At Last, The Jedi Are No More...
We don't have much information on Respawn's Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order, but here's what we do know. The game will star a young Jedi Padawan who escaped Order 66 after the events of Revenge of the Sith when, as Respawn CEO Vince Zampella puts it, the galaxy was at its darkest. As a Jedi apprentice, you will have access to a lightsaber. It's not much to go on, but it's enough to make an educated guess as to who and what we might see in Jedi Fallen Order.
By the events of Star Wars Rebels (5-1 years prior to A New Hope), the Rebellion is already on the rise and large populations of the galaxy are already turning away from the Empire. Hope is beginning to spread; not exactly the galaxy's darkest moment. Even in Solo, which takes place approximately eight years before Rebels, the first seeds of rebellion are beginning to sprout.
That leaves the six years between Revenge of the Sith and Solo. The Empire may still be young, but it's quickly sweeping across the galaxy, along with the Emperor's "humans above all" propaganda. Remnants of old Clone Wars' feuds still rage, and some worlds, like Geonosis, face planet-wide genocide. The Jedi Order has been hunted to near-extinction, and Force-sensitive children are either killed or raised as psychopathic agents of the Emperor. We think it's within this six-year period that Respawn's Jedi Fallen Order takes place.
So now that we have a more exact period of time to work with, here's who and what we want to see in Respawn's Star Wars game.
Ahsoka Tano's Early Years As A Rebel Informant
Ahsoka "Snips" Tano, the apprentice of Anakin Skywalker, first appeared in 2008's Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated film. She went on to become a main character in the The Clone Wars animated series, before reappearing in Star Wars Rebels and starring in her own novel.
Ahsoka is one of Star Wars' most well written characters, debuting as a naive 14-year-old teen, slowly growing to understand the galaxy at large through her adventures with Anakin and Obi-Wan, and choosing to leave the Jedi Order at 17 without becoming a Jedi Knight. She's nearly 20 in the Ahsoka Tano novel and closer to 30 by Rebels. She's one of the few Star Wars characters we've seen grow up. Jedi Fallen Order could earn some major points with fans by including Ahsoka, and it would really make us happy if Ashley Eckstein returned to voice her.
About 18 years prior to A New Hope, Ahsoka endures an Imperial occupation that inspires her to become an intelligence agent that redistributes the balance of power back to the people. We see Ahsoka again in Star Wars Rebels as the covert operative known as Fulcrum, but it's still unclear how she went from deciding to spy on the Empire to becoming one of the galaxy's best informants. Jedi Fallen Order could be the perfect way to catch us up to speed.
Ahsoka's early career as Fulcrum could be the creation of a Jedi "underground railroad" that shepherds Jedi who escaped Order 66 into seclusion. It would be a clever way for her to meet the protagonist. If Ahsoka/Fulcrum is a major part of Jedi Fallen Order, she could be the one talking into the protagonist's ear throughout the game and offering hints, tutorials, and mission objectives.
Ahsoka/Fulcrum could easily be the protagonist for Jedi Fallen Order too.
Imperial Inquisitors
Star Wars fans got their first good look at the Empire's Inquisitors in Star Wars Rebels. These Jedi hunters are the result of Vader turning ten Jedi to the dark side. Most beings with a talent for the Force were killed under the Empire's watch, but those who showed an aptitude for channeling their hate were allowed to live to hunt anyone who escaped the Order 66 purge.
A large part of being a Jedi after the events of Order 66 is being consumed by fear. If Respawn wants you to constantly worry about looking over your shoulder or keeping a low profile, introducing an Inquisitor who's hunting the protagonist could be an effective way to do it. The jaunty tune that summons Songbird in BioShock Infinite and echoing footsteps that signals the arrival of the SA-X in Metroid Fusion are still terrifying to this day. Both of those enemies hunted players relentlessly throughout their respected games. Even if the encounters were scripted, you still had no way of knowing when you'd be plunged into another life-or-death chase. Imagine that same unsettling unease permeating every fiber of Jedi Fallen Order.
