A new theory suggests viewers have already met the Prime Jedi, founder of the Jedi Order, in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The ancient history and origins of the Jedi Order remain something of a mystery. The dawn of the Jedi occurred c.25,000 years before the sequel trilogy, and records have been lost in the mists of time. Even the location of the first Jedi Temple was forgotten, with Luke Skywalker eventually tracing it to a waterworld in the Unknown Regions called Ahch-To.
These mysteries will soon be revealed, however. At Star Wars Celebration 2024, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy announced the next batch of Star Wars movies, including one by James Mangold. Described as the Star Wars equivalent of The Ten Commandments, this will tell the story of the dawn of the Jedi, giving them a canonical origin at last. This presumably means it will build on hints from Star Wars: The Last Jedi in particular, which featured an important mural dedicated to the Prime Jedi, founder of the Jedi Order. But that mural may be more important than anyone has previously realized, hinting at the possibility viewers have actually already met the Prime Jedi.
Everything Star Wars Has Revealed About The Prime Jedi & The Earliest Jedi Order
The Prime Jedi is something of a mystery in Star Wars canon. The Ahch-To mural suggests the Prime Jedi had a very different philosophy to the one espoused by the Jedi Order seen in the prequels, because this alien being is shown to be dedicated to balance; they are the light in the darkness, and the darkness in the light. There is some evidence the original Jedi Order was a servant of balance too, even treating balance as a separate aspect of the Force. Cavan Scott’s Dooku: Jedi Lost includes an ancient Jedi mantra that may well hail all the way back to this initial incarnation of the Order:
“We call upon the three — light, dark, and balance true. One is no greater than the others. Together, they unite, restore, center, and renew. We walk into the light, acknowledge the dark, and find balance within ourselves. The Force is strong.”
Star Wars: Timelines, by Kristin Baver, Jason Fry, Cole Horton, Amy Richau, and Clayton Sandell, confirms these early Jedi used lightsabers – fitting in perfectly with the Ahch-To mural. It also revealed that the architect droid Huyang, introduced in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and due to appear in live-action in the Ahsoka Disney+ TV show, dates from the dawn of the Jedi. Huyang was created by the early Jedi to train Younglings in the art of making their own lightsabers.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars Could Have Secretly Introduced The Prime Jedi
The Ahch-To mural is the only visual representation of the Prime Jedi to date; a slender humanoid with a bulbous head and unusually large eyes. Intriguingly, this is not the only time such an alien being has been seen in Star Wars; in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, season 6, Yoda traveled to a planet rich in the Force called the Wellspring of Life, the source of the midi-chlorians that have spread across the galaxy and allowed beings to access the Force. There, he encountered a group of enigmatic Force Priestesses who began to teach him how to transcend death and become a Force Ghost. it was strongly implied these beings, or others like them, had also taught Qui-Gon Jinn. Visually, the Force Priestesses are strikingly similar to the Prime Jedi.
Lucasfilm’s Dave Filoni hinted the Force Priestesses are mystical beings who should be understood as fragments of the psyche of a single being, one who transcended death long ago. “The way that I reconciled that being is actually one being,” he explained. “It’s one ancient being separated over a time that for our perception to be able to see her, she is these many different iconic things presented to us. But she died a long, long, long time ago, she is conscious in the Force, and she has a limited ability to manifest.” Given the similarities between the Force Priestesses and the Prime Jedi, it is entirely possible this being is in fact the founder of the Jedi Order itself – conscious in the Force even after 25,000 years, offering wisdom and guidance to help bring the galaxy back to a place of balance. “He is to teach one that will save the universe from a great imbalance,” the Serene Priestess observed, aware of Yoda’s destiny. It would be fitting for those words to be spoken by the first Jedi.
The idea the Prime Jedi and the Force Priestesses were one and the same is a powerful one, establishing a thematic link between James Mangold’s dawn of the Jedi project and the Skywalker saga itself. It would mean Mangold isn’t simply making an origin story for the Jedi Order; he is telling a story that directly connects to the Skywalkers, because the Prime Jedi remains conscious in the Force and ensures the secret of immortality is passed on to those who need it. All the Jedi who become Force ghosts – Qui-Gon Jinn, Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Luke Skywalker, and Leia Organa – are able to do so because of the Prime Jedi’s intervention. They are instrumental in preserving the Jedi Order, and may well continue to be so, given Rey could potentially be taught by the Force ghosts after the sequels.
Supporting this theory, the Force Priestesses understood the nature of the Force rather better than the modern Jedi. During their encounter with Yoda, they essentially taught him to live according to that ancient Jedi mantra: “We walk into the light, acknowledge the dark, and find balance within ourselves.” The philosophy they represented, one that was crucial to becoming a Force ghost, aligns much more closely to that held by the Jedi of old than it does to the one represented by Yoda – making this particular Star Wars theory a surprisingly attractive one.
This story originally appeared on Screenrant
