Star Wars Legends continuity, designating Force-sensitive, dark side-trained agents of Imperial Intelligence, tasked with hunting Jedi. Arguably the most famous Inquisitor in the organization’s original incarnation is Jerec, a former Jedi who would become a major threat to the New Republic in the year following Return of the Jedi.

Star Wars Rebels introduced a new version of the Inquisitors to the modern canon, though they would retain key qualities from their original Legends incarnations. Inquisitors remained dark side-using Imperial warriors who served Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine, assisting the Sith Lords in their hunt for Jedi survivors of Order 66. In the modern canon, the Inquisitors were not part of Imperial Intelligence and were far more limited in their training, resulting in weaker warriors who posed less of a potential threat to Vader and Palpatine. The Inquisitorius Program ended by the original trilogy, leaving the Inquisitors’ fates mostly unknown.

The Original Inquisitors Were All Former Jedi

In the original Legends continuity, some notable Inquisitors were former Jedi, with Jerec and Maw being among them, but Inquisitors were not necessarily fallen Jedi. In their newer incarnation in the modern canon, however, most – if not all – of the Empire’s Inquisitors are former Jedi who survived the Jedi Purge by surrendering to the Empire and being tortured until they embraced the dark side. Like their Legends-era counterparts, the modern canon’s Inquisitors were trained to use the dark side without being genuine Sith.

While the original version of Inquisitors could potentially become as powerful as Sith – with Jerec being a potential successor to Darth Vader himself, if the lesser Sith Lord perished – their newer incarnations are intentionally held back from their full potential. This prevented Inquisitors from potentially challenging the Dark Lords of the Sith. If a surviving Jedi proved too formidable for the Inquisitors, Darth Vader himself would intervene. With the combined might of the Imperial Military, Inquisitorius Program, and Darth Vader himself, there were, tragically, relatively few Jedi survivors of the Purge.

Star Wars Has Revealed Why The Inquisitors Were Kidnapping Children...

The atrocities of the Imperial Inquisitors did not end with murdering and torturing Jedi (and anyone else who stood in their way); the dark side agents also kidnapped children. Their mission – known as Project Harvester – saw the Inquisitors kidnapping young Force-sensitives with the goal of turning them into a contingent of dark side-trained spies for Emperor Palpatine. The earliest form of Project Harvester, notably, precedes the establishment of the Inquisitorius Program and the Galactic Empire itself. During the Clone Wars, Palpatine hired Cad Bane to kidnap Force-sensitive infants, though all were eventually rescued by Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano.

As shown in Marvel’s modern canon comics, the unnamed daughter of Jedi Master Eeth Koth was one of many younglings kidnapped by the Inquisitorius Program whose fate remains unknown.

Rebels addressed Project Harvester as well, with the episode “The Future of the Force” making it particularly prominent. The rebels of Phoenix Cell manage to rescue two infants from the Empire, but there were certainly many more younglings who were not as lucky. What became of the Empire’s abductees is unknown, and their situation is especially precarious, given that the Inquisitorius Program ended before the events of the Star Wars original trilogy.

But What Happened To The Inquisitors By The Time Of A New Hope?

At a certain point before the events of A New Hope, the Galactic Empire considered the Jedi Purge over and the Jedi themselves to be extinct, thus completing the mission of the Inquisitorius Program. The Inquisitors themselves – with the exception of Marrok – disappeared before the theft of the Death Star plans. While most Inquisitors simply died on missions, there were likely other agents of the Inquisitorius Program who survived long enough to outlive their usefulness. Jedi Master Luke Skywalker and galactic historian Beaumont Kin have both expressed curiosity about what became of the remaining Inquisitors once the Inquisitorius Program ended.

Kin is aware of Emperor Palpatine’s draconian methods of dealing with loose ends, and the Inquisitorius Program’s description as “obsolete” led him to suspect the worst. Kin hypothesizes that Palpatine ordered the deaths of any remaining Inquisitors once the Inquisitorius Program ended, with Kin believing that Darth Vader himself might have seen to their respective executions. Not only would Vader be powerful enough to defeat the dark side-trained former Jedi, but he would also see them as potential interlopers in his schemes and wish to deal with them personally.

Did Palpatine Conduct Another Order 66 – On His Own Inquisitors?

The termination of the Inquisitorius Program has yet to be shown in a Star Wars property, and there is a dark possibility that the surviving Inquisitors found themselves the victims of mass ambush, similar to Order 66. Darth Vader, the Stormtrooper Corps, and other Imperial Military personnel might have received a directive mandating the immediate execution of all Inquisitors. This may have resulted in many being taken by surprise by Imperial troops while others would die battling Darth Vader.

Notably, the clone troopers of the Galactic Republic had mind control chips implanted in their brains during embryonic development to ensure they would carry out Order 66. Clone troopers are repeatedly shown to be altruistic men who genuinely earned the friendship and trust of their Jedi leaders, so mind control was the only way to make them betray the Jedi. Stormtroopers and Imperial Army Troopers, on the other hand, would not require mind control to turn on the Inquisitors, as they were already fanatically devoted to Emperor Palpatine above all else and likely never formed any bonds with the Inquisitors.

Marrok might have survived two ambushes – one as a Jedi and another as an Inquisitor, forcing him to become a mercenary as he would be a fugitive of the Empire. The kidnapped younglings of Project Harvester might have been executed as well, or perhaps sent to Exegol to be experimented on or used as potential host bodies for a resurrected Palpatine. In any case, the grim end of the Inquisitorius Program would be a fascinating story for a future Star Wars property to explore.