Padawan

Throughout the Jedi Order's early history, the apprentice's role saw significant changes, as war and purges caused the Jedi High Council's rules to be adjusted or relaxed. Before and during the Old Sith Wars, Knights and Masters would accept several apprentices, educating them at their own praxeums or personal residences without direct supervision from the council. These students, referred to as Apprentices, often became accomplished Knights and Masters. However, the cases of Exar Kun and Ulic Qel-Droma, who tragically fell to the dark side of the Force, highlighted that this educational approach might not effectively instill the Jedi Code.

Sometime after the Great Sith War, the High Council was established and implemented the Order's regulations. During this time, Masters could only train one student at a time. As the Order prospered, the High Council enforced stricter standards, including an age limit for Initiates to be chosen for apprenticeship. At the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, home to the largest academies of the era, an annual Apprentice Tournament was created to assess the students and aid prospective masters in selecting apprentices. While the High Council set the Order's rules, they typically avoided direct involvement in apprentice selection, preferring to let the Force unite Master and Padawan.

The Padawan stage fell into disarray again when the New Sith Wars began, scattering the Order and halting formal training. During the Army of Light's crusades, Jedi Lords searched the galaxy for young Force-sensitives willing to undergo basic training before being sent into battle against the Brotherhood of Darkness. After the victory at Ruusan and the subsequent Reformations in the Galactic Senate, the academy on Coruscant reopened, and many satellite training academies closed or became secondary facilities in the Galactic Rim.

During the following Golden Age, the High Council became very strict about who could join the Order, with the Council of First Knowledge managing the academy. However, exceptions to the age restriction were sometimes made, especially when a respected Master sponsored a student, as with Master Eeth Koth, who joined past the age limit. As the Clone Wars began, marking the end of the Golden Age, the Order joined the Grand Army of the Republic and assumed military titles. As in past wars, all capable Jedi took up arms, and Padawans were made Commanders of their troops. Standard procedures were somewhat ignored during this conflict, with some allowances made for expediency.

Many Padawans were promoted faster than usual, and fewer Jedi were assigned to the Jedi Service Corps. This tradition ended suddenly in 19 BBY when Darth Sidious, the Dark Lord of the Sith acting as Supreme Chancellor of the Republic, ordered the Grand Army to betray and kill their Jedi comrades under Executive Order 66. With the Order largely destroyed, the Galactic Empire's newly formed Stormtrooper Corps were ordered to capture any Padawans found during the Great Jedi Purge and hand them over to the Inquisitorius for torture and interrogation.

Decades later, after the Sith were defeated in the Galactic Civil War, Jedi descendant Luke Skywalker rebuilt the Order using the basic techniques taught to him by the ancient Grand Master Yoda. Unaware of the Order's old rules, Skywalker established a Praxeum on Yavin 4 and gathered all Force-sensitive individuals he could find, regardless of age. As he developed his Order and recovered more records of the Order from the ruins of the Chu'unthor on Dathomir and found holocrons and Temple guidebooks, Skywalker began to emulate the Old Order's methods and teachings.

Due to the small number of Jedi Knights, Luke Skywalker relaxed the restrictions on the number of apprentices a Jedi could train at once. Training his nephews Jacen and Anakin Solo simultaneously, Skywalker saw that this approach produced many excellent students, but also that it strained some of the older students. As the primary instructor of several dozen students, Skywalker couldn't give his apprentices as much individual attention, and two succumbed to the dark side. As the Order grew, the reformed High Council began to reinforce the restrictions. While the term wasn't widely used until after the Second Galactic Civil War, the Jedi Trials once again became part of a Jedi's path to Knighthood.

Throughout the Jedi Order's history, Padawan selection has varied based on the academy's condition. During peacetime, the academy flourished and was managed by the Council of First Knowledge, which set an age limit for a master to select an Initiate, pushing students to progress or join the Service Corps. To encourage selection, the Temple on Coruscant held an annual tournament where students who had passed the Initiate Trials could showcase their skills with a lightsaber or the Force for visiting Jedi seeking an apprentice. Besides the tournament, many masters sought recommendations from the academy's instructors, hoping to find Jedi skilled in scholarly work as well as combat. Sometimes, a master would bond with a Temple student and request to become their master; if the apprentice agreed, the Council validated the choice. The Council typically didn't interfere in the selection process, but if a Seer on the Council foresaw a student's destiny, they would guide them towards fulfilling the prophecy by assigning them to a master. According to their cultural beliefs, Mirialan Jedi could only train with a master of the same species.

