25 Years After The Phantom Menace, Star Wars Finally Redeems The Jedi Council

Warning! This post contains minor SPOILERS for Star Wars: The Living Force by John Jackson Miller

25 years after their Star Wars debut in The Phantom Menace, the Jedi Council has finally received a dynamic story of redemption. In recent years, several Star Wars stories have focused on the pride and hubris of the prequel era’s Jedi Order, and specifically the leading Jedi Council that guided its decisions. However, John Jackson Miller’s new novel The Living Force effectively serves as some exciting counter-messaging, an uplifting and hopeful story starring the entire Jedi Council who is challenged to look more closely at the galaxy and those they protect.

Set one year before the events of The Phantom Menace, The Living Force begins with Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi witnessing the true struggles of those living in the Mid Rim as the Jedi have been closing down various outposts. As such, feelings of abandonment and bitterness towards the Jedi have inadvertently been generated. This motivates Qui-Gon to challenge the entire Jedi Council by focusing less on the galaxy’s bigger picture and instead on the present with its individuals. As such, the whole Council agrees to leave their tower at the Jedi Temple to visit one of the largest Jedi outposts on Kwenn.

The Living Force Turns The Jedi Council Into Characters

Individual Jedi Focusing On Individuals In The Present

Hearing Qui-Gon’s words, the Council is specifically challenged to “Help one person. A Jedi needs no permission for that.” As such, the Council’s trip to Kwenn allows them to do exactly that, helping and assisting various citizens in ways they seldom get the chance to on the Republic Core World of Coruscant. At the same time, it also allows readers to learn more about the individual members of the Jedi Council, even those who’ve only existed in the background such as Master Yarael Poof or Oppo Rancisis.

Although there’s a grander threat in the form of emboldened pirates in this Mid Rim region known as the Slice, The Living Force is arguably at its best when these powerful Jedi Masters humbly serve the people, especially when many of Kwenn’s citizens had assumed the Jedi didn’t care or were too important to bother themselves with their world. As such, Qui-Gon Jinn’s “Help One Person” becomes a repeating mantra as the individual members of the Jedi Council look to assist those in need, no matter how small those needs may be.

How The Living Force Balances Its Impossibly Large Cast

Splitting Jedi Up To Help Those In Need

Featuring all 12 members of the Jedi Council as they appeared in The Phantom Menace, this new Star Wars book features quite a large cast (including Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan who make multiple appearances). Each Jedi Council member essentially gets equal time to shine in Miller’s The Living Force, and no one is left out. This is largely thanks to the genius choice to split up the Council either on solo missions or in pairs. In this way, each Jedi or duo has their own unique challenge and story, while also ensuring that the Council as a whole generates aid all over Kwenn.

For example, Saesee Tinn and Plo Koon join forces to help in a labor dispute, serving as perfect foils for each other due to their differing personalities. The same is true of Yarael Poof and his humor contrasted with the more stoic Ki-Adi-Mundi. Likewise, Even Piell helps a group of wayward students, while Eeth Koth finds ways to leave his archival work at the Temple back on Coruscant, regaining elements he’d forgotten about what it means to be a Jedi in the field.

Furthermore, Jedi Masters Mace Windu, Yoda, Yaddle, Oppo Rancisis, and Adi Gallia all have their own dynamic journeys in The Living Force. Likewise, Master Depa Billaba’s preceding undercover work reveals a dark pirate plot that quickly spans across the entire Mid-Rim Slice, one that eventually brings the entire Jedi Council together to stand with Kwenn. As such, The Living Force balances each member of the Jedi Council incredibly well, allowing readers to gain insights into specific members that hadn’t ever been highlighted before in the Star Wars franchise.

The Living Force Is A Perfect Blend Of Light & Dark

The Ideals Of What Jedi Should Be (Contrasted With Reality)

The Living Force provides a unique opportunity for an impromptu Jedi Council retreat, allowing its members to realign with the best ideals of what it truly means to be Jedi with a balanced focus on the present Living Force, not just the Cosmic Force and the future alone. That said, the new Star Wars novel also features plenty of examples in which the reality of the galaxy comes into play, as well as the inherent flaws that may hold certain Jedi masters back from fully connecting with Qui-Gon’s challenge long-term.

Combined with the fact that dark forces are rising in the shadows which will eventually make themselves known in The Phantom Menace (the Sith), John Jackson Miller’s The Living Force truly is the perfect blend of light and dark. It’s a truly redemptive tale that shows the Jedi Council at their best, rather than their worst as the Jedi Order becomes more compromised over time heading into the Clone Wars and its eventual demise seen in Revenge of the Sith. Likewise, Qui-Gon’s challenge isn’t only applicable to the Council alone in a galaxy far, far away: “Help one person. A Jedi needs no permission for that.” …(neither do we).