The execution of Order 66 was arguably one of the most heartrending moments within the Star Wars prequels. Watching the Jedi be gunned down by the men they trusted and served with for years during the Clone Wars was a punch to the gut. Those scenes are especially painful when revisited after watching the entirety of the animated series, The Clone Wars. Over the course of six seasons, fans watched the Jedi form close bonds with the clones, sharing moments of loss, levity, and camaraderie with their fellow soldiers. But all those moments were tossed in the trash compactor the moment Palpatine uttered the words, “Execute Order 66.”

Everyone knows that Yoda and Obi-Wan managed to make it through the Great Jedi Purge relatively unscathed, but there was a whole host of Jedi who survived Palpatine’s orders to kill all the Light Side Force users, both in and outside of canon. A quick look at some of the books and games that are now grouped under the Star Wars Legends continuity shows that a surprising amount of Jedi survived the Purge – enough to form a small army. Many of these Jedi were dispersed across the galaxy, either too afraid to reveal their true identities, believing themselves to be the last of the Jedi, or doing what good they could in their little corners of space.

Here are 15 Jedi You Had No Idea Made It Through Order 66.

Kanan Jarrus

Born Caleb Dume, the then young Padawan changed his name to Kanan Jarrus shortly after the Jedi Purge to elude the Empire’s forces. Towards the end of the Clone Wars, Caleb and his Master, Depa Billaba, were fighting Republic forces on Kaller along with a battalion of clone troopers. Palpatine issued Order 66 just as Caleb and his Master were sharing a moment of camaraderie with the clones. As Order 66 went into effect, Depa quickly took action, dispatching several clones. Desperate to save her Padawan, she lied to Caleb, telling him to run off ahead and that she would be right behind him, only to die moments later.

After escaping Order 66, Caleb joined up with Kasmir, a smuggler who took the lost Padawan in. He stayed with Kasmir for some time, learning from the smuggler, until he went off on his own, taking odd jobs as a pilot, bounty hunter, ranger, and a bartender. While flying a transport ship for a mining colony, now going by the name Kanan Jarrus, the Jedi met Captain Hera Syndulla, the Ghost captain and fellow Rebel.

Rahm Kota

Despite being a general during the Clone Wars, Rahm Kota refused to command clone troopers, believing them to be unfit for battle. Instead, Rahm chose to create his own militia comprised entirely of volunteers. When Order 66 was initiated, there were no clones around to ruthlessly shoot him in the back.

Like many other Jedi, Rahm went into hiding, but he and his militia began targeting key Imperial figures, like Darth Vader. In The Force Unleashed game, Rahm attempted to lure Vader into a trap, but instead was confronted by the Sith Lord’s apprentice, Starkiller, formerly known as Galen Marek. While he survived the duel against Vader’s powerful apprentice, the battle left him blind.

The next time Rahm encountered Starkiller, they began to organize a rebellion against the Empire. Although Starkiller was initially working under Vader’s orders, he eventually turned on his Master and gave his life to save Rahm and the cause. In the Legends continuity, Rahm, along with Starkiller, Bail Organa, Princess Leia, Garm Bel Iblis, and Mon Mothma, founded the Rebel Alliance, and Rahm continued to play a key role in the fight against the Empire.

Kento and Mallie Marek

Kento Marek

Kento and Mallie Marek were Jedi Knights who served during the Clone Wars. The two met at the Order and promptly developed romantic feelings for one another. Since the Jedi Code forbade its members from forming attachments, the couple deserted the other Jedi and got married. This act ultimately saved their lives when Order 66 went down. Once they heard that the Jedi had been branded traitors and were being executed, Kento and Mallie fled to Kashyyyk, where they hid from the Emperor.

During their time on Kashyyyk, the couple had a baby boy, Galen, who would eventually become Starkiller, Vader’s secret apprentice. The family lived in relative peace on Kashyyyk for some time, until a group of Trandoshan slavers arrived on the planet and attempted to enslave the Wookiees. Mallie fought alongside the Wookiees against the invaders, convincing Kento to take their son to safety as she dealt with the slavers.

Despite her valiant efforts, she was killed, and Kento had to raise Galen on his own. Some time later, at the start of The Force Unleashed, Vader launched an attack against Kashyyyk, where he found Kento and his Force-sensitive son. The Sith Lord murdered Kento in front of his son and took the young boy as his apprentice.

Jax Pavan

Jax Pavan was the central character in several Expanded Universe titles, including the Coruscant Nights trilogy and The Last Jedi. During his early days at the Jedi Academy, he became friends with Anakin Skywalker, or, as he put it, "as close to friends as one could get with Anakin Skywalker." Anakin even gave him a pyronium crystal as a gift. Long after the Purge, Jax still held on to the crystal, along with a holocron from Yoda and a crystal from Dantooine.

While his whereabouts during Order 66 are unclear, Jax changed his look and became a private investigator to avoid the Empire and Darth Vader, who (for reasons that eluded Jax) had taken a keen interest in tracking him down. When Vader confronted him and demanded Jax return the crystal to him, Jax realized why Vader -- or rather why his former friend Anakin -- was determined to find him.

