It still makes no sense for the Jedi to be forgotten in the same time. Han Solo, a traveling pilot who is older than the Empire, speaks of the famous galaxy wide peacekeepers like they’re a fairy tale.
During the height of the Jedi Order, there were about 10,000 Jedi across the galaxy.
In a galaxy whose population measures about 400 quadrillion (number is an estimate, pulled from some nerds on StackExchange), yeah, the Jedi may as well be a fairy tale. Your probability of actually meeting one, if you aren’t doing something big and evil that requires direct Jedi intervention, is astronomically low.
Little skulblaka in backwater USA knew about dragons, but I had never seen one before or successfully convinced anyone that they were real despite a wealth of unrelated cultural works depicting them.
If I were asked to make up some numbers about it, I’d expect that maybe 60% of the galaxy had probably heard of a Jedi before. But none of them had ever seen one or met one. Nor had anybody they knew, or anybody those people knew.
People like Han Solo who frequently travel between planets and systems would probably be more likely to run into someone who had actually had dealings with a Jedi before. But also, maybe not. Han mostly runs with lowlifes, while Jedi usually interact with major story protagonists and/or antagonists, government officials and Sith and the like.
So it’s entirely possible that ‘everybody’ knew about the story of the Jedi, but they were so rare that most systems would go generations without ever interacting with one. Unless that system was involved with the Sith directly, in which case they probably have been told in briefings that the Jedi are both real and likely incoming, and also in which case many of the citizens of said system may not live to escape and tell anyone else about being rescued by Jedi.
This argument would be greatly helped if they weren’t constantly having all the characters run into each other in all the shows. It makes the universe feel smaller. But I do get what you’re saying and it’s my explanation for the “regular people don’t believe in Jedi anymore” thing. Along with the empire actively suppressing any support of them the whole time.
What works against that argument too is how politically active the Jedi are. Like a Jedi’s actual job up to the fall of the Republic is to be a galactic peace officer. Now I may have not ever met a KGB agent, and I have never lived while the KGB was still a thing, but I know they existed and had a huge impact on geopolitics. It’s just not possible that only 20 years after the rise of the Empire and the fall of the Jedi that everyone in the Star Wars galaxy would forget something like that.
Typically they are portrayed less as “KGB” and more like diplomats/mediators/peacekeepers (prior to clone wars where things went of the rails). Look at Ep 1. They sent 1 Jedi and his apprentice to deal with the trade federation blockading an entire planet. Over the course of those events the Jedi primarily dealt with the leaders of the two factions (most of whom were dead by the end of the prequels). Regular people wouldn’t have a ton of encounters with them when they operate that way and even if they did they didn’t see a lot of them “in action”. People did know of the Jedi but not the extent of their ability because the majority of them never witnessed anything like that. There would of course be isolated incidents where a Jedi helped a town or whatever and the people saw them but the empire would have mopped those up pretty quickly so even those having witnessed them would know to stfu about it.
So if each planet has 10 billion people that’s 40 million senators. That room was big but I’m not sure it was that big. And also that’s one Jedi for every 40 trillion people? What good would that do even in the best case scenario?
Chewbacca literally is hundreds of years old and knew Yoda. Wtf wouldn’t he just be like, “Yes they’re real Han. I saw one behead two colleagues for taking a personal call.”
I always interpreted Han’s “simple tricks and nonsense” line to be referring to his destiny, not the Jedi. But I suppose referring to the Jedi makes more sense. Ford’s inflection just pushed the other way.
There’s also just so much more implication to “The Clone Wars” than what we actually got. When you ask me to imagine clone wars, I picture something like that David Tennant Doctor Who episode; countless clones, vat grown and thrown against waves of other opposing countless waves of clones. A self perpetuating war going on for longer than anyone can remember.
