Who Are the Inquisitors in Star Wars?

They’re here and they will fill you full of fear! That’s right, the Inquisitors have come swooping in with the new trailer for Disney Plus’ new Star Wars series, Obi-Wan Kenobi. They’ve got capes, they’ve got killer boots, and of course, those deadly, spinning, red lightsabers. The first one we meet is Reva (played by Moses Ingram), who is potentially hot on the trail of Obi-Wan and seen interrogating poor Uncle Owen. We also get a glimpse of the Grand Inquisitor, a deadly former Jedi who reports directly to Darth Vader. This is the Inquisitors’ first time appearing in a live-action Star Wars series (with the one exception being Seventh Sister popping up in the Disney Parks). 

For fans who have only seen the films, you might be left wondering who these new baddies are, but the Inquisitors have been main adversaries in everything from the animated series to the video games and comics.

So who are the Inquisitors?

The Inquisitors—also known as the Inquisitorius, the Inquisitorius Program, and the Order of Inquisitors—are an organization of force-sensitive Dark Side agents who serve the Sith and the Galactic Empire. Their true names and origins are generally a closely guarded secret. They’re tasked with hunting down any remaining Jedi who may have survived Order 66 at the end of the Clone Wars. They’re also responsible for taking out other high-level political dissidents and for tracking down and retrieving force-sensitive children. 

They are governed directly by Darth Vader and don’t typically have names. Instead, they refer to each other by their numeral rank and familial title—Fifth Brother and Seventh Sister, for example (in a warped nod to their monastic Jedi origins), which is why the reveal of Inquisitor Reva is so intriguing! She has a name!

They are essentially a small, highly trained task force that act as a dark, twisted reflection of the Jedi Order. In fact, the original Inquisitors were all former Jedi who either willingly turned to the Dark Side through the corrupting influence of Palpatine and Vader or were broken and forced to turn via torture and extortion. They sometimes go on missions to squash minor rebellions or collect taxes, but their main prerogative is to track down Jedi and force-sensitive children.

The Inquisitors in Star Wars: Rebels

The very first Inquisitor ever seen in Star Wars canon is the Inquisitors’ leader, known simply as the Grand Inquisitor. He is introduced in the first season of Star Wars Rebels as one of the series’ main antagonists. He is a menacing Pau’an (voiced by Jason Isaacs) who pursues the escaped Padawan Kanan Jarrus and his new pupil, Ezra Bridger. Most Inquisitors are nowhere near as powerful as Palpatine and Vader, because they don’t want anyone alive that could be a threat to them. However, the Grand Inquisitor’s strength in the Force comes close.

It is later revealed that the Grand Inquisitor was actually one of the Jedi Temple Guards present at the temple bombing when Order 66 was carried out. He began to be lured to the Dark Side when he became disillusioned with the Jedi Order after they mishandled several cases, including the mistreatment of Ahsoka Tano.

Fifth Brother and Seventh Sister (voiced by Sarah Michelle Gellar) are two other Inquisitors who are constantly causing trouble for Kanan and Ezra in Rebels. Fifth Brother relies on brute strength, while Seventh Sister prefers cunning and strategy, which makes them a deadly brawn-and-brains duo.

The Inquisitors in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

The Inquisitors also played a major role in the recent Star Wars video game, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. The game is set after the fall of the Republic, when the Inquisitors were on the hunt. In Fallen Order, the protagonist is Cal Kestis, a Jedi trying to stay in hiding during the rise of the Empire. Unfortunately for Kestis, the Inquisitors catch up to him and become the main bosses and adversaries throughout the game.

The Inquisitors in the Star Wars comics

In the Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith comic series, the Inquisitors frequently accompany Vader on his various missions around the galaxy. This is the most we get to see of the Inquisitors in official canon, and learn about their various origins and motives. Vader is a brutal master, often severing limbs as harsh reminders about the consequences of failure. He also executed two Inquisitors for forming a romantic bond (potentially out of jealousy and his own painful memories). Because the Empire and the Sith operate more on fear than true loyalty, it will be interesting to see what happens with the Inquisitors in Obi-Wan.

Why are they in Obi-Wan Kenobi?

Because Obi-Wan Kenobi takes place almost directly after the events of Revenge of the Sith, including the Inquisitors feels like a natural choice. Obi-Wan is on Tatooine trying to keep an eye on a young Luke Skywalker, so naturally, the Empire’s task force dedicated to tracking down former Jedi and force-sensitive children might be trying to track them down! It’s also entirely possible that the Inquisitors come to Tatooine on the hunt for a different child and stumble upon Obi-Wan, or he learns of their mission and feels compelled to intervene.

Either way, it makes perfect sense for Rebels and Clone Wars creator Dave Filoni (the current mastermind behind the various live-action Star Wars TV series) to bring one of Obi-Wan’s biggest nemeses from the animated world into the live-action one. 

Obi-Wan Kenobi premieres May 25 on Disney Plus.

(Images: Disney Plus/Lucasfilm/Marvel Comics/Respawn/Lucasfilm Games)