All You Need To Know About The 6 Most Important Inquisitors Before 'Tales of The Empire'

Star Wars fans received a surprise this week when, upon the release of the first trailer, what was thought to be a second season of Tales of the Jedi is actually a new series, Tales of the Empire. As Tales of The Jedi told two stories, one following the history of not-quite-a Jedi Ahsoka Tano, and the other the events that sparked the beginning of Dooku's fall to the Dark Side, Tales of the Empire will also tell two stories beginning in the early days of the Empire. One is the tale of surviving Nightsister Morgan Elsbeth and the early days of her alliance with Thrawn, while the other will finally reveal what happened to fallen Padawan Bariss Offee after her bombing of the Jedi Temple and failed attempt to frame Ahsoka for the crime.

Bariss's story will begin when she is released from Prison with an offer to join the Inquisitorius Program and become an Inquisitor. The Inquisitors are a group of fallen Jedi and other Dark Side leaning Force-wielders, trained in brutal fashion by Darth Vader for the purpose of hunting down and killing any Jedi who had survived Order 66.

Before we see the origins of the Inquisitorius in Tales of The Empire, let's look back at the most important/memorable Inquisitors we've seen thus far.

1. The Grand Inquisitor

The leader of the Inquisitorius was a Pau'an male only ever referred to on screen by his title, the Grand Inquisitor. He is the only member of the group not to have been trained by Vader, instead having been specially chosen by the Emperor. It has been revealed that he was once a Jedi Temple Guard, however, after witnessing the bombing of the Temple, and the Jedi Council's mishandling of the wrongful accusation of Ahsoka Tano, he lost faith in the Jedi, and eventually fell to the Dark Side of the Force.

It is highly likely that the Grand Inquisitor was the third most powerful Dark Side user alive during the time of the Empire.

The Grand Inquisitor lead the Inquisitorious in a mostly successful mission to purge the remaining Jedi, with only a few notable examples escaping them, such as Obi-Wan Kenobi. By the time of Star Wars: Rebels, the duties of the Inquisitorius shifted towards catching Rebel forces. However, the Grand Inquisitor's position was threatened by the emergence of former Padawan Caleb Dume, now the Rebel Kanan Jarrus, and his own new Padawan, Ezra Bridger.

Eager to maintain Darth Vader's favor and complete the task the Inquisitorius was formed for, The Grand Inquisitor takes it upon himself to track and eliminate Kanan and Ezra. However, the mission ultimately fails, with the Grand Inquisitor killed by the joint efforts of Kanan and Ezra as they escape an Imperial base, solidifying the pair's bond as Master and Padawan.

2. Reva/Third Sister

After being mentioned briefly in expanded universe content, the Third Sister, otherwise known as Reva, was officially introduced in the series Obi-Wan Kenobi. Reva was a Jedi Youngling who witnessed, but survived, Darth Vader's slaughter of the other Younglings during Order 66. Wanting revenge for her fallen friends, Reva allows herself to fall to the Dark Side, accepting training from Vader to become the Inquisitor known as Third Sister.

Third Sister hopes the capture of Vader's main target, Obi-Wan Kenobi, will earn her a place at Vader's right hand, believing she will be able to catch him off guard and take revenge for the Younglings he murdered. This plan falls through when it is revealed that Vader was aware of her past the whole time, and was prepared for her eventual betrayal.

Learning of the existence of Vader's son, Luke Skywalker, Reva travels to Tattooine to kill the boy as her new attempt at revenge. While she does succeed in taking Luke from his Aunt and Uncle, she finds herself unable to go through with the murder, realising, with a little help from Obi-Wan, that Luke is innocent and killing him would make her as bad as Vader.

Helping steer Reva back to the Light is an important moment for Obi-Wan, but what becomes of her after this point is as yet unknown.

3. Sixth Brother/ Unknown Inquisitor In 'Tales of the Jedi'

The Sixth Brother, a fallen Force-sensitive once known as Bil Valen, was known for cruelty and bullying, even towards his own fellow Inquisitors, thus making him an unpopular member of the Inquisitorius. Even Vader especially dislikes him. Sixth Brother is also dangerously overconfident, which ultimately leads to his downfall.

