A hero is defined by his villain, and the protagonists of Star Wars aren’t exactly short of dark side opponents. From Darth Maul to the Emperor himself, there’s an entire dark side of villains who have fought the Jedi and their allies. In Star Wars Rebels, the newest menace is none other than the Inquisitor, a dark side hunter who tracks down remnants of the Jedi order. But is he actually necessary?
According to Star Wars Rebels producer Dave Filoni, of course he is. So what makes the Inquisitor a necessary tool of the Empire, considering that whole rule of two thing that the Sith are keen on enforcing within their ranks? Speaking to Slashfilm, Filoni explained that while Vader was also possibly hunting down Jedi and slaughtering them, the Inquisitor would be the better tracker of the two.
“But it was reasonable to believe that, looking at a galaxy, there were 10,000 Jedi in The Clone Wars. That number’s been diminished. How do you find them? Where do you find them? I’m sure Vader is involved in hunting down Jedi all the time,” Filoni said.
I’m sure that right after the Clone War, when the remnants are very visible and the Jedi are all trying to figure out what happened, that he was luring them into traps and wiping them out several at a time. At the point we are, so many years later, they are so few and far between that I don’t think he would follow up every lead. Because one of the things that’s muddled the whole operation, in my mind, is kids being born that can use the Force.
The Emperor and Vader don’t really want them around either. But they’re so unnoticeable, you needed a group of hunters, attack dogs. And so we have an Inquisitor that goes out and hunts these guys down. Now if he was to hunt a guy down, let’s say he’s somewhere on Tatooine and he runs into Obi-Wan Kenobi, probably the Inquisitor won’t survive that. But if he did, he would call Vader up and go “You better get out here.”
“This is a Master. This is somebody significant,” right. So I have to believe that, as it went along, Vader got entrusted with more and more important missions, hunting down those stolen data plans. Stuff like that. And the Inquisitor is left to be this kind of hunting dog. He finds you, he analyzes you, even by fighting against them, saber to saber, he’s learning about you. Who taught you, where you came from, how old you are. Sometimes what your name is. Because they have all the records and he’s meticulously studied them. So, you know, he can break down pretty quickly who Kanan is just by fighting him in a lightsaber fight.
Makes sense. In terms of raw power and skill in the Force, Vader is one of the top dogs in the Empire, second only to the Emperor. And why send a tank to kill a puppy, when a cobra is more effective and subtle? Terrible analogy aside, the Inquisitor does what Vader can’t due to his role as the very public enforcer of the Emperor’s will. Which makes for an interesting character.
Hopefully, the Emperor kept Darth Maul around as well, after the former apprentice had one final duel with his master during the Clone Wars series.
Last Updated: August 7, 2014
