Skip to main content

star wars - Why can Jedi marry in the New Jedi Order?


In the Jedi order before the purge (Order 66) was carried out, Jedi weren't allowed to marry. The attachment that comes with matrimony and love made the potential of turning to the Dark Side a real risk if that love interest was in danger, and those emotions could be manipulated. (Which is basically what happened in the case of Anakin's road to becoming Darth Vader with Palpatine manipulating his feelings for Padme.)


Not allowing marriage followed the whole idea of love not being part of Jedi life at all (having force-sensitive children removed from their families as soon as possible, etc.) because the emotions love can produce are too volatile.


However, I know that in the New Jedi Order (in the Legacy books), marriage is permissible, and seems to not be looked down upon at all.



Luke himself marries Mara Jade, after all.



What's the reasoning behind the switch in philosophy/ policy? Preferably from a C or G-canon source, please (per the old Holocron Continuity standards).




Answer



Out of universe, the idea of the Jedi order as a monastic organization praising celibacy was a new concept introduced, if I remember correctly, in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones or around that time. Anyway, Luke made his marriage proposal to Mara in Timothy Zahn's Vision of the Future, published in September 1998, half a year before the release of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. By this time, Jedi in the expanded universe were known to marry and have families. Forcing the divorce of a popular couple like Mara and Luke would had bean quite unpopular, so thing stayed that way.


In universe, it had to be retconned. All pre-Empire Jedi who were known to be married and/or having children were either given a special exception by the order or dismissed as rogue member who did it in secret or under disapproval from the order.


When Luke formed the New Jedi Order, it was years after his marriage and, as Chad mentioned in the comments, he felt love was an important part of the the light side. Many of the masters of the new order were also married and many had children. So, instead of establishing a retroactive ban on marriage, the prohibition was abolished and pointed out as one of the causes of the fall of the old order.


Excerpt form New Jedi Order, Growth and expansion section (emphasis mine)



Discoveries of Jedi relics, such as Jedi armor on Garn, lightsabers on Ossus, Asli Krimsan's holocron on Vjun and Arca Jeth's holocron on Arkania added to the Order's knowledge of ancient Jedi practices. Many of these would be implemented, such as pairing up Masters to apprentices and the formation of Jedi clans. Not all practices were assimilated, though, such as the Jedi prohibition on marriage, seeing as it was a marriage that was hidden (between Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala) that destroyed the Old Jedi Order in the first place. Instead the new Order allowed marriage, even conducting Jedi ceremonies for Tionne and Kam Solusar, and later in 19 ABY, Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade. Many other Jedi, such as Kirana Ti, Corran Horn, Daye Azur-Jamin and Tyria Sarkin Tainer, married non Force-sensitives, with their children providing the next generation of Jedi trainees. The stark separation from family that was practiced by the Old Order would also be disregarded, with opportunities for employment and accommodation provided for trainees' families around the Academy.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Do the Kwikspell courses work?

In Harry Potter we are introduced to Kwikspell course in The Chamber of Secrets (and never hear about it again). We see Filch taking courses, presumably by mail. The descriptions of Kwikspell make me think it is for people who are weak in magic (kind of like how Neville was supposed to be when he was younger), but had magic in them nonetheless. However, Ron's comments later in the chapter make it sound like it is mainly for Squibs to learn magic. However, it is strongly implied through out all the books that Squibs are essentially Muggles, and will never be able to do magic. How then is a Kwikspell course supposed to work? Do we have any information to know if it works at all? Is it a scam? An answer from any level of canon is welcome. Answer Kwikspell courses are (probably) useful to some wizards, but not to squibs. The Kwikspell course literature comes with two testimonials. Madam Z. Nettles of Topsham writes: ‘I had no memory for incantations and my potions were a family joke...
Post a Comment
Read more

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

star wars - What "exactly" happens when someone turns to the Dark Side?

When I saw the original Star Wars saga as a kid, the concept of the Dark Side imprinted in me was quite simple. You did a bad thing, so you're a bad person so you go to the Dark Side and keep doing bad things. Now, obviously this doesn't hold true in reality. In my mind it is perfectly reasonable for Luke to kill the Emperor and Vader and then just flee the Death Star and rejoin the Alliance. After all they are at war, those are enemy officers that have captured him and are taunting him by threatening with death of all loved ones and the whole operation was intended to kill the Emperor anyway. The same would hold true for Anakin. He could have killed Mace Windu to save the Chancellor and Padme but that doesn't mean he's going to then go mad and kill all Jedis including children. It doesn't add up from a merely psychological point of view. He had a set of objectives and that made him want to keep the Chancellor alive (quite valid by the way, Mace Windu is quite clums...
Post a Comment
Read more

languages - Do we ever see written English in the Star Wars films?

In Empire Strikes Back , we see a transcription of what R2's beeps and bloops mean, but it's not English (sorry for the low quality, it's from the 2004 DVDs): I'd assume it's what Basic looks like when written, but is there some point in the the Star Wars films we see written English instead? (This sort of spun off from a discussion in How do people understand astromech droids? .) Answer At one point there was English but it has been phased out in subsequent versions of the films. Chris Gould at DVD Active did a comparison of all versions of each of the Star Wars films, and in his comparison of Episode 4 , there are a couple of screenshots showing how the power gauge for the Death Star tractor beam was changed. I imagine there are probably more to be found in his other comparisons but I haven't got around to reading those yet.
Post a Comment
Read more