In the aftermath of ORDER 66, the Empire’s grip on the galaxy seemed unshakable, with Darth Vader and his Inquisitors at the forefront of extinguishing the remaining embers of the Jedi Order.
However, a tale from the pages of the Star Wars comics, specifically Darth Vader (2017), reveals a poignant and tumultuous episode that led to a significant decree by Emperor Palpatine: the banishment of the Inquisitors from Coruscant.
This decision wasn’t due to a failure on their part to eradicate the Jedi but rather the unforeseen chaos unleashed in the heart of the Empire, stemming from the very essence of what makes us all too human: love and desire.
Table of Contents
A Tale of Love and Despair
Five years post-ORDER 66, the galaxy was almost cleansed of Jedi, leaving Vader and the Inquisitors without targets. But it wasn’t the lack of Jedi that precipitated the incident; it was something far more personal.
Iskat, an Inquisitor, had developed a deep emotional bond with a fellow Inquisitor (Yaluna).
Their love, forbidden and concealed beneath their allegiance to the dark side, was a beacon of light in their dark world. However, this light would soon be extinguished by Vader himself.
After the elimination of Eeth Koth, a lingering Jedi, Vader’s attention shifted to the Inquisitorial couple.
Their desperate flight for survival through Coruscant’s sprawling skyways, with Vader in relentless pursuit, culminated in a tragic showdown.
Believing they had ensnared Vader, the couple’s fate was sealed by a cruel twist of the Force, manipulated by Vader to turn the lovers against one another, resulting in their mutual destruction.
The Fallout
The wreckage of this personal battle had ramifications that rippled through the corridors of power. Upon Vader’s return, the tale of destruction and the public spectacle it created left Emperor Palpatine with a dilemma.
The chaos wrought by the Inquisitors on Coruscant, driven by emotions and personal desires, was a liability Palpatine could not tolerate in the heart of his Empire.
The Decree of Banishment
The solution was both a punishment and a precaution: the relocation of the Inquisitorius headquarters off-world. Palpatine’s decision was pragmatic, aiming to mitigate the risk of such uncontrolled destruction within his capital.
By moving the Inquisitors, Palpatine sought to ensure that their potent, albeit volatile, capabilities were not a threat to the stability and image of order he wished to project on Coruscant.
Wrap up
Palpatine’s decision to move the Inquisitors wasn’t just about avoiding future property damage. It was a calculated move to keep the inner workings and conflicts of the Empire’s dark forces away from public eyes.
Coruscant was the shining center of the Empire, and Palpatine wanted to keep it that way, free from the messiness of dark side drama.
In the end, the tale of the Inquisitors’ banishment is a reminder that even in a galaxy filled with lightsaber battles, space dogfights, and planet-destroying superweapons, personal emotions can still have galaxy-altering consequences.
And for Palpatine, it meant sending his problem children to their rooms—well, off-world, anyway—to make sure they couldn’t turn Coruscant into their personal playground of destruction again.