Padawan Training

Once a Jedi Teacher takes on an apprenctice (known as a Padawan now) The Teacher becomes solely responsible for the students welfare and education. A Jedi teacher can never take this descion lightly. He is effectively adopting a child (regardless of the apprentice's actual age) and must train the apprentice not only in the mysteries of the Force but also in day-to day life as an adult and a Force user. For this reason, a Jedi without clear sense of self-identity makes a poor Teacher.

Many factors influence the selection of an apprentice. First the Teacher needs to be aware of the student's personality. Since the Teacher intends to spend the next several years of his life with the Padawan, radically different personalitity types could interfere with the training process. The Teacher must be comfortable with the apprentice's needs. If the apprentice requires special attention and the Teacher is not willing or able to provide it, both suffer as a result. Conversely, a Teacher should not choose an apprentice who offers no challanges at all. The Teacher learns from the experience of teaching an apprentice.

A Jedi apprentice learns the lessons he needs to know to become a Jedi Knight. Obviously, the Teacher must continue the student's training in how to use the Force, a lesson that goes on for almost the entire duration of the apprenticeship. The Teacher must also teach the apprentice how to wield the Force as a Jedi. Knowing when and how to use the Force is vital to a Jedi's devlopment. The Teacher teaches appropriate use by discussion and demonstration. The Teacher explains the history of the Jedi and it's members, supplementing those lessons with examples.

The Trials of Knighthood

When the apprentice has sufficent experiance and knowledge as a Jedi, having proven himself able to wield the Force he can attempt to become a Jedi Knight. Regardless of the time and place, the effort always involves tests, and they can be formal or informal depending on who oversee's the trials. They can be as simple as the Teacher observing his apprentice's progress, or as complex as a council of Jedi Teachers conducting extensive interviews and perhaps assigning a quest of some kind.

The overall purpose of the trials is meant to answer one question. Becuase a Jedi Knight is now technically qualified to instruct an apprentice of his own, does the Jedi Order trust the canidate to do so? If the answer is no, then the Jedi is probably not yet qualified to become a Jedi Knight. If the answer is always no, then the apprentice's Teacher has in some way failed to properly prepare the apprentice, and the apprentice needs retraining.

The basic elements of the test include facility with the Force, knowledge of the Jedi Code, Weapon Proficiency, self-defense capability, sound (and swift) judgement, and most important, the ability to carry out a task without their Teacher's assistance or intervention. Faliure in any part indicates that the apprentice is not yet ready to be a Jedi Knight. No two trials are exactly alike. They are tailoried to the individual Jedi to ensure that the Jedi does not simply rely on his strengths while avoiding his weaknesses. The trials might take hours, days, or weeks, and include travel to sevreal locations. Jedi can even forego some of the tests at the discretion of the Teacher or Teachers admininstering the test, if the Jedi has at some point succeeded at a much more difficult task of the same type.

Successfully passing the trials might call for a ceremony of some kind, or a Teacher might simply pat his apprentice on the back and send him on his way. In any case, the Jedi Knight is now ready to make her way alone in the galaxy, serving peace and justice in the name of the Jedi Order.

The Jedi Trials

A Jedi might be asked to undertake one or all of the following trials in order to become a Jedi Knight.

Facility with the Force

The Jedi Apprentice must perform relatively simple tasks related to the three main aspects of the Force (Alter Control and Sense) to prove his ability to wield the Force in all it's forms. These tests could be anthing from guessing an image the testers are thinking of to moving an object. Or meditating for an hour amid a massaive amount of distractions.

Knowledge of the Jedi Code

The most common version of this test is a series of questions posed to the Jedi at intervals throught the trials. These include interpretations of the Jedi Code, lessons learned from Jedi history and lore, and discerning actual Jedi lore from an erroneous tale made up by the tester. This test confirms the apprentice's knowledge base. A Jedi Knight performs best if he does not let erroneous information cloud his perception of the Jedi Way.

Weapon Proficiency

A Jedi's proficiency with a weapon is often tested with a duel or required demonstration of their skill. If a Jedi doesn't use a weapon this test is often ignored. Though the Jedi must still prove his ability to defend himself against others who do use them.

