The Obi-Wan Kenobi episode from this week was packed with exciting moments for Star Wars fans. Along with the long-awaited confrontation between Ewan McGregor’s Jedi Master and Darth Vader, James Earl Jones’ voice of the Sith Lord made a triumphant return. And it’s hardly the only significant departure from the Star Wars canon. During the course of the episode, Lyra (Indira Varma), an Imperial defector who has been smuggling rogue Jedi off the planet Mapuzo using a network of tunnels known as “The Path,” saves Obi-Wan and Princess Leia (Vivien Lyra Blair) from a squad of Stormtroopers.
The Path is where other Jedi have left messages engraved on the walls before leaving, and Lyra eventually leads Obi-Wan and Leia there. Obi-Wan draws attention to a particular passage and utters the phrase, “Quinlan was here.” Although it may seem insignificant, this is actually a nod to Quinlan Vos, another Jedi who escaped Order 66. Vos’s roots are connected to the Star Wars prequels, even though he is most well-known for his roles in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Additionally, as Kenobi’s plot borrows heavily from the prequels, it only makes sense to make reference to a Jedi from that time period.
At Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Vos makes his debut while on a mission in Mos Espa, the spaceport city on the arid planet of Tatooine. Around that period, a young Anakin Skywalker was first encountered by a young Obi-Wan and his instructor Qui-Gon Jinn. Vos was highly renowned for both his Force talent of retrocognition and his rebellious attitude, which rankled his fellow Jedi. Vos was one of the Jedi Order’s top trackers and spies thanks to his ability to access other people’s memories while handling items they had touched. His disregard for the law, however, resulted in several hazardous circumstances.
Vos’s narrative would be developed in the Dark Horse Comics comic book series Star Wars: Republic. Vos’ independent tendencies and his bond with his Padawan, the beloved Jedi Aayla Secura, received a lot of attention throughout the Republic’s rule. When Vos attempted to enter Count Dooku’s inner circle in order to learn who his master was, things eventually went from bad to worse. Vos did more than a few things wrong on this mission, to the point where his fellow Jedi thought he had turned to the dark side. His fidelity to the Jedi Order would not be put to the test for the first time.
Vos eventually made an appearance in the Clone Wars episode “Hunt For Ziro,” with Al Rodrigo providing the voice. Given that Ziro the Hutt possesses evidence of the wrongdoing of his fellow Hutts, Vos and Obi-Wan teamed up to find Ziro and his lover Sy Snootles. The episode basically functions as an extraterrestrial adaptation of Lethal Weapon, with Obi-Wan playing Murtaugh and Vos playing Riggs. This also adds Vos to the small group of individuals who have been transferred from the “Legends” timeline—the Star Wars stories that were released before Disney acquired Lucasfilm—and into the official narrative.
The Star Wars: Dark Disciple novel by Christie Golden, which was based on unproduced scripts from The Clone Wars, would have Vos’ most significant plot, though. In order to kill Count Dooku for the Jedi Council, Vos joins the Dark Side and becomes Dooku’s new pupil. Vos is teamed with former Sith apprentice Asajj Ventress. Vos is given instruction by Ventress on how to harness the power of the Dark Side, and the two eventually started dating. When Dooku reveals that Ventress had murdered Vos’ master Tholme, he defeats them and completely changes Vos into his new apprentice Admiral Enigman. Ventress succeeds in assisting Vos in returning to the light side, but only after taking a fatal Force lightning strike from Dooku.
Due to the events in Dark Disciple, Vos also owes Obi-Wan a great lot of gratitude. Obi-Wan argued in favour of Vos’ readmission into the Jedi Order when he was brought before the Jedi Council because he thought the Order’s choice to kill Dooku was morally repugnant. The two getting back in touch might be a method for Vos to keep his vow to Obi-Wan, which he made in a monologue, to pay Obi-Wan back in any way he could.
