About seven years after the events of Return of the Jedi, Luke Skywalker, felt that the remaining Imperial forces that still existed in the Galaxy were no longer a major threat that he needed to constantly be on the frontline leading battles. He believed that the time had truly come for him to fully commit to bringing the Jedi Order back. Luke went on to create the new Jedi Order, establishing its base of operations on Yavin IV in the former Rebel Alliance Masasi Temple. This became known as the Jedi Praxeum and it served as the Jedi’s headquarters for about 15 years, until it was destroyed and moved back to the former Order’s location on Coruscant.
The Order began with only 12 students, but slowly grew over the years where it contained a couple hundred students. It was still smaller than the previous order’s numbers, which was in the range of 10,000, though they had been around for thousands of years up until Order 66. Size was not the only difference between the two, the way Luke led the New Order, was vastly different to how the Old Order operated.
For example, Luke was far more flexible when teaching his students in the ways of the Force. He believed that students should learn by doing, rather than only listening to informative lectures. They should have their own unique journeys with the Force and make it their own and learn at their own pace. Luke would encourage his students to go on missions to learn from their experiences. Sometimes, the students would be accompanied by their master, but quite often, they went alone. Luke didn’t want his students to just think about their actions, but to truly just do them, following the teachings he received from Yoda while on Dagobah. “Do, or do not. There is no try.”
In Luke’s order in the beginning stages, there were only a few Masters and Knights, many were survivors of Order 66, who emerged after the death of Palpatine. Many Knights and Masters had to take on multiple apprentices to compensate for the small numbers.
Luke also removed old rules that the Jedi use to follow, either because he thought it was irrelevant, or he simply didn’t know about it. The new Jedi could be in romantic relationships with others, or with each other and could marry. (Including Luke himself when he married Mara Jade) The traditional robes worn by traditional Jedi were no longer mandatory and Jedi could adapt their own unique style. Though during formal ceremonies, traditional Jedi robes would be worn.
Each student also had a lot more freedoms and responsibilities to take care of, there was no group giving orders, and at the early stages, no Jedi Council. Luke did create it eventually after the Yuuzhan Vong War, but their authority was far more limited than the previous Order and they were disconnected from the politics of the Galactic Alliance. He did this to hopefully prevent the Council from being corrupted by the politics, which he believed was a factor in the downfall of the old Order in 19 B.B.Y.
Though Luke pushed for a separation of the Jedi Council and the politics of the G.A., he did want the Jedi to interact with the G. A’s people.
Unlike the previous Order that lived in the temple, and only came out to settle issues, Luke encouraged his students and peers to go out and be involved with the community of the galaxy, even in areas where there was no conflict. Luke wanted the galaxy to see that the Jedi were not some closed off society, rather ones who were one with the galaxy. It was thought that this was used to help the galaxy rid themselves of the negative thoughts of the old Jedi Order.
When it came to dealing with the dark side of the Force, Luke believed in redemption and knew that everyone was capable of falling to the dark side. It was that believe that gave him his believe that therefore, everyone could be redeemed. The old Order believed that the dark side should be destroyed at first glance. They believed that it should be destroyed from the galaxy by doing anything necessary. His meant killing any dark side adepts or hiding any dark side creations or artifacts. Luke wanted everyone to understand how he had seen Darth
Vader, that no one was exempt from redemption.
Luke also allowed his Jedi Knights to carry various weapons other than only their lightsabers. Examples of these Jedi include Jaina Solo, Jaden Korr, and probably the most well known, Kyle Katarn who would wield his brayor pistol just as often as he would his lightsaber.
It was with these changes that Luke’s New Jedi Order were truly the “Jedi.” They were in some ways leaps and bounds grander than the old order. It was with this Order that they were able to survive after Darth Krayt and truly become the guardians of peace and justice once again in the galaxy.
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