Like many other Jedi who survived the Purge, Jax did what he could to help those in need. He joined Whiplash, a movement on Coruscant that helped smuggle Jedi and other refugees to planets outside of the Empire’s reach.  

K'Kruhk

Along with Master Yoda, K'Kruhk was one of the oldest surviving Jedi in the Order. He lived through the rise and fall of the Empire and the rise of the New Republic, making him over a century and a half old.

En route to Coruscant, K'Kruhk and some younglings stopped at the Bodgen Jedi Training Facility. The Separatist attack on Coruscant at the start of Revenge of the Sith had just taken place, and Yoda instructed K'Kruhk to keep the Younglings at the facility for the time being.

K'Kruhk was engaged in a conversation with a clone, divulging that he would rather help teach younglings than have to charge into senseless battle yet again, when Palpatine issued Order 66. K'Kruhk didn’t waste a second, slashing the trooper he was confiding in moments ago in half. The Jedi was unable to save all the younglings, but with the help and sacrifice of Jedi Master Sian Jeisel, K'Kruhk was able to get on his ship and take the surviving kiddies to safety.

Shaak Ti

Shaak Ti in Star Wars The Clone Wars

Shaak Ti was a Jedi General who supervised the training of clone troopers during the Clone Wars. Her canonical death is still up in the air, as her character was killed twice in two different deleted scenes in Revenge of the Sith. In one of her death scenes, she dies at the hands of General Grievous as Anakin and Obi-Wan helplessly look on. In another, she’s killed by Darth Vader while she’s meditating at the Temple. She was also seen being stabbed in the back by a lightsaber in one of Yoda’s visions in The Clone Wars.

However, at least in the Legends continuity, Shaak Ti survived Order 66. She managed to help several Jedi escape the Temple before making her own exit. She made her way to the planet Felucia, where she began to train Padawan Maris Brood and the Force-sensitive people of Felucia in the ways of the Force. She met her end in The Force Unleashed, when Vader’s apprentice, Starkiller, attacked her.

Ferus Olin

Ferus Olin was a Padawan who studied at the Temple alongside Anakin Skywalker. The two Padawans often found themselves at odds, as Olin was a stickler for the rules and Anakin, clearly, was not. Olin resigned from the Jedi Order when he believed he had inadvertently caused the death of a fellow Padawan during a mission on Korriban. The truth was that Anakin was the one who was inadvertently responsible for the Padawan’s death, but Olin left the Order regardless.

While he was no longer part of the Order, Olin still took part in the Clone Wars. He enlisted in the Grand Army of the Republic and served as an officer. When Palpatine issued the order to kill all the Jedi, Olin slipped the Empire’s notice, as he was no longer a Jedi.

Maris Brood

Maris Brood Guard Shoto

Brood was training aboard the mobile Jedi Academy Gray Pilgrim when Order 66 went into effect. Since there were no clone troopers serving aboard the Gray Pilgrim, she and her Master survived the initial stage of the Purge.

Feeling a massive disturbance in the Force immediately after Order 66, Brood’s Master set out to uncover more information about what had transpired. Brood’s Master never returned, but he did manage to warn Brood about what had befallen the Jedi and Darth Vader’s role in their demise. The news set Brood on a quick path to the Dark Side, as she set her sights on revenge for her fallen friends.

Fortunately, she was found by Jedi Master Shaak Ti, who took Brood under her tutelage and began retraining her in the Jedi ways.

Kazdan Paratus

Kazdan Paratus was a Jedi Master during the Clone Wars. Although he lacked the physical prowess of many of his fellow Jedi, Paratus was especially skilled in building machines and droids with the Force. While at the Temple, he crafted medical and training droids that were used at the Academy by Padawans and other Jedi.

Like many of his fellow Jedi, Paratus was at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant when Palpatine issued Order 66. Instead of staying behind to help his comrades like many other Jedi, Paratus had a breakdown and fled the Temple to save his own life.

He settled on the planet Raxus Prime, where his guilt for leaving his friends behind slowly consumed him and drove him mad. He spent his time building a replica of the Jedi Temple out of trash – he even built little puppets that looked like his fellow Jedi Council members. When Darth Vader sent his apprentice, Starkiller, to kill the former Jedi Master, Paratus manipulated the puppets to fight Starkiller, and helplessly watched as each one of them perished before, ultimately, meeting his own end.

Tholme

Jedi Master Tholme was the Jedi Watchman for the Kiffu sector. Jedi Watchmen were assigned to one system or sector and tasked with maintaining diplomatic relations and finding Force-sensitive children in their designated area. After finding a young, Force-sensitive Quinlan Vos, Tholme gave up his post in favor of training Vos as his Padawan.

