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Obi-Wan Kenobi – What happened to the Grand Inquisitor?

In the first two episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi we met the Grand Inquisitor but he seemed to meet a different fate to the one established in Rebels

Did the Grand Inquisitor die in Obi-Wan Kenobi

Obi-Wan Kenobi is finally back in his very own Disney Plus series but the Jedi Master isn’t alone. He’s being pursued by powerful enemies: The Inquisitors. Made up of Force users who survived Darth Vader’s temple massacre and Order 66; these agents of the Dark Side are tasked with tracking down all surviving Jedi.

Armed with crimson red lightsabers and sporting black armour, The Inquisitors are ruthless killers who show no mercy to their quarry. While this deadly group is under the direct control of the Sith Lord Darth Vader, the fallen Jedi does not lead them into battle. Instead, they’re led by a man known only as the Grand Inquisitor.

First introduced in the animated series Rebels, the Grand Inquisitor and his soldiers have been wildly popular with Star Wars fans, making the leap to comic books and games. Obi-Wan Kenobi, however, is the first time we’ve ever seen them in live-action. It’s curious, then, that the TV series seems to have changed the Star Wars canon, but did it? Here’s what happened to the Grand Inquisitor – warning spoilers to follow.

Did the Grand Inquisitor die in Obi-Wan Kenobi?

It certainly seemed like the Grand Inquisitor died in the second episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi when Reva stabbed him in the gut, but we’re not so certain. Why? Well, we’ve actually seen how the Grand Inquisitor dies in the Star Wars series.

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During the events of the first season of Rebels, we saw the Grand Inquisitor effectively commit suicide by surrendering during a duel with the Jedi Knight Kanan Jarrus. The Grand Inquisitor did this because he feared the wrath of Darth Vader and hoped to avoid punishment by dying in battle.

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While it’s possible that director Deborah Chow and showrunner Joby Harold have altered the canon (pray they do not alter it further), we doubt it.

You see, the Grand Inquisitor was created by Dave Filoni and Simon Kinberg for Rebels (Although he originally appeared in Clone Wars). Filoni is still a key player at Lucasfilm, working on The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, and Ahsoka.

While there’s always been a loose hierarchy of canon in the Star Wars universe, with the films at the top and the cartoons and comics at the bottom, we can’t see Chow and Harold making a sweeping change to the Grand Inquisitor’s story.

And we were right. Reports of the Grand Inquisitor’s death were wildly exaggerated, and he turned up alive and well at the end of Obi-Wan Kenobi’s fifth episode.

What happened to the Grand Inquisitor

Why did the Grand Inquisitor fake his death?

The Grand Inquisitor fakes his death as part of Darth Vader’s plan to expose Reva as a traitor. In the fifth episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi, we learned that Reva was a Jedi Youngling who turned to the Dark Side in order to get revenge on Darth Vader for slaughtering her fellow students.

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This whole time Reva has been working to get close to Vader so she can finally get revenge on him. Unfortunately for Reva, Vader recognised her and expected the betrayal (it’s a Sith thing) and set her up for a fall. Vader had the Grand Inquisitor pretend to be dead, so he could promote Reva and finally have her attack him, giving Emperor Palpatine‘s right hand the excuse he needed to kill her.

That’s all on the Grand Inquisitor for now. Why not learn more about a galaxy far, far away with our list of the best Star Wars cameos and the best Star Wars bounty hunters or dive into the Andor season 2 release date.