Inquisitor was a rank used within the Inquisitorius Program of the Galactic Empire. As dark side agents of the Empire, their main purview was to hunt surviving Jedi in the aftermath of Order 66 for the purpose of elimination or induction into the Inquisitorius, where they could be made to serve Darth Sidious.
The Grand Inquisitor led the Inquisitors. An eponymous individual served as the Grand Inquisitor throughout the Imperial Era, and the Third Sister served in that position briefly during 9 BBY. Lesser Inquisitors were given the title of Brother or Sister and a number once they killed their first Jedi and proved their value. Such individuals included the Second Sister, Third Brother, Third Sister, Fourth Sister, Fifth Brother, Sixth Brother, Seventh Sister, Eighth Brother, Ninth Sister, Tenth Brother, and Thirteenth Sister. Barriss Offee, Tualon Yaluna, Marrok, Jerserra's master, and a humanoid also served as Inquisitors.
Inquisitors inducted into the ranks of the Inquisitorius left behind their old names and took up new ones, in which they were labelled Brother/Sister, denoting their sexes.
A high-ranking title within the Galactic Empire, Inquisitors were mainly tasked with identifying and either capturing young Force-sensitive individuals or eliminating them, including former Jedi, Padawans, and those originating from other Force-wielding traditions. Inquisitors also acted as enforcers, eliminating political dissidents and threats such as rebel factions and Old Republic sympathizers. Their nature, objective, and membership were kept secret from most other branches of the Empire.
As agents under the command of the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader, Inquisitors held a high status in the Empire and had discretionary authority to commandeer and command Imperial assets required to complete their mission, personally commanded Purge Troopers, and some even held a commander rank within Inquisitorius. However, Inquisitors were subordinate to the Grand Inquisitor and other high-ranking Imperial positions, including a Grand Moff.
During their first years of service, the Inquisitors were weak in the dark side of the Force, for their fighting style was reminiscent of their Jedi training. In order to rectify this, Darth Vader trained them to change their fighting style from a defensive style to an offensive one. Some of Vader's training sessions caused some Inquisitors to lose limbs as a lesson in loss. As they were servants of the Sith, Darth Sidious also ensured that the Inquisitors weren't privy to all the knowledge and skills of a Sith Lord. In time, Inquisitors grew in power and skill, though no more than their Sith masters allowed them to be, and came to be considered some of the most skilled fighters in the galaxy.
Among known Inquisitors, Seventh Sister, Second Sister, and Ninth Sister were examples of distinguished inquisitors whose abilities made them among the most deadliest of fighters within Inquisitorius.
The Inquisitors wore black and grey bodysuits with armor, and were equipped with crimson-bladed lightsabers. Inquisitors typically used double-bladed spinning lightsabers, which were equipped with a spinning mechanism that allowed the saber to be spun automatically in order to improve their ability to deflect incoming attacks.
Inquisitors train with Darth Vader
The rank of Inquisitor was active by 19 BBY in the aftermath of the Order 66. Fearing the threat that the surviving Jedi posed to his rule, Darth Sidious created the Inquisitorius to track down and corrupt or eliminate the last remaining Jedi. Sidious then tasked his Sith apprentice, Darth Vader, with training the former Jedi in the dark side to become Inquisitors in their service. The Inquisitors were led by the the Grand Inquisitor, who had been personally chosen by the Emperor and came to work alongside Vader. As Dark Lord of the Sith, Vader governed the Inquisitorius in the name of his master, Darth Sidious. Members of the Inquisitorius were frowned upon by some members of the rest of the Galactic Empire. Imperial Security Bureau chief supervisor Lank Denvik, for example, doubted the effectiveness of the Inquisitorius, viewing the Inquisitors as "armored abominations".
In 14 BBY, the Second Sister and Ninth Sister hunted down the Padawan survivor Cal Kestis and his crew on the Stinger Mantis. The Second Sister took a personal interest in Kestis, as she used him to find Eno Cordova's holocron, which contained a copy of a list of Force-sensitive children made during the final days of the Jedi Order, in an effort win the favor of the Emperor. Both the Second Sister and Ninth Sister were ultimately defeat by Cal Kestis, with the former having a change of faith after her former Jedi Master, Cere Junda, apologized for her role in her transformation as an Inquisitor. With Darth Vader perceiving her change of faith as failure, she was executed by the Dark Lord. The Ninth Sister was finally killed by Kestis in 9 BBY on Coruscant.
At some point between 18 and 5 BBY, a humanoid male Inquisitor was alerted to Ahsoka Tano's presence in a farming village. After burning the village, Tano engaged and eventually killed him.
Blaise Zirkonn, a Force-sensitive agent of the Inquisitorius who worked with the organization for nearly a decade, hoped to be promoted to the rank of Inquisitor. In 4 BBY, after the death of the Grand Inquisitor, the Seventh Sister became a vital commander within the ranks of Inquisitorius. She and other Inquisitors sought to ultimately replace their previous leader as the new Grand Inquisitor, though she was ultimately killed alongside the Fifth Brother and the Eighth Brother.
Though it was thought that Darth Vader was all that was left of the Inquisitors, Marrok outlived Vader to remain active during the New Republic Era.
Eventually, the Empire came to consider the Jedi to be finally extinct, and the Inquisitorius were said to have vanished with them, especially with the death of the Grand Inquisitor. By around the time of the Battle of Yavin, Vader was considered to be the last of the Jedi religion left in the Empire. However, Vader had kept the Grand Inquisitor's spirit from passing beyond the world of the living, turning him into a trap for any aspiring Jedi who ventured to the Tempes Jedi outpost. Additionally, a humanoid Inquisitor by the name of Marrok would be active during the New Republic Era past Vader's own demise. Marrok took up the life of a mercenary and was employed by Imperial loyalist Morgan Elsbeth. The mysterious Inquisitor assisted Elsbeth in her efforts to locate Grand Admiral Mitth'raw'nuruodo "Thrawn," whose return to the galaxy could galvanize the divided Imperial remnants.
- Angry Birds Star Wars II
- Jedi Training: Trials of the Temple
- LEGO STAR WARS: Celebrate the Season — "Obi-Wan vs Inquisitors"
- Star Wars: Visions — "T0-B1"
- Star Wars: Visions — "The Bandits of Golak"
- Visions: T0-B1: The Droid Who Became a Jedi
- Club Penguin Star Wars Rebels Takeover
- LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens
- LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
- LEGO STAR WARS: Celebrate the Season — "LEGO Star Wars - 25 Years"
- The Art of Star Wars: Visions