Padawan braid

Padawan braids functioned as symbols of rank, setting apart those in training within the Jedi Order. These were carefully woven strands of hair, commonly draped across the right shoulder. Padawans from species without head hair would adopt substitutes like silka beads. Some Jedi Initiate began cultivating their braids even before formal apprenticeship, as seen with the youngling Caleb Dume.

The removal of Padawan braids occurred when a Padawan achieved the rank of Jedi Knight by successfully completing the Jedi Trials. Expulsion from the Jedi Order resulted in the forceful removal of a Padawan's braid.

During the time of the High Republic Era, Jedi Masters had the discretion to decide whether their Padawan apprentice was required to wear the Padawan braid. Pantoran Padawan Kevmo Zink held his braid in high regard, viewing it as a constant reminder of his belonging within the Jedi Order, drawing parallels to the clan tattoos given by his biological family.

In 232 BBY, Master Cohmac Vitus was not planning on obligating his future apprentice to wear a braid, while Padawan Reath Silas had previously been unsuccessful in his attempts to convince his Master, Jora Malli, to release him from the braid requirement. Silas' braid was later torn out by a Wookiee infant whom he rescued from the starship Journeyman, leading him to believe he would need to regrow it. Vitus eventually accepted Silas as his apprentice after they discovered Malli had perished during the Battle of Kur, and Silas grew a new braid afterward.

While marooned on the jungle moon Wevo in 232 BBY, Padawan Imri Cantaros grappled with sorrow over the loss of his Master, Douglas Sunvale, and feelings of jealousy towards the exceptional skills of Jedi prodigy Vernestra Rwoh, who, at just sixteen years old, was already a Knight, surpassing him by two years. Witnessing Rwoh braiding her hair prompted him to touch his own Padawan braid with a sense of self-consciousness. In 230 BBY, Padawans Qort and Farzala Tarabal severed their own braids upon being knighted by their respective Masters, Tabakan Pak and Obratuk Glii.

During his apprenticeship, Obi-Wan Kenobi developed an undesirable habit of nervously tugging at his Padawan braid, a habit he was determined to overcome.

Togruta Padawan Ahsoka Tano's silka bead braid was pilfered by bounty hunter Cad Bane amidst the Battle of Devaron. Following Tano's assistance in capturing Bane on Naboo, she reclaimed her braid, asserting her earned right to wear it once more. Later in the Clone Wars, Tano was falsely implicated in the bombing of the Jedi Temple hangar, leading to her expulsion from the Order for the purpose of standing trial, during which a Jedi Temple Guard removed her braid. After her master Anakin Skywalker successfully exonerated his apprentice by exposing fallen Padawan Barriss Offee as the true traitor, Tano was offered the return of her braid and her position within the Order. However, having lost her trust in the Order and the Jedi High Council, she refused and departed.

With the enforcement of Order 66 and the subsequent Great Jedi Purge ordered by the newly declared Galactic Emperor Sheev Palpatine, secretly the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, the Jedi Order was largely annihilated in 19 BBY as the Galactic Empire ascended to power, marking the beginning of the Imperial Era. Following the Order's destruction and the elimination of most Jedi, the Padawan braid saw diminished use, either due to individuals being killed while wearing it or the necessity to conceal their Jedi past to remain hidden. Displaying a Padawan braid effectively advertised oneself as a Jedi during a period when the Order was outlawed and actively hunted throughout the galaxy. After surviving Order 66, Padawan Caleb Dume's occasional savior Janus Kasmir compelled Dume to sever his braid and discard his Jedi robes to better evade detection by the Galactic Empire.

Iskat Akaris discovered her mother's Padawan braid on Pkori, dismissively referring to the tradition to her superiors as a mere "Jedi thing." Ezra Bridger, trained as a Padawan by Dume—who had adopted the name Kanan Jarrus—during the Imperial Era, did not wear a Padawan braid, instead maintaining his original hairstyle before later opting for a short haircut. Another survivor of the Purge was former Jedi General Baylan Skoll, who embraced the life of a mercenary and trained his own apprentice, Shin Hati, with the goal of making her "more than a Jedi." Nevertheless, Hati sported a Padawan-style braid of her own.

The Padawan braids made their initial appearance in the 1999 motion picture Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace.

Ewan McGregor, who portrayed Obi-Wan Kenobi in The Phantom Menace, recounted that the production team sought a military influence or something akin to the world of monks for Kenobi's hairstyle. He noted the padawan braid hairstyle bore resemblance to the hair of individuals who shave their heads for religious orders. McGregor had a braid that was attached to his hair each day, and he appreciated its appearance.

In the Star Wars: The Clone Wars season three episode "The Citadel," Ahsoka Tano's braid is mistakenly absent during the scene where she confers with Plo Koon about joining the Citadel rescue mission, as well as in a subsequent scene where the Citadel infiltration team encounters security turrets in the hallway.