Darth Vader’s Darkest Kill Shows Why Jedi Are Forgotten by A New Hope

Darth Vader's Darkest Kill Shows Why Jedi Are Forgotten by A New Hope

In a Star Wars Legends story, Darth Vader shows how he was able to make the galaxy completely forget about the Jedi Order by Star Wars: A New Hope.

With the rise of the Empire in the Star Wars universe, Darth Vader took to the galaxy to extinguish the last remnants of the Jedi, with his darkest kill showing exactly why the Jedi were forgotten by the time the events of Star Wars: A New Hope took place. After having such a prominent presence in the galaxy before the Emperor took over, as well as remaining relevant throughout the time of the Rebellion, many fans find it hard to believe that within that roughly twenty year period, the Jedi have basically been forgotten with characters like Han Solo initially not even believing Jedi existed in the first place. In one Star Wars story that exists within the Star Wars: Legends timeline, Darth Vader shows exactly how he was able to scrub the galaxy of not only nearly every Jedi, but the memory of them as well. 

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In the two-part minisieries Star Wars – Purge: The Tyrant’s Fist by Alexander Freed, Marco Castiello, and Andrea Chella, Darth Vader and his troops are hunting a Jedi named Cho’na Bene who is fueling the fire of rebellion on the planet Vaklin. The Emperor gave Vader specific instructions to not only hunt down and kill this Jedi, but to also turn the people of Vaklin away from the Jedi’s teachings and the idea of rebellion as Vaklin is a valuable planet the Empire cannot afford to lose. 

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Throughout the events of the issue, Darth Vader isn’t just hunting down Jedi Cho’na Bene but is also scrubbing the planet of the memory of the Jedi Order. The Empire is systematically tearing down Jedi monuments and putting up Emperial learning and community centers in their place, making the people forget about the good the Jedi have done for them in the past and focusing on the good the Empire is doing for them now. However, with Cho’na Bene still on the run and sparking interest in the rebellion, Darth Vader will never truly have the Vaklin people under the Empire’s thumb. Darth Vader comes to the conclusion that killing the Jedi isn’t enough, so during their final battle in the second issue of the miniseries, Darth Vader weakens and poisons the Jedi and then allows him to escape into the town center where he is gunned down in front of lots of witnesses. The Jedi’s death is so unceremonious that the people who had faith in the strength of the Jedi quickly lost it and put their trust in the proven strength and security of the Empire. 

Darth Vader made people lose faith in the idea of the Jedi while systematically eliminating every Jedi Knight he came across. While implementing this same plan over and over again across the galaxy, people who have mostly only heard stories of the Jedi’s greatness doubted that notion and even started to doubt that a great colony of Jedi warriors existed at all given how pathetic Darth Vader is making them and the memory of them look now. 

Darth Vader’s plan to make everyone across the galaxy lose faith in the Jedi worked to perfection, with this storyline being a perfect example as to how he pulled it off. While this story takes place in Star Wars Legends and has been wiped from Star Wars continuity, it still perfectly explains how people like Han Solo have no memory or faith in the Jedi so soon after they were dismantled by the Empire.

Darth Vader’s darkest kill shows why the Jedi are forgotten by the time Star Wars: A New Hope takes place as he not only killed the remaining Jedi who were scattered across the galaxy after Order 66, but also killed the memory of Star Wars’ greatest warriors.

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Spencer Connolly
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Spencer Connolly is a reader, writer, and lover of all things comics. He started his writing career as an intern for a comic article site. With a background in local news photography, he applied what he learned during his internship to become a news producer. Now, after a few years of professional writing under his belt, he is a member of the Screen Rant team, writing features and news articles for the site.

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