'Star Wars' Finally Reveals Why The Jedi Take Younglings
The Jedi Order were the guardians of the Republic for generations before the rise of the Empire. Force-sensitive beings from across the galaxy were trained from an extremely young age, and apprenticed to an older, more experienced Jedi, before completing their training and being elevated to Knighthood. The Jedi Council claimed that taking a youngling away from their family was essential in preventing attachments that would be a hindrance to their Jedi training and could be a temptation to the dark side.
It didn't take long, however, for the Jedi to develop a negative reputation among many in the galaxy for this practice. While the idea of taking younglings may come across as barbaric and was, in many cases, archaic by the time of the Clone War, it has been revealed in a recent comic run that the Jedi had a reason beyond avoiding attachments for taking younglings away from their families.
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While many families were proud to have their children leave their homeworlds behind to serve the Jedi and the Republic, a good number of them understandably shied away from the thought of surrendering their young ones. This conflict can be seen in the Season 2 finale of The Mandalorian as Din Djarin must say an emotional goodbye to his adopted son, Grogu. While the scene is heart-wrenching, Din knows that Grogu is best served by going with Jedi Master Luke Skywalker to begin his Jedi training and learn to master his abilities. Not every parent in the galaxy felt the same way as Din, however, nor did every child. Anakin Skywalker was forever haunted by leaving his mother, Shmi, behind on Tatooine where she was killed by Tusken Raiders, causing Anakin to take his first steps down a dark path when he slaughtered the entire village in revenge.
Avoiding attachments and temptation by the dark side were not the Jedi's only motivations for removing children from their homes, however. In Star Wars: Trail of Shadows #1 fans learn that the Jedi began taking children to the Jedi Temple for their own protection from terrible beasts that prey on midi-chlorians. The authors of Trail of Shadows #1, Daniel Jose Older and David Wachte, took inspiration from the Black Plague and the old nursery rhyme Ring Around The Rosie and incorporated a warning into a simple poem. Where this Earth-bound nursery rhyme describes the dangers of the Bubonic Plague, the nursery rhymes of the Star Wars universe warn of a predator that hungers for the blood of those strong in the Force. The chilling poem reads:
They'll do what they can
And they'll do what they must
But when they do find you all you'll be is...
Dust."
Fans of the Expanded Universe will remember the fearsome terentatek, predators that fed off the blood of Force-sensitive beings. These creatures stalked the forests of some of the galaxies wilder planets, including Kashyyyk and Yavin 4. Luke Skywalker himself described these Jedi-hunters as "fearsome and deadly". Deesra Luur Jada, Chronicler of the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine, correctly asserted that "the terentatek is a predator, and we Jedi are it's prey."
Terentatek on the hunt
Some hypothesize that these animals were weapons, created by the Sith millennia ago to let loose on the galaxy, killing Jedi and consuming younglings who would have bolstered the ranks of the Army of Light. Others believe that the terentatek were once rancors who were twisted and mutated by the dark side, much like the origin story of orcs in J.R.R. Tolkien's works. While it is not yet confirmed that the rhyme in Trail of Shadows describes a terentatek, this creature is certainly the precedent for Force feeding predators and would prove to be a deadly adversary for any Jedi who dared to tangle with one.
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Source: Screen Rant
