was Kanan Jarrus's birth name?

Caleb Dume: he buried the name after his master, Depa Billaba, died holding off their own clone troopers so that he could run, and he hid what he was for years before joining the rebels.

Ezra Bridger was born on which planet, on the very day the Empire was founded?

Lothal: his birthday fell on Empire Day itself, the regime's yearly celebration, and he grew up alone on the planet's streets after his parents were jailed for speaking out against it.

On which planet does Luke exile himself after the failure of his new Order?

Ahch-To: its sacred island holds the first Jedi temple, where the Order began, and he hid there convinced that the Jedi ought to end with him, until Rey tracked him down.

About how many people in England and Wales gave their religion as Jedi in the 2001 census?

390,000: that put Jedi ahead of Sikhism, Judaism and Buddhism, after a chain email urged people to write it in 'because you love Star Wars... or just to annoy people'.

Which country had the highest share of self-declared Jedi in its 2001 census, at 1.5%?

New Zealand: more than 53,000 people wrote Jedi on the form after a chain email, sent with a week's notice, claimed that enough answers would make it an officially recognised religion.

"Weird Al" Yankovic's Jedi-themed parody of "American Pie" is called what?

The Saga Begins: Yankovic wrote it before the film opened, piecing the plot together from internet rumours, and had it so nearly right that he changed only a few words after seeing it.

In Star Wars and Philosophy, William Stephens compares the Jedi to which school of thought?

Stoicism: Stephens, a scholar of Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius, sees Yoda as the Stoic sage and calls his warning that fear leads to anger and hate 'straight up Stoicism'.

Make-up artist Stuart Freeborn modelled Yoda's face partly on his own and partly on which famous physicist's?

Albert Einstein's features were borrowed in the hope that they would make the puppet look intelligent. Freeborn took the rest from his own face.

Which title appeared on early teaser posters for the 1983 Star Wars film before George Lucas changed one word?

Revenge of the Jedi was dropped in December 1982, when Lucas decided that a Jedi should never seek revenge. The first teaser trailer still carries the old name.

Luke Skywalker's new lightsaber in Return of the Jedi was changed from blue to which colour during the film's editing?

Green was picked because the filmmakers felt it would stand out better against the blue sky of Tatooine in the outdoor scenes. An early trailer and the first theatrical posters still show a blue blade.

Which Northern Irish star of Schindler's List played Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn in The Phantom Menace?

Liam Neeson won the part even though George Lucas had first pictured an American in it. Lucas called him a master actor whom the rest of the cast would look up to.

Which Scottish actor, nephew of the man who played Wedge Antilles, became Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequels?

Ewan McGregor is the nephew of Denis Lawson, who flew as Wedge Antilles in the original trilogy. He came back to the part in 2022 for the series Obi-Wan Kenobi.

On which swamp planet does Yoda hide from the Empire and later train Luke Skywalker as a Jedi?

Dagobah teems with living things, which masks Yoda's presence from the Empire. A scene of his arrival there was cut from the last of the prequels so the film would not have too many endings.

Which title did Qui-Gon Jinn give young Anakin Skywalker, trusting a prophecy about bringing balance to the Force?

The Chosen One is what Anakin remains even as Darth Vader, George Lucas has said. He fulfils the prophecy decades later, when he kills his Sith master to save his own son.

Which cyborg warlord of the Clone Wars kept the lightsabers of the Jedi he killed as trophies?

General Grievous could not use the Force, so Count Dooku trained him in every form of lightsaber combat. His mechanical arms split in half, letting him swing four blades at once.

Which winged junk dealer on Tatooine proves resistant to Qui-Gon Jinn's Jedi mind trick in The Phantom Menace?

Watto pairs that resistance with a sharp talent for haggling, so the Force is no use in his shop. Qui-Gon wins Anakin's freedom from him by betting on a podrace instead.

In which outpost governed by Lando Calrissian does Darth Vader cut off Luke Skywalker's right hand?

Cloud City floats above the gas planet Bespin, where Vader had laid a trap. Luke flew there against the advice of both Obi-Wan and Yoda, who wanted him to finish his training first.

Which Nautolan Jedi Master, a water-breather with head tentacles, died trying to arrest Chancellor Palpatine?

Kit Fisto excelled at underwater combat and led clone troopers into battle beneath the waves of Mon Cala. He was also quicker to laugh than his sterner colleagues.

Which Cerean Jedi Council member, whose cone-shaped head holds a binary brain, was shot by his own clones?

Ki-Adi-Mundi doubted Qui-Gon Jinn's report that the Sith had survived. He led clone troops as a general through the war, and turned in disbelief when Order 66 reached the men under him.

Which Togruta Jedi Master supervised the training of clone cadets, mentoring troopers such as Echo and Fives?

Shaak Ti struggled to balance the need for capable soldiers with compassion for the clones as living beings. She balanced that work with her duties on the Jedi Council.