The Sixth Brother's most prominent appearance is in the 2016 novel Ahsoka, which covers Ahsoka Tano's life between escaping Order 66 and her eventual decision to join Bail Organa's Rebel Alliance. The Sixth Brother is dispatched during the story in pursuit of a Jedi eventually revealed to be Ahsoka, but when he does finally catch up with her, the cocky Inquisitor proves no match for the former Padawan of Anakin Skywalker. He is both outmatched and outwitted by Ahsoka, who uses the Force to sabotage his lightsabers, which explode and kill him.

Ahsoka purifies the two Kyber Crystals that had been within Sixth Brother's saber, and they become the cores of the white-bladed twin lightsabers she wields from Star Wars: Rebels onwards.

'Resolve', the final episode of Tales of the Jedi, adapts a story very close to what ocurred in the Ahsoka novel, except the Inquisitor is unnamed, and his 'battle' with Ahsoka is even shorter, as she almost immediately kills him with his own saber. In both versions, the death of the pursuing Inquisitor keeps Ahsoka's survival from being discovered by Darth Vader.

According to Dave Filoni, the TotJ episode is now the canon version of events. The unnamed Inquisitor will reappear in Tales of the Empire, where fans believe he will be revealed as having been Sixth Brother.

4. The Fifth Brother

The Fifth Brother was a Force-sensitive individual born on the planet Artemesium. Like many Force-sensitives of the time, he was taken to train in the ways of the Jedi when just a child, where he was promised a meaningful life in service to the Force. During the Clone Wars, Fifth Brother came to believe the Jedi had broken this promise, having abandoned their spiritual duties in favour of serving the whims of the corrupt Senate. His disillusionment with the Jedi Order made him a prime candidate for the Inquisitorius program.

As an Inquisitor, Fifth Brother participated in many successful hunts, including for the Jedi Nari on Tattooine, and even a couple of missions with Darth Vader himself, first in pursuit of the former Jedi Master Eeth Koth, and later while searching for Obi Wan Kenobi.

The death of the Grand Inquisitor at the hands of Kanan Jarrus, Fifth Brother and his fellow Inquisitors Seventh Sister and Eighth Brother were despatched to kill Kanan and his Padawan, Ezra Bridger. However, the death of the Grand Inquisitor had created a power vacuum within the Inquisitorius, with each wanting the now vacant position for themselves. This competition hampered their efforts, and though they came close on a number of occasions, Jarrus and Bridger always managed to escape.

The Inquisitors eventually track the two Jedi to Malachor, where Fifth Brother meets his end at the hands of former Sith Lord Darth Maul.

5. Seventh Sister

A Force sensitive Mirialan female, the Seventh Sister was once a member of the Jedi Order, though her rank is unknown. She is believed to have trained with both Grand Master Yoda and Jedi Master Aayla Secura at various points in time. While she survived the initial slaughter of Order 66, she was subsequently found and 'broken' by the Empire, falling to the Dark Side and joining the Inquisitorius as Seventh Sister.

Following the death of the Grand Inquisitor, Seventh Sister is assigned the job of killing Kanan Jarrus and Ezra Bridger, with Ahsoka Tano eventually added to the list of targets. She was notable for being more strategically minded than her regular companion, the Fifth Brother.

Seventh Sister comes dangerously close to killing Kanan, until Ahsoka intervenes, defeating both Seventh Sister and Fifth Brother while Kanan and Ezra escape.

On Malachor, Maul encourages Ezra to give in to the Dark Side and kill Seventh Sister, but when Ezra cannot do so, Maul kills her himself.

6. Marrok

Marrok first appears in Ahsoka, likely one of the last surviving Inquisitors. He works alongside Morgan Elsbeth, Baylan Skoll, and Shin Hati in their efforts to locate Grand Admiral Thrawn. As he is masked and used a voice modulator,many theories sprung up about who could be under the mask, the most common being Ezra Bridger or Barriss Offee.

All these theories went up in smoke, quite literally, when Ahsoka Tano kills Marrok in the fourth episode of the Ahsoka TV series. Upon his death, green smoke emerges from Marrok's body, revealing that he had actually been the corpse of a Nightbrother, reanimated to do the bidding of Morgan Elsbeth.

However, Marrok appears in both the trailer and promo poster for Tales of The Empire, suggesting that he actually trained as an Inquisitor before his death and reanimation. Some fans speculate Barriss and Elsbeth's Tales in the series could crossover in the reveal of how Marrok died. We may also receive more backstory on other Inquisitors.

Bring on May the 4th!