Padawan

Overview

A Padawan was a Force-sensitive individual in the Jedi Order who was training to eventually become a fully qualified Jedi. Initially, these individuals were known as Jedi younglings, receiving instruction in a classroom setting with other students and an instructor. Upon reaching a certain age and demonstrating readiness for more intensive study and combat training, they were typically assigned to a Jedi Knight or Jedi Master to begin one-on-one instruction. The teacher could often learn from their student, just as a Padawan learned from their master. A true team and effective learning partnership required collaboration between master and apprentice. Padawan Lily Tora-Asi made a promise to her master, Jedi Master Arkoff, that she would surpass him and that she expected her own Padawan to exceed her accomplishments as well.

Anakin Skywalker, who was significantly older than the typical youngling and nearly rejected due to his age, was accepted into the Jedi Order at the age of nine. Immediately after joining the Order, he became the Padawan learner of Obi-Wan Kenobi, who had just been knighted. Despite his own experiences as a young Padawan, Skywalker later expressed surprise during his time as a Jedi Knight when Ahsoka Tano, at fourteen years old, became a Padawan, questioning if she was old enough for the role. Kenobi initially mistook Tano for a youngling upon their first encounter. During the High Republic Era, the Jedi Vernestra Rwoh was an exceptionally gifted Padawan who became a Jedi Knight at the age of fifteen, making her one of the youngest Knights of her generation. The following year, she even took on her own Padawan, Imri Cantaros.

Regardless of their age or experience, all Jedi generally connected meditation with their instructors. Although they were taught the basic principles as younglings, it was only after becoming a Padawan that a Jedi truly began to grasp the process of meditation. This involved spending hours to weeks meditating alongside their master to uncover the truths of the Force. Such moments fostered strong bonds, often making it difficult for a Jedi to meditate after their master died, even if years had passed since their last meditation together. While recovery and the resumption of meditation were possible, the experience was never the same for the affected Jedi.

A Jedi was expected to choose the Padawan they wished to train. While a Jedi could opt not to take on an apprentice, training the next generation of the Order was considered a responsibility. Apprentices frequently accompanied their masters on missions as part of their individual training. The Code prohibited a Jedi from training more than one Padawan or apprentice at a time. Most Padawans were known to grow or wear Padawan braids as a symbol of their rank. Upon completion of the Jedi Trials, a Padawan would be promoted to the rank of Jedi Knight. It was uncommon for a Padawan not to advance to Jedi Knight status, but the challenges encountered and the time required to overcome them varied from person to person.

History

High Republic Era

Days of light

During the High Republic Era, a typical training assignment for Padawans involved placement with their master at a Jedi outpost in the Outer Rim Territories, where they helped maintain justice in the largely unexplored region. However, they were sometimes assigned off-world missions that took them away from their outpost. Oliviah Zeveron, a human Padawan apprenticed to the compassionate Ugnaught Jedi Master Fitan, who strongly adhered to the teachings of Fin-So-Rowan, accompanied her master on a galaxy-spanning mission to teach Jedi principles and Luminous practices. Zeveron enjoyed the sense of adventure that came with their constant travels, experiencing new worlds and trying new foods. Over time, Zeveron attempted to appear more mature and conceal her excitement, but Fitan was able to see through her Padawan's serious facade.

Jedi Master Leebon granted her Padawan, Matthea Cathley, an unprecedented degree of independence. Guided by the Force, Cathley's training involved following the Force, leading to discoveries and misadventures that she eagerly shared with her master upon returning to their post. Based on the Holy Moon of Jedha, Cathley considered the Temple of the Kyber her home, as a proper Jedi temple did not exist on Jedha due to lingering anti-Jedi sentiment stemming from the Order's past control over Jedha City. After those tensions escalated into the Battle of Jedha, Leebon was killed by the Path of the Open Hand, and Jedi Master Vildar Mac took Cathley as his Padawan to complete her training. By this time, Cathley's understanding of life as a Padawan had evolved due to her experiences with Mac and their mutual friend Tey Sirrek, who both treated her as an equal. Consequently, she had a difficult working relationship with Knight Zeveron, who treated her as a low-ranking Padawan who should only speak when higher-ranking Jedi deemed it necessary, during their mission to Dalna.