When a master chose a student and the Initiate agreed to become an apprentice, the future Padawan would meditate in the Coruscant Temple's chapel. After communing with the Force, the Initiate and their new Master would vow to serve the Order, the Force, the Republic, and their master before the Council.

A Padawan accompanied their Master everywhere unless deemed unfit, from simple tasks to dangerous missions, learning from experience and personal guidance. Leaving the Temple where they had spent their entire life could be challenging, but it was another step on the Jedi path. Depending on their master's specialization, a Padawan would receive assignments from one of the four Jedi Councils. All Jedi were accountable to the High Council and could be sent on missions, using various skills to complete their tasks. However, some missions required specialists. After a war with the Sith or the discovery of a dark side artifact, the First Knowledge Council would send agents to recover dark side talismans or weapons, nearly erasing the Sith from public memory. Some Jedi worked with the Service Corps, assisting the public or the infirm, or helping new planets join the Republic.

Padawans typically remained in the Master-Padawan relationship for a decade, though the Council didn't set a specific timeframe. Padawans continued to take classes at the Temple, but their schedules were more flexible, and they didn't have to spend time there to complete a course. Masters could also assign their apprentice to the Temple while they went on solo missions, during which the Padawan could take additional courses or specialized classes with a Temple instructor. While Initiates learned the basics of Control abilities, Padawans began to learn the intricacies of Sense, using Control to connect with the Living Force and use the Force as another "sense".

During their apprenticeship, a Padawan had to forge their first lightsaber, one of their only possessions. After studying lightsaber crafting, a Master-Padawan team would travel to Ilum, a secret Jedi world, to find Adegan crystals in the Jedi Temple. Following a ritual, Padawans entered a deep trance to bend matter and create the saber's blade. Hallucinations and visions often occurred during the trance, considered part of the Ilum experience. The Padawan would then carry their lightsaber as a symbol of their Jedi status.

When a master believed they had taught all they could, they contacted the High Council to schedule the Jedi Trials for their Padawan. The Council and the Temple battlemaster oversaw the Trials, which took place in a specialized chamber deep in the Temple. If the Padawan passed, they would go to a private meditation chamber in the Tranquillity Spire. After a night of meditation, the Padawan was summoned to the Hall of Knighthood, where the Order's Grand Master would raise them to the rank of Knight and cut off the Padawan braid. If a Padawan failed, they had to retake the Trials or remain in the Order in the Service Corps, as instructors or engineers, keeping the title of Jedi but no longer taking missions from the Council.

Like all Jedi, Padawans were expected to wear standard Jedi robes as representatives of the Order and its philosophy. While this standard was flexible, based on cultural views, and sometimes disappeared during galactic upheavals, it was similar to that of other Jedi ranks: brown or gray tunic, pants, and robes, with a leather utility belt and boots.

The most distinctive feature of a Padawan's attire was a small braid. Padawans of hair-growing species were encouraged to grow a single, long, tight braid of hair (or fur) behind their ear to easily identify their rank, while keeping the rest of their hair short and neat. Often weaving a ribbon or special beads into the braid, the lock would be cut off upon their knighthood. For species that didn't grow hair, alternatives were available. Many bald species, like Twi'leks or Togruta, wore chains or beads between their lekku or montrals, respectively.

Some species wove their facial hair into a braid if they couldn't grow one from their scalp. Other species opted for body modifications like piercings or markings. Sluissi Jedi wore a simple tattoo on their left cheek, Swokes Swokes could have a medallion implanted below their foreheads, while Iktotchi and Chagrian wore circlets on their cranial horns.

The term Padawan first appeared in Journal of the Whills, Part I, George Lucas's initial story concept for Star Wars. However, it wasn't used until Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace was filmed; before that, the concept was called "Apprentice."