There’s one disturbing yet significant similarity between the Jedi Order and the First Order in Star Wars. The Jedi are, by and large, the heroes of the Star Wars galaxy. During their heyday in the High Republic era and the period of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, they numbered in the tens of thousands, doing their best to spread peace and prosperity across the galaxy, despite some of the Jedi Order’s fatal flaws. Later, even after Palpatine had effectively wiped out the Jedi Order, they became a myth, a beacon of hope for those living under tyrannical rule.

The Jedi Order’s legacy couldn’t be more different from the First Order’s. Though relatively speaking, the First Order’s power in the galaxy didn’t last long, they nevertheless caused havoc and destruction, killing billions after rising from the ashes of the Empire. The First Order was cruel whereas the Jedi were benevolent; violent whereas the Jedi (tried to be) peaceful, a creation with the sole purpose of maintaining oppression. Yet, despite the Jedi’s and the First Order’s apparent differences, one parallel stood out to me.

The Jedi And The First Order Separate Kids From Their Families

In Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Finn bravely abandons the only life he’s ever known with the First Order, defying his orders to kill innocent civilians and rescuing one of the Resistance’s top pilots. Once Finn meets Rey, and they escape from Jakku, he begins to realize that he could have a different kind of life, one that involves friendship, love, kindness, and hope. Rey gives him that hope; he tells her as much when she questions why he wants to run away.

“I’m a stormtrooper,” he confesses. “Like all of them, I was taken from a family I’ll never know, and raised to do one thing.” Supplemental Star Wars stories have since revealed that the kids taken by the First Order were essentially brainwashed, and subjected to rigorous mental conditioning (perhaps even influenced by the dark side of the Force). It’s later implied that the reason Finn, Jannah, and the rest of her company introduced in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker were able to break free and rebel was because they were Force-sensitive.

That all sounds horrible, right? Stealing kids from their families, never allowing them to know their parents or their homeworld. It’s undeniably cruel. The thing is, though, the Jedi actually do something similar.

This isn’t me trying to convince you that the Jedi and the First Order are equally evil – of course, they aren’t. Yet the parallel is undeniable. When the Jedi Order still existed, they were able to track down Force-sensitive children and, more often than not, brought them back to the Jedi Order as younglings, separating them from their families forever. While the Jedi presumably approached the families of these Force-sensitive kids with kindness, the younglings would never again see their parents, meet their siblings, or grow up on their homeworld.

The Jedi Have More Free Will, But It Still Isn’t Easy For Them To Leave Or Dissent

In both cases, the children themselves were unable to consent to being ripped away from the only lives they had ever known. They became a part of something bigger, something that dictated how they lived their lives, and were often forced to engage in violence and even war, no matter their personal feelings on the matter. Yes, the Jedi fought to preserve peace, and the First Order fought to take control, but still.

Even a Jedi as dedicated to the Order as Obi-Wan Kenobi never stopped wondering about the baby brother he thought he had. The Jedi were so strict about separating younglings from their families because of their fear of attachments. It was one of the reasons the Jedi Council was so (admittedly understandably) hesitant to admit a 10-year-old Anakin Skywalker. At that age, it’s harder to shape them into something new; something the Jedi approved of.

Then there are cases like Ahsoka Tano and Barriss Offee. Both Padawans during the Clone Wars, Barriss and Ahsoka grew up to become soldiers rather than peacekeepers. Barriss tried to get the Jedi to see sense, to admit that fighting in a political war was against everything the Jedi stood for until she felt so desperate that she orchestrated an attack on the Jedi Temple, framing Ahsoka for her deeds.

In the aftermath, the Jedi Council believed that Ahsoka had committed these crimes and refused to see sense; the only one who kept faith in her innocence was her Master, Anakin. In the end, although the Jedi apologized, Ahsoka still decided to leave. Once again, this forced her to leave the only life she had ever known, starting anew in a galaxy that she never really understood while violence continued to rage around her.

In comparison to the First Order’s kidnapped and brainwashed stormtroopers, yes, the Jedi had much more free will, but it was still almost impossible for them to leave, because where would they go? And it was just as difficult to voice their dissent. I know that on the whole, the Jedi meant well, and that they believed their rules, no matter how restrictive, were there to protect the light. That doesn’t mean that the Jedi never made mistakes, however, and this major parallel with Star Wars’ First Order proves this.

Star Wars

Created by

George Lucas

First Film

Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope

Cast

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)

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)

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

<ʙuттon type="ʙuттon" class="show-more-new icon i-chevron-down-solid">Expand