Star Wars has debunked a long-standing criticism of the prequel trilogy’s Jedi Order, though not without setting up one suitably grim exception. The Jedi Order of the prequels has often fallen under scrutiny, from their blind allowance of Palpatine’s rise to power to the way they lost sight of what they should have been. This is further explored in John Jackson Miller’s canon Star Wars book, Star Wars: The Living Force, set a year before the first movie in chronological order. Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.
Upcoming Star Wars movies, like Rey’s Jedi Order film, will likely further deconstruct the Order of the prequels. One of the common threads of Star Wars, that was introduced by Lucas himself, was that the prequel Jedi were inherently flawed. This will also be the subject of upcoming Star Wars TV shows like The Acolyte. However, projects like Star Wars: The Living Force are adding a different kind of context to the prequel Jedi that explores their ever-present benevolence which ironically factors into their flaws, all while adding details to long-criticized story points.
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One of the biggest criticisms of the prequel-era Jedi Order was that it essentially kidnapped children. This was highlighted in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, in which a young Anakin Skywalker was taken from his home. While this was allowed by his mother, Shmi, it seemed somewhat cruel to drag children away from their homes without giving the young Force-sensitives themselves much choice in the matter. However, Star Wars: The Living Force has added crucial details to the process of inducting children into the Jedi Order, debunking the idea that the Jedi abduct younglings.
As is revealed in Star Wars: The Living Force, the Jedi had a procedure whenever the separation of families was at hand. The Jedi in question were supposed to spend time learning about the situations of prospective Jedi to see if taking a member of a family or household would be feasible. If not, the Jedi were supposed to see if help was available to those left behind. At the end of all this, the Jedi would make an informed decision and, only with the permission of the remaining household members, would take the child in question.
Despite Star Wars: The Living Force outlining these rules and confirming the Order does not kidnap children, one Jedi Master regularly broke this procedure. The Jedi in question was first mentioned in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, Sifo-Dyas. Sifo-Dyas was first mentioned as the Jedi who orchestrated the construction of the Grand Army of the Republic to aid the Jedi in a war he foresaw. As seen in Cavan Scott’s Dooku: Jedi Lost, Sifo-Dyas was gifted in prognostication, and he sensed the Clone Wars coming; this was why he ordered the clone army.
However, The Living Force takes Sifo-Dyas’ foresight one step further by explaining that it drove him to break the rules on recruitment for the Jedi Order. Sensing that the Republic and the Jedi were in trouble with the coming war, Sifo-Dyas began fast-tracking Jedi Order recruits, foregoing procedure, and taking children from their homes within mere days. Sifo-Dyas did this to swell the ranks of the Jedi Order as a response to the great war he had sensed. While this is certainly a noble intention, it marks an exception to the Jedi rules.
At the time of the prequel trilogy’s release, Sifo-Dyas’ story was frustratingly underwritten. Little was known about the mysterious Jedi, or why he orchestrated the creation of the clone army. That said, books like Star Wars: The Living Force and even TV shows like Star Wars: The Clone Wars have further developed Sifo-Dyas as a character, making him somewhat of a tragic character. One of the elements of his character that makes Sifo-Dyas more of a heartbreaking figure is that, more so than most others on the Jedi Council, Sifo-Dyas was gifted in precognition.
This ability to predict the future sent Sifo-Dyas into a dark spiral trying to prevent a war he saw coming before it started. This led to the aforementioned breaking of Jedi procedures and the creation of the Grand Army of the Republic. However, through Sifo-Dyas’ steps to ensure the Clone Wars were easily won by the Jedi, he only made things worse. As The Clone Wars explained, Sifo-Dyas was interrupted by the Sith forces at work in the galaxy who hijacked the construction of the clone army.
Through their control of Kamino, Palpatine and the likes of Darth Tyrannus implemented the inhibitor chips within the clones. These inhibitor chips were the sole cause of Order 66, which saw the downfall of the Jedi Order in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. If Sifo-Dyas had never taken these steps to prevent the Clone Wars, Order 66 might have been prevented. While Sifo-Dyas’ actions went against the will of the Council and caused destruction, he only ever tried to save his comrades and the Republic, making his Star Wars story even more tragic.