I wonder if it’s meant to be imperial propaganda/censorship. Like maybe everyone knows deep down the Jedi were real, but it’s frowned upon to talk about it, because the Emperor is trying to erase them from memory.
It could also be that the galaxy is a big place and the Jedi were never that numerous. So even when they were a thing, most people would go their whole lives without ever seeing one. I can see how they would become semi-mythological in that case.
But we know the real answer is simply that Star Wars is not a franchise that values verisimilitude in worldbuilding or writing. It’s a fantasy world with a veneer of sci-fi.
the galaxy is a big place and the Jedi were never that numerous
Ding ding ding
DISNEY RETCONNED SO MUCH
The Jedi intentionally did not get involved in big matters, because they were never supposed to be leaders. They basically just tried to keep the peace. So if they did their jobs properly, not many people should know about them beyond myths and legends.
I mean honestly, who would believe you of you said you saw a guy wearing robes and welding a sword that looked like someone took the shot from your pistol and made it solid.
Coruscant was a planet that was almost completely covered by miles of the densest city you can imagine, the only natural spot left was a preserve for what was left of the natives.
Countless billions of people. There’s no way for them to even know for sure the exact number, due to sensor limitations, shielded areas, misreported census… You name it.
There were a few thousand jedi at most, most of whom were out on various pilgrimages, missions, journeys, research, whatever. Scattered all over, with the biggest concentration being the jedi temple.
And honestly, when was the last time you paid attention to the people inside your local mosque/church/synagogue/temple/crack den?
So yeah, most people would have only heard of jedi as some kind of legend, whispers of great deeds long past, and rumors of what they’ve done recently.
And really, even after the clone wars, I could see most people having no idea the jedi had major roles in the GAR. I don’t know the names of most generals in WW2, especially non-allied generals beyond a couple major battles. So if your world wasn’t ravaged by the war, why would you even care about some general in some war that didn’t really change your family’s lives much?
The empire also worked to scrub them from memory, repurposed the jedi temple, and people who grew up with imperial education on an imperial sector capital planet, the most you would have heard is the hushed whispers around a sleepover because you know you’re not supposed to talk about them. If you heard of them at all before entering the academy.
So if they did their jobs properly, not many people should know about them beyond myths and legends.
Except for the big galactic war like 20 years ago where the news would’ve been all Jedi General soandso defeats separatist forces in such and such planet, with news footage of the Jedi flinging around droids like ragdolls and flipping and cutting through them.
And then of course the 20 years of war movies after, that sure, due to Imperial propaganda would be painting the Jedi as sinister evil dudes preparing to take control of the galaxy, but they still would’ve been showing all their terrifying powers.
Jedi would be as well known as the F-117 Stealth Fighter is in reality. Do they know all it’s technical specifications? No. But they have an idea of what it does - indeed, a somewhat exaggerated idea, even, so the average person would think Jedi are even more powerful than they really were.
A sudden massive increase in the number of people who believe the MMR vaccine causes autism.
A global pandemic that large numbers of people:
Swear didn’t happen, or
Was artificially created, or
Was a hoax to encourage people to have vaccines that contain something sinister.
Widespread demonisation of an entire religion.
A sharp increase in people who don’t believe the holocaust happened.
A baffling increase in people who believe the Earth is flat.
In short, people are stupid and surprisingly willing to believe nonsense, despite mountains of evidence to the contrary.
Were the Jedi actually magical? Nah it was just propaganda by a corrupt council. It was all special effects - seriously, a sword against blasters? Wake up, sheeple.
This is absolutely you trying to head canon reality away. There is no way you will ever convince me George Lucas was that socially conscientious/nuanced in his storytelling. It’s not his style at all and he would’ve said something indicating this. He wasn’t thinking about the anti-vaccine movement and the ability to use media to gaslight the public in the 1970s/80s and 90’s/early 2000’s.
Yeah, I’m one of those people who thinks the only good Disney Star Wars is Rogue One, and I particularly like the fact that it established the idea that it’s possible to follow the force like a religion but not be a Jedi. Maybe in times of great pressure you can manifest 1% of a Jedi’s power if you are an extremely devoted adherent of that faith, but it’s not the same thing as what the Jedi could do at all. So it makes sense that people would be aware of the force, but the idea that there were this sect of wizard warriors who had mastered its use would be unimaginable to them.
