Darth Vader's Inquisitors have had a strong presence in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor may have finally hinted at why they never appeared in the original trilogy. The Inquisitorius order was tasked with hunting down the remaining Jedi following the Great Purge, and appeared throughout Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order as they hunted Cal Kestis, with Cal's new-found mentor Cere Junda having a personal connection to one of them, with the Second Sister being revealed to be her former Padawan, Trilla Suduri.
The Inquisitors did reappear briefly during Jedi: Survivor's opening sequence on Coruscant, resulting in a devastating loss for Cal as most of his crew is killed by a team led by the Ninth Sister. The Ninth Sister was the first Inquisitor Cal defeated in Jedi: Fallen Order in a battle that resulted in the loss of her right arm, therefore she had a grudge against the Jedi and their history created an intense opening boss battle. Unfortunately, after Cal kills her, the Inquisitors don't seem to appear again throughout Jedi: Survivor's story, even though they were still known to be active in the galaxy at this time, with Cal being hunted more by Sorc Tormo's bounty hunters throughout the game instead.
Jedi: Survivor Revealed A Power-Play Between The Inquisitors & ISB
Bode Akuna betrayed the Stinger Mantis crew during Star Wars Jedi: Survivor's final act. He stole the Koboh Com, killed Eno Cordova, and informed the Empire of the archives on Jedha, which led to a brutal attack in which Darth Vader killed Cere. Following this, Cal tracked his former ally down to an Imperial base on Nova Garon. It was here that players could uncover a lot of behind-the-scenes information about the Imperial forces, including a power-play between Darth Vader's Inquisitors and the Imperial Spy Bureau.
Despite Bode informing the Empire of the Jedha base, it's revealed that the ISB wasn't planning on attacking Jedha and the Hidden Path yet, with the ISB's Chief Supervisor, Commander Lank Denvik, planning to destroy them at some point in the coming months. Through a series of collectibles and endgame Force Echoes, it's revealed that Denvik served alongside Bode during the Clone Wars, which is why the latter came to him to ask for protection for himself and his daughter Kata after losing his wife to the Inquisitors. Denvik disliked the Inquisitorius organization and agreed in exchange for information, sending Bode to infiltrate the Stinger Mantis crew.
When Cal confronts Denvik, it's clear that Bode had double-crossed the Imperial Commander too by relaying the information about Jedha directly to Darth Vader, which Bode did to keep the location of Tanalorr to himself and Kata, rather than using it as a base for the Hidden Path which could become a target for the Empire later on. The attack on Jedha came as a complete surprise to Denvik, who began fearing for his life and begging Cal to kill him before Darth Vader did.
According to the Empire's protocol, the attack on a Jedi base was an operation that may be tasked only to the Inquisitorius, and the ISB should have provided them with this intel, so by keeping this knowledge from them, Denvik would be punished and killed. Cal nearly fully embraced the dark side of the Force before being pulled back by Merrin, leaving Denvik's fate in the hands of whoever Darth Vader sent.
The Fall Of The Inquisitors May Have Come From Within The Empire
Force Echoes when returning to Nova Garon after this sequence reveal what happened to the Imperial Bureau base there, with the Inquisitorius killing Denvik and his allies, just as he predicted. Although it doesn't go well for the ISB in Jedi: Survivor, it's possible that they eventually won and led to the fall of the Inquisitors within the Empire at some point before the events of A New Hope, and some NPC conversations throughout Jedi: Survivor could hint at how this outcome came about.
During Cal's time in disguise as an Imperial Officer on Nova Garon, some ISB officers can be heard discussing how there's a debate in the budget between whether ISB or the Purge Troopers - who often accompanied Darth Vader and the Inquisitors on missions - were a more efficient resource, arguing that the Inquisitors are old-fashioned. This would align with Denvik's motive to use Bode as a personal informant, so he could "win" by having the ISB be the ones to bring down the Jedi first. Of course, it's worth noting that the Purge Troopers received an upgrade in their equipment later that year, as evidenced by their appearance in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series.
Canonically, it is known that eleven of the fourteen main Inquisitors are dead by the events of A New Hope in 0 BBY, and the Third Sister abandoned the cause during the Obi-Wan Kenobi series. The fates of the Third Brother and the Fourth Sister are currently unknown, but an internal disdain for the Inquisitorius program within the Empire would explain why Darth Vader didn't get to continue with this venture by turning and recruiting more Force-sensitive individuals in the years after its collapse prior to his attempt to get his son Luke to him during Return of the Jedi.
Of course, it's possible that Darth Vader wouldn't mind the fall of the Inquisitors as it makes him more of an invaluable asset for the Empire. A group of highly-trained, extremely competitive Force-sensitive dark side agents would be competition for Darth Vader and could be potential replacements should Palpatine choose, especially given their tendency to turn on each other to gain more power after Darth Vader's cruel training in which he strengthened their anger and hatred to break their former Jedi training.
The real-world fact that the Inquisitors simply weren't invented when George Lucas released the original Star Wars trilogy seemed to cause a plot hole with their heavy presence in stories preceding it. While many fans likely assumed that the Inquisitors were killed prior to A New Hope, it's nice to finally have an additional explanation from Star Wars Jedi: Survivor of why Inquisitors haven't been seen in this time period, and the idea that their eventual downfall could have come from within the Empire is an intriguing prospect.