Because Jedi Fallen Order most likely takes place so close to the end of Revenge of the Sith, it's unlikely we'd see all ten of the monstrous hunters that Vader groomed. However, the Jedi Temple guard who became the first Inquisitor would still prove a terrifying menace, especially if Respawn can get Jason Isaacs to voice him again. And even if we don't fight them all, it would still be absolutely horrifying to be sneaking through an Imperial facility only to stumble upon Vader cutting body parts off and out of the young Inquisitors during their lesson on the meaning of loss.
A True Display Of The Destructive Power Of The Force
The Force has been used by Jedi and Sith alike to perform spectacular feats throughout the Star Wars films. But these moments are nothing more than mere party tricks when compared to the destructive power Galen "Starkiller" Marek has at his disposal in The Force Unleashed. One of the most notable examples is when he uses the Force to rip an Imperial Star Destroyer out of the sky.
Despite their differing ideologies, both the Jedi and Sith preach control over the Force. The Jedi suppress emotion to temper themselves, while the Sith focus their powerful emotions as a conduit. The Force Unleashed showed players what the Force can do when its wielder abandons control. Instead of simply being pushed away, enemies are flung like ragdolls. Force lightning isn't just blocked by lightsabers, it can be infused into the blade. Massive shockwaves, called Force Repulse, destroy almost everything.
The Force connects everything, but that means it can be used to destroy everything too. Marek happened to be particularly adept at doing so, but we've seen Darth Vader and Kylo Ren perform similar feats. We have no idea how powerful the protagonist of Jedi Fallen Order is, but it could be pretty cool to play as a powerful Force user who hasn't mastered how to control the Force yet and brandishes it as a heavy club instead of wielding it like a scalpel.
Coruscant 1313
We only got a glimpse of one of Coruscant's deepest levels in the gameplay trailers for Star Wars: 1313 before the game was canceled. But what we saw offered a side of the city planet that's absent from the movies. Gone are the towering skyscrapers and brilliant lights. In the belly of Coruscant, it's dirty and violent and the only inhabitants are survivors and criminals. There's no law, and firefights are a common occurrence.
Not even a Jedi would dare call attention to themselves by using a lightsaber within such a hotspot of scum and villainy. Despite the risk of fighting without one, a lightsaber creates too much unwanted attention. Considering Coruscant is the center of the Galactic Empire, it's not a place Jedi Fallen Order's protagonist would want to stand out. Level 1313 is a great location to hide out from the authorities, but Palpatine and Vader are close enough to easily respond to rumors of a lightsaber user.
Visiting Coruscant 1313 would be a great mission for Jedi Fallen Order to test the player's ingenuity and creativity. Without the use of a lightsaber, players would need to rely on a blaster and fancy tech to get past enemies, circumnavigate obstacles, or survive deadly traps. Plus, the level would be a nice nod to the Star Wars bounty hunter game we never got to play.
A Nightmarish Darth Vader
The ending to Rogue One is one of the most terrifying scenes in any Star Wars movie. Watching Darth Vader effortlessly swat aside rebel fighters like they're nothing was a clear reminder that the Sith Lord is one of the most feared beings in the galaxy. He might have been evil in the original trilogy, but in Rogue One he was the rebellion's fear given physical form.
In Star Wars, Darth Vader is supposed to be the boogeyman. You never want him to be the one who's sent after you. Unfortunately, we have few examples of how scary Vader can be. He chokes people all the time, but we rarely see him inspire genuine fear in everyone around him. We want to see what it's like for Vader to be hunting his prey.
Vader has had more chances to prove how monstrous he is in Rebels, when his mere presence made Kanan and Ezra feel cold, and again when he fought his former apprentice Ahsoka Tano in one of the most heart-wrenching lightsaber duels in the franchise. It's the sort of face-off we'd like to see more of, especially given that Vader is a bone-chilling monster at this point.