I blame Disney for a lot of decisions but that is not one of them. Lucas made them the generals for the Republic in the prequels. There is no way to argue they flew under the radar/were somewhat obscure after that. Throughout all the prequels they had an incredibly strongpresence/line of communication with the galactic government.
Shame too. It would be very cool to have a “I’ll believe it when I see it” culture more around it. That’s part of what makes Han’s arc so beautiful. At the end of a new hope he is “beginning to believe“ even if he has not suddenly a force wielder. He stops for a moment going against the grain all the time and embraces his humanity and allows the force to work through him to do good for good’s sake
If you’re talking about Tolkien, he wasn’t the originator of the fantasy genre. It existed long before him and was generally known for being very inconsistent in worldbuilding. His main innovation was inventing a style of fantasy worldbuilding which was actually realistic.
I disagree. Maybe aesthetically to some extent but the story and writing are more inspired by classical fantasy stories. It’s a story about a poor farmer who joins a wizard on a quest to become a knight, save a princess from a dark wizard who serves an evil king. That’s a fairy tale.
And it’s also the modern canonical example of the Hero’s Journey/Monomyth structure.
Personally I think George Lucas’ idea of what the Jedi were changed some time between '83 and '97. From Obi Wan’s description it sounds like Anakin was recruited as a young adult starfighter pilot by Obi Wan personally, and that Obi Wan had been recruited and trained by Yoda personally, and that the whole Jedi order was a secret society of space wizards discretely passing their skills down to each generation along with their commitment to defending the Republic. Maybe you’d hear about them or see a video of one using the Force, but it would be easy to just think that they’re an urban legend and the people who actually believe in that stuff are cranks.
But then the Prequels hit and it turns out the Jedi were a massive cult that was deeply embedded in the bureaucracy of the former government, so some things didn’t make sense anymore after that.
Yeah they alternate between “everyone remembers” and the occasional “huh?”
It’s a very distracting inconsistency for me tbh
I wonder if it’s meant to be imperial propaganda/censorship. Like maybe everyone knows deep down the Jedi were real, but it’s frowned upon to talk about it, because the Emperor is trying to erase them from memory.
It could also be that the galaxy is a big place and the Jedi were never that numerous. So even when they were a thing, most people would go their whole lives without ever seeing one. I can see how they would become semi-mythological in that case.
But we know the real answer is simply that Star Wars is not a franchise that values verisimilitude in worldbuilding or writing. It’s a fantasy world with a veneer of sci-fi.
Ding ding ding
DISNEY RETCONNED SO MUCH
The Jedi intentionally did not get involved in big matters, because they were never supposed to be leaders. They basically just tried to keep the peace. So if they did their jobs properly, not many people should know about them beyond myths and legends.
I mean honestly, who would believe you of you said you saw a guy wearing robes and welding a sword that looked like someone took the shot from your pistol and made it solid.
Coruscant was a planet that was almost completely covered by miles of the densest city you can imagine, the only natural spot left was a preserve for what was left of the natives.
Countless billions of people. There’s no way for them to even know for sure the exact number, due to sensor limitations, shielded areas, misreported census… You name it.
There were a few thousand jedi at most, most of whom were out on various pilgrimages, missions, journeys, research, whatever. Scattered all over, with the biggest concentration being the jedi temple.
And honestly, when was the last time you paid attention to the people inside your local mosque/church/synagogue/temple/crack den?
So yeah, most people would have only heard of jedi as some kind of legend, whispers of great deeds long past, and rumors of what they’ve done recently.
And really, even after the clone wars, I could see most people having no idea the jedi had major roles in the GAR. I don’t know the names of most generals in WW2, especially non-allied generals beyond a couple major battles. So if your world wasn’t ravaged by the war, why would you even care about some general in some war that didn’t really change your family’s lives much?
The empire also worked to scrub them from memory, repurposed the jedi temple, and people who grew up with imperial education on an imperial sector capital planet, the most you would have heard is the hushed whispers around a sleepover because you know you’re not supposed to talk about them. If you heard of them at all before entering the academy.
Except for the big galactic war like 20 years ago where the news would’ve been all Jedi General soandso defeats separatist forces in such and such planet, with news footage of the Jedi flinging around droids like ragdolls and flipping and cutting through them.
