When people talk about the Jedi who escaped the Purge, names like Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi always come up first. But the truth is, the Jedi who shook Emperor Palpatine to his core wasn’t a warrior or a general. It was Jocasta Nu, the elderly Chief Librarian of the Jedi Archives.
To Palpatine, she was a threat to the very foundation of the Sith Empire.
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Why Palpatine Couldn’t Let Her Go
After the Purge, Sidious was quick to boast to Vader about how thoroughly the Jedi had been destroyed. In Darth Vader (2017) #6, he told him:
“Most of the Jedi were killed in our glorious purge, but some few remain. The luckiest, the deadliest, the strongest, those most duplicitous, willing to tell any lie to save their lives.”
That line alone shows how much he still worried about survivors. But Jocasta Nu wasn’t like the others. She wasn’t a general on the battlefield or a fighter known for her skill with the blade. What made her dangerous was something far more lasting: knowledge.
She had overseen the Jedi Archives for decades. That meant she knew about Force-rich locations scattered across the galaxy, shrines and temples, the history of the Order, and even fragments of dark side lore. Palpatine realized if she lived long enough to pass that on, the Jedi could rise again. For him, that was a far greater threat than a wandering Kenobi or Yoda in hiding.
After the Temple fell, she started recording holocrons — not just as a memorial, but as lessons. She admitted openly that she wasn’t building an archive, she was building a school.
Her goal wasn’t only to preserve knowledge but to find new students. She knew about a hidden list in the Jedi Temple — names of Force-sensitive children across the galaxy. With that list, she could seek them out and begin rebuilding the Jedi Order from scratch.
Palpatine’s Obsession Revealed
Even Vader didn’t understand at first why an old librarian mattered more than the few surviving warriors. When he asked, Palpatine’s response said it all.
He told Vader Jocasta was the custodian of a “great treasure” hidden in the Archives. Her knowledge wasn’t just about Jedi history — it included dangerous truths that touched the dark side too.
“Of course not! There is risk in Jocasta falling into any hands but ours. Her knowledge could easily be used against us.”
He allowed the Inquisitors to help track her down, but kept them in the dark about why:
“They can help you find her, if you wish — but they need not know her importance. The Inquisitors will be useful, but they are not Sith.”
That was Palpatine in a nutshell — using tools, keeping secrets, and making sure only he and Vader understood the real stakes.
And more than that, he didn’t just want Jocasta killed. He wanted her alive if possible, her knowledge taken and turned into a weapon for the Sith. The fact that he even considered that shows how much he valued and feared what she carried.
Jocasta’s Final Stand
Eventually, Jocasta returned to Coruscant itself, sneaking back into the ruins of the Jedi Temple to recover the list of Force-sensitive children. For the first time in years, she drew her lightsaber again. And waiting for her there was Darth Vader.
During the duel, Jocasta revealed to the clone troopers who Vader truly was — Anakin Skywalker. She confronted him about his master’s betrayal, warning him directly that Sidious would one day replace him. And in the middle of all this, she struck her biggest blow: she erased the Jedi Archives before Palpatine could ever seize them.
Her fight ended in death, destroyed aboard a ship Vader brought down. But she had already done what mattered most. The list was gone. The archives were wiped. And she had left holocrons behind — holocrons that, years later, would guide Luke Skywalker.
