archived

Billaba, Kenobi, Ti, Koon, Skywalker, Tano, Secura or no last name at all. If the Jedi are adopting children as young as a year old, these children already have names, and they keep them.

Could the Order be renaming children when they take them in? Of course, but if the Order wanted to enforce total conformity and removal from society, they would assign last names by the clan/youngling group the children are raised in or have lingeage-identifying names taken when someone becomes a padawan. Or have a strict mononym rule. But they don’t. (A lot of monastic traditions ask their members to pick new names as a symbol of their starting a new life. This is no knock against them; I’m talking exclusively about the narrative and thematic context of this particular space fantasy world.)

Anakin doesn’t get a new name until Sidious strips him of it and his identity, and he is THE outlier for the Jedi. If his keeping his name was unusual, we would know. Ahsoka is a toddler when Plo Koon comes for her, so if she was called something else before Ahsoka, we would probably know that after 7 seasons and a couple books.

Names are also hugely thematically important in Star Wars. “I’m a person, and my name is Anakin,” carries us to Luke saying, “It is the name of your true self. You’ve only forgotten.” Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, and Caleb shed their old names to become Ben and Fulcrum and Kanan in a hostile new world. The clones name themselves to assert their unique identities and personhood (which Sidious, again, takes away from them in a horrific theft). In TCW, the Jedi honor that by calling the clones by their chosen names instead of their numbers. Because it matters.

The Sith and people like them (the Kaminoans, Pong Krell, the Empire) take away names and identities from everyone. Saying “I am a person, and this is my story” is antithetical to the crushing obedience the Sith require to stay in power. If we were meant to see the Jedi as an oppressive institution who deserved what they got, there would be no individuality allowed.

It isn’t that Jedi are cradle-robbing cultists who strip away memory and identity until nothing is left but a mindless pawn;

it’s that they’re aware that with their great power comes great responsibility and that these literal babies need the best start they can get in a galaxy that WOULD, ACTUALLY, seek to strip them of everything aside from their power and use them as mindless pawns, so they try to habituate them in a culture where these growing children can learn about themselves in a way that allows them safety (force powers might be dangerous for bbies!), guidance (nursery-keeper Jedi! taking CARE of the children! Yoda teaches the little ones!!! how loving and caring and nurturing!!!), loving community (with their classes), and a lack of CO-DEPENDENT attachment to one’s home/primary people. Wholesome attachment for Jedi is okay. It’s the co-dependent, fearful stuff that Yoda warns against.

In fact, in a sense, you can read the council’s initial concern re: Anakin entering the order as concern over whether or not the kid got the right kind of nurturing during his formative years to allow him to cultivate healthy bonds born out of free will, freedom, love, and a sense of INNER security in the force, that the temple would no doubt try to teach, as opposed to trauma bonds/co-dependent bonds based on survival of the fittest, violence, fear, etc. Which is actually what we see later – Anakin resists all help healing his inner woundedness (Yoda’s advice to let go of what he fears to lose is actually really good, since Anakin, nor sidious, nor none of the Jedi are truly omnipotent or omniscient) and as a result he lashes out with a relative stranger (Palpatine) trying to fix a problem all by himself instead of surrendering his fears like a child in the safety of a caring and capable parent, to the love and protection of the order (Yoda, Obi, Mace, whomever else within the order could’ve helped him). 

the Jedi Temple alone as a semi-seculded place shown to have many rooms and facilities, reflection waters, gardens (seen in some of TCW show, the Jedi Padawan series, etc) shows a very nurturing environment for Jedi youth that not only encourages a connection with their homes, cultures, and families, but that also encourages healthy indepdence and innovation, individuality within the Good – the Jedi are aware that people are not pawns and the Jedi is a person, not a “power”. It’s the sith that try to strip them of their identity, and turn them into a living, mindless, weapon.

as a matter of fact the Jedi probably have great childcare and formative year care as well as a very nurturing tone; no wonder the characters keep talking about how they’re keepers of the peace, not soldiers.

- Jedi wear very different outfits and seem free to choose them. Obi-Wan has traditional tunics when Ahsoka is likely dressed like a typical Coruscanti teenager (she’s clearly picking her own wardrobe, since she keeps wearing her movie outfit even after becoming Anakin’s Padawan), Luminara and Barriss have dresses and head coverings from their homeworld, Shaak Ti wears a (jewelled) headdress from her own people as well as an elaborate dress, Anakin gets to wear dark colors without anyone criticising him for it and Aayla’s clothes are the furthest thing from monastic. Even the younglings (aka, the tiny kiddos, not even Padawans) get to wear very different tunics in their TCW arc. 

- Jedi are allowed traditional tattoos or symbols. Luminara and Barriss have Mirialans tattoos, Quinlan is covered in yellow markings (since he’s a Kiffar), Depa has Chalactan piercings, and the Grand Inquisitor had, like most Pau’ans, very faint red tattoos under his eyes when he was still a Jedi - according to Kanan’s vision at least 

- Jedi have different accents. See Obi-Wan, Aayla Secura, Shaak Ti, Even Piell, Kit Fisto, Eeth Koth, Rig Nema, Yoda… Many of them sound like Basic isn’t their first language, which indicates that Basic isn’t the only language spoken in the Temple, and that it’s not forced upon younglings - and seeing as Gungi the Wookiee kid only speaks Shyriiwook, and Byph (one of the other younglings) doesn’t wear a vocal emulator like we’ve seen some members of his species (Ithorians) do, this is 100% solid canon and not speculation. 

- They have a droid teaching lightsaber construction, indicating that they aren’t a bunch of stuck up luddites with superiority complexes over non-organics. They even call it Master. 

- Jedi have very different lightsabers (design and color wise, although the crystal itself determines the color), and Padawans are obviously allowed to pursue the technique that suits them best (see Ahsoka.) Krell has two double-bladed staffs, Yoda has a tiny saber, Ahsoka has a shoto blade and she holds both of her sabers in reverse grip, we see curved hilts, etc. 

- The High Council has basically ten different species represented in it at any given time in canon, you can check. Seeing as there are only twelve members, that’s a huge deal. The Senate, in comparison, is far less diversity-oriented (see Naboo, whose indigenous species only get a “representative” when the human population has had senators for hundreds of years now - also see the CIS, who are, strangely enough, mostly non-human systems. Almost as if the Republic has a problem later reflected by the highly xenophobic Empire, a problem entirely absent in the Jedi Order.) There are also tons of examples of cross-species apprenticeships (Anakin-Ahsoka, Quinlan-Aayla, Kit-Nahdar, Yoda-Dooku, to name a few), and in contrast Mirialans only seem to take Mirialans, in keeping with their customs. Almost as if diversity was encouraged but boundaries were respected. Hmm. 

you’re pushing me into the corner –                                                                𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦 !