10 Jedi Who Turned to the Dark Side & Then Got Redeemed (In Both Star Wars Canon & Legends)
George Lucas always liked to claim he had Star Wars planned right from the start, but we know that wasn’t the case; the first script for The Empire Strikes Back didn’t even feature the classic “I am your father” reveal, after all. In reality, every single film in the original trilogy changed the franchise’s themes. A New Hope presented Luke Skywalker as an everyman hero, The Empire Strikes Back shifted to a generational saga. But Return of the Jedi redefined Star Wars forever when Darth Vader was redeemed.
From that moment on, redemption became a core part of the Star Wars franchise. That was particularly true in the old Star Wars Expanded Universe, where redemption became a dime a dozen. That said, canon has embraced redemption after the sequel trilogy, and we’re seeing a lot more fallen Jedi return to the light side. Here are 12 Jedi who proved Yoda wrong when he said the dark side will forever dominate your destiny.
5. Anakin Skywalker
The top example is, of course, Darth Vader himself. When Luke Skywalker first learned of Darth Vader, he was told the former Jedi had killed his father. He didn’t learn the truth until years later, when Darth Vader revealed he was in fact Anakin Skywalker. Luke initially rejected this, but came to believe his father could be redeemed. Everything built to a head over the skies of Endor, when Luke surrendered himself to Vader. The Emperor seemed to think Luke could be turned to the dark side, but Luke had other ideas.
In the end, Luke’s faith in his father inspired Vader to sacrifice himself on his son’s behalf. This is Star Wars’ ultimate redemption story, the one all others are measured against. But there’s a sense in which Darth Vader had it easy; he died, becoming a Force Ghost, rather than living as he tried to make peace with a galaxy that had learned to hate him. Luke and Leia kept their father’s fate a secret for years, which turned out to be a mistake; the deception undermined their relationship with Ben Solo, setting up his fall.
4. Ben Solo
Oddly, seven years after the end of the sequel trilogy, it’s still so difficult to understood Ben Solo’s fall. It appears to have begun when he learned his grandfather was actually Darth Vader, which made him believed he’d inherited Anakin Skywalker’s draw to the dark side. As seen in The Last Jedi, Luke confronted his nephew – only for matters to escalate. Charles Soule and Will Sliney’s The Rise of Kylo Ren tells the full story of what happened next; a Force storm swept down on Luke’s Academy, and Ben blamed himself. He believed himself trapped, committed to the dark side.
In the end, though, Ben’s connections drew him back to the light. His redemption began when his mother Leia chose to use her last energy to reach him, proving how much she loved him. Rey chose to share her life essence with him, saving his life but also purifying him, helping free Ben from the light. Finally, he saw a vision of his father once again, and chose the light. The redemption wasn’t particularly well managed; Rise of Skywalker is nowhere near as well-told as Return of the Jedi. Compared to Anakin’s, it’s a disappointment.
3. Kyp Durron
Now let’s move to Kyp Durron, whose fall and redemption story is told in Kevin J. Anderson’s “Jedi Academy Trilogy.” Raised in the spice mines of Kessel, Kyp was incredibly powerful in the Force. Unfortunately, when he came to Luke Skywalker’s Jedi Academy (situated on Yavin 4 in Legends), he fell under the influence of an ancient Sith spirit bound to the Massassi temples. Exar Kun turned Kyp into a Judas figure, using his hatred of the Empire to send him rogue. Kyp literally destroyed the Imperial training planet of Carida.
Han Solo had become a loose mentor for Kyp, and he risked his life to hunt down the fallen Jedi in an attempt to redeem him. In the end, the dark side lost sway over Kyp when Exar Kun was destroyed. The fall and redemption were well handled, although very different to Anakin’s; here, the dark side was a force that had overwhelmed Kyp, rather than something he had freely chosen. Later stories would test whether Kyp really was redeemed, pushing him towards the dark side again during the “New Jedi Order” books.
2. Asajj Ventress
Returning to canon, we have Asajj Ventress. Introduced in The Clone Wars, Ventress was a disillusioned Jedi Padawan who fell prey to Count Dooku’s manipulation. She became Dooku’s assassin, but Palpatine suspected she was far more; he believed Ventress was Dooku’s apprentice, recruited as Dooku prepared to challenge his master according to the Rule of Two. Palpatine forced Dooku to betray Ventress, who became a bounty hunter, and even allied with the Jedi Quinlan Vos in an attempt to kill Dooku. She was killed during the attempt.
But Ventress was a Nightsister of Damothir, and – as seen in Tales of the Bounty Hunters – their magick resurrected her. This meant she lived on into the Dark Times of the Empire’s reign, but as a very different figure. Although she could not reunite with her beloved Quinlan Vos due to the nature of the magick that resurrected her, Ventress shifted to using a yellow lightsaber. All the evidence suggests she’s been fully redeemed, even if she isn’t entirely unselfish.
1. Revan
Although Revan is officially part of Star Wars canon, his full story has currently only been told in the old Expanded Universe. One of the main characters of the Old Republic Era, Revan is featured in the Knights of the Old Republic games. He started out as a customizable character, with players able to decide whether they wanted to orient him toward the light side or the dark. Star Wars lore later absorbed this idea, giving Revan a sort of “hokey pokey” relationship with the dark side. A Jedi prodigy of his time, Revan served in the Mandalorian Wars, but fell foul of the Sith.
In a shocking twist, the Jedi chose to wipe Revan’s memory and turn him back to the light. Although this was presented as redemption, in reality it’s far less; Revan had no agency in this choice, critically undermining it. That alone gives Revan a redemption story unlike any other told in Star Wars (whether in Legends or canon). Revan has a fascinating legacy in Legends, because his pursuit of the Sith led to his defeat and imprisonment – but he still saved the Republic, using the Force to manipulate the Sith Emperor and hold back a further invasion.