What we got was plastic toyset Clone-troopers™ fighting plastic toyset Droid Army™
When the original trilogy was shot, the plan was for those events to be much older than they ended up being. Then 20 years passed and the plan changed when it came time to actually write and shoot the prequal trilogy. IIRC the Clone Wars was supposed to have been a thing that started like 100+ years before A New Hope was set. Jedi, with their connection to the force, were able to live significantly longer so even though Obi-wan and Vader/Anakin appeared to be around 60 years old they would have actually been much older than they appeared. Part of why Luke would be so surprised that Obi-wan fought in the clone wars, like wow, that was SO long ago. Also, the Jedi were supposed to be a pretty secretive sect of basically monks working behind the scenes, not be super public with a temple at the capital and constantly showing up to any major conflict in the galaxy as envoy’s of the government to negotiate peace… But then things change IRL and suddenly the clone wars were happening when Luke was born, so like, 16-18 years ago and now Luke looks like a complete moron.
As for the people saying the Jedi were such a tiny portion of the population, most people probably never met one and therefore it makes sense they are forgotten about in the span of a human barely clawing his way out of adolescence… They were a small population comparatively, but they are kinda made integral to the running of the galaxy in the prequals. Almost like major politicians. People might not have met one, but they’d have to live under a rock and not consume ANY galactic media or news to not know of their existence.
It’d be like if 1/4 of all senators or members of parliament or whatever all over Earth all carried swords 24/7 and could jump 30 feet straight up or levitate things with their minds. And they have existed and been a part of world governments for several hundred years. And they turn up anywhere there is major conflict and deflect machine gun fire with their swords and “negotiate peace”. And they all disappeared in 2010. And almost nobody now in 2026 has heard of them or believes they really existed or really could jump 30 feet. That’d be a really tough propaganda and censorship campaign to pull off since the majority of the population can still remember watching it live on TV.
Yea, those people would exist (obvious from the flat earth movement) but they would generally be regarded as crackpots to the general public.
Thankfully I don’t think it’s a majority of people. I do find it hilarious though to think of the possibility that Han Solo is the Star Wars universe equivalent of a flat-earther - like Obi-Wan picked him as the smuggler to get them around because he’s to ignorant to really get in their way.
I mean, imagine if Colin Powell had stopped the second plane on 9/11 by chopping a wing off the plane with his sword, and then levitated it safely to the ground with his mind - and it was caught by news cameras from every station live broadcast to the world. And then in 2026 people say they don’t believe he existed, or if he did exist he couldn’t do those things.
Yea, those people would exist (obvious from the flat earth movement) but they would generally be regarded as crackpots to the general public.
Han would have been a child when the Empire came to be so he’d have little memory of the Jedi, if at all (this is aside from the script chances of a young Han Solo supposedly on Kashyyyk during RotS). Plus the propaganda arm of the new Empire likely would have painted Jedi to be tricksters, the enemy etc.
But as for anyone of drinking age and above, if they were keeping up with the Republic news of the Clone Wars there likely would have seen a lot of. Eww of the Jedi Generals…unless Palpy had the foresight to completely gloss over the Jedi involvement
Also crazy that Darth Vader seems to be a well known person who works for the empire who literally has and uses force powers in front of people. Even if they never saw a jedi they would still know at least 1 sith is alive. Like how grand moff thought they jedi were real, but they just all died.
The Jedi existed during Han’s lifetime but he’d never met one before and, more pertinently, he used to be an imperial flight cadet, where surely there was propaganda making the Jedi seem misguided and unimpressive.
It still makes no sense for the Jedi to be forgotten in the same time. Han Solo, a traveling pilot who is older than the Empire, speaks of the famous galaxy wide peacekeepers like they’re a fairy tale.
During the height of the Jedi Order, there were about 10,000 Jedi across the galaxy.
In a galaxy whose population measures about 400 quadrillion (number is an estimate, pulled from some nerds on StackExchange), yeah, the Jedi may as well be a fairy tale. Your probability of actually meeting one, if you aren’t doing something big and evil that requires direct Jedi intervention, is astronomically low.
But even little Ani on backwater Tattooine knew about them, it doesn’t add up.
