The Grand Inquisitor

"The Jedi are dead, but there is another path. The dark side."

- The Inquisitor

The Inquisitor is the primary antagonist of the first season of the television series Star Wars: Rebels. Five years before the first Star Wars movie, A New Hope, The Inquisitor was tasked with the job to seek out and assassinate any remaining Jedi in the galaxy. The one who gave him such a task is none other than the Supreme Imperial Commander Darth Vader, who takes his role of the primary antagonist after he died in battle.

History
The nameless Inquisitor, as aforementioned, serves for the Galactic Empire, specifically its second most powerful entity, Darth Vader. Despite not being a Sith in general, the Inquisitor knows a lot about the Force and has practiced on the dark side. He was tasked by Vader to execute any surviving Jedi he discovered with an endless army of Stormtroopers under his command on the orders of Vader's master Emperor Palpatine. The Inquisitor is also tasked in finding younglings around the galaxy who are strong with the Force, so that they will not become Jedi. During the series, he became bent on killing Kanan Janus (a Jedi Padawan) and his turning his apprentice Ezra Bridger (the protagonist of the series) to the dark side.

Lord Vader's orders
''
 * "''The Emperor has foreseen a new threat rising against him: the children of the Force. They must not become Jedi."

"Yes, Lord Vader."

"Hunt down this new enemy, and if they will not serve the Empire, eliminate them along with any surviving Jedi who would train them. This is my master's command."
 * ―Darth Vader and the Inquisitor

The Pau'an male known as the Inquisitor hailed from the planet Utapau, where he born over fifteen years prior to the Invasion of Naboo. AfterDarth Sidious, publicly known as Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, transformed the Galactic Republic into the Galactic Empire and declared himself Emperor, the Inquisitor came into the service of the Empire and the Sith. Though not a Sith himself, the Inquisitor was tasked with hunting down and eliminating any Jedi who had survived Order 66, the order given to the Grand Army of the Republic by Darth Sidious to destroy the Jedi Order. To accomplish this task, the Inquisitor was trained in the ways of the dark side of the Force and studied the the records of the Jedi Temple in order to defeat his enemies.

At one point, the Inquisitor spoke via hologram with Darth Vader, the Dark Lord of the Sith, who told the Jedi hunter that the Emperor had foreseen a new threat rising against him. Vader told him that the threat was the "children of the Force" and that they could not be allowed to become Jedi. The Dark Lord ordered the Inquisitor to hunt them down and either make them join the Empire or destroy them, along with any Jedi survivors who could train them—as these were the orders of the Emperor. With the order given, the Inquisitor told Vader that it would be done. One method that the Inquisitor used to find Force-sensitive individuals was to look for cadets at the Imperial Academy on Lothal who met a set of criteria, one that indicated their ability to use the Force.

Trap on Stygeon Prime

 * "I am the Inquisitor. Welcome."
 * ―The Inquisitor meets Kanan Jarrus and Ezra Bridger

Some time later, fourteen years after the rise of the Empire, a group of rebels who operated on Lothal came to the attention of Agent Kallus of the Imperial Security Bureau. The rebels rescued a group of Wookiees that had beenenslaved in the spice mines of Kessel, a mission in which the rebel leader, Kanan Jarrus, used a lightsaber and revealed himself as a Jedi survivor. After the rebels escaped, Kallus contacted the Inquisitor and informed him about what happened on Kessel. The Inquisitor was pleased that Kallus informed him of the rebel cell and the Jedi in its ranks.

The Inquisitor laid a trap for Jarrus and his apprentice, Ezra Bridger, on Stygeon Prime. Using the bones of Jedi Master Luminara Unduli, who had been killed during the fall of the Republic, the Empire was able to project an image suggesting that Unduli was alive. This information was then reported by Gall Trayvis, a former member of the Imperial Senate who went into exile after speaking out against the Empire; the information suggested that Unduli was being held prisoner in The Spire, a prison on Stygeon Prime. Not wanting to pass up an opportunity to rescue a Jedi survivor, the rebels undertook a mission to the prison where they intended to rescue the Jedi Master.

