29

Episode III obviously doesn't show ALL the Jedi being eliminated as a result of Order 66. What I've never heard, though, is how many Jedi were in existence at the time of Order 66. Is there any definitive count as to how many of them were alive at the time of the purge and how many were victims of Order 66?

The Grey Jedi
  • 73
  • 5
Shadowman
  • 2,725
  • 5
  • 30
  • 35

2 Answers2

21

Wookieepedia indicates that less than 1% of the total number of Jedi were thought to have survived the Order 66 purge.

Although Order 66 greatly depleted the Jedi Order's ranks, with an estimated less than 100 Jedi surviving it, it was only the beginning of the Great Jedi Purge, which stretched on for years and would claim the lives of many of the survivors of the initial onslaught. Nearly all of the surviving Jedi Knights were hunted down and killed by Darth Vader, while Order 66 itself remained in effect indefinitely among the ranks of the Galactic Empire's newly-christened stormtroopers. Masters Kenobi and Yoda, like many others, chose to go into exile, on Tatooine and Dagobah respectively. There they managed to elude Imperial forces for many years, a feat few of their contemporaries could claim.

  • Using the estimates in Wookieepedia, (1% survival rate with 100 or so surviving) this meant there were approximately 10,000 Jedi at the start of Order 66. This number likely included masters, knights, and padawans (who were not supposedly all killed but taking in for questioning).

  • Unfortunately the very same article while saying approximately 100 survived, also indicates this might have been incorrect and says that perhaps 200 survived.

  • Being a writer, I suspect there had been no absolute numbers established so there could be as many Jedi as needed for different franchise writers to be able to write without stepping on each others work. So when one hundred was the target number, I think someone decided that might be a bit small given the size of the galaxy, the prevalence of the Force and the skill of the Jedi overall.

Personally, Order 66 felt a little contrived especially when they released the Clone Wars animation of Mace Windu on a rampage against a droid army. If one Jedi could do what he did, could Order 66 really have been as effective as portrayed or was it a case of the Jedi cutting and running because they were simply outnumbered and the Empire's spin doctors making a case for winning because the Jedi were driven underground. Watch the video and then ask yourself, where is the disconnect?

DavidW
  • 128,443
  • 29
  • 545
  • 685
Thaddeus Howze
  • 212,750
  • 23
  • 708
  • 994
  • 6
    Even Jedi can be taken by surprise. Order 66 rippled through the galaxy, and the clones responded to it almost immediately. Some extremely powerful Masters, especially those who had advanced warning of impending doom (like Yoda) may have been prepared. The majority? They were surrounded by trusted allies or engaged in battle against known enemies. The clones didn't hate or fear the Jedi, they just carried out orders. The only advanced warning most Jedi would have gotten would be a vague sense of danger. That's little help against dozens of blasters. – Jeff Sep 03 '13 at 15:50
  • 7
    Surprise? Really? The galaxy's preeminent mystics/warriors are caught by surprise... Okay. Are we saying Han Solo was right? "Hokey religions and ancient weapons ARE NO substitute for a good blaster (or a few hundred of them)?" – Thaddeus Howze Sep 03 '13 at 15:56
  • 5
    I'd point out that using Mace Windu as an example is hardly a good representation. Mace Windu was known as one of a very select group of the best fighters bar none, and his use of Vaapad made him almost invincible in battle. And I'd point out that he was blinded by Anakin's moves too. – The Fallen Sep 03 '13 at 16:48
  • 2
    But that is part of my point. We spend all this time making the Jedi seem like a cross between psychics, warriors, and martial monks, and yet they are able to be caught completely flat-footed. I understand the power of deception too, but in theory, so did the Jedi. They were fighting against an enemy who used deception as one of their primary tools. So no one ever considered this? This is one of the things that undoes Star Wars for me. A group of warriors who have protected the galaxy for 30,000 years undone by such a simple premise? – Thaddeus Howze Sep 03 '13 at 16:55
  • It was a deception of unprecedented scale. They were killed by the same clone troopers they fought, bled and died alongside for years. Deception and backstabbing is one of the most powerful tools of the Sith. That's how they took over the Republic and turned Anakin to the dark side. It makes more sense that the Sith destroyed the Jedi through deception rather than through brute force. Knowing of the Sith's deception doesn't mean Jedi can see it coming. They didn't realize Palpatine was the Sith lord. How would they "consider" that all clone troopers would simultaneously turn on them. – Lèse majesté Sep 03 '13 at 17:37
  • 1
    30,000 years. That is three times as long as the entirety of organized Human history. tHAT IS A VERY LONG TIME. No such deception had ever been attempted? Never been done before? Never, ever? We (as Humans) look back over two thousand years and find corollaries for modern wars today? Can anyone say, Trojan Horse? All those holocubes, all that recorded history and no Jedi considered this as a possibility? Ever? Bah. Give me a damn blaster! – Thaddeus Howze Sep 03 '13 at 17:48
  • 8
    So say you know that deception will probably be used. There are millions of planets, thousands of races, quadrillions of sentients, millions of organizations.

    The Jedi are perceptive and intuitive. They aren't clairvoyant. How are they supposed to know where/who the Sith are, and how their plot is going to unfold.

    The deception could come from anywhere.

    And Palpatine was the most power Sith of all time -- which is why the Jedi couldn't forsee that he was the Sith.

