Across the Jedi Order’s history there have been thousands of Jedi from a variety of the
weirdest and most strange species in the Galaxy.
They ranged from those who were very human like, such as the Balosars, all the way to
ones like the Ithorians.
But in all this variety there are only 2 or 3 known Wookie Jedi in Canon.
So why were Wookie Jedi so rare?
Well, we’re going to find out!
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In Canon we currently know of 2 or maybe 3 Wookiee Jedi if you want to stretch it.
First up we have Gungi.
Gungi was a Youngling during the Time of the Clone Wars and because younglings were put
into Clans until a Master took them on, he was placed into a clan of six others.
Gungi and his clan were given the task of travelling to the planet Ilum under the Watch
of Ahsoka Tano, where they would collect the Kyber Crystals for their first lightsabers.
After facing many challenges and facing truths about themselves the entire group eventually
managed to harvest their crystals.
Gungi’s kyber crystal turned green when he harvested it, indicating that he was more
in tune with the cosmic force, than the living force.
The really interesting part about his journey is that Yoda commended him for his patience,
which is a rare trait in a Wookiee and often leads then to the dark side.
This will be important later in the video.
He is also commended by the lightsaber architect droid who notes that Jedi of his kind are
very, very rare.
Especially to get to this stage of lightsaber construction.
After that we have Burrayaga Agaburry.
Burrayaga served as a Jedi Padawan during the time of the High Republic and was present
at the great hyperspace disaster which hit the Hetzal system in around 200 years before
the Prequels.
He generally wasn’t a fan of social gatherings because of his language barrier and this same
problem actually impaired his ability to help at the great hyperspace disaster.
He felt the terror of those who survived the disaster so strongly that he radiated that
terror to the other Jedi who were there.
Because he was unable to communicate with them, they believed it was his own emotional
trauma pulling him to the Dark Side.
And this language barrier is probably one of the reasons adding the lack of Jedi Wookiees
in the Order.
Finally we have the Master of Plo Koon, Tyvokka.
Tyvokka has a pretty awesome story in Star Wars Legends, but in Canon we know absolutely
nothing about him.
He was the Master of Plo Koon and he was a Wookiee.
And that leads us back to the main question, why are there so few of them?
Well there are probably an assortment of reasons.
The real reason is because George Lucas told authors not to create many Wookiee Jedi unless
their stories really interested him, but there are actually reasons in Canon.
The first and most interesting possible reason is that Kashyyyk itself was not conducive
to having force users born on it.
We know from numerous examples in Canon that the planets themselves are connected with
the force and have a great impact on their inhabitants.
For example Dathomir is strongly connected to the Dark Side, and as a result, the species
which are native there are too.
The Zabraks are naturally more attuned to the Dark side of the force as a result of
coming from Dathomir.
This same influence can be seen in Zabrak traditions with many clans of Witches, including
the Nightsisters residing there and utilizing the Dark Side of the force.
They know it only as Dark Magicks, but really it is just a different expression of the Force.
Specifically the dark side.
This also ties into the mystical dark areas of Kashyyyk known as the Shadowlands.
In Canon we don’t know as much about them yet, but it could be home to a force vengeance
where all of the planet’s force energy is concentrated.
These vergeances were seen all over the galaxy including below the Jedi temple on Coruscant,
Dagobah and even on Devaron.
With all of the planet’s force energy culminating in this one spot, it could explain why it
hasn’t spread among the inhabitants...
With the Shadowlands being created by the shadows of the Wookiee Origin Tree it would
also point to them having natural Dark Side tendencies like the Zabraks if force sensitives
were to pop up on the planet.
This makes light side Wookiee Jedi an even rarer possibility.
Another possible reason for the extremely rare occurrences of Wookiee Jedi is that not
many Jedi actually visited Kashyyyk in the first place to inspect the young Wookiees.
In Order for a Wookiee to join the Jedi they had to be found at a very young age and taken
away to the temple.
Given Kashyyyk’s harsh dense jungles and vast swamplands, it was not an easy place
to get to for the Jedi emissaries.
It was practically inhospitable to any species but the Wookiees themselves.
Not to mention, with what we know about Wookiee personalities, there is no chance at all that
a Wookiee Mother would willingly bring her child to the Jedi Order to be taken away.
So there could actually be a small number of Force Sensitive Wookiees living deep within
the Jungles of Kashyyyk, that simply haven’t and will never be found by the outside world.
But those are the reasons why Wookiee Jedi are so rare in the Galaxy.
Really hope you guys enjoyed the video and if you did hit that like button below.
Cheers guys, hope to see you in the next one!