New Book Reveals Qui-Gon Jinn's Legacy Lived On Outside Of The Jedi Order
While the prequel trilogy is remembered fondly by most of the Star Wars fandom nowadays, there was once a time it was not. Much like the sequel trilogy at the moment, this trilogy also divided fans at the time. However, there were some aspects of it that many enjoyed, namely some of the new characters and the actors portraying them. Ewan McGregor is easily the most famous with his performance as Obi-Wan Kenobi. He is usually classed as “the best” thing to come from the prequels, but another fan favorite character is his master Qui-Gon Jinn.
Portrayed by the hugely talented Liam Neeson, Qui-Gon Jinn was said to be an extremely wise and powerful character. Sadly he did not make it to the end as he was struck down by the villainous Darth Maul. Jinn’s apprentice Kenobi then took out the newly revealed Sith (or so we believed at the time) a few moments later. An upcoming book by author E. K. Johnston Star Wars: Queen’s Hope will reveal that Qui-Gon Jinn had a shrine built in his honor on the planet Naboo following his demise.
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After the events of Phantom Menace, the character of Qui-Gon Jinn seemed all but forgotten, save for some mentions here and there. However, E. K. Johnston’s book tells us that a shrine was built on the planet Naboo to honor the late warrior after his death. Star Wars: Queen’s Hope, the third and last installment in Johnston’s series focusing on Padme Amidala, will be released on April 5, 2022.
Johnston has described herself as a fan since she was 15 years old, and decided to build a trilogy of books focusing on Padme’s early life, right through to her marriage with Anakin Skywalker (which we see at the end of Attack of the Clones). These years are extremely important in the young queen turned senator’s life.
We obviously know how Padme’s story tragically ends, but despite having a lot of screen time in The Clone Wars television show, we have not seen much from her perspective, and very little about how she handled keeping her marriage to Anakin a secret. This novel is set to focus on the early stages of said marriage and Johnston herself gave fans a little teaser on StarWars.com on what the book will cover. This snippet follows the hours before her and Anakin’s secret wedding, and states that Anakin went to visit a shrine of the late Jedi Master on Naboo beforehand. Check it out below:
“There was a shrine to Qui-Gon Jinn’s memory on Naboo. Ten years had passed, but it was still a popular pilgrimage site. It wasn’t the right time of year for memorials, so when Anakin commandeered the house speeder and went out to see it that morning, it was mostly deserted.”
For me, personally, Qui-Gon was one of my favorite characters from the prequel trilogy and while his death made sense from a story-telling perspective, I always felt he got done dirty a little. He does show up again in The Clone Wars show, revealing that he learned to become one with the Force, and even taught Yoda and Obi-Wan how to also achieve this power. While we did eventually see the continuation of his character, but apart from this instance, his sacrifice seemed to be all but forgotten until now. The fact that a shrine was erected to him on the planet of Naboo shows that those who lived there did not forget what he did for them, and how he helped end the blockade put in place by the dastardly Trade Federation.
Thanks to some of the recent Star Wars content being made and released recently, the prequels and their characters have seen somewhat of a rejuvenation. McGregor is back as Obi-Wan in his own show. Hayden Christensen will also once again be taking up the role of Anakin Skywalker alongside McGregor, and also alongside Rosario Dawson in the Ahsoka show as well.
Despite many, many circulating rumors that Neeson would reprise the role of Jinn in the Kenobi show (which I think makes perfect sense and I am 100% behind), it does not seem very likely. Thus, it is really nice to see new media being released in other formats, which gives the famous Jedi some of the recognition he definitely deserves.
Until next time!
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Source(s): Screen Rant