     – James Christopher Sep 03 '13 at 18:03
  • 1
    So because everyone has heard of the Trojan Horse, no human will ever fall victim to a bait and switch scheme? Because every general has heard of a feint attack/retreat, no general could possibly fail to anticipate a feint? Even if some Jedi in some corner of the galaxy imagined that a Sith lord would become the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic and engineer a war to raise a clone army that would be used to simultaneously wipe out the Jedi, what good does that do if he lived 1000 years before the events occur? – Lèse majesté Sep 03 '13 at 18:42
  • 1
    Even if Jedis over the millennia wrote down every possible Sith deception that could occur, and passed it down as a prophecy, that would easily be many trillions of scenarios for every single Jedi council to go through and simultaneously contemplate. I just don't see how being able to imagine a deception would give the Jedi infallibility. – Lèse majesté Sep 03 '13 at 18:44
  • 3
    Except that the Jedi WERE CLAIRVOYANT: Precognition was a universal Force power. The ability of foresight was perhaps universal to the Jedi or Force-sensitives and was manifested in the form of Force visions of future events, or helped the Jedi predict his opponent's movements. Carnor Jax trained in the art. Plo Koon's former Master, Tyvokka was known to have advanced precognition powers. And NO, clairvoyance would not have lead to infallibility. Perhaps it lead to arrogance instead... – Thaddeus Howze Sep 03 '13 at 23:07
  • 3
    @Thaddeus: "Always in motion, the future is." Clairvoyance is unreliable in Star Wars, and usually requires the user to be focusing on something and in a relatively peaceful setting. Jedi on the frontlines of a war, in constant battle, using the Force daily towards destructive ends were most likely in no state of mind to see the future. That (plus the dozens of blaster rifles) is why Palpatine wanted them as his Generals and on the front lines. – Jeff Sep 04 '13 at 13:20
  • 2
    There were some rather glaring problems with Order 66, but Jedi aren't invincible. As for 'not seeing' it happening, they were in the middle of a war, and they assumed that Count Dooku was the Sith Lord, and General Grevious his most powerful ally. I imagine most of their focus was going towards that end. – Jersey Sep 04 '13 at 14:20
  • 1
    All Jedi certainly have some level of prescience, but I always thought most could only read their opponent's movements perhaps a second in advance at most. It's sort of like "flow state" for top tier athletes. They can't actually call the play, but they can guess whether their opponent is about to pass/shoot/feint/etc. Beyond that, they just have a gut feeling when something really bad is about to happen. – Lèse majesté Sep 05 '13 at 05:24
  • 3
    Droids are dumb and weak, stormtroopers are genetic copies of the galaxies most feared bounty hunter and equiped with powerful armor and weapons. – Chad Sep 12 '13 at 20:02
  • 1
    @Thaddeus: Survival of the fittest, and luckiest. Jedi who were powerful, wary and strong in precognition would likely have been among the 1% who survived. In the movie, there was a large element of dumb luck in Obi-Wan's survival; conversely, the Jedi who was unfortunate enough to be shot down while piloting a starfighter didn't have much of a chance. We were shown the most "cinematic" deaths but the stormtroopers also had access to much heavier weaponry; it doesn't matter how strong you are in the Force if someone does the Star Wars equivalent of nuking you from orbit. – Royal Canadian Bandit Jun 20 '14 at 08:34
-2

The Jedi lost a lot of abilities they and the Sith previously had. For many years they had a semi peace. In these times without war people let their guard down and become over confident. Thousands of years ago in the Jedi-Sith war they used many lost or weakened abilities such as Inhanced battle meditation and such, I see very little of these powers used through the clone war times. Throughout the entire movies and various novels comics etc many powerful Jedi comment on their senses being clouded by the dark side. Like Master Yoda and Master Windu.

This was Sidious master play.... and he pulled it off to perfection. Using his position and hiding his abilities, he became senator and used the battle of Naboo to become head of the republic then started a war and this forced the Jedi out of their usual roles as peace keepers with their strength centered. Spread them throughout the entire galaxy. Throw numerous threats their way to keep them fighting and stuck leading armies of clones against a force of droids. Jedi are not omnipresent beings all knowing and all powerful. Sith since Darth Bane have followed the rule of two, this means fighting a force of thousands so obviously sith are going to be masters of deception hiding in sight and manipulation and this years long plan by the emperor was well planned well thought and hit their weaknesses dead on. The Jedi knew something was wrong but with the entire galaxy at war they had little chance to follow leads find the Sith. The Sith used the droid army to attack and oppress hundreds of worlds forcing the Jedi to defend these helpless people.

I love the movies and can't help but feel admiration for the Emperor...waiting years, playing a good guy, manipulating Anakin, gaining more power by using that fool Jar jar well Padme was forced into hiding by another part of the Emperor's plan. The details and strength to hold a plan for years and years. How could the Jedi possibly see this? They couldn't. Maybe if the majority of the Jedi were on Coruscant instead of spread so thin, they might have held off an attack on their base and been able to arrest or kill Palpatine and convince the senators of the treacherous plan. But long before order 66 they doomed themselves and if they hadn't acted to protect the other planets they couldn't really be the jedi as thats their job their role and creed. Going to war with clones created mysteriously by a long dead Jedi? Huge mistake. And many more followed but this was a huge one.

Sorry so long but I wanted to get the point out.

Rand al'Thor
  • 134,408
  • 65
  • 607
  • 854
mike ajax
  • 9
  • 1