Meet The Inquisitors: A Deep Dive On The Exciting New Star Wars Villains

Professor Hulk here, and usually you’ll see me dropping exclusives and scoops on movies and TV. This time I’m exploring a group of villains in the Star Wars Universe: The Inquisitors.

They are about to become a huge force in the live-action Star Wars series. Many people may not know that these characters have a history in the Star Wars universe. Knowing this history will help us understand what direction some of these upcoming stories may take; but also it’ll serve to get us excited as it’s truly a great time to be a Star Wars fan.

This is not meant to be the definitive list, but rather the most efficient if you want to know their story.

SPOILER WARNING: We’ll be spoiling parts of Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, The E.K Johnston novel Ahsoka, The Darth Vader comic, and parts of the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi Series

Who Are The Inquisitors?

The Inquisitors come from a program also called the Inquisitorius Program, the Order of Inquisitors, and the Imperial Inquisition. Whatever they may be called in various iterations, they are essentially a group of force-sensitive agents who work on behalf of the Sith and the Empire. Their main mission in the various media we’ve seen them in is to hunt down and destroy the remaining Jedi that survived Order 66, and any force-sensitive children.

A History Of The Inquisitors In Series, Books, And Video Games

Star Wars: Rebels

The animated series, Star Wars: Rebels was the first time the Inquisitors were mentioned and shown off. Under the leadership of The Grand Inquisitor, the group of Inquisitors often clashed with Ezra and company as they had adventures around the galaxy.

The Grand Inquisitor was featured fairly early in the show’s run, and had numerous run-ins with Kanan and Ezra, but chose to end his own life rather than face Darth Vader and The Emporer when he had failed to capture the rebels in their numerous run-ins. His backstory would be further explored in future seasons showing that he was once a Jedi.

During the second season of Star Wars: Rebels, a few of the ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’ showed up. The Inquisitors are often named by a number and their pronoun as either brother or sister. With the death of the Grand Inquisitor, Darth Vader assumed command of the Inquisitorius Program and dispatched the Fifth Brother and Seventh Sister to fight Ezra and Kanan’s group. They featured prominently in the second season of the show.

Upon the re-emergence of Darth Maul, Darth Vader dispatched the Eighth Brother to take him down. Unfortunately for Darth Vader and the Inquisitors, Darth Maul dispatched all three of them very quickly and killed The Fifth Brother, Seventh Sister, and the Eighth Brother in the Season 2 finale of Rebels: “Twilight of the Apprentice”.

Ahsoka

Not the upcoming show of the same name, but the E.K. Johnston novel. Set a decade before the events of Star Wars: Rebels, this novel manages to bridge some of the time between Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Rebels and details what Ahsoka was up to at that time.

The Sixth Brother was sent to kill her. However, he was unsuccessful at doing so; but this did inform Vader and The Grand Inquisitor of her presence.

With the Ahsoka series in development, it would be great to get a flashback to her battle with the Sixth Brother.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

This video game released in 2019, was one of the first major appearances of The Inquisitors outside of the Filoni-verse of Animated shows.

The story of the game follows a survivor of Order 66, a padawan named Cal Kestis; who becomes the target of the Second Sister and Ninth Sister.

The two sisters battle Cal and his crew numerous times throughout the game and prove to be difficult fights in this Souls-like game. The Ninth Sister is defeated by Cal, and The Second Sister is killed by Darth Vader in what has to be one of the coolest endings to a game in recent memory.

Darth Vader – Issue 16 (2017)

A popular comic that debuted a while ago, there was an issue in 2017 that features Vader but also featured The Ninth Brother, Sixth Brother, and the Tenth Brother.

Vader and the Inquisitors go hunting a Jedi down but in doing so, the Jedi confronts them about what they’re doing and how they’ve gotten to where they are. The comic does a good job of highlighting that indeed, many of the Inquisitors were at one point, Jedi Knights. It plays to the vulnerability of these characters and fleshes them out so they’re more than one-dimensional villains.

The Future Of The Inquisitors

Obi-Wan Kenobi

The Obi-Wan Kenobi series is coming later this year and with it, we have confirmation that The Inquisitors will appear. During a brief video shown on Disney+ that previews the series, Director Deborah Chow refers to ‘Jedi Hunters’ and showed off concept art below which shows The Second Sister who we last saw in Fallen Order.

Despite Chow referring to the Inquisitors as ‘Jedi Hunters’, she’s undoubtedly referring to The Inquisitors. This will be the live-action debut of the villains and they’re set to feature prominently throughout the series.

As the Second Sister is alive in this, it’s safe to assume that this series will take place prior to Fallen Order. As such, some other Inquisitors that we’ve seen die in other projects could show up. The Ninth Sister is a strong possibility, as are The Fifth Brother, Sixth Brother, Seventh Sister, and the Eighth Brother.

I would estimate this show will be in parallel with Rebels: Season 2. Putting the Inquisitors in direct command of Darth Vader and not The Grand Inquisitor. Although, anything is possible.

Unannounced Inquisitors Disney+ Show

Last year we published an exclusive on an upcoming Inquisitors series coming to Disney+. Which at the time we (correctly) mentioned how Inquisitors would feature in the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series but also would feature in a separate Inquisitors series.

I won’t rehash that article verbatim, would recommend that you check it out, but it’s going to be a fun deep dive into The Inquisitors but also play off of their inner conflict that ultimately is many of their’s demise.

Recommended Media To Learn More About The Inquisitors

If you’re a fan of The Inquisitors, or if this is our first real exposure to them, it’s a great time to be a Star Wars fan. Vader is a great villain, that’s never up for debate, but it’s great to show that he has an extension of his power and I think it’ll show a side to the Empire that makes things interesting and fun.

Looking into some of these characters and stories beforehand will only enrich your experience for Obi-Wan Kenobi. I’ve compiled a list of what I’ve listed and sorted it as either being essential for understanding the characters and recommended, more so for if you have the time and want to understand the Inquisitors a bit more.

Essential:

Star Wars: Rebels (Seasons 1-2)

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

Darth Vader – Issue 16 (2017)

Recommended (but not required):

Ahsoka by E.K. Johnston

Star Wars: Rebels (Season 3)

Are you excited for the live-action debut of The Inquisitors in Obi-Wan Kenobi? Which is your favorite Inquisitor? Do you think we’ll finally get one with a different style of Lightsaber?

For more on Star Wars, make sure to check back to That Hashtag Show.

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