Order 66 was the end of the Jedi Order as it stood for thousands of years in Star Wars canon, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t other events in the vast history of the Jedi where the Order faced potentially catastrophic events. In fact, one of those events just took place in the last Star Wars Story set in the High Republic era, and features a Jedi who proved she could actually have led the more modern Jedi through the fallout of Order 66 safely.
After Supreme Chancellor Palpatine successfully framed the Jedi for attempting to take control of the Galactic Senate, he executed Order 66, which is an order that activates the inhibitor chips embedded within the brain of each Clone Trooper, forcing them to kill everyone. the Jedi who see without pause or reflection. Then, once the Jedi were effectively eradicated, he went on a galactic campaign, continuing the “traitor Jedi” rhetoric, effectively turning any surviving Jedi into an outcast.
While the Jedi of the High Republic did not face such a total annihilation of both their forces and their reputation, they did suffer a damaging attack that attempted both aspects of what Palpatine managed to do. However, the Jedi persevered and managed to rebuild what they lost, including and especially one Jedi in particular: Avar Kriss.
Avar Kriss is a Star Wars Jedi who would have survived Order 66
In Star Wars: The High Republic – Shadows of Starlight #2 by Charles Soule and Marika Cresta, Jedi Master Avar Kriss has ventured into a Nihil-controlled region of space designated the Nihil Occlusion Zone. The Nihil are a group of organized anarchists who became a legitimate threat to the Jedi Order after they destroyed Starlight Beacon and closed off the Occlusion Zone with an anti-hyperspace barrier called the Stormwall.
So, Avar Kriss thought that the best way to undo the damage caused by the Nihil and free the planets now trapped under their regime was to sneak into the Occlusion Zone and kill the leader of the Nihil. However, the Nihil have already begun the anti-Jedi campaign on their occupied worlds after effectively eradicating them from the Occlusion Zone, making it much more difficult for Avar Kriss to move freely. Difficult, but not impossible, as Avar Kriss successfully maneuvered through a hostile area before launching a calculated attack against his enemy.
Star Wars’ Nihil uses Imperial and Sith methods to eliminate the Jedi
The Nihil not only conquered a portion of the galaxy in the same way that the Empire conquered the entirety, but they also began inundating the citizens of the occupied planets with anti-Jedi propaganda and rhetoric. Furthermore, the methods of luring a Jedi were the same, as the Nihil were harming innocent civilians in an effort to exploit the Jedi’s notorious heroism (which Darth Vader’s Inquisitors did regularly). Despite all that, Avar Kriss survived and even managed to counterattack the Nihil in a significant way. In fact, Kriss’ survival tactics, if recorded and remembered, could have been the perfect playbook for the Jedi if the galaxy had ever turned against them as it did after Order 66. But, many times The Jedi have failed to learn from the mistakes of their past, and when Order 66 was executed, it cost them the entire galaxy.
The Nihil launched their own ‘Order 66’ with the destruction of the Starlight Beacon, which killed several Jedi and forced the rest to flee to Coruscant, leaving them open to claim a part of the galaxy they designated as the Nihil Occlusion Zone. In all important respects, the planets within the Occlusion Zone were like all post-Order 66 planets under the Empire. And yet, Avar Kriss was able to survive, meaning that if she was present during Order 66, it’s fair to say that she is a Jedi who could have guided the Order safely through that cataclysm. Star Wars crisis.
Star Wars: The High Republic – Shadows of Starlight #2 from Marvel Comics is now available.