Once in the prison, the rebels fought their way through stormtroopers who were stationed there. Jarrus and Bridger made it to the detention area, and Jarrus believed he could sense the Jedi Master—though in actuality, it was the power from her bones. They entered the cell and saw a projected image of Unduli, which faded into a sarcophagus that revealed the remains of the Jedi Master. The Inquisitor entered the cell, his lightsaber ignited, and approached the two Jedi, revealing that Luminara had been dead for many years. Jarrus attacked the Inquisitor and the two engaged in lightsaber combat. The Inquisitor was able to correctly deduce that Jarrus had been trained by Jedi Master Depa Billaba, as she had been a teacher of Form III lightsaber combat in close quarter fighting, which Jarrus employed extensively. The two continued their duel within the cell until Bridger set off a small detonator that allowed him and Jarrus to flee.

Though they had escaped the cell, the Inquisitor pursued them and continued his fight with Jarrus in the halls of the prison. He soon pushed Jarrus away through the Force and, per Vader's command, attempted to convert Bridger to the dark side. The boy refused, however, and the Inquisitor prepared to strike him down, but Jarrus used the Force to pin the Inquisitor to the ceiling, giving the two Jedi a chance to flee. The Inquisitor followed them and chased them through the prison, before they met back up with their fellow rebels. Separated by a number of closed doors, the Inquisitor sliced through them with his lightsaber and arrived in time to see the rebels beginning to escape. He made one last attempt to stop them by throwing his lightsaber towards them, but Jarrus deflected it and the rebels escaped aboard the Phantom, the attack shuttle that belonged to their main ship, the Ghost.

Incident at the Imperial Academy

 * "Well, Leonis, let's take a walk, shall we? I want to know everything about your former friends."
 * ―The Inquisitor, to Zare Leonis

After his failure to stop the rebels on Stygeon Prime, the Inquisitor was contacted by Commandant Cumberlayne Aresko, the lead officer at the Imperial Academy on Lothal, who informed him of two students who potentially met his criteria for Force-sensitivity. He learned that these cadets were Dev Morgan—who, unknown to the Academy, was Bridger in disguise, who infiltrated the Academy to learn the location of a giant kyber crystal of great power—and Jai Kell. Having learned this information, the Inquisitor, speaking via hologram, told Aresko that he would arrive at the Imperial Academy the next day. Bridger overheard the conversation, and he and Kell escaped the Academy with another cadet, Zare Leonis, who suspected that the Inquisitor was behind the disappearance of his sister, Dhara Leonis; Dhara was the star cadet at the Academy before her disappearance, which the Empire claimed was a result of her running away from the Academy.

Upon his arrival at the Imperial Academy, Aresko and Agent Kallus informed him of Bridger and Kell's escape. The Jedi hunter was shown the datafiles on the two cadets and recognized "Dev Morgan" as Bridger from their encounter on Stygeon Prime. The Inquisitor informed Aresko that the incident was a black mark on the Academy's record, though did have hope of learning more about the rebels, as Leonis was also present in the meeting; Leonis had opted to stay behind so he could find out what happened to his sister, and pretended to try to stop Bridger and Kell upon their escape. The Inquisitor spoke to Leonis and told the cadet to tell him everything he knew about Bridger and Kell.

Empire Day
The Inquisitor was on Lothal for Empire Day when the rebels destroyed the prototype TIE Fighter.

When the Rebels attempted to smuggle Tseebo off Lothal, he led a TIE Fighter squadron while piloting his own TIE Advanced v1 to stop them from escaping. He was able to plant a XX-23 S-thread tracker on their ship moments before they jumped to hyperspace.

Eventually, The Crew of the Ghost detached the Phantom and landed on an abandoned Clone base. The Inquisitor took a squad of troops to confront the two Jedi. Using the Frynocks to attack the stormtroopers, Kanan fought the Inquisitor and was knocked down. Ezra tries to stop him but sensing his Anger and Rage, The Inquisitor tells him to give into the Dark Side. Telling him that his friends will die and that everything he fought for, will be lost. Ezra does succumb to the Dark Side and has one of the creatures attack The Inquisitor. Kanan then escorts Ezra out, reclaiming his lightsaber and manage to escape on board The Phantom. Accepting his failure, The Inquisitor says that His Master would not be pleased.

