The title of Jedi Lord was an informal title assumed by members of the Jedi Order during the hundred year period between 1100 and 1000 BBY. During this time, Jedi Knights seeking to assist worlds left undefended by the Galactic Republic became so revered that the citizens of the worlds they defended gave them castles and manors from which to conduct their business. Over the decades, these Jedi took the title Lord and effectively ruled their constituent systems for a solid century before renouncing their titles in the years following the Ruusan Reformation.
During the latter end of the New Sith Wars, the Galactic Republic was so weakened that most star systems outside the Core Worlds were left defenseless to Sith attacks. To address this, several members of the Jedi Order began quests to rout entire systems of Sith influence and purge those who sought to enslave or exploit the citizens of the Republic. Standing as these systems' last line of defense, these individual Jedi became celebrated and quickly came to hold political might. As their constituent worlds came to appreciate their service, these Jedi became barons or kings of entire systems and sectors, taking up the name Jedi Lord.
Establishing castles and manors as their formal residences, these Lords created a formal hereditary system, passing down their titles to their offspring for several generations. The peaceful regions of space stood as islands of light in the darkness created by the Sith, and even Coruscant and the Galactic Senate was presided over by Jedi Supreme Chancellors. During this time, the Jedi High Council competed directly with the Jedi Grand Council which consisted of Lords from across the galaxy.
In 1010 BBY, following the High Council's failed attempt to raise Jedi Master Skere Kaan as the Order's new hope, Lord Hoth rallied the banners of the Grand Council and formed the Army of Light. Amassing a huge force of Jedi Knights, Seneschal Hoth was declared by the last Grand Council to have control of the Army and its seven legions. In a decades-long hunt, Lord Hoth led his legions across Sith-controlled space to combat the new threat of Lord Kaan, the leader of the Brotherhood of Darkness. Republic forces flocked to the Jedi for leadership and after ten years of fighting, the war coalesced on the plains of Ruusan. Enmeshed in a costly campaign on the planet, the Army of Light was virtually destroyed along with the Brotherhood of Darkness when the Sith unleashed the horrors of a thought bomb.
With the Brotherhood defeated, the Republic passed the Ruusan Reformations within the Senate and the Army of Light was decommissioned. Surviving Lords and other veterans of the Army were shunned by the mainstream Order and the Grand Council disassembled. Groups such as the Corellian Jedi and the Teepo Paladins were some of the last remaining groups of Jedi Lords to survive past the Reformation period.
The Jedi Lord was first seen used in the Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II computer game. It was the highest possible rank to be acquired as a light-sided Jedi.
- The New Essential Chronology
- The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force
- The Essential Guide to Warfare