Order 66 was undoubtedly the greatest Jedi defeat we’ve seen in Star Wars, but the Jedi Order failed on so many other occasions too. The Clone Wars were the ultimate Jedi trap. I’ll never forget how Matt Stover describes them in the fantastic novelization of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith:
The Clone Wars have always been, in and of themselves, from their very inception, the revenge of the Sith.
They were irresistible bait. They took place in remote locations, on planets that belonged, primarily, to ‘someone else.’ They were fought by expendable proxies. And they were constructed as a win-win situation.
The Clone Wars the perfect Jedi trap.
By fighting at all, the Jedi lost.
It all came to a head, of course, in Order 66. Palpatine issued a single command, and Jedi died across the galaxy, a failure beyond anything Master Yoda had ever truly imagined – even if the Force had warned him it was coming. But this was far from the first time the Jedi had failed, and it surely won’t be the last. Here are three other mᴀssive Jedi defeats in Star Wars history…
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The Sith Capture Coruscant In The Old Republic Era
Let’s start with one of the most horrific defeats in Jedi history, the Sacking of Coruscant. Seen in a video teasing BioWare’s Star Wars: The Old Republic, this was the climactic battle between the ancient Sith army and the Jedi – and the Sith won. Darth Malgus led waves of Sith in an attack on the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, and they tore through the temple’s Jedi defenders. When the Jedi were ᴅᴇᴀᴅ, Malgus ordered a planetary bombardment that ravaged Coruscant.
The Sith had played their hand well, deceiving the Republic and tricking their enemies’ forces into gathering on Alderaan. They then chose a group of fifty powerful Sith, hand-picked to do as much damage as possible, and successfully overwhelmed the Jedi. It’s hard to imagine the scale of the defeat: half the Jedi High Council were killed, and the Chancellor of the Republic was ᴀssᴀssinated in the attack. Estimates of the death toll go up to 100,000.
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Order 66 Wasn’t The First Jedi Purge
Order 66 wasn’t the first Jedi Purge (either in Legends or canon). Charles Soule’s Light of the Jedi dropped an ominous hint about the sheer scale of previous purges, during a conversation between members of the Jedi High Council.
“But we have been a military force in the past,” said Oppo Rancisis. “In fact, our predecessors waged and won the Great Sith Wars. There is endless precedent in the chronicles for this sort of thing.”
“True, but we are not at war now. We are the farthest thing from it,” said Rana Kant.
“Not the farthest,” replied Yarael Poof. “There have been times in our history when the Order was reduced to but a handful of members.”
I admit I can’t help finding this scene rather amusing, because Yarael Poof can’t resist dropping in a historical correction when it’s not particularly relevant to the discussion; it feels like an academic warming to his favorite subject when everybody else is trying to talk about something else. But it’s also a fascinating bit of information, suggesting Order 66 was not the greatest Jedi defeat in history.
Even George Lucas intended there to be 50-100 Order 66 survivors. Given this is the case, it’s hard not to conclude that some previous Jedi Purges had actually been far more effective, because they reduced the Jedi to just a handful of members. I wonder whether we’ll ever see this play out in canon?
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The Fall Of Starlight Beacon
Now let’s move to an event just 200 years before the Skywalker saga, during the High Republic Era. This was a time when the Jedi and the Republic expanded towards the Outer Rim, but their light exposed terrifying forces moving in the shadows. The space pirates known as the Nihil set themselves up against the light, and they struck a devastating blow when they launched an attack on the Jedi outpost known as Starlight Beacon.
Starlight Beacon was intended to serve as a beacon of hope to the entire galaxy, especially to the Outer Rim. The Nihil successfully brought it down, almost causing a planetary disaster on Eiram when the two halves came crashing down on to the planet’s surface. Worse still, the Nihil used this as a test for Force predators known as the Nameless, who consumed Jedi, and successfully claimed a vast portion of the Star Wars galaxy as their own after Starlight Beacon’s destruction.
Star Wars
- Created by
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George Lucas
- First Film
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Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope
- Cast
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Mark Hamill, James Earl Jones, David Prowse, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Ian McDiarmid, Ewan McGregor, Rosario Dawson, Lars Mikkelsen, Rupert Friend, Moses Ingram, Frank Oz, Pedro Pascal
- TV Show(s)
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The Mandalorian, Andor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, The Acolyte, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, Lando, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, Star Wars: The Bad Batch, Star Wars: Resistance, Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures, Star Wars: Visions
- Character(s)
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Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Rey Skywalker, Emperor Palpatine / Darth Sidious, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka Tano, Grand Admiral Thrawn, Grand Inquisitor, Reva (The Third Sister), The Fifth Brother, The Seventh Sister, The Eighth Brother, Yoda, Din Djarin, Grogu, Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, Leia Organa, Ben Solo/Kylo Ren
