The Inquisitorius, also known as Imperial Inquisitorius, are an organization of Force-sensitive dark warriors formed after the fall of the Galactic Republic by the Galactic Empire. Trained by Darth Vader, the Inquisitors hunted down and killed any Jedi who survived Order 66, which wiped out most of the Jedi Order. Among their many victims was Luminara Unduli. In addition to killing Jedi, the Inquisitors were tasked with finding any Force-sensitive children scattered throughout the galaxy and either kill them or shanghai them into service. They were led by the Grand Inquisitor.
As of right now, there are nineteen known Inquisitors: four in-series (including the Grand Inquisitor himself), four shown in the Darth Vader series and other comics, and seven others (one in the tie-in novel Ahsoka). However, it may be many more, given that their number ranks go as high as ten. Some unnamed or Unranked inquisitors suggest this number was even as great as twenty. Some if not most, like the Grand Inquisitor himself, were once Jedi, giving them an added edge in their hunts to exterminate Jedi from the galaxy.
The Inquisitors formed shortly after the fall of the Galactic Republic and began hunting down any Jedi that survived the Great Jedi Purge. Once Jedi and Force-sensitives that turned to the dark side, they were made into disciples and servants of the Sith by Palpatine, who gave command of them to Darth Vader after he successfully built his own Sith lightsaber. One of their most notable victims was the Jedi Master Luminara Unduli. Luminara's skeleton was kept by them to lure in other Jedi to their deaths. The Inquisitors also kept a databank known as the Inquisitorial database, that detailed information on remaining Jedi after Order 66.
Ability-wise, Inquisitors are strong, but are shown to rely mostly on brute strength and intimidation to defeat their enemies. However, most of the Inquisitors ended up being no match for Jedi Masters or sufficiently trained Force-sensitives in skill.
By the time of the Battle of Yavin, the Inquisitors became redundant, as virtually no more Jedi were left to hunt by that time. Because of this, in addition to their small numbers, and also likely because of Palpatine's fear of rival Force-users, the Inquisitors eventually ceased to exist, leaving only Palpatine, Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, Ezra Bridger, Ahsoka Tano, Luke Skywalker, and Leia Organa as the only known Force-users by that time. Although an Inquisitor named Marrok survived and their databank fell into the hands of the Imperial remnant like Morgan Elsbeth and Thrawn.
Organization[]
The Inquisitors are led by the Grand Inquisitor and answer only to the Sith, their masters. Darth Vader commanded all Inquisitors, including the Grand Inquisitor. Additionally, when Vader taught new skills and lessons to the Grand Inquisitor, he would also teach these new lessons to the rest of the Inquisitorius. Any of them who failed would be eliminated as per Vader's orders.
In terms of rank, Grand Inquisitor is the highest ranking title bestowed on them. All inquisitors beneath that are referred by the title of Sister or Brother depending on Gender and by the rank they had attained. Such examples include the Seventh Sister and the Fifth Brother. Despite their mutual goal of hunting Jedi, the Inquisitors competed fiercely against one another to attain higher ranks. When one was killed, the others of lower rank would compete to claim the rank that had opened up. The Inquisitors also hunted for Jedi and Sith artifacts and potential rivals to the Sith's regime as well. For example, the Eighth Brother was dispatched to hunt down Darth Maul and retrieve the Sith Holocron he was after.
Powers[]
The Force: The Inquisitors are skilled in the ways of the Force, particularly the dark side of the Force. They learned from the Sith that commanded them or from the Jedi Order they once served before unknown circumstances turned them to the dark side. Despite being highly skilled, they were closely watched by Vader and Palpatine to ensure they never became too powerful like Asajj Ventress.
Abilities[]
Expert Lightsaber Duelist: The Inquisitors are highly skilled lightsaber duelists. They were all trained in the seven lightsaber forms, although they are no match for Sith Lords likes of Maul or Vader himself. Despite being highly skilled, they are closely watched by Vader and Palpatine to ensure they never became too powerful.
Equipment[]
Lightsabers: All Inquisitors are armed with gyroscopic double-bladed red lightsabers (except for the Tenth Brother who used shoto lightsabers) that allow them to win duels quickly and easily by unnerving their opponents using the spinning function. However, their lightsabers have a weakness in that the openings in the hilt made it easy to destroy it by slicing the spinning components apart. They might also be utilized for flight in a similar manner to a helicopter. The kyber crystals powering these weapons were stolen from the Jedi Temple and likely from the weapons of fallen Jedi. The crystals were turned red through corruption of the dark side of the Force, which was known as "making the crystal bleed".
The Grand Inquisitor and his subordinates were dispatched by Darth Vader five years before the Battle of Yavin to hunt down the children of the Force, so that young Force-sensitives could not become Jedi. The Grand Inquisitor would later go after Ezra Bridger and Kanan Jarrus, whom he had been alerted to by Agent Kallus. Kallus' intel allowed the Grand Inquisitor to eventually capture Kanan after a long pursuit, but Ezra and the crew of the Ghost rescued him and Kanan defeated the Inquisitor, who, knowing he had failed, killed himself instead of awaiting the punishment he would face at the hands of Darth Vader.
Darth Vader would then send Fifth Brother and Seventh Sister to hunt Ezra, Kanan, and the rest of the Rebels. The two Inquisitors also had a priority of hunting down any Force-sensitive infant they could find, but were thwarted by Kanan, Ezra, and Ahsoka Tano, whom they were also hunting. They continued hunting the Jedi, and eventually faced off against them and Darth Maul on Malachor with the Eighth Brother. All three Inquisitors were killed as Vader arrived to finish what they started and claim the Sith temple on Malachor they had found for the Emperor.
