In both Star Wars Canon and Legends, the Jedi Temple fell to the Sith following Order 66. In the Canon, the Sith repurposed the Temple into the Imperial Palace while presumably destroying Jedi artifacts. In Legends, the millennium-old Temple fell into abandonment.
Following Order 66, Darth Sidious ordered Jedi artifacts to be replaced with those glorifying the new Empire. And while his empire did not destroy the Jedi Temple, Darth Krayt would do so in 130 ABY in Star Wars Legends.
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What Happened to the Jedi Temple After Order 66?
Following Order 66, the Sith used the Jedi Temple as a trap to kill off any remaining Jedi who survived the initial wave and returned to the Temple.
To further lure surviving Jedi to the Temple, the Sith set up a beacon, falsely claiming the end of the Clone Wars. Of course, clone troopers opened fire the second these Jedi returned, further dwindling the Jedi’s numbers.
To invoke damage control, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda managed to deactivate the beacon. They set up a new one, urging Jedi to steer clear of the Temple.
Once the Sith killed off most of the remaining Jedi and sent out a group of Inquisitors to hunt for those who went into exile, they repurposed the Jedi Temple into the Imperial Palace, which served as Emperor Darth Sidious’ home.
The Sith’s renovations probably included the removal of Jedi statues and artwork, destroying the Order’s final remnants, though this remains inconclusive. They replaced the Jedi artifacts with statues and artwork showing off the new Emperor’s and Empire’s glory.
At the Imperial Palace, Darth Sidious would hold day-to-day meetings with his advisors in the audience room. Following the Battle of Endor, the Temple still stood while celebrations erupted on the street, forcing Grand Vizier Mas Amedda and his supporters to take refuge inside.
Continuity Issue?
The fate of the Jedi Temple following Order 66 has been subject to potential continuity issues. Kanan Jarrus stated, “Nothing of it remained on the world now known as the Imperial City. Not a museum, not a plaque, not a mark. The Empire had reduced all its brick and steel to dust.”
While some, including Matt Martin of Lucasfilm Story Group, ultimately admitted this to be a continuity error, Jarrus could have referred to the Sith Lord possibly destroying the Jedi artifacts.
Before stating Jarrus’ quote was a continuity error, Martin also pointed to the possibility Jarrus referred to Darh Vader and his clone troopers overrunning the Jedi Temple during the first wave of Order 66.
Jarrus’ claim of the Sith destroying the Jedi Temple appeared in the book The Rebellion Begins by Michael Kogge.
Did the Empire Destroy the Jedi Temple?
The Empire did not destroy the Jedi Temple in Star Wars Canon, they just repurposed it to house Darth Sidious. However, they erased thousands of years of Jedi history that resided in the Temple.
In Star Wars Legends, the Jedi Temple served a similar purpose, becoming a trap immediately following Order 66. Also, like the Canon, Obi-Wan and Yoda destroyed the beacon calling the Jedi back to the Temple in favor of a new one urging them to stay away.
While the Empire didn’t destroy the Jedi Temple in Star Wars Legends, their activity there dwindled until the Temple fell into abandonment. Also in Star Wars Legends, the Jedi Temple returned to its former glory after the Empire fell thanks to Luke Skywalker.
Who Destroyed the Jedi Temple on Coruscant?
In Star Wars Legends, the Jedi again lost the Temple to the Sith in 130 ABY under Darth Krayt. Krayt destroyed many aspects of the New Jedi Temple during this time, redesigning it to strike fear and obedience in the masses.
Before its destruction by Darth Krayt’s One Sith, the Jedi Temple underwent a reconstruction phase that included multiple pyramids and statues that enshrined the Jedi. Krayt would destroy all of these structures during the Temple’s conversion phase.
What Happened to the Jedi Temple After the Fall of the Empire?
In the Canon, as the Galactic Civil War reached its last stages, the Imperial Palace housed Grand Vizier Mas Amedda. Acting under Gallius Rax’s orders, Mas Amedda remained under house arrest in his quarters within the Jedi Temple while Imperial Security secured the Palace.
Amedda attempted to escape, only to have his leg broken in the process. However, the Rebellion’s Anklebiter Brigade broke into the Palace a short time after, allowing Amedda to escape captivity in 5 ABY during the Battle of Jakku.
The breakout allowed him to represent the Galactic Empire at the Galactic Concordance and sign a treaty with the New Republic to put an official end to the Galactic Civil War.
In the Canon, the Jedi would not return to the Temple. Instead, Luke Skywalker traveled about the galaxy in search of Force-sensitive beings to create a new Jedi Order.
He founded a new Jedi Temple, dubbed the Jedi Temple of Luke Skywalker, in a secret location during the New Republic Era. Unfortunately, this temple would not last, since Luke’s nephew, Ben Solo, destroyed the structure in 28 ABY, just 19 years following its construction.