If Jedi Fallen Order would rather go hot than cold, then the game could cover the immediate aftermath of Revenge of the Sith when Vader is wallowing in his sorrow over killing Padme. We imagine Vader would have been especially viscous during this part of his life, as he buries his pain for his dead wife under the bodies of his victims. Imagine facing a Vader like that in Jedi Fallen Order. He'd probably fight like a demented animal with nothing to lose.
A Broken Jedi Order
One of the best aspects of Star Wars The Force Unleashed was witnessing how the surviving Jedi coped with the destruction of their order. Rahm Kota resists the Empire through guerrilla tactics in a desperate bid to draw Darth Vader to him for a final showdown. Kazdan Paratus goes insane and builds a mock Jedi Temple with a council composed of discarded pieces of junk. Shaak Ti, much like her fellow council members Obi-Wan and Yoda, retreats into hiding on an unimportant planet.
The Force Unleashed is no longer canon, but these examples of the Jedi's decay is no less memorable. With a few exceptions, like Qui-Gon and Anakin, the Jedi Order seems mostly uniform in mind and spirit during the prequel trilogy. The Force Unleashed let you see the members of the Jedi Order as individuals who needed to survive on their own. It highlighted just how much the Jedi need to rely on others to survive, as opposed to the Sith who can endure on their own for centuries.
There are no true examples in Disney's recent Star Wars films of Jedi living on their own without friends, family, or any sort of support. Luke Skywalker, who's both broken and ashamed of his failure as a teacher in The Last Jedi, comes close. But he can return to a sister and friends if he wanted to. His exile is his choice, not one brought about by necessity.
To See The Weirder Aspects Of The Force
The Force has been able to pull off some pretty weird stuff in the Star Wars films, like creating ghosts, but that only scratches the surface of what it can do. A vast majority of the stranger parts of the Force come from holocrons, Sith sorcery, and locations where the Force pools together. With the exception of that last one, we haven't seen many of those examples in the films, as most have passed into noncanon.
We have seen a few of these examples reintroduced in The Clone Wars and Rebels though, and it could be cool to see Jedi Fallen Order expand on any one of them. The Clone Wars reintroduced us to The Ones: The Father, a god-like being with unprecedented control over the Force; The Son, the living embodiment of the dark side; and The Daughter, the living embodiment of the light. Perhaps Jedi Fallen Order could touch upon The Servant/The Mother, the mortal woman who became the monstrous Abeloth prior to the events of the prequel trilogy. An immortal shapeshifter with a mastery over both the light and dark sides of the Force, Abeloth's incessant need for companionship has put her into direct conflict with both the Jedi and Sith for centuries. Exploring her lore would make for an excellent collection of side quests.
Rebels reintroduced time travel into the Star Wars canon with the world between worlds, a mystical plane where every moment exists in tandem and Force users can both travel to and change any event from the past or future. The world between worlds has already been used to explain how Ahsoka Tano survived until the events of Return of the Jedi, and could be used as a scapegoat for Respawn to tell an original story. The world between worlds dismisses any inconsistencies in Star Wars lore by separating certain events and characters into different timelines. Even if Respawn chooses not to create a story separate from Disney's Star Wars Universe, we'd love to see the world between worlds used to pull off a time traveling mission similar to Titanfall 2's stellar "Effects and Cause" level.
To See How The Rebellion Came Together
The original creation of the Rebellion was a part of The Force Unleashed. Galen Marek's sacrifice made him a martyr to several freedom fighters, who united under Marek's old family crest. This origin was lost when The Force Unleashed became noncanon.
Even if Jedi Fallen Order primarily takes place during one of the galaxy's darkest moments, there's nothing to suggest the entire game stays in that specific sphere of time. Time skips could place later chapters closer to the events of A New Hope and the start of the Rebel Alliance. Both Rebels and Solo touch on how the Rebellion started as a system of rebel cells that eventually came together, but leaves out what exactly transpired to unite them. Jedi Fallen Order would be a great way for Respawn to tell that story.
No Skywalkers
Most of the canonical Star Wars stories revolve around a Skywalker or someone related to a Skywalker. But the Star Wars universe is vast, and there are plenty of other characters Jedi Fallen Order could focus on.
