Filling in the Blanks will be a new column that takes a look at the time between Fate of the Jedi and Legacy, today we start with the Imperial Knights.  There has been a lot of discussion about Jaina Solo’s potential role in the creation of the Imperial Knights. Using the Legacy series and the Fate of the Jedi novels I am going to lay out the facts as we know them so far.

What we know from Legacy:

It is confirmed in Legacy #33 that the Imperial Knights were founded during Jagged Fel’s rule and have served the Emperor for three generations.

During the Vector arc of Legacy an important purpse of the Imperial Knights was brought to the forefront. Since their founding the Imperial Knights obey the Emperor only as long as they serve the light side of the Force. If he were to turn to the Dark Side it is their duty to bring him back or remove him. In Ganner’s estimation ultimately the Imperial Knights owed their allgiance to the Force. It is also in this arc that we learn that Azlyn Rae was taught that the Emperor should never ask the Imperial Knights to do anything dishonorable.

It is confirmed in Legacy #26 that only one member of the Imperial Knights has left the Order, and he died a short time later. Now there is nothing stated in any of the comics so far that says he was killed for leaving the Imperial Knights.

General information about the Imperial Knights can be gleaned from the two 0 issues of Legacy as well.

The Order’s numbers are small.

The Imperial Knights have sworn themselves to the service of the Empire as personified in Emperor Roan Fel.- This is a new rewording of the original description of the Imperial Knights as it is presented in Legacy #0 1/2

The Jedi view them as “gray”, though the Imperial Knights do not seek to draw on the Dark Side of the Force, neither do they strictly follow the Light Side.

What we know from the Fate of the Jedi series:

In Outcast Jag suggested the idea of creating an Order of Jedi to Jaina.

In Omen Jag proposed to Jaina and she accepted.

So more than three years after their introduction there isn’t much truly known about the Imperial Knights. Their creation and founding remains shrouded in mystery and with good reason, neither Dark Horse nor Del Rey want to sell each other short in the story telling department. So does the possibilty exsist that Jaina founds the Imperial Knights? Yes it does, but the possibilty also exsists that the Imperial Knights were started before Jag took the throne and he sanctioned their Order within the Empire. Right now the only thing Jaina has going for her in the role of the Imperial Knights is that she accepted Jag’s proposal. If Jaina goes from Jedi to Jag’s wife to head of the Imperial Knights it means that the authors of FotJ will take us in a straight line from the end of FotJ to Legacy, one thing I sincerely doubt will happen.

So let’s look at some alternative theories for the Imperial Knights.

We know that the idea of Imperial Jedi has been around In-Universe since 22 ABY when Admiral Voss Parck offered Mara Jade Skywalker a position within the Empire of the Hand. Chak Fel indirectly mentioned that they wanted to attract Luke Skywalker to the Empire of the Hand and establish an academy within their space as well. Now Luke and Mara are two of the biggest names within the ranks of the Jedi and if they would have joined it would have completely splintered the Jedi shortly before the Yuuzhan Vong invasion. So who else has been out in the galaxy who is fiercely loyal to the Empire and the Emperor? Kir Kanos. Now it’s easy to see a resemblance between Kir’s armor and that of an Imperial Knight, is it too much to suggest that he is the progenitor of the Imperial Knights? I think the possibilty exsists that the Empire of the Hand wanted Jedi so badly that they tracked down Kir Kanos and enlisted his help in starting their own branch of the Jedi Order.

Now we have Kir Kanos working with the Empire of the Hand tracking down Force-sensitives for their own Jedi Order. Let’s say he succeeds in this endeavor, but following the same principles he was taught as a Royal Gaurd he would likely keep the number of recruits low. An Order that grows too large in a short amount of time would be too unpredictable, too unruly. So for roughly 21 years in-universe the EotH has maintained its own Order within its ranks. In Outcast Jag proposes the idea to Jaina about starting a Jedi school within the Empire’s boundaries, I think the reason the question was asked had more to do gauging Jaina’s reaction more than Jag saying ‘Hey baby, if you love me you will get your own Jedi school’.

This possibility not only takes the pressure off of Jaina in creating and maintaining an Order but Kir’s own beliefs provide the perfect backdrop to why the Imperial Knights follow the Empire through the Emperor. By bringing in Jaina after the fact could also explain why one of the tenets of the Imperial Knights is to follow th Emperor as long as they follow the light side of the Force. Now some might argue that Jaina woud never sit still for an Order like this, that it’s against her teachings and beliefs, that an Order of Force-sensitives should follow the Force without question. Maybe she does object, but what would the Moffs do with an opportunity like that? Right away the new bride of Jag has a problem with how he does things in the Empire. It would be a political nightmare for Jag and an uncomfortable situation for Jaina, sometimes it’s easier to go along with something and subtlely make changes along the way rather than beating it down and making a mess of an already tricky political situation.

Now I see another question bubbling up from the readers. We thought Jag was exiled from the Chiss? What if the Jedi’s suspicsions that the EotH was absorbed by the Imperial Remnant were correct? So Jag, now as the leader of the Imperial Remnant has full access to not only the Empire’s resources but those of the EotH as well. Also if you factor in the Chiss Moff Fehlaaur from the Legacy comics we know that somewhere the exile of Jag was either abandoned by the Chiss or forgiven altogether.

Now using that as a basis for what Del Rey could possibly do to keep the gaps between FotJ and Legacy from going in a straight line it looks lke Jaina may have very little to do with the Imperial Knights.