10 Things You Didn't Know About Qui-Gon Jinn

Qui-Gon Jinn is one of the most compelling characters of the prequel trilogy, with his strong leadership, compassion for the meek, and maverick approach to the Jedi Code. While his time in the Star Wars universe was all too brief, Liam Neeson made an immediate impact with his portrayal of the severe yet independent Jedi Master. While Qui-Gon Jinn is one of the most popular Jedi from the prequel era, there are still many facts about his life that fans are unaware of, both canonically confirmed and the stuff of Legends.

10. Homeworld

Like most Jedi, Jinn is brought to the Jedi at a very young age. Born on Coruscant, he is identified as Force sensitive and taken away from his family when he is still an infant. At 6 months old, his parents relinquish him to the Jedi Order. While virtually nothing is known about his biological parentage, it can be assumed that they are poor individuals, as they are extremely willing to send their son away to a presumably better life with the Jedi.

9. Stone Talisman

While Jedi are discouraged from having possessions or forming attachments, Qui-Gon does have one item that he carries with him. A smooth pebble from the River of Light, this flowing body of water on a distant, remote world is a pure channel of Force energy. Many Jedi travel to the unnamed world to meditate along its peaceful grassy banks. Jinn at one point expresses to his padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi, that the small smooth stone helps him reach inner peace. Prior to his death at the Battle of Naboo, Jinn passes the stone on to Kenobi to aid his apprentice in his meditation.

8. Padawan Connections

At the age of eight, Qui-Gon and fellow padawan Tahl, a Norian also born on Coruscant, are tasked with a unique challenge. Along with their classmates, they are instructed to scale a cliff face of a nearby lake, learning to call upon the Force to calm their minds and maintain balance. Initially, the class uses cable launchers as a fail-safe against potentially lethal falls. However, Jinn and Tahl see these merely as an impediment to their full potential. Once the class has returned to the Jedi Temple for meditation, Qui-Gon and Tahl return to the cliff for additional practice sans launcher. They both successfully climb the sheer cliff and dive into the waters below. From this day forth, they both share a close personal connection.

7. Master of Ataru

Form IV, or the Way of the Hawkbat, is an extremely aggressive and acrobatic form of saber combat. Relying upon the user's athletic ability, the practitioner is required to have an exceptional amount of stamina to consistently and effectively execute the many jumps, spins, and charges of Ataru. Qui-Gon Jinn, renowned in the Jedi Order for his physical strength and intense precision, is a naturally gifted practitioner of the Aggression Form. His tall frame and long reach make the wide, powerful strikes exceptionally effective against multiple enemies. While Master Yoda and Ahsoka Tano, other notable practitioners of Ataru, make great use of the more complicated leaping and twirling attacks, Jinn is successful in blending the two-handed style and aggressive mindset of Ataru with the solid fundamentals and reliable blocks and parries of Form I.

6. Apprentices

While Obi-Wan Kenobi is the most well known of Qui-Gon's apprentices, and for good reason, Jinn also teaches two lesser known padawans prior to his death. His first apprentice, Feemor, is the son of a farmer on an Outer Rim farming world before being accepted into the Order. Under Jinn's tutelage, Feemor grows into a wise and talented Jedi, a gifted swordsman who is known to push even Qui-Gon to his limits. Upon Feemor's elevation to Jedi Knight, Qui-Gonn is also granted the rank of Jedi Master. As his first apprentice begins his own career as a Jedi, Qui-Gon also takes on another apprentice, one even more gifted in the ways of the Force. Xanatos is a troubled and much maligned youth who is corrupted by the potential of his own power. Upon seeing the destruction his own family has wrought upon his homeworld, Xanatos leeaves the Jedi Order and vows revenged upon Qui-Gon for killing his father. Failing to see that his family is in the wrong and that Jinn has acted in self-defense, Xantos is corrupted by his own desire for power and his blind loyalty to his homeworld.

5. Undercover

While investigating the death of a High Priestess on the Outer Rim world of Telos IV, Qui-Gon uses a fake shipment of weapons to his advantage. Jinn is able to infiltrate an insurgent group set on the overthrow of the Governor by offering to sell them said weapons. With a combination of mind tricks and cutting-edge masking technology, Jinn is able to impersonate an elderly weapons dealer and gain the information that he needed.

4. Rare Gift

During his training under Jedi Knight Dooku, Jinn is gifted an ancient Jedi text. This text, entitled The Jedi Path, is a text written by some of the most ancient of Jedi masters. Studied by Jinn's master Dooku and his master before him, Yoda, the text is unique in that it contains notes and observations courtesy of its previous owners. Containing notes and alterations by such great Jedi as Yoda, Dooku, and Jinn, this text would truly have been a rare, coveted treasure for the likes of Luke Skywalker or Rey.

3. Disciple of the Living Force

One of the most important distinctions in the lore of the Star Wars universe is the difference between the Living Force and the Cosmic Force. Explained in great detail in Yoda's arc in the sixth season of The Clone Wars, this variation in the Force is a mystery to even the Jedi until recently in canon. However, Qui-Gon Jinn is well-versed in these differences and even aims to educate Obi-Wan in subtle ways about the true nature of the Force.

2. Conferring with the Whills

One of the most uniquely Star Wars and simultaneously mysterious beings are the Whills. Present in the universe from the earliest drafts of George Lucas' work, the Whills are mysterious beings who are tapped into the will of the Force. At some point, Jinn learns from the Shaman of the Whills about how to retain one's consciousness after death.

1. Life After Death

As a result of his findings, Qui-Gon is chosen as one of the few Jedi worthy of immortality. The first known Jedi to be taught this power, he goes on to mentor his fellow Jedi Master Yoda, as well as his old padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi, in the ways of consciousness preservation. While Qui-Gon cannot manifest in a physical form (at least during the Clone Wars) due to his training being incomplete at the time of his death, his voice and wisdom are preserved through his meditation in the Living Force.

Written By Weston Erickson

Source(s): Wookieepedia

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