Charles Soule Reveals Origins Of The Jedi’s Barash Vow

The new Darth Vader series from Marvel Comics explores the character’s journey from the destruction of Anakin Skywalker to becoming the feared Sith Lord, but writer Charles Soule is also fleshing out aspects of the Jedi Order.

Soule teamed with artists Giuseppe Camuncoli, Cam Smith, and David Curiel to create the story of Jedi Master Kirak Infil’a, who is in self-imposed exile after taking what is referred to as the Barash Vow.

“The Barash Vow is something that can be used in different places,” said Soule while speaking with StarWars.com. “It’s not common, so it doesn’t have to come up or be referred to all the time. It gives the Jedi a very interesting history.”

Jedi take the vow when their purpose is unclear or if they’ve violated the code. They isolate themselves “inside the Force” until a purpose for them arises. Vader goes to Infil’a’s residence to retrieve his Kyber crystal, because a Sith must “bleed” a Jedi’s crystal after killing them and stealing their lightsaber in order to make their own.

And when Vader arrives for Infil’a’s crystal, the Jedi can sense the darkness from Order 66 upon him. His purpose becomes clear: to kill the monster who destroyed the Jedi Order.

Surviving Order 66

“A lot of times these things are answers to questions or solutions to problems,” Soule said. “For me, the problem was, ‘Okay. I want Vader to have an incredible Jedi fight with somebody who feels worthwhile for him.’

“You want it to seem mythological and incredible and live up to some of the stuff we’ve seen. I want this to be one of the really notable chapters in his life. So, I asked, ‘What Jedi could live up to that?’ There are a few, but the issue is that we already know how those stories play out in different parts of the timeline.”

That decision lead to the creation of Kirak Infil’a, who needed a compelling reason for surviving Order 66.

“I decided I would create a new Jedi, then I could be more free to do what I wanted to do,” Soule said.

“Then that became thinking about why was this person not there, why would this person not have been part of Order 66. I think of the Jedi as monks and monks have all these different vows and things they’ll do across different orders. I had this whole logic to it.”

Connections To ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’

But when it comes to Star Wars, there are thousands of stories that may or may not be canon after the Extended Universe was deemed to be “Legends.” And Soule needed approval to make sure the Barash Vow worked in the context of what’s established.

“Then, it’s about running it by [Lucasfilm] Story Group and making sure that they’re cool with it,” Soule added. “Fortunately, they said, ‘This is great.’ They love when things are additive, generally speaking, as long as they don’t contradict existing storytelling.”

The Vow is already a welcomed addition to the lore, and fans have already speculated that it will play into the new Star Wars movie.

In Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Luke Skywalker is in a self-imposed exile, allowing the war between the First Order and the Resistance to rage on without his interference.

Some fans suggested that the Barash Vow will be Luke’s reasoning for remaining uninvolved, but a lot of these scenes were shot and completed before Soule even got the job for Darth Vader.

And Soule’s comments seem to indicate that he created the idea, and it’s not like The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson was told of the concept while shooting and decided to include it.

That doesn’t mean they can’t be connected. We just won’t know until the new Star Wars movie premieres in theaters on December 15.

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Darth Vader #5 is in stores now. In fact, you can get the entire Darth Vader series for only a few bucks each for a limited time during Amazon’s huge Marvel digital sale.

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