In his fight against the Separatists and the secretive Sith Lord, Tholme enlisted Vos in a scheme to penetrate Count Dooku’s inner circle. Though there were a few minor hiccups, like Vos falling to the Dark Side for a spell, they gained some useful information, including some intel that pointed to the real Sith Lord, Palpatine. Unfortunately, the Clone Wars escalated before they could investigate further. Soon after, Palpatine issued Order 66, but luckily, Tholme was nowhere near any clones when they began to turn. He, along with a fellow Jedi and Vos’ lover, fled to Kashyyyk, where he reunited with his former Apprentice.

The Jedi from the Conclave on Kessel

The Conclave on Kessel was a meeting of eight Jedi who survived Order 66. The meeting was organized by Shadday Potkin, a Jedi Master who wanted to lure Darth Vader into a trap to kill him. She had learned that Vader was desperate to catch Obi-Wan Kenobi, so she spread the word that the former Jedi Master was on Kessel.  

Unfortunately for her fellow Jedi, Podkin failed to tell them that the meeting was a trap for the Sith Lord. Potkin called the meeting under the pretense of discussing what the future of the Jedi should entail and, mid-conversation, Vader appeared and demanded to know the whereabouts of Obi-Wan Kenobi. While the Jedi did their best to fight off Vader, when they failed to produce Anakin’s former Master, Vader massacred all eight of them.

A'Sharad Hett

A'Sharad Hett was a Tatooine native who was raised in the ways of the Tusken Raiders by his ex-Jedi father, Sharad Hett. He joined the Order after his father was killed by the assassin Aurra Sing, eventually obtaining the rank of Jedi Master. Hett was on a scouting mission when Order 66 was issued. He managed to kill all of the clones who attempted to execute him, save for one, which he kept alive to interrogate. Feeling a great disturbance in the Force, Hett believed that he was the sole survivor of the Purge and returned to Tatooine with the intention to live out the rest of his days as a Tusken Raider.

However, darkness consumed him, and although he hadn’t fully fallen to the Dark Side, he became a warlord and, along with his fellow Tusken Raiders, he ravaged moisture farms across Tatooine. His assaults continued until he strayed too close to the Lars homestead, where he was confronted and promptly defeated by Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Exiled by the Tusken Raiders, Hett’s descent to the Dark Side continued, and he eventually took the name Darth Krayt.

Quinlan Vos

Quinlan Vos making two fists in Star Wars The Clone Wars

Quinlan Vos was a Jedi Master during the Clone Wars. He was once the Padawan learner of Jedi Master Tholme and was thought to be a little more reckless and unconventional than most other Jedi. In the Star Wars canon, Vos’s fate after Order 66 remains unknown, but in the Legends continuity, Vos barely survived Palpatine’s execution order. He was fighting at the Battle of Kashyyyk when the clones turned on the Jedi.

Vos was standing atop an assault vehicle when a neighboring tank shot at him and caused a massive explosion. Vos was badly hurt, but was saved thanks to the fast thinking of bounty hunter Vilmarh Grahrk. He constructed a Jedi funeral pyre and told a nearby troop of clones that he had killed the Jedi himself. In truth, he had helped Vos escape Kashyyyk, who returned to the planet once his wounds had healed. Upon his return, the Jedi Master was reunited with his wife and his newborn child.

The Grand Inquisitor

The Grand Inquisitor in Rebels.

In Season 2 of Star Wars Rebels, Kanan learns that the Grand Inquisitor, the leader of the Emperor’s Inquisitors tasked with finding and eliminating all Jedi who survived the Purge, used to be a Jedi. Not only was he a Jedi, but he was a Jedi Temple Guard, a man tasked with protecting the Jedi Temple on Coruscant.

We have yet to learn how the Jedi who became the Grand Inquisitor survived Order 66, but one possible explanation could be that he swore his allegiance to the Emperor and, as a result, his life was spared. By the end of the Clone Wars, many Jedi had become disillusioned by the war and no longer knew what they were fighting for. As a Temple Guard, the Grand Inquisitor would have witnessed much of the Jedi’s weariness, and like many other Jedi, may have believed the Order lost their way. This could have led to his eventual fall to the Dark Side.

Ahsoka Tano

Star Wars Rebels: Ahsoka Tano With Her White Lightsabers

While Ahsoka Tano stubbornly proclaims that she is no Jedi in Season 2 of Star Wars Rebels, she still adheres to many of the tenets of the Jedi Order. Even though Ahsoka had left the Order, she was still fighting for the Republic when Order 66 went into effect. She and Commander Rex, along with an army of clone troopers, were fighting on Mandalore, where they had just managed to lure Darth Maul into a trap. Before Ahsoka could bring Maul in, Palpatine issued the execution order, and all the clones, save for Rex, turned on Ahsoka.

She and Rex fled and managed to escape the clones by faking their own deaths. Thinking quickly, Ahsoka made a makeshift grave for Rex and planted her lightsabers in the grave’s dirt, the implication being that Rex had died killing Ahsoka. The two friends went their separate ways, only to reunite years later with the help of the Ghost crew.

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Which surviving Jedi do you think should have made the cut? Let us know in the comments!