Little skulblaka in backwater USA knew about dragons, but I had never seen one before or successfully convinced anyone that they were real despite a wealth of unrelated cultural works depicting them.
If I were asked to make up some numbers about it, I’d expect that maybe 60% of the galaxy had probably heard of a Jedi before. But none of them had ever seen one or met one. Nor had anybody they knew, or anybody those people knew.
People like Han Solo who frequently travel between planets and systems would probably be more likely to run into someone who had actually had dealings with a Jedi before. But also, maybe not. Han mostly runs with lowlifes, while Jedi usually interact with major story protagonists and/or antagonists, government officials and Sith and the like.
So it’s entirely possible that ‘everybody’ knew about the story of the Jedi, but they were so rare that most systems would go generations without ever interacting with one. Unless that system was involved with the Sith directly, in which case they probably have been told in briefings that the Jedi are both real and likely incoming, and also in which case many of the citizens of said system may not live to escape and tell anyone else about being rescued by Jedi.
look I just think George made some mistakes with the prequels
You think there were mistakes with the prequels.
I think the prequels were a mistake.
We are not the same.
Without the prequels we never would have met Darth JarJar
I used to think that as well, but the the sequels came out and I now wish we had more of the prequels instead
and i keep trying to tell you the farting horse-like alien was essential to the story
He may have gone too far in a few places
🤣🤣🤣
How many kids believe in Santa Claus vs adults?
This argument would be greatly helped if they weren’t constantly having all the characters run into each other in all the shows. It makes the universe feel smaller. But I do get what you’re saying and it’s my explanation for the “regular people don’t believe in Jedi anymore” thing. Along with the empire actively suppressing any support of them the whole time.
What works against that argument too is how politically active the Jedi are. Like a Jedi’s actual job up to the fall of the Republic is to be a galactic peace officer. Now I may have not ever met a KGB agent, and I have never lived while the KGB was still a thing, but I know they existed and had a huge impact on geopolitics. It’s just not possible that only 20 years after the rise of the Empire and the fall of the Jedi that everyone in the Star Wars galaxy would forget something like that.
Typically they are portrayed less as “KGB” and more like diplomats/mediators/peacekeepers (prior to clone wars where things went of the rails). Look at Ep 1. They sent 1 Jedi and his apprentice to deal with the trade federation blockading an entire planet. Over the course of those events the Jedi primarily dealt with the leaders of the two factions (most of whom were dead by the end of the prequels). Regular people wouldn’t have a ton of encounters with them when they operate that way and even if they did they didn’t see a lot of them “in action”. People did know of the Jedi but not the extent of their ability because the majority of them never witnessed anything like that. There would of course be isolated incidents where a Jedi helped a town or whatever and the people saw them but the empire would have mopped those up pretty quickly so even those having witnessed them would know to stfu about it.
This is also why Andor was an amazing breath of fresh air: no Jedi
So if each planet has 10 billion people that’s 40 million senators. That room was big but I’m not sure it was that big. And also that’s one Jedi for every 40 trillion people? What good would that do even in the best case scenario?
The Jedi aren’t a galactic army, they’re a precision tool used in specific circumstances.
That doesn’t mean these numbers make any sense.
Chewbacca literally is hundreds of years old and knew Yoda. Wtf wouldn’t he just be like, “Yes they’re real Han. I saw one behead two colleagues for taking a personal call.”
Han acknowledges they exist, but dismisses their powers as “tricks and nonsense”.
Jabba calls Luke’s power a " Jedi mind trick"
So Jedi’s existence is acknowledged, but their abilities are considered apocryphal.
I always interpreted Han’s “simple tricks and nonsense” line to be referring to his destiny, not the Jedi. But I suppose referring to the Jedi makes more sense. Ford’s inflection just pushed the other way.
Hokey religions and ancient weapons < a blaster by your side.
deleted by creator
There’s also just so much more implication to “The Clone Wars” than what we actually got. When you ask me to imagine clone wars, I picture something like that David Tennant Doctor Who episode; countless clones, vat grown and thrown against waves of other opposing countless waves of clones. A self perpetuating war going on for longer than anyone can remember.