Which blue-skinned Twi'lek Jedi Knight was gunned down by her own clone troopers on the remote world of Felucia?

Aayla Secura had fought beside the same clone officer, Bly, on one battlefield after another before he received Order 66. She was killed instantly when he and his men opened fire.

Which Mirialan Jedi Master did the Empire execute, then show in holograms as bait to trap fugitive Jedi?

Luminara Unduli was believed for years to have been killed by her own soldiers, but she had been held in an Imperial prison called the Spire. Footage of her captivity went on luring survivors after her death.

Which Padawan bombed the Jedi Temple during the Clone Wars and framed her friend Ahsoka Tano for the crime?

Barriss Offee admitted her guilt before a military tribunal but held that the Jedi and the Republic had lost their way. The Council's handling of the affair soured Ahsoka on the Order, and she left it.

Which maverick Jedi tracker, able to read memories from objects, was sent by the Council to assassinate Count Dooku?

Quinlan Vos went undercover with the assassin Asajj Ventress, fell in love with her and was drawn into the ways of the dark side. His brash style made him a contrast to the staid Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Which Chalactan Jedi Council member trained the Padawan who later became Kanan Jarrus of Star Wars Rebels?

Depa Billaba could not finish his training before Order 66 ended her life on the planet Kaller. Years earlier she had sat on the Council when Qui-Gon Jinn brought the young Anakin Skywalker before it.

Which former Padawan hiding as a scrapyard worker is the hero of the video game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order?

Cal Kestis gives himself away when he uses the Force to rescue a friend during a work accident on the planet Bracca. The actor Cameron Monaghan supplies both his voice and his likeness.

Which four-armed Besalisk Jedi general turned on his own clone troopers during the battle of Umbara?

Pong Krell carried two double-ended lightsabers in his giant arms and had the highest clone casualty rates of any general. On Umbara he sent his men, unknowing, to kill other clone troopers.

Which scavenger, abandoned as a child on Jakku, trains under both Skywalker twins and later takes their surname?

Rey was made a scavenger so that she would be the ultimate outsider. She takes the Skywalker name after defeating the resurrected Palpatine, to honour the two mentors who trained her.

Which Rebel leader, shown in The Rise of Skywalker training as a Jedi, gave it up after a dark vision?

Leia Organa quit when she foresaw that finishing her training would lead to the death of her unborn son. Decades later, while leading the Resistance, she became a mentor in the Force herself.

Which Mandalorian graffiti artist from Star Wars Rebels later becomes the Jedi Padawan of Ahsoka Tano?

Sabine Wren had already been trained in lightsaber combat by Kanan Jarrus, despite being unable to use the Force. She and Ahsoka parted ways after her family was killed in the Purge of Mandalore.

Which former Jedi, a survivor of Order 66, works as a mercenary with his apprentice Shin Hati in Ahsoka?

Baylan Skoll once knew Anakin Skywalker, yet he no longer counts himself a Jedi and believes another war is inevitable. Ray Stevenson, who played him, died after completing work on the first season.

Which former agent of Palpatine, created by novelist Timothy Zahn, becomes a Jedi and marries Luke Skywalker in Legends?

Mara Jade first appeared in the 1991 novel Heir to the Empire, still haunted by her dead master's command to kill Luke. Lucasfilm at first resisted the idea of the two marrying.

Which former Jedi turned Sith Lord is revealed as the player's own forgotten identity in Knights of the Old Republic?

Revan starts the 2003 game as a Republic soldier with amnesia, because the Jedi erased the character's memories after an attempted capture. The twist kept the game talked about long after release.

Which ancient lightsaber-crafting droid, voiced by David Tennant, has been instructing Jedi for thousands of years?

Huyang first appeared in the animated series The Clone Wars. The same actor returned to voice him in live action for the series Ahsoka.

Which Wookiee Jedi Master hides himself away in the jungles of Khofar in the series The Acolyte?

Kelnacca withdrew to Khofar after witches took over his mind on a mission and he turned his lightsaber on his fellow Jedi. He made his home there in a piece of old wreckage.

Tarre Vizsla, the first Mandalorian to become a Jedi, created which weapon that became a symbol of Mandalorian rule?

The Darksaber has a black blade ringed by a white halo, unlike any other lightsaber. It was carried mostly by rulers of Mandalore who could not use the Force at all.

Which former Imperial soldier turned mercenary became a Jedi across the Dark Forces and Jedi Knight video games?

Kyle Katarn was created after LucasArts dropped the idea of making Luke Skywalker the hero, which would have limited what players could do. He later became an instructor at Luke's Jedi academy.

On which planet does Qui-Gon Jinn die after a lightsaber duel inside the royal palace of Theed?

Naboo was the world whose queen Qui-Gon had been sent to protect when the Sith resurfaced after a thousand years. His funeral is held there on the eve of the planet's victory celebration.

On which volcanic planet do Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker fight their fateful duel in the last prequel film?

