Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Star Wars: The High Republic - The Finale #1
Star Warshas just madeYoda’sClone Wars journey even more unforgivable. A Grandmaster and Jedi Council leader, Yoda was a central figure largely responsible for the Jedi Order’s mandates and ideologies during the Skywalker saga andHigh Republic Era, hundreds of years beforeThe Phantom Menace. Now, the finale of Marvel’sHigh Republicseries features some dark foreshadowing.
InStar Wars: The High Republic - The Finale #1by Cavan Scott and Marika Crestra, the Nihil marauders, the Nameless, and the Occlusion Zone have all been defeated.However, the aftermath of all the fighting sees Jedi Marshall Keeve Trennis giving up her lightsaber, having decided to be a member of the Jedi Order no longer:
The confirmation thatKeeve Trennis left the Jedi Order as one of the “Lost Twenty"has been teased since Scott’s 2019 novelDooku: Jedi Lost. Now, we’ve finally been shown how, when, and why Keeve decided to leave, and her explanation to Yoda connects to the Jedi Order’s dark future in the prequels with the Clone Wars.
Yoda Was Warned About The Jedi Order’s Clone Wars Future
After handing her lightsaber over to her old master Sskeer, Keeve explains that she’s decided to remain on the planet Dalna, serving as its Speaker as the world previously ravaged by the Nihil is restored as a sanctuary for those displaced by the marauders, becoming a new “Beacon” during the High Republic Era.
However, Keeve first tells Yoda why she decided to leave her Jedi path behind her, despite the Grandmaster’s invitation to take a seat on the Jedi Council after her heroics as the Jedi Marshall of the Stormwall Defense Fleet during the Republic’s conflicts with the Nihil.
Fearing the days to come for the Jedi Order when bigger and more dangerous threats emerge,Keeve expresses her concern about the Jedi Order’s conduct becoming even worse than it was during the Nihil conflict, having enacted theGuardian Protocolswith Padawans training being accelerated for combat and Jedi Knights leading forces into battle.
A very clear picture has been painted in this issue with Keeve unknowingly foreshadowing the events of the Clone Wars, just over 200 years before they begin in the Star Wars timeline.In light of this, one has to wonder why Yoda wasn’t more aware and/or prepared for the breakdown of the Jedi Order’s values.
After all, we know that the Jedi Order only becomes more connected to the Republic, a fact that ultimately leads to their undoing once they compromised themselves by becoming generals and commanders of the Republic’s Grand Army, allowingPalpatine to destroy the vast majority of the Jedi Orderby the Clone Wars' end.
It definitely seems as though Yoda dismissed Keeve’s fears, perhaps not maliciously, but enough that her concerns about the Jedi Order not talking to each other and"leading armies into battle, swinging lightsabers in anger” were proven correct.
That’s a description of the Clone Wars' Jedi Order if I ever heard one, especially considering all the times the Jedi Council compromised their values as the dark side clouded their abilities (often with Yoda’s approval). It’s somewhat baffling in this new light that Yoda wasn’t more prepared, though it arguably makes his failure and exile even heavier/justified.
Star Wars: The High Republic - The Finale #1is on sale now from Marvel Comics.
