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I've just purchased my first Star Wars book, Star Wars Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void
To my knowledge it is the earliest set book in the Star Wars timeline (25,793 BBY) and I assumed that it would have been the very start of the Jedi but it's mentioned in the book that there have been Jedi for tens of thousands of years.
Who was or were the first Jedi and are they documented in any writing?
First things first, Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi series deals with the Je'daii Order, the order directly preceding the Jedi Order but not considered the same body. The Order of Dai Bendu preceded the Je'daii Order and could be said to be its spiritual ancestor.
1. The Order of Dai Bendu = at least 37,453 BBY - 36,453 BBY
One of the earliest groups to discover the Force, a millennium before the formation of the Je'daii Order they discovered a pyramidal edifice they could "hear". They called it the "Tho Yor", and tended it for a thousand years, before it "woke up" and revealed itself to be a starship, which transported them to the world of Tython, where they contributed to the foundation of the Je'daii Order.
2. Je'daii Order = 36,453 BBY - 25,783 BBY
Wookieepedia gives the date of formation of the Je'daii Order as 36,453 BBY, sourced to Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi: Force Storm 1 (the first issue of the Dark Horse miniseries)
The Monks of Dai Bendu had been only one of eight Tho Yor, that had repeated the pattern elsewhere in the galaxy, gathering Force-sensitive sentients who could hear their call and bringing them to Tython. These force-sensitives became the first Tythans and together became the Je'daii Order.
The collapse of the Je'daii Order came about due the Force Wars - the conflict between Dark-side (Bogan) and Light-side (Ashla) followers in the Je'daii Order. And post-war, the surviving Light-Siders led to the formation of the Jedi Order.
3. Jedi Order = 25,783 BBY - 19 BBY
Wookieepedia gives the date of formation of Jedi Order as 25,783 BBY, sourced to SWTOR Timeline Video 1. It seems to the the date of the end of Force Wars, one of the direct outcomes of which was the creation of the Jedi Order.
The Je'daii philosophy had been balance between Ashla (Light side) and Bogan (Dark side). However, after the Force Wars, when the followers of Bogan were defeated, the victors, i.e. the followers of Ashla abandoned the philosophy of balance, stating the Light side to be stronger and this splinter group began calling themselves Jedi and formed a Jedi Council consisting of the founding members: Jedi Masters Rajivari, Garon Jard, Cala Brin and Ters Sendon. (Rajivari later abandoned the Light, and could be said to be the first Dark Jedi.)
This organization persisted until the Great Jedi Purge led by Darths Sidious and Vader in 19 BBY, though it almost perished with the First Jedi Purge during Darth Revan's time in 3954 BBY.
The Official The Jedi Path : A Manual for Students of the Force lists the earliest Jedi as originating on the planet of Tython.
The History of the Jedi Order
By Restelly Quist, Chief Librarian
The Force is timeless, but we Jedi have not always been present to interpret its teachings. Centuries before the founding of the Republic, our predecessors first heard the Force's call on the Deep Core world of Tython. The seers of Tython knew the energy field as the Ashla, but understood it in much the same way we do today—as a source of wisdom, a regenerative pool from which to draw strength, and a way to move objects without touching them. Yet those seers who used their abilities in the service of hatred and greed fell into darkness. The Force Wars of Tython are the earliest recorded conflicts between the light and the dark, battles that would be mirrored over the centuries as the Jedi and Sith crossed blades.
The Jedi Vs Sith : The Essential Guide to the Force sourcebook lists Sith Force-using civilisation as having developed some 100,000ABY, approximately 75,000 years before the foundation of the First Republic. It notes that...
"...as long as there have been Jedi, there have been those who have been tempted to use the force for selfish and even nefarious purposes"
This would place the earliest Jedi (or their predecessors) around 100,000 years before the events of Empire Strikes Back.
From Wookieepedia:
In 25,783 BBY the war had raged for nearly a decade, leaving the planet a ruined waste.[9] The light-siders, led by Je'daii Masters Rajivari, Garon Jard, Cala Brin and Ters Sendon, founded a new group known as the Jedi Order and deemed that they would only use their powers for the protection of the weak and disenfranchised.
And just for completeness, the Sith Order (they named themselves after the Sith species that they enslaved) was started around 6900 BBY (~19 thousand years later):
They emerged from hyperspace above Korriban, where they were greeted by the primitive Sith people. The Exiles, who included XoXaan, Remulus Dreypa, Ajunta Pall, Sorzus Syn and Karness Muur, shocked the natives with their dark side abilities and were proclaimed Jen'jidai, meaning Dark Jedi in the language of the Sith. The Jen'jidai forged an alliance with the Sith ruler's second in command and used that relationship to overthrow the King and claim dominion over the Sith. They adopted the title "Lords of the Sith" and their ruler came to be known as the Jen'ari, or Dark Lord of the Sith.
Ajuntu Pall was the first Dark Lord of the Sith.
Note that there were dark and light side organizations that predated both the Jedi and the Sith.
The Sith & Jedi Orders have been around for tens of thousands of years one character in a Star Wars movie said the Jedi and Sith have been around for tens of thousands of years taking different names Dai Bendu possibly something before that I think they have been around since the creation of the Star Wars universe in lore. But it truly is unknown who the first Jedi and Sith are.
Jedi names they have taken include Dai Bendu, Je'daii, Jedi, Rebellion, New Jedi, Resistance and so on. The Sith are the same Dark Dai Bendu, Siithsari, Sith, Galactic Empire, Dark Empire, Thrawn's Empire, First Order and so on.
So it will always be a mystery who are the ones that started it all unless they do an EU story on it if course.