What we got was plastic toyset Clone-troopers™ fighting plastic toyset Droid Army™
When the original trilogy was shot, the plan was for those events to be much older than they ended up being. Then 20 years passed and the plan changed when it came time to actually write and shoot the prequal trilogy. IIRC the Clone Wars was supposed to have been a thing that started like 100+ years before A New Hope was set. Jedi, with their connection to the force, were able to live significantly longer so even though Obi-wan and Vader/Anakin appeared to be around 60 years old they would have actually been much older than they appeared. Part of why Luke would be so surprised that Obi-wan fought in the clone wars, like wow, that was SO long ago. Also, the Jedi were supposed to be a pretty secretive sect of basically monks working behind the scenes, not be super public with a temple at the capital and constantly showing up to any major conflict in the galaxy as envoy’s of the government to negotiate peace… But then things change IRL and suddenly the clone wars were happening when Luke was born, so like, 16-18 years ago and now Luke looks like a complete moron.
As for the people saying the Jedi were such a tiny portion of the population, most people probably never met one and therefore it makes sense they are forgotten about in the span of a human barely clawing his way out of adolescence… They were a small population comparatively, but they are kinda made integral to the running of the galaxy in the prequals. Almost like major politicians. People might not have met one, but they’d have to live under a rock and not consume ANY galactic media or news to not know of their existence.
It’d be like if 1/4 of all senators or members of parliament or whatever all over Earth all carried swords 24/7 and could jump 30 feet straight up or levitate things with their minds. And they have existed and been a part of world governments for several hundred years. And they turn up anywhere there is major conflict and deflect machine gun fire with their swords and “negotiate peace”. And they all disappeared in 2010. And almost nobody now in 2026 has heard of them or believes they really existed or really could jump 30 feet. That’d be a really tough propaganda and censorship campaign to pull off since the majority of the population can still remember watching it live on TV.
Man, that actually sounds fairly realistic tbh. Look at the amount of utter mongos that think drinking raw milk is good for you.
Unfortunately…
Thankfully I don’t think it’s a majority of people. I do find it hilarious though to think of the possibility that Han Solo is the Star Wars universe equivalent of a flat-earther - like Obi-Wan picked him as the smuggler to get them around because he’s to ignorant to really get in their way.
I mean, imagine if Colin Powell had stopped the second plane on 9/11 by chopping a wing off the plane with his sword, and then levitated it safely to the ground with his mind - and it was caught by news cameras from every station live broadcast to the world. And then in 2026 people say they don’t believe he existed, or if he did exist he couldn’t do those things.
Yea, those people would exist (obvious from the flat earth movement) but they would generally be regarded as crackpots to the general public.
Han would have been a child when the Empire came to be so he’d have little memory of the Jedi, if at all (this is aside from the script chances of a young Han Solo supposedly on Kashyyyk during RotS). Plus the propaganda arm of the new Empire likely would have painted Jedi to be tricksters, the enemy etc.
But as for anyone of drinking age and above, if they were keeping up with the Republic news of the Clone Wars there likely would have seen a lot of. Eww of the Jedi Generals…unless Palpy had the foresight to completely gloss over the Jedi involvement
Hey, kid, it ain’t that kind of movie.
Also crazy that Darth Vader seems to be a well known person who works for the empire who literally has and uses force powers in front of people. Even if they never saw a jedi they would still know at least 1 sith is alive. Like how grand moff thought they jedi were real, but they just all died.
The Jedi existed during Han’s lifetime but he’d never met one before and, more pertinently, he used to be an imperial flight cadet, where surely there was propaganda making the Jedi seem misguided and unimpressive.
Then he should be able to remember them at least
Propaganda can heavily skew perception
Mujahedeen in Afghanistan went from freedom fighters to terrorists we must destroy in about the same time.
But we still know that Al Qaeda existed 25 years after 9/11