The Jedi Trials were a process that Padawans of the Jedi Order took in order to achieve the rank of Jedi Knight. Jedi typically completed their trials in their young adult years, with some Jedi passing their trials as early as their teenage years. Jedi Trials could take the form of a task assigned to the Padawan by their master, trials determined by the Jedi High Council, or simply be a matter of circumstance where the Order believed the Padawan had proved themselves.
The Jedi Order required its members to show a basic degree of competency with the lightsaber and an ability to use the Force to affect and enhance themselves for the purposes of combat. Jedi Master Yoda subjected Luke Skywalker to a Trial of Skill on Dagobah.
The trial involved the Jedi confronting their greatest fears. The apprentice must strive for fearlessness, even in the face of certain death. Such fears usually involve death or a personal failure that leads to the death of someone else.
The trial historically involved physical pain, but was later adjusted to focus on sacrifice and commitment to the light side. The trial involved the apprentice being forced to choose between protecting the objects of their attachment or sacrificing themselves and the beings they are attached to for the greater good.
The trial pits the apprentice against their own shortcomings and was one of the best trials to conduct using a vergence. It was designed to give the apprentice an opportunity to resist their emotional weaknesses, giving them a firm moral footing from which to resist the darker aspects of their characters.
The Padawan Feyra Akaris left the Jedi Order after failing her Jedi Trials, specifically her Trial of the Spirit.
The trial tested the apprentice's ability to resist illusions and deceptions. It also often included some kind of riddle or puzzle for the apprentice to solve, with an answer that was further clouded by illusions.
During the trials at the Lothal Jedi Temple, Padawans would go through nine steps: teamwork, isolation, fear, anger, betrayal, focus, instinct, forgiveness, and protection. In 4 BBY, Ezra Bridger underwent the nine trials at the Jedi temple on Lothal.
Rooper Nitani was challenged to find Silandra Sho's shield which was hidden on Batuu. Keeve Trennis' Jedi Trials took the form of a task assigned by her master Sskeer, which was to claim a Tythonian pendant from the top of the needles, a group of rock pillars that many had failed to ascend over millennia. After the Battle of the Corellian Shipyards, Reath Silas was knighted with the approval of Grand Master Yoda, who saw that Masters Cohmac Vitus and Kantam Sy thought he was ready. Yoda himself also believed in Silas. For her actions at the Battle for Ontotho, Cere Junda was knighted by the Jedi High Council.
After being acquitted on evidence of the bombing of the Jedi Temple hangar during her trial, the Jedi Council pardoned the expelled Padawan Ahsoka Tano and offered to bring her back into the Order. Plo Koon assured Tano that she had the Council's most humble apologies, to which his colleagues stated that the Force worked in mysterious ways. Ultimately, they considered Tano's ordeal in hindsight as being her great trial, making her a greater Jedi and proving herself worthy of becoming a Jedi Knight. However, Tano rejected the proposal and instead abandoned the Order.
The Jedi Trials were first mentioned in the 1999 film Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace.
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