A new Star Wars retcon finally confirmed why Darth Vader was kidnapping children, but created an entirely new Inquisitor-related plot hole in the franchise. Star Wars implied that Darth Vader – and the Empire, by extension – were scouring the galaxy for children to kidnap for years, although I never truly explained why. This idea was originally explored in Star Wars Rebels when Ahsoka Tano and the Ghost Crew stopped the Fifth Brother and Seventh Sister from stealing a Force-sensitive child in Season 2.
Later, in George Mann’s book Star Wars: Myths and Fablesa collection of universe legends that each contain a kernel of truth, one story told of Vader invading a backwater planet called Cerosha, massacring adults and kidnapping children. Node Myths and Fables follow, Star Wars: Dark Legendsanother story told of Vader and the Grand Inquisitor, the leader of Vader’s Inquisitors – members of the dark side ordered to hunt down the surviving Jedi in the wake of Order 66 – visiting an orphanage on the planet Gaaten, where they kidnapped several children. Several Star Wars Reference books state that this was a goal known as Project Harvester.
Star Wars reveals the real reason why Darth Vader and the Inquisitors hunted children
Of course, the only reasonable explanation for why they were taking these specific children is that they were Force-sensitive, but Star Wars has never confirmed what happened to these children after they were stolen from their homes – until now. In the recently released Star Wars Encyclopedia: The Complete Guide to the Star Wars Galaxy by Dan Brooks, Megan Crouse, Amy Richau, Amy Ratcliffe, Brandon Wainerdi, Dan Zehr and Kelly Knox, Star Wars confirmed that the Inquisitors, led by Darth Vader, began Project Harvester “to find beings attuned to the Force to train into future Inquisitors.”
Most, if not all, the Inquisitors canonically introduced in Star Wars so far everyone has been a previous Jedi. Either they turned to the dark side of their own free will, as was the case with the Grand Inquisitor, or they were tortured into submission, as happened with Star Wars Jedi: Fallen OrderSecond sister. Crucially, however, all the Inquisitors we saw were adults operating in the years immediately following Order 66. So what happened to all these kidnapped children?
Why haven’t we seen any of these inquisitors in Canon?
If the Inquisitorius managed to kidnap countless children during Project Harvester missions, It’s strange that the franchise never introduced any of these specially trained Inquisitors. So far, there are only 16 confirmed full-fledged Inquisitors in Star Wars canon, many of which had a connection to the Jedi Order – but if Project Harvester’s claims are true, then logically speaking, Darth Vader should, in the final years of the Empire’s reign, have had a small army of Inquisitors at his disposal, instead of just over a dozen.
If Project Harvester’s claims are true, then Darth Vader should have a small army of Inquisitors at his disposal, rather than just over a dozen.
So what happened to all these Inquisitors? It seems highly unlikely that none of them met Vader’s requirements to become an Inquisitor, but there are also few logical places where these Inquisitors could still appear. Star Wars canon before the fall of the Empire without drastically altering the balance of power in the galaxy. So go Star Wars Have you resolved this discrepancy yet? It’s hard to say – Star Wars After all, canon is a complicated beast.