Secrets of the Jedi (novel)

For other uses, see Secrets of the Jedi.

"Qui-Gon and Tahl.
Obi-Wan and Siri.
Anakin and Padmé.
Three generations of Jedi.
Three untold secrets."

―Back cover^[3]

Secrets of the Jedi is a Star Wars Legends junior novel written by Jude Watson. Like its predecessor, Legacy of the Jedi, it explores the relationships between three generations of Jedi, and it prominently features Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Anakin Skywalker. Secrets of the Jedi was published in March 2005 by Scholastic, and it was republished with Legacy of the Jedi in 2006.

Publisher's summary

THREE GENERATIONS OF JEDI.

THREE UNTOLD SECRETS.

A Jedi is never to fall in love....

Grieving for the loss of his friend Tahl, Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn has been sent back to the Jedi Temple to recover. But this peace is soon shattered by an urgent mission — a young boy with a knack for technology has intercepted a message that indicates a mass assassination of planetary leaders is about to take place. It is up to Qui-Gon and his apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi, to protect the boy from the bounty hunter assassins…and to foil the deadly plot.

Joining Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan on their mission are the Jedi Master Adi Gallia and her headstrong apprentice, Siri. Obi-Wan and Siri have been sparring friends for a long time. But as the assassins' pursuit tightens, they find their relationship beginning to change in an unexpected direction....

A generation later, Obi-Wan, Siri, and the boy they tried to save are reunited once more — with the fate of the Clone Wars hinging on the outcome. Old tensions rise once more — as well as new conflicts and secrets. Obi-Wan's apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, has many things to hide, and when his secret wife, Padmé Amidala, joins the Jedi mission, the risks become even greater than before.

SECRETS ARE DANGEROUS.

SECRETS ARE DIFFICULT.

SECRETS CAN KILL.

Plot summary

THE PAST: Talesan Fry, a young technology whiz, has intercepted a message revealing that twenty planetary leaders are being targeted for assassination by bounty hunters hired by the Corporate Alliance. The Jedi Council sends the team of Masters Qui-Gon Jinn and Adi Gallia, and their respective Padawans Obi-Wan Kenobi and Siri Tachi, to protect young Fry. Although the Jedi are able to thwart the assault, they are unable to stop the vengeful bounty hunter Magus from killing Fry’s parents in retribution. During the course of the assignment, Obi-Wan and Siri discover their deep love for each other, but they refuse to break the Jedi Code, and are forced to turn their backs on their feelings.

THE PRESENT: Years later, during the Clone Wars, Talesan Fry emerges as a leading technological innovator and the mastermind behind the Fry Industries. He develops a powerful code breaker that he offers to sell to the Republic in exchange for a lucrative military contract. Obi-Wan Kenobi, his Padawan Anakin Skywalker, Siri Tachi and Senator Padmé Amidala venture to Genian to broker the deal. After ferreting a Separatist spy from within the company, the Jedi bring Fry to a secret Republic outpost on Azure to activate his code-breaking device. The device has been secretly rigged with a tracker that alerts the Separatist fleet to their whereabouts. Among the Separatists is Magus, who once again guns for Fry. In a wildly dangerous attack, Siri Tachi leaps from her starfighter onto Magus’ vessel during an aerial pursuit and downs the hunter’s ship. The Jedi capture Magus, but Siri tragically dies from blaster wounds suffered at his hands. The Republic has no choice but to destroy the code breaker, least it falls into Separatist hands.

Development

The working title for Secrets of the Jedi was Jedi Quest Special Edition.^[2]

Continuity

The novel has two parts, with the second part being set "twenty years" after the first. The 2005 book The New Essential Chronology originally placed the story's latter half in 19 BBY,^[4] and the 2012 book The Essential Reader's Companion ultimately dated it to around 22 BBY.^[2]

When the Prequel trilogy was in production, the editors at Lucasfilm restricted authors from including Padmé Amidala in the spin-off fiction, particularly in the period between Episodes II and III, as her pregnancy was not yet known to many beyond George Lucas. As such, her appearance in Secrets of the Jedi was a rare exception. Padmé was more routinely featured in Clone Wars material published after the launch of the animated series in 2008. Among the bounty hunters in Magus' posse was Gorm the Dissolver, a cyborg first created as a background character in Dark Horse Comics’ Dark Empire series (1991-1992). The story was originally dated as occurring at twenty-nine months – over two years – after the start of the Clone Wars, but since Anakin was presented as a Padawan, it must have occurred within the first four weeks of the war. Early published timelines listed the book as Jedi Quest Special Edition, which was a placeholder title.^[2]

The novel featured the appearance of a non-Jedi general named Solomahal, who was an original A New Hope (1977) cantina alien once known only as “The Colonel”. The 1996 customizable card game from Decipher, Inc., gave the character his name and revealed that he was a Clone Wars veteran. Secrets of the Jedi shrank the scope of character connections by revealing that Obi-Wan Kenobi had previously worked with Solomahal, meaning he was in the cantina with a fellow veteran during the events of the original Star Wars.^[2]