Star Wars: Grand Inquisitor Breakdown
The leader of the Inquisitors and making his next appearance in Kenobi, the Grand Inquisitor is on the look for Jedi to cut down.
The Kenobi trailer dropped a pretty big reveal. One of the series’ antagonists is none other than the Grand Inquisitor! While we expect the bad-guy spotlight will be on inquisitor Reva as the newest addition to the canon, the Grand Inquisitor will no doubt have a major part to play.
Head bitch in charge, courtesy of Disney+
Who Are the Inquisitors?
To discuss who the Grand Inquisitor is, we first need to talk about the Inquisitors as a whole. Also known as the Inquisitorius Program or the Order of Inquisitors, they are force-sensitive agents of the Empire. Inquisitors are tasks to hunt down and kill the galaxy’s living Jedi or other political dissidents, though some of them are survivors of Order 66 themselves. The Grand Inquisitor is, as his name implies, the leader of this order.
Little is known about this Pau’an’s early life. Though we briefly see him serving a a Jedi Temple Guard during the trial of Ahsoka Tano. Disillusioned with ways of the Jedi, he fell to the dark side almost as soon as the great purge was carried out. He immediately began to serve the Empire.
Courtesy of Disney+
The Grand Inquisitor
After taking on the title of “Grand Inquisitor,” he reported directly to Darth Vader himself. Like the rest of his order at this time, his primary objective was to find force-sensitive individuals. They would either be recruited to the Dark Side or terminated.
This order eventually had him hunting down Jedi survivor Kanan Jarrus and his Padawan Ezra Bridger. Despite how imposing the Grand Inquisitor was, this particular mission was eventually a failure after just one season as Kanan’s primary enemy. While Kanan attempted to escape Imperial capture on Mustafar, the Grand Inquisitor trapped him into a lightsaber duel. This eventually turned into Kanan and Ezra versus the Grand Inquisitor. After a harrowing battle, the Jedi came close to losing – but Kanan was able to push the Inquisitor off of the edge and destroy his lightsaber before he could recover. In the end, the Grand Inquisitor chose to let go of the bridge and fall into the reactor below. He knew that the punishment for his failure would be undoubtedly worse that his fate.
Courtesy of Disney+
Unfortunately he was correct, but not even Death would save him from Vader as the Sith lord trapped the Inquisitor’s consciousness on Tempes in the Outer Rim. Here he would guard the abandoned Jedi outpost from behind the grave. He would fail again at this job. Losing in a duel to Luke Skywalker on a mission for an ancient lightsaber. Once again Darth Vader would appear to express his displeasure. We aren’t sure what happened to the Grand Inquisitor’s spirit from there. But we’re sure it’s not peacefully hanging out with the other force ghosts.
What’s your favorite Grand Inquisitor moment? What do you hope to see from him in Kenobi? Which Inquisitor do you think should have taken his place after his defeat? Let us know in the comments!
May The Force Be With You, Adventurers!