Mustafar's backdrops include real footage of Mount Etna, which erupted in Italy while the film was being shot. Once the Empire rose, captured Jedi were taken to the planet for interrogation and execution.

Which ocean planet did Obi-Wan Kenobi find had been erased from the Jedi Archives while he was tracking an assassin?

Kamino turned out to be growing a vast clone army for the Republic in cities on stilts above its stormy seas. Obi-Wan was pointed there by an old friend who runs a diner, Dexter Jettster.

On which desert planet did a Jedi rescue mission to an execution arena turn into the first battle of the Clone Wars?

Geonosis lies less than a parsec from Tatooine and is home to insect-like natives who built droid armies in their hive factories. The Empire later chose it as the place to build its first battle station.

On which sinkhole-pitted planet did clone troopers open fire on Obi-Wan Kenobi when Order 66 was issued?

Utapau's cities line the walls of its enormous sinkholes, and its natives told Obi-Wan where the cyborg he was hunting had hidden. He fled the ambush in his dead enemy's own starfighter.

On which forest planet did Yoda escape Order 66 with help from Chewbacca and other friendly Wookiees?

Kashyyyk is the Wookiee homeworld, where Yoda was leading clones and Wookiees in one of the last battles of the war. He sensed the danger, struck down the clones sent to kill him and left in a hidden shuttle.

On which salt-crusted mineral planet does Luke Skywalker's Force projection face Kylo Ren in The Last Jedi?

Crait's white plains were filmed on the Salar de Uyuni salt flats in Bolivia. The planet once held a Rebel Alliance outpost, which is why the fleeing Resistance took shelter there.

On which hidden Sith world do the voices of past Jedi rally the heroine of The Rise of Skywalker?

Exegol lies deep in the Unknown Regions and is one of the oldest Sith worlds, with a huge citadel full of crumbling statues. The spirits of dead Jedi Knights reach out there and lend her their power.

In which ethereal realm do Anakin, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka meet god-like Force-wielders during The Clone Wars?

Mortis drew the three Jedi in with an ancient distress code broadcast from a monolith kilometres wide. Its beings were locked in an endless struggle that made the place the fulcrum of the whole galaxy.

On which planet in another galaxy were Ezra Bridger and Grand Admiral Thrawn stranded before the series Ahsoka?

Peridea survives in the Jedi Archives only as fragments, which describe it as the end of a migration route for pods of purrgil crossing the void between galaxies.

Which actor, also Saruman in The Lord of the Rings, played the fallen Jedi Master Count Dooku?

Christopher Lee wrote in his autobiography that the Count's name came from doku, the Japanese word for poison. He voiced the character once more in the 2008 animated film The Clone Wars.

Which actor played the adult Anakin Skywalker in Attack of the Clones and returned to the part in the series Ahsoka?

Hayden Christensen asked George Lucas for a Vader suit built to fit his own body, rather than let another actor wear the armour in the last prequel. He came back on screen in 2022, for the series Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Which actress first played Ahsoka Tano in live action, in the second season of The Mandalorian?

Rosario Dawson had said as early as 2017 that she wanted the part, with fans backing her. Until then the character had only been heard, voiced in animation by Ashley Eckstein.

Which Japanese star of Seven Samurai is said to have turned down the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars?

Toshiro Mifune feared the film's special effects would look cheap and tarnish the image of the samurai, his daughter later said. She recalled that he refused the part of Darth Vader too.

Which actor played the unmasked Anakin Skywalker in Return of the Jedi but was replaced as his ghost on the 2004 DVD?

Sebastian Shaw's unmasking scene lasts barely two minutes and gave him just 24 words to speak. It still brought him more fan mail and autograph requests than any other role of his long career.

In George Lucas's original script the Jedi Knights carried which extra name, later given to a Force-wielder in Rebels?

Bendu was revived decades later for a being on the remote planet Atollon who stands for the centre of the Force, between the light side and the dark.

What codename was given to the 501st Legion's assault on the Jedi Temple, led by the newly named Darth Vader?

Operation Knightfall left the Temple in flames and almost every Jedi inside it dead. Vader went on hunting the survivors for years, in what became known as the Great Jedi Purge.

In the Legends novels, Luke Skywalker begins rebuilding the Jedi Order in an ancient Massassi temple on which world?

Yavin 4's Great Temple had earlier been the main base of the Rebel Alliance. In the novels, some anti-Jedi politicians used Luke's decision to settle the Order there against him.

The Clone Wars revealed that clone troopers carried out Order 66 under the control of what?

Inhibitor chips were implanted in every clone's brain, and a trooper named Fives found them before the order was ever given. Clones freed of their chips, such as Rex, later fought beside surviving Jedi.

Which nickname did Obi-Wan Kenobi earn in the Clone Wars for stopping battles without the use of weapons?

The Negotiator was no pacifist: as a general he proved an adept strategist, duelist and spy with a taste for subterfuge and misdirection.