Editing New Jedi Order (section)

==='''Last of the Old, First of the New (4 to 10 ABY)'''===

'''Dracos''':'' "When are we gonna be Jedi Knights, like you, with magic? When are you gonna teach us to use the Force?"''<br />'''Skywalker''':'' "I'm not, Dracos. I can't. … The potential for abuse—if any of you turned out to have talent and learned anything without learning everything—is staggering. And I don't want to be responsible for that."''<br />'''―Dracos and Luke Skywalker discuss training in the ways of the Force'''

After the virtual extermination of the old Jedi Order by Emperor Palpatine and his subsequent overthrow, only one known true Jedi, who hadn't gone into hiding and was brave enough to try again, remained: Luke Skywalker. Having played a key role in destroying the Emperor and redeeming his father Anakin Skywalker, Skywalker alone was the heir to this once noble Order.

The road to restoration was long and wrought with mistakes. Skywalker's first thoughts of training an apprentice came right after the Battle of Endor. During the Ssi-ruuvi invasion, Skywalker came in contact with a young Force-sensitive boy named Dev Sibwarra. After rescuing the boy from the Ssi-ruuk, Skywalker had plans to train Sibwarra as his first apprentice. Tragically, during the Battle of Bakura, Dev sustained mortal injuries and died aboard the Millennium Falcon. Perhaps due to Sibwarra's death and due to a growing fear that he would create the next Vader, Skywalker became reluctant to take on an apprentice.

Around the time of the Nagai-Tof War, Skywalker received several requests for training from young freedom fighters who hoped to become Jedi Knights, but Skywalker's reluctance remained. He refused to train the young hopefuls on the excuse that he was not yet prepared to take on apprentices. When Luke began instructing new recruits to the Rebellion in warfare, recruits such as Kiro, Barney and the Rik Duel gang, they assumed that Luke would be teaching them to wield the Force but were disappointed when Luke refused to school them in Force techniques. Luke's refusals also had a negative effect as one of the first people to request his training, Flint, became embittered when Luke refused to train him and turned to the dark side.

Luke's hesitance to take on an apprentice continued until he faced the consequences of his reluctant viewpoint. The young woman Vila came to Luke requesting training, and when Luke refused, she brought him to Naldar to help liberate the planet. On Naldar, Luke came face to face with Flint, who had turned to the dark side after Luke had refused to train him. In the subsequent battle, Vila was killed, and Flint was arrested and put into the custody of the New Republic. Luke began to see that giving in to the fear of failure was not the path. Luke told the Iskalonian Kiro that he would begin to train him, but before it could begin Kiro went MIA in the Nagai-Tof War and became disillusioned with the thought of becoming a Jedi. After this rocky start, Luke put his plans for a New Jedi Order on hold.

For a number of years after this, Skywalker continued to hone his own skills as he worked as a Jedi Knight throughout the galaxy. During this time, he made a number of discoveries relating to the Jedi, on planets such as Circarpous V, Toola, and Dathomir, and also briefly taught Prince Isolder the basic tenets of the Force. As he was not Force-sensitive, the Prince provided a risk free student for Luke to practice on. It was also during this time that Skywalker met many individuals who would eventually become members of his Jedi Order. Perhaps most notable was Kyle Katarn, whom Skywalker met in 4 ABY during the crisis of the Valley of the Jedi. Katarn already possessed a lightsaber and had some rudimentary insights into the Force, mastering Force powers such as Force speed.

The rise of the cloned Palpatine shook Skywalker out of his solitary existence. As foretold by Bodo Baas's Master a thousand years earlier, this was a critical time during the history of the Jedi. Faced with the threat of awesome power, Skywalker decided to train under the Emperor and to try to defeat him from the inside. However, in doing so, Skywalker succumbed to the influence of the dark side. He was brought back to the light side by his sister, Leia Organa Solo, who also stole a precious Holocron from the Emperor. On the run from Imperial forces, Luke and Leia gathered around them a cadre of Force-sensitives that Luke began to instruct. These included the redeemed Kam Solusar, Vima-Da-Boda, the Ysanna siblings Jem and Rayf, and Jedi Purge survivor King Empatojayos Brand.

Defeating the Emperor cost these initial trainees dearly—Jem, Rayf, and Brand lost their lives, while Vima fled back into the underworld. The cost to Luke was dear also – his experience under the dark side's sway would scar his soul permanently. However, he gained an appreciation of his own strength, and a deeper realization of what it would cost to return the Jedi Knights to the galaxy. This ideal, and his enhanced powers made Luke the first new Jedi Master of the New Jedi Order. Other gains made were the redemption of Kam and the acquisition of the Bodo Baas holocron.