It was the big moment we all waited for as we watched Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, when we’d finally find out what happened to the Jedi.
As Palpatine’s plan comes together, he delivers Order 66 to his clone troopers, with Anakin Skywalker entering the Jedi temple to execute every Jedi in the Star Wars universe.
Revenge of the Sith was the moment where thousands of Jedi were killed
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In the immediate aftermath, we were led to believe that all but just a few Jedi were eliminated.
Of course, since then Disney and Lucasfilm have walked back many deaths and disappearances to bring us new stories, but just how many Jedi were wiped out at the time?
It’s a lot. No, I mean it, just so many Jedi died.
To find the answer to this question, we have to delve back into the annals of Reddit.
This thread has user JayConz ask, “Just how many Jedi were killed during the initial Order 66 attacks?”
This is where a helpful user jumps in and links us over to Wookiepedia, the home of Star Wars lore.
ME24601 says, “only one percent of the Jedi survived Order 66, numbering at fewer than 100. By that math, there were approximately 10,000 Jedi prior to the purge, with around 9,900 deaths.”
It’s a lot of death, but that’s the point of Order 66, really.
It was supposed to wipe out the entirety of the Jedi order, including those poor kids that Anakin butchered with his lightsabre.
He hated those kids as much as he hated sand.
You could look at it another way, as davect01 explains, “Those at the Temple, and those serving with clones were killed immediately. Many others were out on assignment and were hunted down one by one.”
This would mean the initial killing caught many, but not tens of thousands, but Anakin, then Vader, got many of them eventually.
Still a lot, still very sad.
Topics: Star Wars, TV And Film