At the time of Jedi Fallen Order, Luke and Leia are the only Skywalkers. Anakin has been "killed" by Darth Vader. Although it could be a cute Easter egg to toss in a mission or two that puts the protagonist into contact with a young Luke or Leia, the game shouldn't. Leia's story begins in Star Wars Rebels and Luke's arc starts in A New Hope. Jedi Fallen Order shouldn't bend over backwards to show us a toddler Leia running around her palace, or a teenager Luke learning to pilot a speeder. We've got enough Skywalker stories and don't need another.
To Play As A Woman
When Disney erased most of the Star Wars Expanded Universe from the canon, the company wiped out pretty much every notable women who's been a Jedi. Across all three Star Wars trilogies, Rey is the only woman who's earned the title of Jedi and been a main character. Other women, like Shaak Ti and Aayla Secura, were present in the prequel trilogy but pushed to the background and given zero scenes to actually speak.
It's not like women can't be Jedi. Before the Expanded Universe was made noncanon, Han and Leia had twins, one of which was Jaina Solo. She would go on to be one of Luke's greatest students. Jaina's brother would fall in love with Tenel Ka Djo, a princess who rejected her royal title to focus on body building and training as a Jedi. Even losing one of her arms didn't stop her from becoming a formidable warrior, as she rejected a prosthetic arm and developed her own style of combat that incorporated kicks instead of Force pushes. Jedi Knight Etain Tur-Murkan fought for clone trooper rights during the later years of the Clone Wars, even giving her life to protect troopers during the Jedi Purge.
Many women could be reintroduced into Star Wars canon if Jedi Fallen Order were to tweak their backstories. Mara Jade would be perfect. Mara is a fiercely sarcastic and cunning Force-sensitive assassin who vows to avenge the Emperor by killing Luke Skywalker. Eventually she comes around to the light, becomes a Jedi Master, and marries Luke. Though it would make her about 10 years older than how she was originally written, Mara could be the protagonist of Jedi Fallen Order. She was introduced in the same book as Admiral Thrawn, who was recently given a slightly different backstory so he could be a regular antagonist in Rebels. No reason Mara can't undergo the same treatment.
Imagine playing as the young padawan Mara Jade who's slowly corrupted throughout the events of Jedi Fallen Order before becoming an agent to Palpatine in the final moments of the game. Reintroducing her back into the canon would add another level of tragedy to Kylo killing off most of Luke's new Jedi Order as well. Disney wouldn't need to confirm or deny it, but there would always be the lingering question of whether one of the Jedi that Kylo killed was Mara, someone Luke would have been particularly close to.
Explain What The Emperor Wanted With Maul
"Do not worry. I'm not going to kill you. I have other uses for you." These are the last words Palpatine says before maliciously electrocuting Maul in the final season of The Clone Wars animated series. We don't see Maul again until a brief cameo in Solo. He's seen again in Rebels, now free of the Emperor and filled with hatred for the man who was once his master.
According to the Ahsoka Tano novel, Maul fled from the public eye during the confusion of the Jedi purge. Where he went and what he did after that is still a mystery. Palpatine had plans for his former apprentice but it seems like Maul was able to escape before those plans bore fruit. It would be nice to learn what Palpatine had in mind and whether or not he enacted his machinations through someone else.
Viewers were pleasantly surprised when The Clone Wars revealed Maul survived his injuries in A Phantom Menace, and were ecstatic to see the former Sith warrior return in Rebels to engage an elderly Obi-Wan in a old western-style duel on Tatooine. Seeing Maul again, and possibly even facing him, in Jedi Fallen Order would be some stellar fan-service.
Those are the 11 characters, places, and themes we want to see in Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order. Let us know if you've figured out how Jedi Fallen Order could allude to Knights of the Old Republic's Darth Revan, deduced how Respawn can give Jar Jar Binks the heroic death he rightly deserves, or thought of any other Star Wars characters or places that need to be in this game. Comment down below with what you want (or definitely don't want) to see.
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