Set ten years after the events of Revenge of the Sith, The Grand Inquisitor and Fifth Brother will appear as antagonists in the limited series, Obi-Wan Kenobi, along with the introduction of Inquisitor Third Sister/Reva. The Fourth Sister also appeared.
The Inquisitor known as the Sixth Brother hunted for and eventually tracked down Ahsoka Tano during her days on the run from the Empire. However, Ahsoka proved to be more than a match for him, killing him and taking his lightsaber components and imbuing the Kyber crystals with the light side of the Force to construct her two white-bladed lightsabers.
The First Brother, a raven-masked Inquisitor, appears hunting Ahsoka who became a farmer. Ahsoka confronts and kills the Inquisitor. Upon his death, his body appears to disappear from within his armor, as shown when his mask and helmet deflates.
The Fourth Sister appears in the second season recruiting Barriss Offee. It is revealed her name is Lyn and The Grand Inquisitor help trained Barriss until she deserts the Inquisitors and becomes a healer.
Comics[]
The Inquisitorius first appear in the Marvel Comics Star Wars series Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith: The Chosen One Part VI. Darth Vader is sent by Palpatine to investigate an intruder in the Jedi Temple and confronts the Grand Inquisitor in the temple's library. The Sith Lord easily defeats the dark side acolyte and spares him on Palpatine's orders after revealing that the Grand Inquisitor is a servant of the Empire. Palpatine then takes Vader to his old lair in Coruscant's Industrial Discrict, where he presents the Inquisitorius to Vader and places them under his command to hunt any surviving Jedi. In addition to the Grand Inquisitor, Seventh Sister, Sixth Brother, Fifth Brother, and Eighth Brother who all appear in this issue, A new inquisitor is also shown in this comic; a huge and hulking alien called a Dowutin with tusks sticking out of her chin. She was later revealed as Ninth Sister in the 11th issue of Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith, labelled The Rule of Five: Part 1. Another Inquisitor, Tenth Brother, was revealed in the 14th issue of Darth Vader, labelled Burning Seas: Part 2. In Darth Vader: Burning Seas: Part 4, it was revealed that Sixth Brother, Ninth Sister and Tenth Brother all were once Jedi named Prosset Dibs, Bil Valen, and Masana Tide. Later, two Inquisitors named Iskat Akaris (a red-skinned inquisitor) and Tualon (a Twi'lek) who accompanied Darth Vader in his hunt for former Jedi Eeth Koth were later killed by the Sith Lord when he discovered that a bond had formed between them. The chaos and destruction caused by Vader's execution of these rogue Inquisitors caused Palpatine to order Vader to move the Inquisitorius offworld. These two unnamed Inquisitors were a Twilek and an unknown species of alien with red skin and long fingers. There is an unnamed Inquisitor with a helmet which resembles that of the Seventh Sister, revealed as the Second Sister. Two Polis Massans (known also as Kallidahins) were included in the Inquisitorius' numbers as well, and were responsible for looking after the Force-sensitive children the Jedi hunters captured for Project Harvester.
Video games[]
The Inquisitors Second Sister/Trilla Suduri and Ninth Sister appear as the main antagonist and secondary antagonist of the video game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order respectively. Both Inquisitors are tasked with hunting down surviving Jedi Master Cere Junda and Cal Kestis, a Jedi Padawan, five years after the events of Revenge of the Sith. Their search is further fueled by the fact that they are pursuing a Holocron with a list of Force-sensitive children across the galaxy that the Inquisitors also desire to swell their ranks. Cal manages to defeat the Ninth Sister in combat when they duel on Kashyyyk, cutting off one of her hands, while Second Sister, renouncing the dark side, forgives Cere, originally her master, shortly before Darth Vader murders her, forcing Cere and Cal to flee.
In Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Cal Kestis manages to kill the Ninth sister after a prolonged chase and duel on Coruscant. Eventually overpowering her through his increased skills in the five years since their last battle, Cal tries to appeal to her by referring to her by her original name; Masana Tide. Realizing she won't let go of the Dark side or her anger, Cal reluctantly kills her in a final blow before fleeing the planet.
The Inquisitorius first appeared The Star Wars Sourcebook in 1987 for Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game written by Curtis Smith and Bill Slavicsek. Their role was later expanded in many other sources of the Star Wars Expanded Universe now known as Legends which is declared non-canon. The Inquisitorius was later re-canonized in Star Wars Rebels which also has many re-canonized Legends material as well.
The episode "Always Two There Are", hints that the Inquisitors are somewhat distanced from the rest of the Imperial Army. It also implies that there is fierce competition between Inquisitors.
The Inquisitors are a concept that had appeared in numerous Star Wars media (from which the name "Inquisitorius" stems) though Rebels is the first canon material to feature them since Disney bought out Lucasfilm.
The majority of the Inquisitors introduced thus far have been non-humans, which is something of an abnormality in the Empire given its historical prejudices against nonhumans. This is likely due to their Force abilities, as was the case with Maul. It may also be that these Inquisitors may have been chosen specifically because they were alien to add to their intimidation.
The Inquisitors seem to have ceased to exist by the time of A New Hope, as Darth Vader was said by Wilhuff Tarkin to be the only Force-wielder in the Emperor's service, which means the Inquisitors must have been disbanded or all deceased at the time. Pablo Hidalgo has noted that the Inquisitors were most likely few in number.
Galen Marek from the Legends video game The Force Unleashed was considered to appear in Star Wars Rebels as an Inquisitor, but it didn't fit the story, so it was scrapped.[1]
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