A Jedi, also known by the title of Lord Jedi in ancient times, was a devotee to the ways of the Jedi Order, an ancient order of protectors united by their ability to harness the power of the Force. Adhering to a doctrine that favored the light side of the Force, the Jedi aspired to attain a state of inner tranquility through calmness and meditation while avoiding emotions affiliated with the dark side of the Force, such as anger and hatred. Nevertheless, Jedi philosophy did not forbid a Jedi from acting in self-defense or in the defense of others. To that end, the weapon of a Jedi was the lightsaber, a sword with a blade composed of pure energy and different colors such as blue, green, purple, or yellow.
Before the time of the Galactic Empire, a Jedi was a guardian of peace and justice in the Galactic Republic. The Jedi’s commitment to peace and democracy brought them into conflict with an order of dark side wielders known as the Sith, who sought power and dominion over the galaxy. Emerging victorious from their wars with the ancient Sith, the Jedi carried on in their duty as peacekeepers for over a millennium until the advent of the Clone Wars twenty-two years before the Battle of Yavin. Faced with a pan-galactic civil war between the Republic and Confederacy of Independent Systems, the Jedi adopted the mantle of generals and soldiers in the Grand Army of the Republic. After three years of conflict, the Jedi discovered that the Sith had deceived them and engineered the war to restore them back to power. However, the Jedi were betrayed by one of their own—the Chosen One Anakin Skywalker, who had been seduced to the dark side and anointed Darth Vader by the Sith Lord Darth Sidious. Using the Jedi’s own clone troopers to initiate a systematic purge of the Jedi Order, the Lords of the Sith all but eradicated the Jedi in one fell swoop, reducing the order from thousands of Jedi Knights to a handful of survivors who dispersed into exile across the galaxy.