Star Wars Spotlight: Tales of the Jedi

Each week Star Wars Spotlight combs through the digital archives of Marvel Unlimited to showcase one classic story from that distant galaxy filled with Jedi, Sith, princesses, scoundrels and droids.

4000 years before “A New Hope,” the young Republic sprung up as a way to organize many planets that had achieved space travel capabilities and wanted to interact with one another. The Jedi came together to help quell conflicts and encourage peace and justice across the galaxy. Written by Tom Veitch with artwork by Chris Gossett, Janine Johnston, and David Roach, STAR WARS: TALES OF THE JEDI chronicles the adventures of two such Jedi at different points in their education.

The first two issues zero in on Jedi Knights Ulic Quel-Droma, his brother Cay, and Tott Doneeta, a Twi’lek. After their master Arca gave them a brief history of the conflict between the citadel-dwelling denizens of Onderon and their Beast Rider counterparts, he sent the trio to the planet to deal with the situation. “They will want you to fight…” Arca said. “But remember, Ulic, the Jedi bring peace…use your weapons as a last resort.”

Though they seemed thrust into conflict immediately after entering Onderon’s atmosphere, the Jedi soon met with Queen Amanoa of Iziz. As Arca foresaw, she expected warriors to help put down the outsiders, but before that could even be fully discussed, Beast Riders exploded into the throne room and flew off with Princess Galia.

Wanting to prove to Master Arca that he could pass this test, Ulic agreed to help Amanoa’s people in recovering Galia. By trying to do so, though, the Jedi learned that Galia helped plan the abduction so she could wed Oron Kira, son of the Beast Lord. In addition to love, Galia explained that she needed out of the stronghold because the Dark Side reigned there thanks to a Jedi-turned-Sith named Freedon Nadd who landed there 400 years ago and turned them isolationist before dying and being entombed within.

With this new knowledge, the Jedi shifted allegiance and fought against Amanoa who wielded the power of the Dark Side. The war raged until Master Arca showed up and quelled the conflict by using his Jedi mental powers. He also chastised his student for not being able to sense the Dark Side immediately upon landing on the planet. Still, with the threat minimized, they counted at least a partial win.

Star Wars: Tales Of The Jedi (1993) #1

• Published: October 01, 1993
• Added to Marvel Unlimited: May 07, 2015
• Writer: Tom Veitch
• Cover Artist: Dave Dorman

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Shifting over to issues #3-5, set around the same time, Nomi Sunrider found herself tested more than she ever thought possible. The wife of Jedi Knight Andur Sunrider became a single mother with powerful Jedi abilities after a group of Bogga the Hutt-controlled criminals killed her husband in an effort to steal his Adegan crystals. Before joining the Force, Andur told his wife to continue their original plan and go study with Master Thon.

Using the Force to guide her, Nomi flew her daughter Vima and their droid A-3DO to Ambria where Thon dwelled along with his student Oss Wilum. Before long, the Hutt’s stooges caught up with them again and Nomi found herself struggling with whether to use a lightsaber again or not. She never wanted to pick one up again after using her husband’s to kill his murderers. To save her mentor and daughter, she broke that promise to herself and started down a path to becoming a great Jedi.

From the Jedi Temple Archives

Though the first series to be published, TALES OF THE JEDI actually marks but one portion of a larger story being told during this era. Called “The Great Sith War,” the conflict sprung from the still-dangerous spirit of Freedon Nadd and enveloped all of the characters introduced in this first limited run. The TALES OF THE JEDI heading also jumped another thousand years further back in history to show the difficulties posed to those who used relatively new methods of space travel in “The Hyperspace Wars.” To give you an idea of who took charge back then, those series’ sport the titles THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE SITH and THE FALL OF THE SITH EMPIRE.

Next time we fly through the stars with the most accomplished pilots around in STAR WARS: X-WING ROGUE SQUADRON.