Despite the popularity of series like The Mandalorian, The Bad Batch, Visions and The Boba Fett Bookthe best recent history of Star Wars It’s not on Disney+. Jedi: Fallen Order, the game developed by Respawn Entertainment that we enjoyed in 2019, is a work that perfectly understands the spirit of the universe created by George Lucas. Its protagonist, Cal Kestis, faces very interesting dilemmas related to the end of the Jedi Order and shows that he learned the lessons of the past much better than Luke Skywalker himself.
In the middle of February I published an article expressing my displeasure towards the portrayal of Luke Skywalker The Mandalorian and The Boba Fett Book. If you haven’t read it, you can do so by following this link. My argument is that by alienating Grogu from his father and upholding the Jedi tradition of forgoing emotion he is replicating the mistakes of the Jedi Order that he himself rejected in the original movie trilogy. The game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order interpret The Force differently. He makes us consider that perhaps the Jedi are not the only way forward.
The Fallen Order
In case you haven’t played it, we’ll talk a little about the plot Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Cal Kestis, the protagonist of this adventure, was a little Padawan when the Jedi Order was eradicated. He survived and escaped, but his Master died. Since then, he severed his link to the Force and began a life as a junkman on the planet Bracca. But, to save the life of a friend, he uses his Jedi abilities again and that puts him in the crosshairs of the Empire. Escaping again, he teams up with a former Jedi Master who is searching for a Holocron that can locate Force-sensitive children. With that information, they can restore the Jedi Order.
From the next paragraph you will find ‘spoilers’ of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
At the end of the game, with the Holocron in his hands, Cal Kestis decides that he will not use that information to bring the Jedi Order back and decides to destroy it. This is an important break in the narrative tradition of the saga, as the Jedi are often considered the “ultimate good”. Saviors and problem solvers par excellence. However, this decision fits perfectly with one of the most interesting and unfairly ignored themes of the movies and the series. The clone Wars. The Jedi Order is an institution sent to collect.
On The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Yoda and Obi-Wan’s spirit demonstrate very clearly everything that was wrong with the Order. They wanted Luke to let his friends die to continue his training and told him that the only option he had was to kill his father. Luke rejects both impositions. It is his love, his “attachment” to his friends and his ability to forgive Vader that allows him to defeat the Emperor. There are more samples of the errors of the Jedi in the prequels. Anakin was put in the path of the Dark Side since he was separated from his mother.
A New Jedi Philosophy
In episode 6 of The Boba Fett BookLuke repeats to Grogu the famous phrase of Yoda: “Do it, or do not, but do not try”. Since he came out Episodio V, many have drawn attention to the absurdity of the philosophy behind this phrase. It sounds like something out of a bad self-improvement book. For its part, one of the most important dialogues in Jedi: Fallen Order demonstrates a completely opposite philosophy:
“Failure is not the end. It is a necessary part of the journey.”
This is a phrase from Eno Cordova, a late Jedi Master who —through holograms and recordings— guides us through the game. It’s not the only way the game contradicts what the Jedi are supposed to be and do. Cal Kestis finds his connection to the Force again in his attachment to the new family he has formed with Cere, Greez, BD-1 and Merrin. The latter’s inclusion in the group is special because she, as a Nightsister, uses the power of the Dark Side to create her magic. Although she is not mentioned in the game, her acceptance implies a more relaxed view of The Force as opposed to the traditional division between “good guys and bad guys”.
Merrin’s most important contribution to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is that it questions whether the mission of the protagonists is a good thing. When Cal explains to her that they’re looking for the list of Force-sensitive children to recreate the Jedi Order, she asks a rather obvious question: wouldn’t that make the children targets of the Empire? Cal and Cere initially say that it will help them defeat the Empire.
A vision shows Cal that this fear is not unfounded. She sees a possible future where children, her own Padawans, are hunted down and eliminated by the Empire. Finally, he sees himself in the Dark Side. This vision and Merrin’s opinion cause him to make a decision: the fate of those children is in the hands of The Force. He is nobody to decide what his future should be.
It’s time for the Jedi to meet their end
There is no doubt that one of the reasons that led the writers of Jedi: Fallen Order to take this approach was not to break the canon. We know the future of the Galaxy and we know that Cal and Cere did not create a new Jedi academy. But I like the direction they took to reach that conclusion. The Order of the Prequels is an organization too concerned with politics and tradition to let a Sith rise to power. In the original trilogy we see his remnants trying to lead their last hope down the wrong path. Lastly, the aftermath shows a Luke who tried to revive her only to bring more pain to the Galaxy. He finally understood that the Jedi don’t have to be the absolute authority over The Force.
It took Luke Skywalker four decades to figure it out, but Cal Kestis did in his short adventure on Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. No matter your good intentions, you shouldn’t turn a bunch of kids into soldiers because you think your ideology is correct.. We don’t know what’s going to happen the recently confirmed sequel to the game. We hope that the combination of the Light Side of Cal and Cere and the Dark Side of Merrin offer a different look at this universe.