Personality and traits
The Inquisitor was a male Pau'an with grey, lined skin and red tattoos adorning his face. He wore black armor emblazoned with the crest of the Galactic Empire and carried a red double-bladed lightsaber, which had the ability to spin; the Inquisitor used this type of lightsaber in order to intimidate his opponents. In particular, he was able to throw inexperienced Jedi off-balance. Because Jedi relied on balanced emotions, the imbalance gave the Inquisitor an edge in combat. Although he was a physical opponent for Jedi and tapped into the dark side of the Force, he did not appear overly emotional, instead operating as a cold and analytical mind. Whatever intensity he showed was a result of his purpose in completing his mission.

Through the dark side, the Inquisitor was able to learn about individual Jedi and use their secrets against them. He studied the records of the Jedi Temple to not only identify Jedi, but also have an understanding of their combat forms and traditions. His knowledge was extensive enough that he could identity who a Jedi was trained by, such as when he identified Depa Billaba as Jarrus' Jedi Master. He utilized this, like his lightsaber, to inflict an opponent with fear, which was his most powerful weapon against his enemies. Once in combat, he did not show mercy, having been tasked with judging and eliminating Jedi survivors.

Powers and abilities
The Inquisitor was a practitioner of the dark side of the Force and trained in lightsaber combat. He wielded a double-bladed lightsaber, which he used in multiple settings; single-bladed, double-bladed, as well as double-bladed with the blades spinning on the hilt. In addition to using the weapon to unnerve his enemies, he wielded it in order to quickly and efficiently end combat with as little effort as was required. This allowed him to skillfully execute the Jedi he encountered. The Inquisitor also demonstrated skill in the use of dual blades to the point of using a single-bladed lightsaber and his double-bladed spinning lightsaber at the same time, such as when he fended off a giant fyrnock in Fort Anaxes. In addition to being a formidable lightsaber duelist, the Inquisitor was skilled in the use of telekinesis. He possessed enough telekinetic power to push Kanan Jarrus clear across a hall and throw his lightsaber with lethal precision. The Inquisitor had a keen Force Sense, which he demonstrated during his pursuit of Kanan Jarrus and Ezra Bridger on Empire Day. The Inquisitor was also a great pilot flying a new imperial fighter prototype while dodging and countering Chopper blaster fire.

Behind the scenes

 * "Once we put the Utapauan head on, it all kinda fell into place. Suddenly there was this black-suited, evil Inquisitor."
 * ―Dave Filoni

The Inquisitor was created as one of the main antagonists of the animated television series Star Wars Rebels. When designing the character, who is voiced by actor Jason Isaacs, the look and species went through several different iterations and was a topic of much discussion at Lucasfilm. The production team wanted to ensure that the character was not a carbon copy of past iconic villains such as Darth Maul or Darth Vader. At one point, the Inquisitor was designed as a Chagrian. Eventually, it was decided that they would make the character a Pau'an, which, according to series executive producer Dave Filoni, was when the character fell into place. Fellow executive producer Simon Kinberg felt it gave the character a real and human quality, while at the same time evoking a creaturely, terrifying, and nightmarish look.

In further differentiating the Inquisitor from past villains, the production team crafted him as a cold and analytical character who presents himself as elegant, sophisticated, and educated. Furthermore, they did not want him to be similar to villains from cartoons from the 1980s, which Lucasfilm's Pablo Hidalgo described as having the villains lose in every episode yet still be presented as a credible threat. Instead, the Inquisitor is meant to be someone whose arrival is a significant event and a challenge to the rebels.

The Inquisitor was the first character announced for Star Wars Rebels. The character was revealed at New York Comic Con 2013 during a panel about the show, in which a video was shown introducing the Inquisitor as a Jedi hunter who would be a recurring antagonist for the heroes. The character's action figure was revealed on December 30, 2013, with a more in-depth video about the character, as well as an announcement about Isaac's casting, released on July 17, 2014. The Inquisitor made his first on-screen appearance in Star Wars Rebels: Spark of Rebellion, which premiered on October 3, 2014. Spark of Rebellion re-aired on October 27 on ABC, with a new scene at the beginning of the episode featuring the Inquisitor speaking with Darth Vader.

Trivia

 * The Inquisitor was rumored to serve as the main antagonist in the upcoming film, Star Wars Episode VII, set to premiere in 2015. However, it is revealed that Kylo Ren is the main antagonist.
 * The Inquisitor's Lightsaber is most likely based on a General Grievous Lightsaber toy from Hasbro.
 * He doesn't seem to have too much respect for those beneath him.