Nihil conflict

Padawan Bell Zettifar and his master, Loden Greatstorm, were stationed at the Elphrona Outpost. Their scheduled rotation back to the capital of Coruscant was disrupted when Supreme Chancellor Lina Soh established a hyperspace blockade due to the Emergences, forcing the two Jedi to remain on Elphrona for an extended time. During the Nihil pirates' raid on Elphrona, Greatstorm told his apprentice that he was worthy of being a Jedi Knight. However, after Greatstorm was captured by the Nihil, Zettifar refused to undergo the Jedi Trials until his mentor was rescued, wanting him to attend the ceremony. In the aftermath of the Battle of Grizal, during which the Eye of the Nihil Marchion Ro unleashed the Great Leveler, which turned Greatstorm to stone and traumatized other Jedi on the battlefield, including Zettifar, Jedi Padawans were asked to step up and assist the Jedi Order in any way possible, similar to the more seasoned Knights and Jedi Masters. Consequently, several Padawans aboard the Starlight Beacon departed to help defend the Jedi Temple on the planet Takodana from a Nihil |attack.

The stress of battling the Nihil led Masters Torban Buck and Kantam Sy to revive the "Great Jedi Rumble Race" for the Padawans of Starlight Beacon. As the conflict continued, Padawan Ram Jomaram observed that masters were more inclined to let their apprentices learn by "doing," reasoning that the previous generation of Jedi had not had the same opportunities to take on as much responsibility as current Padawans needed to. He suggested to fellow Padawan Reath Silas that their mentors wanted the new generation to have an easier time during missions. Indeed, Silas's master, Cohmac Vitus, confided in Sy that fighting dangers across the war-torn Galactic Frontier was not the life they had been prepared for.

Fall of the Jedi

During the Clone Wars, the Jedi High Council began assigning Padawans to Jedi Knights, rather than allowing the Jedi to select them. Throughout the war, Padawans received combat training and were transformed into officers within the Republic Military, partly due to a shortage of military leaders. Padawans held the rank of Jedi Commander and could command forces of clone troopers as large as a regiment. This resulted in instances where young and inexperienced Padawans, many of whom were still teenagers, outranked clone troopers with significantly more combat experience. At the end of the conflict, in 19 BBY, Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine, secretly the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, issued Clone Protocol 66, compelling the troopers to turn against their Jedi Generals and Commanders.

Following the establishment of the Galactic Empire, several former Padawans who had survived Order 66 or left the Jedi Order prior to the purge joined the emerging Rebel Alliance. This included Anakin Skywalker's former apprentice, Ahsoka Tano, as well as Depa Billaba's former apprentice Caleb Dume, who became known as Kanan Jarrus and later took on his own Padawan, Ezra Bridger. By 0 BBY, [Luke Skywalker](/article/luke_skywalker], Anakin Skywalker's son, commenced his training under Jedi Masters Obi-Wan Kenobi and subsequently Yoda.

Rebirth

Some time after the Liberation of Lothal, Ahsoka Tano accepted Sabine Wren as her Padawan and instructed her for a period. Following the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY, which resulted in the deaths of both Emperor Palpatine and his apprentice Darth Vader, Skywalker endeavored to rebuild the Jedi Order. However, his new generation of Jedi was killed by his nephew, Ben Solo, who succumbed to the dark side of the Force. Subsequently, Skywalker retreated to the First Jedi Temple on Temple Island located on the remote planet of Ahch-To.

In 34 ABY, Rey, a scavenger from Jakku, arrived on the island to enlist his aid in the Resistance's fight against the First Order, and later became his apprentice. Despite his reservations about the Jedi Order, Skywalker trained her on Temple Island and regained his faith in the Jedi after a conversation with Yoda's Force spirit.

Following the Battle of Crait, General Leia Organa introduced Rey to Ambassador Yendor Brethen of Ryloth as Skywalker's apprentice, which greatly impressed Brethen. By the time of Darth Sidious's return in 35 ABY, Rey had begun training under Organa on Ajan Kloss, where the Resistance had established a secret base. Utilizing her training, Rey would eventually redeem Ben Solo and defeat Darth Sidious definitively.

Behind the scenes

The term "Padawan," originally written as "Padawaan," appeared as early as George Lucas's initial story treatments for the 1977 film Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, then titled Journal of the Whills. However, it wasn't heard until the filming of the 1999 film Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, the first installment of the prequel trilogy. In all prior works, including the original movies and early Star Wars Legends stories, the concept was referred to as "Apprentice."

Set after the events of Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi, the Star Wars: Trials on Tatooine VR experience released by ILMxLAB featured an unidentified hopeful Padawan who aspired to join Luke Skywalker's new Jedi Order. During a subsequent mission to Tatooine, the Padawan found themself under attack by an Imperial remnant force. Ultimately, the Jedi emerged victorious.