Self-Defense Capability

Becuase all Jedi are required to defend the helpless, they must first be able to defend themselves. Exactly how a Jedi accomplishes this is unimportant as long as the Jedi does not call on the darkside. The Teachers administering the test ensures that the Jedi's abilities are stretched to their limit. This method intends not only to prove the the Jedi can defend himself but also determines whether the Jedi can change tactics quickly when his favored method of self-defense fails him. Thus, this test can take various forms, including being attacked by machines, animals, and the very person the Jedi is suppossed to protect. The Teacher who gives the test always monitors the candidate, since the point of the test is to prove the Jedi's ability for self-defense. If the Jedi goes on the offensive without provocation, he has failed the test. The Teacher ensures that any such failures don't spin out of control.

Sound Judgment

The measure of a Jedi's ability to make reasoned descions in a short span of time is perhaps second in importance only to his ability to make those descions without his Teacher's prompting. This test determines the Jedi's capacity for perceiving and resolving dilemmas without undue meditation, or, conversely, without enough meditation. This test can come in multiple parts. For example one method is for each Jedi Teacher present to pose an ethical question to a Jedi seeking knighthood, one after another, in quick succession. The Jedi's test was not only to resolve the questions (once they have all been asked), but to do so in the order of importance. In general, though, the Teacher presents a conundrum - perhaps one with real consequences, should such a test present itself - and then awaits a response. An incorrect answer is, of course, a faliure. So is the correct answer, if to long in coming. The Teacher never tells the Jedi how long he has to answer the question, becuase identifying the immediacy of a problem is an important step in solving it.

Solo Mission

The last part of any Jedi's trials to become a Jedi Knight is a solo task undertaken without the apprentice's Teacher. If a Jedi has failed any previous test, he may not undertake this task. The purpose of this test is twofold. First, the Jedi needs ro learn how to undertake tasks as a Jedi Knight. Second, it answers the important question of whether the apprentice can function as a Jedi, accomplish tasks, serve peace and justice as well as the needs of the order, and operate without direct supervision and without disgracing the Order. The Jedi's success or faliure is important, but how the Jedi handles the situation in either event is the most telling indicator of his readiness for the autonomy that Knighthood brings. A JediKnight must be able to adapt his plans to changing situations, to conquer fear and overcome personal opinion, to determine the will of the Force, and to carry out the tasks assigned to him without undue hesitation or dissembling. Failing any of that, the Jedi Knight must be willing to take responsibility for his actions (or inactions) and to make amends if possiable. Jedi who fail to complete their taks can still be awarded the mantel of Jedi Knight becuase they took the initiative to salvage the situation, sometimes even achieving a result greater than the scope of their task. Some Jedi apprentices who accomplish a significant task on their own are awarded the title of Jedi Knight even if they have not been charged with a solo mission.

A Jedi's Solo Mission is never commonplace, though an unwise apprentice might mistake it for such. It always involves a short journey to seprate the apprentice from the Teacher's aid and reinforce the notion that the apprentice is on his own. It also includes a tangible mesure of success, such as delivering or retriving a person or item, or facilitating a specific resolution to a given dispute. Danger of some kind is always a factor, though the threat is not necessarily to the Jedi. Of course, the mission includes an element of uncertainty. The Knight candidate faces seeminly insurmountable odds, frustrating rejection, insidious temptation, philosophical ambiguity, or perhaps a sudden redefinition of the mission's parameters.

Life as a Jedi Master

At some point, a Jedi Knight becomes a Jedi Master. He takes on an apprentice, or by virtue of his accomplishments becomes recognized as an example of the Jedi Order. The title brings with it a few more responsibilities, but overall, life as a Jedi Master is not terribly different from life as a Jedi Knight. The Jedi Master still undertakes tasks and carries them out as best he can, though he has greater latitude in his means of accomplishing them. He also speaks with more authority then a Jedi Knight.

A Jedi Master is afforded a great deal of respect within the order, regardless of how long he holds that status. The station of Master has no "ranks" though some Jedi Masters have more authority than others due to personal reputations. Most Jedi Masters downplay their own importance, except when they feel the situation warrents a perception of higher authority then a Jedi Knight commands. Most Jedi Masters feel that excessively emphasizing the distinction is a sign of vanity. Even so, Jedi Masters generally make it clear when they speak on behalf of someone else, be it another Teacher, the Council, or someone outside the order they are assiting at that time.

Techincally speaking, no postion in the Order ranks higher then that of Jedi Master. Though in time a Jedi Master might become a member of the Order's Council. Ordinarly, a Jedi Master is expected to speak and act as a though he did so on behalf of the entire Order, if a Jedi Master truly knows the will of the Force, he does so.