As Star Wars becomes increasingly invested in fleshing out the time between the fall of the Jedi in Revenge of the Sith and the time of A New Hope, one of its most frequent fascinations has been the long, dark arm of the Emperor and Darth Vader: the agents of the Imperial Inquisitorius. Before we meet them again in Obi-Wan Kenobi, here’s a guide to the Inquisitors we’ve encounterd so far in Star Wars games, shows, and comics.
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The head of the Inquisitorius, the Grand Inquisitor was a fallen Pau’an Jedi, one of the Jedi Order’s Temple Guards before the rise of the Empire. Becoming the head of the Inquistiorius under Darth Vader at the direct behest of the Emperor, the Grand Inquisitor helped train and form the rest of the Inquistorius, and eventually took a direct role in hunting down the rogue Jedi Kanan Jarrus and his new apprentice, Ezra Bridger, during the events of Star Wars Rebels’ first season.
The Grand Inquisitor perishes at the end of that first season, but he will appear in Obi-Wan Kenobi, played by Rupert Friend.
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Little is known about the Third Sister, because we’ll actually be meeting them for the first time in Obi-Wan Kenobi. Played by Moses Ingram, the Third Sister—also known as Reva—is described as “ruthlessly ambitious” as they go on the trail of Obi-Wan on the planet Daiyu.
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A grey skinned alien often paired with the Seventh Sister, the Fifth Brother was one of the Inquisitorius’ agents tasked with hunting down Kanan and Ezra after the death of the Grand Inquisitor. He met his end at the hands of the returned Darth Maul on Malachor at the climax of Rebels’ second season, but he will make an appearance in Obi-Wan Kenobi, played by Fast and Furious star Sung Kang.
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Voiced by Sarah Michelle Gellar, the Seventh Sister was the other Inquisitor that followed in the Grand Inquisitor’s footsteps hunting Kanan and Ezra alongside the Fifth Brother, and likewise perished facing Maul on Malachor in Rebels’ second season.
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The former Jedi Padawan Trilla Suduri, the Second Sister is a major antagonist in the Respawn video game Jedi: Fallen Order. The fallen Padawan of ex-Jedi Cere Junda, Trilla was tortured alongside her master, but couldn’t escape captivity at the hands of the Empire, transforming into an acolyte of the Dark Side. Eventually, Trilla returned to the Light long enough to sacrifice herself to give Junda and her new ally, Cal Kestis, time to flee the wrath of Darth Vader.
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The Ninth Sister, Masana Tide, was a burly Dowutan who survived not one, but two major brushes with ex-Jedi. First in the Darth Vader comic series second volume, Tide was part of a team of Inquisitors during the Imperial occupation of Mon Cala, hunting down a trove of Jedi acolytes hidden on the world. Surviving a surprise assault from a Jedi that used the Force to turn Clone Troopers on the Inquisitors—who are themselves, of course, largely made up for former Jedi—Tide lost a leg to a fellow Inquisitor hoping to use her as a distraction as he escaped.
Tide survived, only to lose another limb, this time her right hand, years later when she faced Jedi: Fallen Order’s Cal Kestis in a duel on the Wookiee homeworld, Kashyyyk. Unlucky! But she at least seemingly survived the encounter, even if we’ve yet to see her since.
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The aforementioned leg-lopper, Sixth Brother—Bil Valen—was part of the same team as Tide on Cala, and managed to survive having his Clone Purge Troopers turn on him. Years later the Sixth Brother hunted down stories of a former Jedi on the moon Raada, who turned out to be none other than Ahsoka Tano.
Ahsoka bested the Sixth Brother in a duel by forcing his double-bladed lightsaber to eject its kyber crystals mid-activation, killing the Inquisitor in the ensuing explosion of the weapon. He has a weird legacy to survive on though: the Sixth Brother’s two corrupted kyber crystals were purified by Ahsoka to create the white blades of the sabers she would wield as an adult.
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The third Inquisitor on the Mon Cala mission, Tenth Brother, formerly known as Prosset Dibs, was less fortunate in surviving the mind trick that turned the Inquisitorius’ Purge Troopers on them: he promptly got shot to death by the troopers the second it happened. Womp womp.
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Little is known about the actual Fourth Sister—we’ve seen her armor, but not the Inquisitor herself. That armor was purloined by Rebel agent Lina Graf in the pages of IDW’s Return to Vader’s Castle, who used it to impersonate the Fourth Sister to rescue imprisoned Rebel Lieutenant, Thom Hudd.
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We don’t even know if this Inquisitor is actually canonical, considering their only appearance was in the anime anthology series Visions. Appearing in Science Saru’s short “T0-B1,” this Inquisitor battled the titular droid after slaughtering T0-B1's creator, the former Jedi Mitaka. Wielding a lightsaber of his own, T0-B1 cut down the Inquisitor.
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An Inquisitor so obscure we don’t even actually know what she looks like! This unknown Inquisitor appears in the Star Wars: Force and Destiny Roleplaying Game adventure Ghosts of Dathomir, and serves as part of the backstory for an actual character in the adventure, the Dark Side user Jerserra. Jerserra was apprenticed to an Inquisitor, and a rare survivor of the Nightsister massacre during the battle of Dathomir. Trained for several years, Jerserra grew impatient with the Inquisitor and murdered her, taking her lightsaber and parts of her Inquisitorius armor for herself.
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Last, but not least, but kind of least really: These two Inquisitors we actually got to see at least, but only before they promptly got murdered in the pages of Darth Vader #20. After Darth Vader uncovered that the duo had formed an attachment and had failed to apprehend extra hostages during a mission to hunt down former Jedi Master Eeth Koth, he attempted to cut down the Red-skinned female Inquisitor—leading to the Twi’lek to leap to her defense. This initiated a chase across Coruscant as the now-rogue Inquisitors attempted to escape.
Not only did it end poorly for them—Vader forced the duo to kill themselves with their own sabers—the chase was so embarrassing for the Emperor due to a death of a senator in the crossfire, he forced Vader to move the Inquisitorius off-world, establishing their headquarters on the moon Nur in the Mustafar system: a citadel we will see in Obi-Wan Kenobi.
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