Respawn Entertainment's Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was a resounding success from the period in which Electronic Arts held exclusive video game publishing rights to the iconic franchise. Releasing in 2019, Fallen Order tells a deeply personal tale about protagonist Cal Kestis without sacrificing the ensemble aspect that has become deeply ingrained in Star Wars stories. Buoyed by tight combat mechanics and littered with platforming sections and puzzles, Fallen Order is the most tightly packed single-player Star Wars game in years, and its planet-hopping narrative - despite the satisfying conclusion - left plenty of open threads for the upcoming sequel.
In Jedi: Fallen Order, players step into Cal's corner of the galaxy as he's in hiding, five years removed from the Great Jedi Purge orchestrated by the newly anointed Emperor Palpatine. Players get their first taste of Fallen Order's lightsaber combat after Cal uses his Force powers to save a friend's life while working as a starship scrapper on Bracca, prompting the Empire's Stormtroopers to investigate. Cal narrowly escapes an encounter with Imperial Inquisitors, the Second Sister and the Ninth Sister, and leaves Bracca aboard the Stinger Mantis with Cere Junda and Greez Dritus.
Cere also survived the Great Jedi Purge, but has since severed her connection with the Force. Nevertheless, she and Greez are on a secret mission to restore the Jedi Order, telling Cal they are searching for the legacy of Jedi Master Eno Cordova. The trio travels to Bogano, where Cal meets Star Wars droid companion BD-1 and learns from a projection of Cordova that there exists a Holocron containing the whereabouts of Force-sensitive children throughout the galaxy. Much of Fallen Order is then spent searching various planets for ruins of an ancient civilization known as the Zeffo, in which Cordova says lies the means to open the vault on Bogano and obtain the Holocron.
Cal Kestis' Jedi Master Was Killed During Order 66
Five years removed from being a Padawan under Jedi Master Jaro Tapal, Cal's connection to the Force has been greatly subdued. In the game's mechanics, this translates to character progression through learning new Force powers and combat abilities, but it's also a major emphasis in the game's story. Cal possesses a unique ability called Force Echo, which lets him see the history of an object or place by interacting with it. Certain Echoes reconnect Cal to the Force, but numerous flashbacks to the Clone Wars eventually reveal the traumatic final hours with Tapal, when he became a victim of Order 66 aboard the Albedo Brave, a Venator-class Star Destroyer Tapal commanded. Tapal's double-bladed lightsaber was split in two during the Clones' betrayal, and one working half was gifted to Cal just before Tapal died in their escape pod.
Cal Combines Jaro Tapal's & Cere Junda's Lightsabers
Cal held onto the working half of Tapal's lightsaber for the five years he hid on Bracca, and would eventually repair the weapon, restoring its double-bladed capability. However, a particularly potent vision later manifested on Dathomir, pitting Cal against his deceased master, resulting in the lightsaber's kyber crystal becoming damaged. This incident prompts the Stinger Mantis crew to travel to Ilum so a new crystal can be retrieved. Cere offers her old lightsaber to be combined with the remnants of Tapal's, making Cal's canonical lightsaber in Fallen Order somewhat unique among Jedi, able to be split in the center of the hilt and wielded as two separate blades. Cal constructing a new lightsaber is a major symbolic milestone in the story, with the weapon embodying the teachings of both Cere and Tapal, and marking something of a rebirth for Cal as a Jedi.
Merrin Was Manipulated By Dark Jedi Taron Malicos
Following Cal and BD-1, the fifth member of the Stinger Mantis' crew at the end of Fallen Order is Merrin, a Nightsister from Dathomir. Merrin is one of the few survivors of the Battle of Dathomir, in which General Grievous massacred the native Nightsisters. Roughly a year later, during Order 66, Jedi Master Taron Malicos was betrayed by his Clone Troopers but managed to escape, crash landing on Dathomir. Malicos soon usurped the leader of the Nightbrothers, ruling them with his mastery of the Force, before turning his ambitions toward Merrin's dark side-fueled Nightsister magick, powers born from the Dathomir's innate connection to the Force.
Being steeped in the darks side, Dathomir corrupted Malicos, and he preyed on Merrin's naïveté to convince her that it was actually the Jedi who slaughtered the Nightsisters. By the time Cal arrives the relationship between Merrin and Malicos is already strained, with the former realizing that the latter has been manipulating her in an effort to further his own power. During Cal's second visit to the planet, he tells Merrin the truth about the Battle of Dathomir, and the two join forces against Malicos. After defeating the fallen Jedi, Cal and Merrin retrieve the Astrium, the key to the vault on Bogano, and Merrin joins the crew of the Stinger Mantis.
Cere's Apprentice Became An Imperial Inquisitor
As the Stinger Mantis is hunted throughout Fallen Order, Cere's connection to Star Wars' Imperial Inquisitors is slowly revealed. Following Order 66, Cere, her Padawan Trilla Suduri, and a group of Younglings were hiding from the Empire. Cere was eventually captured and taken to Fortress Inquisitorius, where she resisted torture until Darth Vader became personally involved. Cere was eventually broken and Trilla was then captured, likewise being tortured into succumbing to the dark side and becoming an Inquisitor, the Second Sister. Cere's failure at protecting her apprentice eventually drove her to tap into the dark side in order to escape, killing many in the process. Following this brush with the dark side, Cere severed her connection to the Force and eventually joined Greez on the Stinger Mantis.
Fallen Order Spoilers - Darth Vader Kills Trilla & Confronts Cal
Trilla faithfully served Darth Vader as an Inquisitor for years, and eventually stole Eno Cordova's Holocron just as Cal had retrieved it from the Bogano vault. The Stinger Mantis crew then infiltrates Fortress Inquisitorius on Nur, an oceanic moon in the Mustafar system. Cal and Cere track down the Holocron and Cal has one final duel against Trilla, eventually besting her. Cere convinces her former apprentice to renounce the dark side - a redemption witnessed by Lord Vader, who strikes down Trilla, easily tosses Cere aside, and confronts Cal. Vader is far too powerful, with Cal, Cere, and BD-1 barely escaping by flooding a portion of the fortress. Once back on board the Stinger Mantis after being pulled out of the ocean by Merrin, Cal decides that the children cataloged in the Holocron are in danger because of the Holocron's very existence. At the very end of Jedi: Fallen Order, Cal destroys the Holocron, leaving the children's fates in the hands of the Force.