Star Wars Inquisitor: Rise of the Red Blade Announced

On Sunday at New York Comic Con, Lucasfilm Publishing announced Star Wars Inquisitor: Rise of the Red Blade, an upcoming novel by Delilah S. Dawson. Set for release in 2023, Rise of the Red Blade follows Iskat, a Jedi survivor of Order 66. She turns to the dark side and joins the Inquisitorious. By becoming an Inquisitor, Iskat hopes to discover the truth about her past. While Lucasfilm Publishing announced Rise of the Red Blade alone, given the title formatting, it could be the start of a new Star Wars Inquisitor series.

The Inquisitors have become a fixture of Disney's Star Wars canon. In part, that's because, practically speaking, it's handy to have a group of Force-sensitive antagonists around to fight in lightsaber duels without violating the Sith Rule of Two or overexposing Darth Vader. Star Wars Rebels introduced the concept. They then appeared in the video game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and the live-action Obi-Wan Kenobi series on Disney+.

Who are the Inquisitors?

During the age of the Empire, the Inquisitors hunted Jedi who survived Order 66. They were dark-side wielders, mostly Jedi survivors who had turned to the Dark Side after being tortured.

Star Wars Rebels' first season introduced the Grand Inquisitor, the group's leader. After the Grand Inquisitor's death, Darth Vader began training the group personally. Fifth Brother and Seventh Sister appeared in later seasons of the series.

Second Sister and Ninth Sister appeared in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order to challenge the game's hero, Cal Kestis. Obi-Wan Kenobi, which takes place before Rebels, included the Grand Inquisitor and Fifth Brother while introducing Reva, the Third Sister, who briefly became the new Grand Inquisitor.

The Inquisitors don't appear during the Galactic Civil War. With the Jedi believed to have been entirely extinct by then, the Inquistiorious seemed to vanish. Their fate is unknown. Perhaps that's something that future Star Wars Inquisitor novels could explore if this is indeed the beginning of a new line.

What about Star Wars Jedi?

Speaking of Cal Kestis, Lucasfilm did previously announce the first Star Wars Jedi novel. Star Wars Jedi: Battle Scars by Sam Maggs releases in March 2023.

Star War Jedi: Battle Scars occurs between Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and the upcoming sequel, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. According to the synopsis, the story sees Cal Kestin leading the Mantis crew on a new adventure, but details are still under wraps.