Now a general on the front lines contributing to that chaos, she is often reminded: Trust in your training. Trust in the wisdom of the Council. Trust in the Force. Yet as the shadows of doubt take hold, Iskat begins to ask questions that no Jedi is supposed to ask: Questions about her own unknown past. Questions the Jedi Masters would consider dangerous.
As the years pass and the war endures, Iskat’s faith in the Jedi wanes. If they would grant her more freedom, she is certain she could do more to protect the galaxy. If they would trust her with more knowledge, she could finally cast aside the shadows that have begun to consume her. When the Jedi Order finally falls, Iskat seizes the chance to forge a path of her own. She embraces the salvation of Order 66.
As an Inquisitor, Iskat finds the freedom she has always craved: to question, to want. And with each strike of her red blade, Iskat moves closer to claiming her new destiny in the Force—whatever the cost.
I’ve been reading up on Inquisitors.
As one does.
Like a lot of things in Star Wars, the lore about Inquisitors goes back a ways. Certainly well before the premiere of Rebels, when most of us became familiar with the concept of these dark side Jedi hunters. Apparently the Inquisitorius was first mentioned in something called THE STAR WARS SOURCEBOOK back in 1987!
The whole concept of Inquisitors is just super fucking metal: fallen Jedi, twisted & tortured into hunting whatever Jedi may have slipped through the cracks in Emperor Palpatine’s post-Order 66 Empire. We get to know a few different Inquisitors in Rebels, on the Obi-Wan Kenobi show, and maybe most notably (or most gut-wrenchingly) in the Jedi: Fallen Order game.
They’ve popped up in some comics here & there (and I’ll circle back to the comics in a bit), but Delilah S. Dawson has certainly given us our deepest dive into the mind of an Inquisitor with INQUISITOR: RISE OF THE RED BLADE!
This one was wild! I fucking loved it & I think Delilah S. Dawson writes some of the most unique Star Wars books in the new canon!
One thing that sets this apart from a lot of other Star Wars books is that it’s told entirely from one POV (third person). We meet Iskat Akaris when she is a Jedi Padawan. It’s clear from the beginning that Iskat feels very much like an outsider within the Jedi Order. She is the only one of her species that she’s ever seen…she has no idea what her species is even called, or what planet she came from. Her origins seem lost to history, something that haunts her.
Additionally, her Jedi Master, Sember Vey, is kind of distant. The coolness of their relationship is a big part of the story, but I’ll kind of leave at this: Iskat looks around at some of the relationships she sees between different Jedi Padawans and Jedi Masters, and she’s envious. She feels like she can never truly please Sember, no matter how hard she tries.
The two of them spend most of their time traveling to distant planets & gathering items for the Jedi Archives. This involves a lot of time in dusty old shops, negotiating for things like scrolls & ancient lightsabers. Interesting, to a point. But again, Iskat is craving something more.
As the story progresses, we move into the Clone Wars. It’s here that Iskat begins to find herself a little bit. While not exactly “the Jedi way,” Iskat lives for combat. For the thrill of the battle. She comes alive in ways she didn’t think possible, certainly not through meditation and hanging out in the Archive.
All this angst & dissatisfaction with her life in the Jedi Order makes Iskat a perfect target for Emperor Palpatine after the execution of Order 66. I almost struggled a bit with how easy it seemed for Iskat to fully embrace the dark side & become an Inquisitor, but after sitting with the novel awhile, Dawson really laid out the groundwork for this transformation.
One of the things that absolutely fucking rules about RISE OF THE RED BLADE is how much it ties into Charles Soule’s run of the Marvel DARTH VADER comic, which is hands down one of my very favorite Star Wars comics! I think if you were going to read both (and you should!) I might suggest reading RISE OF THE RED BLADE first. It’ll work either way (I read the comic first), but yeah…after thinking on it a bit, I’d suggest the book before the comic!
This one goes to some really dark places. I’ll mention it here, as the author mentions it in the preface of the book: there’s a character that dies by suicide in the novel. It happens off the page, and in the past. But it’s still not something you see (at least I haven’t) in Star Wars. So, good on Dawson for using her platform to shine a light on some of the darkest places…it feels really important.
RISE OF THE RED BLADE is a great Star Wars novel…it definitely tackles some heavy themes, but also feels chaotically fun too! Iskat is kind of a whirlwind to be around, and not really like any other Star Wars character. She’s written to be extremely messy, and it makes her super relatable. I just really dug this book a lot!
May the Force be with you!!
Grimdark Dad 