Warning! SPOILERS for Obi-Wan Kenobi episodes 1 & 2.
Obi-Wan Kenobi encountered Nari (Benny Safdie) on Tatooine, another Order 66 survivor, it’s hinted that he’ll come across many more current or past Jedi throughout the Disney+ series.
Early teasers for Obi-Wan Kenobi seemed to suggest that the Grand Inquisitor would be the big bad of the Ewan McGregor-starring series, but the first two episodes reveal that Reva will be his fiercest foe. Also known as Third Sister, Reva (The Queen’s Gambit’s Moses Ingram) is an Imperial Inquisitor on the hunt for any Jedi in hiding, but she has her eyes set on Obi-Wan Kenobi in particular. While the Grand Inquisitor hints that Reva is going after Kenobi to try to win favor from Darth Vader and perhaps take the leading job from Rupert Friend’s Obi-Wan Kenobi character, her hunt for Kenobi comes off as far more personally motivated. Whether the motivation for catching Obi-Wan is a gift for Anakin or a way to get revenge on the old Jedi Master, Reva is unrelenting in her mission.
The mystery surrounding which other Jedi survived Order 66 has become an increasingly important topic in Disney’s fall to the dark side for Star Wars' Anakin and the loss of hope for Obi-Wan, but it may have another significance in Obi-Wan Kenobi if connected to the backstory of Reva.
Star Wars Inquisitors Are Former Jedi
While the Inquisitors yield red lightsabers, the antagonistic characters aren’t Sith – they’re former Jedi. The Inquisitorius is a group of former Jedi who works for the Sith-controlled Empire as Jedi hunters, using their Force sensitivity for the dark side as they track down any Order 66 survivors, political dissidents, and Force-sensitive children. As an Inquisitor, Reva is a former Jedi, and a very powerful one at that. However, her impulsivity and quickness to anger seem to indicate that she didn’t have enough training under the Jedi to control her abilities, while also suggesting she’s been corrupted by the dark side for quite some time – perhaps since she was still a child.
Obi-Wan's Flashbacks Hint Reva Was A Youngling During Order 66
The opening flashback in 10 years before Obi-Wan Kenobi's timeline hunting down her old classmates.
How Reva Could Have Survived Order 66
If Ayaamii Sledge’s Obi-Wan Kenobi youngling truly is Reva, then it appears she escaped with four other Force-sensitive students at the Temple who may have gone into hiding. After the Jedi helping them is killed, the younglings simply decide to “run,” with no indication as to how exactly they made it out of the temple. It’s possible that she and the other younglings survived Order 66 by hiding out in the streets of Coruscant in disguised clothing, or perhaps they were saved by another Jedi survivor.
When the Grand Inquisitor warns Reva of the dangers of her ambition, he mentions that their order found her “in the gutters,” with her impressive powers being their main reason to take her in. Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Grand Inquisitor also mentions that her remarkable abilities aren’t able to “mask the stench beneath,” later insulting her with the line “you’re the least of us.” Perhaps Reva had long held out for the Jedi to save her from Coruscant but the only ones who found her had already gone to the dark side, hinting she may not have believed in the cause to start with. If Reva was separated from the other younglings who survived Order 66 or was the only one from Obi-Wan’s cold open to make it out of the Temple alive, she may have had to live among the gutters and in the streets while in hiding, which could have soured the other Inquisitors’ impression of her in their ranks.
Why Reva Being An Order 66 Survivor Makes Sense (& Improves Obi-Wan)
Reva’s personal vendetta against Obi-Wan Kenobi would be much better explained by the fact that she was a Jedi Initiate who survived Order 66. One of the most surprising details from Obi-Wan Kenobi episode 2 occurred when Reva revealed that she knew the true identity of Darth Vader was Anakin Skywalker—one of the best-kept secrets of the entire galaxy. Perhaps Reva witnessed Anakin slaughtering younglings in the Jedi Temple as she escaped, which would explain how she knows his identity and why she’s so devoted to him. Reva being an Order 66 survivor also makes more sense when considering her unyielding hatred for Obi-Wan, as his message to keep Jedi away from the Temple in Revenge of the Sith may have prevented other survivors from helping her to escape Coruscant.
Reva’s strength and powers suggest she’s had at least some formal training under the Jedi, but she may be angry that she was never able to complete her courses to master her abilities. As for her disdain for the Jedi, Reva notes to the people of Tatooine in Obi-Wan Kenobi episode 1 that “the Jedi are cowards,” and that they failed the people of the galaxy and “abandoned” them, but these words may actually be in reference to her own experiences as a youngling. If none of the Jedi ever came back to try to save Reva, leaving her stranded in the gutters, she may have become disillusioned with the Jedi Order as her hopelessness and desperation increased. Since the Inquisitors found her alone on the streets, Reva may have become dedicated to their cause because they were the ones who actually took her in, which would have caused her hatred for the Jedi to deepen even worse.
Obi-Wan Kenobi is now putting a much bigger focus on Order 66 as it contextualizes its series, with the majority of the surprise protagonists likely being young survivors of the slaughter. Since the Leia-focused Obi-Wan Kenobi is apt to feature the title Jedi finding more sympathetic survivors who were younglings at the time of Order 66, the complexity of the event is made even more intriguing if it features a youngling who went through the same exact traumatic experience but came out on the other side seeing the Jedi as the villains instead. Rather than Reva’s villainy in Obi-Wan Kenobi being due to her desire for power, her mission being fueled by her conflicted emotions of revenge and betrayal fits well with the past conflicts of Star Wars’ best antiheroes. As Obi-Wan reckons with the guilt of having failed Anakin, he would now have to personally confront the other Jedi-associated figures he let down as well.
New episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi release Wednesdays on Disney+.