Star Wars #6 review: Luke meets the Grand Inquisitor

The Star Wars #6 comic furthers Luke Skywalker’s journey, and he meets a character we haven’t seen in a while. 

The first five issues of Charles Soule’s Star Wars comic have proven that there is plenty of storytelling potential to explore between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. So far, we’ve seen Luke mount a desperate search for his father’s lightsaber while also coping with the shocking revelation that his father is alive as Darth Vader. And we’ve seen the Rebel Alliance struggling to survive against a new enemy within the Empire. Star Wars #5 ended with Luke finding a woman he saw in a Force vision, who he believed would give him his missing lightsaber. This woman named Verla, however, wanted nothing to do with the son of Darth Vader and immediately tried to kill him.

There is the Dark Side and there is no side

Star Wars #6 picks up there, and it would seem that Luke has no hope of survival until R2-D2 saves the day. Verla reveals her history as a failed Jedi on the run from Darth Vader and the Inquisitors. Verla’s opinion of the Force is much different than what Luke has heard from Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda, and she challenges Luke to make a different choice and to leave the path toward becoming a Jedi. This, of course, isn’t what Luke was expecting to find when he followed his Force vision, but Verla does help him, realizing that Luke’s determination won’t let him give up the journey he’s on. Even after finding out that his father, legendary Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, turned to the dark side and became the ruthless Darth Vader, Luke won’t let anything stop him from becoming a Jedi because he senses destiny upon him, which makes sense, given that this arc is called “Destiny Path.”

A Star Wars: Rebels character returns

The next stop on his journey takes him to a planet called Tempes to an ancient Jedi Temple from the High Republic era, which provides an interesting connection to the upcoming Star Wars: The High Republic multi-publisher initiative. Luke is confronted by a character we probably never thought we’d see again in the Star Wars timeline because he died in Star Wars: Rebels. But The Grand Inquisitor is somehow alive, and Luke will experience what so many Jedi decades before experienced in facing him. It’s a very real threat of Jedi extinction before the order can even begin again. But Luke isn’t a beginner anymore, as he so eloquently puts it in this issue, and, impressively, he’s able to walk away with a new lightsaber, yellow in color.

We soon learn that the Grand Inquisitor is a disembodied prisoner of Vader, which reveals an all-new level of cruelty, a willingness to use the dark side of the Force to enslave someone to the Star Wars version of hell.

Expanding Luke’s Jedi journey

Luke’s journey to becoming the Jedi we see in Return of the Jedi is far from over, but Charles Soule continues to shape the Star Wars narrative in compelling and fan-satisfying ways. With an ending that feels like yet another new hope for the Rebel Alliance, Star Wars #6 continues to do what the earlier five issues have consistently done, deepen the mythology of Luke’s journey to becoming a Jedi.

For more Star Wars books and comics updates, follow the Books category on Dork Side of the Force.