Why Does 'Star Wars' Need The Inquisitor If It Already Has Darth Vader?

"A young Jedi named Darth Vader, who was a pupil of mine until he turned to evil, helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi Knights. He betrayed and murdered your father. Now the Jedi are all but extinct." Such are the words of Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Those words ring in the minds of Star Wars fans who've long believed it was solely Darth Vader who hunted and murdered the Jedi.

But now there's Star Wars Rebels, a Disney XD animated series that takes place between Episode III and IV. That's the time period in which all that murder would have taken place. The main villain of the show isn't Darth Vader, however. It's the Inquisitor, a Jedi Hunter voiced by Jason Isaacs. Taking into account the aforementioned quote, plus the knowledge there can be only two Sith, this character's existence seems very curious.

Star Wars Rebels executive producer Dave Filoni disagrees. In our interview at Comic-Con, Filoni described the unique relationship between Vader and the Inquisitor and the need for both of the characters in this world. His justification is the kind of logical, mind-opening twist we're probably going to have to get used to with Star Wars in the coming years. There was a great big world outside those six movies and one TV show. Read about the Star Wars Rebels Inquisitor below.

Before the quotes, here's a quick video that'll give you some context on The Inquisitor via the Star Wars YouTube.

/Film: In Star Wars lore, Obi Wan says Darth Vader hunted down the Jedi. But you guys have introduced another villain, The Inquisitor. Why introduce a whole new character to do the same thing? Especially when we already have a Sith Lord apprentice thing with Vader and the Emperor. Now you add a third character into the mix. Talk about why and how it's going to work.Dave Filoni: I think for me the main idea is that when Obi Wan's saying these things to Luke, he's trying to get them explained. And he knows it's gonna come from Vader. And it's very specific to Luke. And that's his destiny. The Inquisitor, is he even around at that point? Who knows?Sure.

But it was reasonable to believe that, looking at a galaxy, there were 10,000 Jedi in The Clone Wars. That number's been diminished. How do you find them? Where do you find them? I'm sure Vader is involved in hunting down Jedi all the time. I'm sure that right after the Clone War, when the remnants are very visible and the Jedi are all trying to figure out what happened, that he was luring them into traps and wiping them out several at a time.

At the point we are, so many years later, they are so few and far between that I don't think he would follow up every lead. Because one of the things that's muddled the whole operation, in my mind, is kids being born that can use the Force. The Emperor and Vader don't really want them around either. But they're so unnoticeable, you needed a group of hunters, attack dogs. And so we have an Inquisitor that goes out and hunts these guys down. Now if he was to hunt a guy down, let's say he's somewhere on Tatooine and he runs into Obi-Wan Kenobi, probably the Inquisitor won't survive that. But if he did, he would call Vader up and go "You better get out here."

He's a Jedi Master. This isn't nobody.

"This is a Master. This is somebody significant," right. So I have to believe that, as it went along, Vader got entrusted with more and more important missions, hunting down those stolen data plans. Stuff like that. And the Inquisitor is left to be this kind of hunting dog. He finds you, he analyzes you, even by fighting against them, saber to saber, he's learning about you. Who taught you, where you came from, how old you are. Sometimes what your name is. Because they have all the records and he's meticulously studied them. So, you know, he can break down pretty quickly who Kanan is just by fighting him in a lightsaber fight.

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Most Star Wars fans always think of the galaxy very specifically linked to the Skywalkers. And that makes sense, as they've been the main stars since 1977 and continue to be. But in Rebels, this is a whole new batch of people and it's almost ludicrous to think the Skywalkers are the only ones having adventures, getting into trouble, and saving the world in a galaxy far, far, away. There are people being born who are in tune with the Force, as there always have been, and it's the job of the Inquisitor to take these people out.

We'll have the rest of our Dave Filoni interview on the site Wednesday.