{"id":255,"date":"2022-07-08T09:37:49","date_gmt":"2022-07-08T09:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mpelembe.net\/?p=255"},"modified":"2022-07-08T09:39:57","modified_gmt":"2022-07-08T09:39:57","slug":"how-star-wars-jedi-were-inspired-by-the-knights-templar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mpelembe.net\/index.php\/how-star-wars-jedi-were-inspired-by-the-knights-templar\/","title":{"rendered":"How Star Wars\u2019 Jedi were inspired by the Knights\u00a0Templar"},"content":{"rendered":"

Patrick Masters<\/a>, University of Portsmouth<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Star Wars is once again in the spotlight and pulling on nostalgic heartstrings in the new Disney+ limited series Obi-Wan Kenobi, starring Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen. The series follows members of the knightly order of Jedi as they are persecuted across the galaxy. What many might not know is the idea of the Jedi was heavily influenced by the real history of the Knights Templar.<\/p>\n

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The Knights Templar were a medieval religious order of knights created in the early 12th century following the First Crusade. The Order was created in 1119 by French knight Hugh de Payne but would consist of knights from all over Europe. The Templar knights originally patrolled the roads and protected pilgrims in the newly created Christian states in the Holy Land (an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the eastern bank of the Jordan River) but became rich and powerful over the next two centuries. The Templars\u2019 sudden downfall in the early 14th century at the hands of a French King who sought their riches fuelled popular imagination for centuries \u2013 including, it seems, Star Wars.<\/p>\n

In creator George Lucas\u2019 1973 two-page synopsis, titled the Journal of the Whills<\/a>, which would outline what would one day become Star Wars, there is a mention of a Jedi Templar. American film historian J.W. Rinzler\u2019s book, The Making of Star Wars<\/a>, notes the link of the Templar and the Jedi in the character Chuiee Two Thorpe, who Lucas writes trains as a \u201cpotential Jedi-Templer [sic]\u201d. \u201cTempler\u201d was dropped from the concept of Jedi in later drafts, it is clear, though, that the legacy of the Templars played a part in inspiring Lucas\u2019 Jedi.<\/p>\n

Orders of warrior monks<\/h2>\n

The Jedi<\/a> are an ancient order of guardians who protect the peace and justice in the Galactic Republic in Star Wars. <\/p>\n

In the original 1977 Star Wars film, audiences were introduced to the Jedi knights by Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness), who explained, \u201cFor over a thousand generations, the Jedi knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the old republic. Before the dark times before the empire.\u201d But it wasn\u2019t until the trilogy of prequels, which were made between 1999 and 2005, that the Jedi were depicted as a monastic order that possessed the Templar inspiration seen in the original 1973 synopsis.<\/p>\n

The Jedi Order operated independently, much like the Knights Templar \u2013 who answered only to the Pope. The Jedi lived by the Jedi code, while the Knights Templar lived by a monastic rule, known initially as the Primitive Rule<\/a>, which was bestowed on them by prominent leaders of the Church at the Council of Troyes in 1129. These were a strict set of rules by which the Templars lived their dual lives as warriors and monks and which bears a resemblance to the Jedi code. <\/p>\n

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