With the premiere of Disney+’s latest live-action Star Wars series, Obi-Wan Kenobi, viewers were introduced to the Inquisitors in live-action for the first time, with the Third Sister/Reva featured among them. A combination of dark sider sect and secret police, the Inquisitors are former Jedi turned to the Dark Side by Darth Vader, who now exist to hunt down other Jedi and Force Sensitives. They were the mini-bosses in Star Wars Rebels and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and most of them were relatively flat characters.
And then came the second sister, Trilla.
Trilla Suduri, a.k.a. the Second Sister, was the main antagonist of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, pursuing Cal Kestis, Cere Junda, and the Holocron containing the names of Force Sensitive children. She’s a great antagonist, being a dark reflection of both Cere’s failure as a Jedi and a warning as to what will happen to all the children of the Force if they fall into the Empire’s hands. The worst part is that she seems to know this. Right as she seems open to forgiving her former Jedi Master, who apologizes for having failed her and selling her out to the Inquisitors, she is cut down by Darth Vader, the true final “boss” of the game.
A good turnout for all fans of Vader, but sort of undercuts Trilla’s character and the potential she had. Thankfully, we got a proper character arc for our first live-action Inquisitor, Reva the Third Sister. Reva, unlike most of the Inquisitors, is allowed a full storyline where she seeks to avenge herself and her fellow former Jedi Younglings on Vader. It’s a natural consequence of Vader turning former Jedi into tools of the Empire, and it serves both Reva’s story and Trilla’s.
Reva and Trilla were both lost, tortured souls with so much anger that they couldn’t help but misplace some of it. Both were tortured by Vader, but because they are not strong enough to stop him, they focus that anger on people who they think they can hurt, namely Cere Junda and Obi-Wan Kenobi, and on succeeding in their missions so that they will not be punished, despite knowing they are condemning others to share their fate.
And then we get to the finale of Kenobi.
After failing to kill Vader, Reva attempts to avenge herself and her fellow younglings on the young Luke Skywalker. But in the moment when she might finally have her revenge, she is forced to reconcile with herself and her anger, literally seeing herself as the young Luke—a helpless, innocent child of the Force—and Reva stops. She brings Luke home. She lets go of her hate and cries, mourning her inability to avenge herself and her friends.
And Obi-Wan, who she has hunted ruthlessly for the past 6 episodes, forgives her and helps her let go. He might not be able to help Vader, but he can help her.
I don’t care whether or not it qualifies as a continuity error (“once you start down the path of the dark side, forever will it dominate your destiny” and all); it’s a genuine exploration of trauma and hatred and the corrosive effects of both. And as the Grand Inquisitor said at the start, “the Jedi Code is an itch,” but not just for the Jedi—for the Inquisitors too. They were once Jedi, and even they still have that itch, that internal code.
It’s the kind of revelation Trilla was on the cusp of making before being cut off (literally) by Vader. It’s a revelation that many dark siders/Sith have been on the cusp of as they die; Dooku dies realizing he was a pawn in Palpatine’s game to forge himself a better apprentice. Maul dies realizing Obi-Wan was always going to beat him and that the only way of beating Sidious is with the light side Chosen One.
I hope this is a new era of Star Wars storytelling in terms of moving past the dark side/light side binary and Redemption by Death—one that seeks to explore true redemption arcs and the long-term effects of working through your worst impulses and fixing the wrongdoings of the past. In any case, the most promising part of Reva’s story is that this is most likely not the end, but the beginning. We don’t see where she goes after she drops her lightsaber, but I am looking forward to watching where her path takes her, whether it’s in a second season of Obi-Wan Kenobi or somewhere else.
(featured image: Disney+)
