Star Wars: What Happened to the Inquisitors?

Following Order 66 from Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, many Jedi survived and went into hiding. While Stormtroopers could have flown around the galaxy, searching for the survivors, the Empire needed a specialized group of people for the task. Force-sensitive individuals received training after being tortured and coerced to follow the dark side of the Force in order to track down and eliminate the remaining Jedi. This became known as the Inquisitorius Program, or the Order of Inquisitors. While Darth Vader oversaw the program as a whole, the Grand Inquisitor, a former Jedi Temple Guard, was in charge of all Inquisitors.

The Inquisitors were an imposing force, garbed in black and wielding red dual-bladed lightsabers that could spin around like propellers. While capable of using the Force, their training focused on combat skills to make them an imposing threat to any Jedi they encountered. After their introduction in Star Wars: Rebels, Imperial Inquisitors appeared everywhere, from comics to the Obi-Wan Kenobi TV series. However, they’re not even mentioned during A New Hope or the following two installments of the original trilogy. What happened to the Inquisitors?

What Happened to the Inquisitors in Star Wars?

The life of an Inquisitor is not an easy one. They live to serve their masters while filled with constant rage, and are always looking for an opportunity to gain the upper hand against their colleagues. Whether they realized it or not, the Inquisitor program was not going to continue indefinitely, as it was only meant to help eradicate the remaining Jedi across the galaxy. Once the Jedi were officially wiped from existence, the Inquisitors would be obsolete. They might prove useful against newly born force-sensitive children, but it’s likely that Vader could have handled them alone, or dispatched stormtroopers to take care of them.

Star Wars has introduced 16 different Inquisitors between live-action programs, novels, and comic books, with plenty of possibility for them to show up again in any story that takes place before A New Hope. While most of the Inquisitors have a designation, such as the Fourth Brother and the Third Sister, some have gone unnamed. One, in particular, had an impressive design in Tales of the Jedi, but his name was never mentioned. Despite his intimidating design, he was no match for Ahsoka, who was hiding out in a small farming village. She ended their duel before the Inquisitor even realized the had fight started.

No Inquisitors Left by A New Hope

In reality, there were no Inquisitors throughout the original trilogy because George Lucas didn’t create them. Sith Inquisitors existed in the Old Republic before Disney ever entered the picture, but even they weren’t creations of Lucas. Dave Filoni introduced the first Imperial Inquisitors in Star Wars: Rebels. Storywise, the majority of the Inquisitors died before the events of the original trilogy, with the final Inquisitors dying at the hands of the Ghost team in Rebels.

The Grand Inquisitor died at the end of the first season of Rebels during a duel with Kanan Jarrus, and never received a replacement. The Emperor and Vader had no need to replace the Grand Inquisitor or any of the other Inquisitors, because the whole program wasn’t expected to last long. During the video game Jedi: Survivor, while Cal Kestis is undercover as an Imperial officer, he overhears conversations about the Imperial budget and whether there was enough to fund both Inquisitors and Purge Troopers, who often accompanied the Inquisitors on missions. The Emperor and other Imperials favored Purge Troopers due to their efficiency and lack of Force sensitivity.

Could the Inquisitors Ever Return?

Ahsoka’s first season already introduced a new Inquisitor named Marrok. Fans didn’t get the opportunity to learn much about him, as he met his end in a lightsaber duel against the titular character. It didn’t look like it was the first time he met his demise either. The killing strike released green smoke from his suit, revealing he was merely a construct of Dathomiri magic, much like Grand Admiral Thrawn’s Stormtroopers that Ahsoka met on Peridea. Marrok is evidence that Inquisitors could return in some capacity, especially since they’re not all accounted for.

There’s nothing to say that Filoni doesn’t have an idea or two about some inquisitors who left the Empire in search of a more peaceful life. The whereabouts of the Third Brother and the Fourth Sister are unknown, giving a future project the potential to bring them back into the fold. The Obi-Wan Kenobi miniseries introduced Reva as the Third Sister, who wanted nothing more than to exact revenge on Darth Vader for what he did to the Jedi younglings on Coruscant. Reva was a Jedi youngling when Anakin and the 501st sacked the Jedi temple on Coruscant. By the end of the Kenobi series, she abandoned her position as an Inquisitor and chose to follow the path of the Light Side in hopes of redeeming herself. It’s likely that fans will see her again.