Debunking myths about the Jedi Order and slavery in the GFFA.
Figured I’d start a thread where we take these commonly repeated statements and debunk them one by one (some of the arguments below come from another post I wrote in February.. buuuut now they’re actually framed in a decent structure).
“The Jedi condoned slavery”.
Not in Republic space, they didn’t.
Slavery is outlawed by the Republic.
The Jedi operate within the Republic’s borders.
The Jedi have no jurisdiction in the Outer Rim, i.e. Hutt Space.
When somebody tries to have slaves within Republic space?
The Zygerians had a whole slave empire. But because they dared trade in Republic territory, they got beaten so hard they now trade in the Outer Rim at a fraction of their former strength. News of this spread, to the rest of the galaxy (even on Tatooine): don’t fuck with the Jedi in Republic territory.
But that happened quite a while before the Prequels, and it happened with support and backing from the Senate.
Gotta keep in mind, by this point in time, they’re not the swashbuckling warriors that they were 1,000 years ago anymore.
They cannot fight a war; they are keepers of the peace, not soldiers.
“Jedi are always sort of fighting this reality of the fact that they’re, in essence, diplomats. They sort of persuade people to do the right thing, but their job isn’t really to go around fighting people.”
- E! Behind the Scenes - Revenge of the Sith, 2005
If a planet in the Republic has a problem, a Jedi is sent to fix that problem. If there is conflict with another planet, they solve it, so that it doesn’t escalate, ergo, keeping the peace. Beyond Republic borders? They have no jurisdiction.
I’m honestly baffled this is even a thing, cuz I have yet to see someone criticize a policeman or an ambassador for not going to Bangladesh with a battalion and freeing the slaves there. Those are obviously decisions made above their paygrade.
In the Galactic Republic, those decisions are made by the Senate.
The Jedi serve the will of the Senate.
“I didn’t want Vader to be all-powerful. In the first film it was very easy to make him some kind of superhero. But I decided not to do that. In fact, he is [the Dark Lord] working for the Emperor, and he has to do the Emperor’s bidding. You will see at some point in the future that the Jedi have the same relationship to the Republic; they’re like public servants, they’re like marshals or policemen. They basically do what they’re told to do. They’re not independent agents who can do whatever they want.”
- Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays, 1998
And the Senate - not the Jedi - grew corrupt.
“For a thousand years, the Old Republic prospered and grew under the wise rule of the Senate and the protection of the venerable Jedi Knights. But as often happens when wealth and power grow beyond all reasonable proportion, an evil fueled by greed arose. The massive organs of commerce mushroomed in power, the Senate became corrupt, and an ambitious named Palpatine was voted Supreme Chancellor.”
- Shatterpoint, Prologue,
2004
By the time of the Prequels, the Senate is mostly run by a bunch of self-serving A-holes who very much like the status quo, and wouldn’t want to unbalance it with, say, a war with the Hutts that doesn’t give result in any profit.
“In Episode I, the Senators are more interested in themselves than they are in helping each other. They have fallen out of the symbiotic circle. They couldn’t agree on anything because their interests became so divergent, so they couldn’t get anything done as a Republic, and the Chancellor uses this division, which he helped create, to become Emperor.”
- The Star Wars Archives: 1999-2005,
2020
So if the Senate doesn’t sanction a mission to free the slaves? Guess what? It ain’t happening. Not legally, at least.
Now some might say: “but the Jedi should’ve just said ‘fuck the Senate’ and helped the slaves in the Outer Rim, regardless of whethere it’s out of their jurisdiction or illegal”.
Okay. Let’s look at the numbers:
There’s 3.2 billion inhabitable planets in the Galaxy Far Far Away. The Outer Rim, where slavery is still a thing, is known to be the “largest region of the known galaxy”. Let’s be generous and assume there’s, what, 100,000 planets with slavery on them?
There’s only 10,000 Jedi.
Suppose that all of the Jedi decided “we don’t care if it’s illegal, we’re gonna free the slaves ANYWAY”, then got on a ship and attacked Outer Rim planets to end slavery… they’d all die trying.
Dave Filoni talks about this:
“Dooku gets captured by a bunch of pirates… Yes. Now that I think is very hard to believe, except that there are 30 pirates around him. Now I agree wholeheartedly that Dooku is incredibly powerful. But the fact remains that if he gets into a fight with 30 pirates, yes he might kill 15 of them, but he will get shot and he will go down. All you gotta to do is watch Attack of the Clones. How does Count Dooku thwart those Jedi? Sheer numbers. Sheer numbers will defeat the Jedi.”
- Filoni, The Clone Wars: “Dooku Captured” Featurette, 2009
George Lucas has also been very clear: the Jedi aren’t superheroes.
“I wanted to convey the idea that Jedi are all very powerful, but they’re also vulnerable — which is why I wanted to kill Qui-Gon. That is to say, “Hey, these guys aren’t Superman.” These guys are people who are vulnerable, just like every other person.”
- The Phantom Menace, Director’s Commentary, 1999
“They aren’t policemen, they aren’t soldiers […] A lot of people say, “What good is a lightsaber against a tank?” The Jedi weren’t meant to fight wars. That’s the big issue in the prequels. They got drafted into service, which is exactly what Palpatine wanted.”
- An Oral History of Star Wars: Episode I, 2019
“The Jedi are good, but they are not fantastic. They were never designed to be a superhero or anything like that. They were designed to be a Buddhist monk, who happened to be a very good warrior. […] The Jedi are not superheroes. They’re regular people like the rest of us. We all have midi-chlorians. We all have the Force within us. We can all do what the Jedi can do, but we’re not trained. And the secret is training.”
- The Star Wars Archives: 1999-2005,
2020
If the Jedi tried to tackle the problem that was slavery in the Outer Rim without backing from the Senate, they’d fail and die.
Then who’d defend the Republic & keep the peace? Like, before the Clone War, the Jedi are the Republic’s only protectors.
They just don’t have the manpower or the resources to do their job and free the slaves at the same time. Not by themselves.
And in Dooku: Jedi Lost, Dooku tried to fix this particular problem, by going to the Senate and attempting to have a ‘Republic Guard’ instated, arguing that Jedi can’t be everywhere at once, and the Republic worlds further from Coruscant benefited from less protection, but that conversation with the Senate pretty much went down like this:
But hey, Quinlan Vos was undercover on Tatooine to destabilize the Hutt’s power. My guess would be that the Jedi were trying to do something on this subject under the table, and never got far enough because the Clone War erupted.
Point is, I wouldn’t blame the Jedi of “being okay with slavery”. It’s not their job. That said, they cracked down on slavery once, they’ll gladly do it again… all they need is the permission, backing and resources of the Senate.
So I’d blame the Senate, who won’t give that to the Jedi for selfish reasons, who refuses to make freeing slaves the Jedi’s job.
If a kid refuses to clean his room and plays video-games instead, it’s not the broom’s fault the room is dirty.
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