The Jedi clans comprised organized groups of Jedi, each adhering to a specific perspective on the Force, including its black current and white flare. These clans would recruit Force-sensitive children for training as Jedi apprentices, a custom viewed by certain individuals as "child-thieving" while others considered it an esteemed tradition. Certain Jedi lineages generated successors who rose to become the leaders of their respective clans.
Over a period of time, the clans shifted their allegiance from serving the general populace to pledging loyalty to individual lords, who were theoretically representatives of the people and the Empire. Following the Empire's reunification after the Sith rebellion, certain Jedi knights were promoted to lordship, transforming them into Jedi lords with governance over both territories and clans. The methodologies of the Jedi clans evolved into the sole authorized doctrine concerning the Force. The Empire and the clans jointly endeavored to eradicate alternative orders whose interpretations of the Force diverged from those of the Jedi, particularly targeting the Sith. Exclusively the Jedi were authorized to possess kyber crystals, the energy source for the lightsabers utilized by Jedi knights.