What Happened to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant After Order 66?
Throughout the entire prequel trilogy of Star Wars, one of the buildings often featured in the storyline was the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, which represented the presence of the Jedi Order in the capital of the entire Republic. Of course, we know that Order 66 happened and that the Jedi Order was destroyed at the end of the Clone Wars when Emperor Palpatine compelled the clones to kill all of the Jedi. But what happened to the Jedi Temple after Order 66?
The Jedi Temple survived after Order 66 and was eventually converted by Emperor Palpatine into the Imperial Palace. He insulted the Jedi Order’s memory by turning their own temple into his personal palace. Even after Palpatine’s death, the Imperial Palace remained but was largely uninhabited.
Once the symbol of the Jedi Order’s power and presence in the galaxy, the Jedi Temple was desecrated and turned into the Emperor’s personal palace to further insult the memory of the Jedi Order. In that regard, it was clear that Palpatine hated the Jedi more than anything and was looking to add salt to the wounds of the surviving Jedi with this act. So, with that said, let’s look at what happened to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant.
Was the Jedi Temple destroyed after Order 66?
During the era of the Republic and before Emperor Palpatine turned it into the Empire, the Jedi Temple on Coruscant stood as a symbol of the Jedi Order’s presence throughout the entire galaxy as the keeper of the peace. It has been around for thousands of years ever since the four founding Jedi of the past erected this building on Coruscant, which became the capital of the Republic. In that regard, having the Jedi Order’s main temple on the galaxy’s capital planet allowed the Jedi Order to work together with the Republic in a much more efficient manner.
Of course, during the events of the prequel trilogy as well as the animated ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ series, the Jedi Temple was one of the most featured buildings in the entire storyline due to how the Jedi Order was also often featured. In that regard, we saw the Jedi Temple a lot, and this was a large building that housed the quarters of the Jedi, the main hall of the Jedi High Council, and the training facilities of the younglings.
But we all know that Order 66 happened at the end of the Clone Wars. After Anakin Skywalker fell to the dark side and became Darth Vader, he was ordered by Darth Sidious to march on the Jedi Temple and kill every Jedi inside the massive structure. As such, Anakin and the clones of the 501st Legion killed all of the Jedi that they could find inside the Jedi Temple. While doing so, parts of the temple were also burned.
Nevertheless, the Jedi Temple persisted even after the events of Order 66. Many rooms and halls were damaged due to the effects of Order 66, but the Jedi Temple still stood strong because Palpatine didn’t want to destroy this building. In fact, he even allowed the Grand Inquisitor, who had become the leader of the Inquisitorius, to scour the Jedi Archives for knowledge and information that the Jedi Council didn’t allow him to access back when he was still a Jedi Temple Guard. And Palpatine also used the Jedi Archives to learn more about the Jedi Order and the location of the surviving Jedi.
In that regard, there was no way that Palpatine would ever destroy a building important to the Jedi Order as it housed information he needed to further increase his power as a Sith Lord and as the emperor of the entire Galactic Empire.
Palpatine added insult to injury
Of course, while Palpatine spared the Jedi Temple from destruction, he did something to it that added insult to injury. Destroying the Jedi Order was not enough for him because he had to salt the wounds of the Jedi by turning the Jedi Temple, which was once a symbol of power for the Jedi Order, into his personal Imperial Palace.
As such, during the era of the Empire, the Jedi Temple became Palpatine’s personal palace and residence as he moved out of the Chancellor’s office in the Senate building on Coruscant. The one who oversaw the conversion of the Jedi Temple into the Imperial Palace was Colonel Alva Brenne.
During the conversion of the Jedi Temple, Imperial officers and agents scoured the temple for any remaining traces of the Jedi, as there might be clues pertaining to the location of the Jedi that survived the events of Order 66. However, even though Palpatine allowed the Jedi Temple to survive, he ordered his people to destroy the Jedi statues, paintings, and murals because he wanted to erase everything related to the Jedi Order to make sure that the Jedi would become a relic of the past and would be forgotten by history.
Meanwhile, he also transferred all of his collection of dark side artifacts and items to the new Imperial Palace to finish the conversion of this once proud Jedi Temple into a symbol of Imperial power and Sith dominance. The former Jedi Temple became the Emperor’s primary residence throughout the Imperial era as he rarely left the Imperial Palace because he had already allowed his officers and underlings to oversee the day-to-day activities of the Empire.
Is the Jedi Temple still standing?
We know that Emperor Palpatine died during the events of ‘Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.’ However, the Imperial Palace on Coruscant remained even after Palpatine’s death. It became the personal palace of Mas Amedda, who was Palpatine’s most trusted adviser ever since he was still the Supreme Chancellor. In fact, the Empire still operated after the defeat of the Emperor, with Amedda trying his best to lead the Imperial remnants.
However, the Empire was eventually defeated, and Amedda was confined to his quarters in the former Jedi Temple. The Imperial Palace, however, remained as it was because the New Republic didn’t even try to occupy it or do anything about it. In fact, the New Republic wasn’t even headquartered on Coruscant, unlike the Old Republic and the Galactic Empire. Even Luke Skywalker, who sought to re-establish the Jedi Order, built his own temple instead of using the old Jedi Temple on Coruscant.
In that regard, the former Jedi Temple on Coruscant remained as it was and wasn’t even touched after the fall of the Empire. It became a relic of the past that symbolized the failure of the old Jedi Order as well as the tyranny of the Empire.
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