Star Wars Canon is Finally Explaining a Pivotal Shift

As Obi-Wan Kenobi told us in A New Hope, the Jedi were the guardians of peace and justice for “a thousand generations.” But then, just 19 years after Revenge of the Sith, folks referred to the Jedi as “an ancient religion.” In Revenge of the Sith, Palpatine told the entire galaxy that the Jedi — all the Jedi — had tried to betray him specifically, which is why they were all massacred.

But how did this massive shift in policy feel on a day-to-day level for most citizens of the Star Wars galaxy? In a brand-new Star Wars novel, Reign of the Empire: The Mask of Fear, author Alexander Freed takes us right into that first year of the Galactic Empire, and in the novel’s opening chapter, reveals the mixed feelings the galaxy has about the Jedi. Mild spoilers ahead.

The Mask of Fear, Alexander Freed, is the first of a planned trilogy of novels (Reign of the Empire), which covers the political maneuvering in the early days of Palpatine’s takeover. Essentially, if you love books about the space politics of Star Wars and how the Republic Senate became the Imperial Senate, this book is for you. Much of the novel concerns Mon Mothma and Bail Organa coping with the tyrannical changes to what they once believed was a democratic government. In this way, The Reign of Empire series serves as the earliest prequel to Mon Mothma’s storylines in Andor.

But one of the most interesting things about the book comes in the first chapter, as Bail Organa is visiting the Holy City on the planet Jedah. Bail is visiting an unnamed admiral in Palpatine’s empire, somebody who appears to sympathize with Bai’s views, and doesn’t buy the Emperor’s line about how the Jedi betrayed the Republic. And what’s interesting is that on Jedah, there’s a vigil for the murdered Jedi, a fact that Bail points out wasn’t the case on other planets in the galaxy. And even though Bail’s contact basically believes that the Jedi Council was guilty of treason, this admiral still holds the Jedi in high esteem. Here’s how he puts it in the first chapter:

“No organization is free from corruption, and what the Jedi Council plotted in the end I cannot say. But the actions of the Jedi Knights I met are not darkened by shadows of their masters. I refuse to believe they were less than what they appeared, no matter the Council’s treason.”

Essentially, this character served with Jedi during the Clone Wars, and at this point in the timeline, the Clone Wars have ended within the same year. Bail and the admiral talk about how on Coruscant, Corellia, and elsewhere, there were no vigils for the fallen Jedi. Instead, there were demonstrations in which citizens burned effigies of Jedi. This split demonstrates how public opinion turned on the Jedi so quickly; concentrated populations who believed the Jedi were inherently good were rare. And that’s because most populations on most planets were too disconnected from the events to emotionally invest in the Jedi.

In other words, as viewers, we invest in the Jedi because of the point-of-view of the prequel films. But if you were a shopkeeper Coruscant or a dockworker on Corellia, your sad devotion to an ancient religion would be limited. And if you heard that the warrior monks of that religion were all traitors, it might be easier to believe that, rather than try to come up with another explanation.

These opening pages also explain that many citizens of the galaxy were looking for someone to blame when it came to the war between the Separatists and the Republic. Here, the Jedi made an easy scapegoat because they didn’t prevent the war, seemingly failing at their whole “guardians of peace” job. Bail muses that although there are a lot of faithful mourners on Jedah, there’s unlikely a ton of people on other planets who are sad.

Bail is meeting this admiral because this person is one of his earliest contacts to understand the machinations of the Empire. Bail hasn’t helped form the Rebellion yet, but the seeds are being planted in this book and future installments of the series. But, in the opening moments of this novel, one of the greatest mysteries of this part of the Star Wars timeline makes a little more sense. Because the crucial detail about the galactic mood about the Jedi isn’t whether or not anyone believed the High Council plotted to betray Palpatine way ahead of time. Instead, it’s whether or not people could separate their feelings about Jedi politics from the Jedi themselves.

The irony, of course, is that we know that the Jedi didn’t actively plot against Palpatine because, for most of the war, they had no idea he was a Sith Lord. So, those who still loved the Jedi are able to hold that love while still believing a lie. It’s powerful and subtle, and an utterly realistic portrayal of politics in any galaxy.

Star Wars: The Reign of the Empire — The Mask of Fear is out now.