And then of course the 20 years of war movies after, that sure, due to Imperial propaganda would be painting the Jedi as sinister evil dudes preparing to take control of the galaxy, but they still would’ve been showing all their terrifying powers.
Jedi would be as well known as the F-117 Stealth Fighter is in reality. Do they know all it’s technical specifications? No. But they have an idea of what it does - indeed, a somewhat exaggerated idea, even, so the average person would think Jedi are even more powerful than they really were.
I’m not sure - just think…
Within less than thirty years there has been:
A sudden massive increase in the number of people who believe the MMR vaccine causes autism.
A global pandemic that large numbers of people: Swear didn’t happen, or Was artificially created, or Was a hoax to encourage people to have vaccines that contain something sinister.
Widespread demonisation of an entire religion.
A sharp increase in people who don’t believe the holocaust happened.
A baffling increase in people who believe the Earth is flat.
In short, people are stupid and surprisingly willing to believe nonsense, despite mountains of evidence to the contrary.
Were the Jedi actually magical? Nah it was just propaganda by a corrupt council. It was all special effects - seriously, a sword against blasters? Wake up, sheeple.
This is absolutely you trying to head canon reality away. There is no way you will ever convince me George Lucas was that socially conscientious/nuanced in his storytelling. It’s not his style at all and he would’ve said something indicating this. He wasn’t thinking about the anti-vaccine movement and the ability to use media to gaslight the public in the 1970s/80s and 90’s/early 2000’s.
I think you might have misread my comment. I don’t think George Lucas was trying to make a comment on any of the above.
You must not have continued reading…
Yeah, I’m one of those people who thinks the only good Disney Star Wars is Rogue One, and I particularly like the fact that it established the idea that it’s possible to follow the force like a religion but not be a Jedi. Maybe in times of great pressure you can manifest 1% of a Jedi’s power if you are an extremely devoted adherent of that faith, but it’s not the same thing as what the Jedi could do at all. So it makes sense that people would be aware of the force, but the idea that there were this sect of wizard warriors who had mastered its use would be unimaginable to them.
I am one with The Force, and The Force is with me
Chirut was best ProtoJedi. (sorry, Plo Koon is best jedi)
It’s like watching someone on Fool Us who actually gets one over on P&T vs a real-life Merlin.
I blame Disney for a lot of decisions but that is not one of them. Lucas made them the generals for the Republic in the prequels. There is no way to argue they flew under the radar/were somewhat obscure after that. Throughout all the prequels they had an incredibly strongpresence/line of communication with the galactic government.
Shame too. It would be very cool to have a “I’ll believe it when I see it” culture more around it. That’s part of what makes Han’s arc so beautiful. At the end of a new hope he is “beginning to believe“ even if he has not suddenly a force wielder. He stops for a moment going against the grain all the time and embraces his humanity and allows the force to work through him to do good for good’s sake
Being fantasy has nothing to do with being consistent in worldbuilding, the godfather of the genre was VERY consistent.
If you’re talking about Tolkien, he wasn’t the originator of the fantasy genre. It existed long before him and was generally known for being very inconsistent in worldbuilding. His main innovation was inventing a style of fantasy worldbuilding which was actually realistic.
Star Wars came more from serials like Buck Rogers than straight fantasy.
I disagree. Maybe aesthetically to some extent but the story and writing are more inspired by classical fantasy stories. It’s a story about a poor farmer who joins a wizard on a quest to become a knight, save a princess from a dark wizard who serves an evil king. That’s a fairy tale.
And it’s also the modern canonical example of the Hero’s Journey/Monomyth structure.
You can disagree as much as you’d like. Lucas said the main inspiration was serials.
Personally I think George Lucas’ idea of what the Jedi were changed some time between '83 and '97. From Obi Wan’s description it sounds like Anakin was recruited as a young adult starfighter pilot by Obi Wan personally, and that Obi Wan had been recruited and trained by Yoda personally, and that the whole Jedi order was a secret society of space wizards discretely passing their skills down to each generation along with their commitment to defending the Republic. Maybe you’d hear about them or see a video of one using the Force, but it would be easy to just think that they’re an urban legend and the people who actually believe in that stuff are cranks.
But then the Prequels hit and it turns out the Jedi were a massive cult that was deeply embedded in the bureaucracy of the former government, so some things didn’t make sense anymore after that.