Star Wars: The Iron Knight Droids Who Became Jedi

While Disney’s purchase of Star Wars forced much of its Expanded Universe of books and comics out of canon, creating the new Star Wars Legends, the best elements of those stories are slowly creeping back into continuity, and Jedi droids could be the next to make the leap. Iron Knights are Force-sensitive droids within the Star Warsuniverse who have fought alongside Jedi from the Clone Wars to the days of the New Republic. Many argue that the idea of a Jedi droid doesn’t make any sense, given the explanation Star Wars fans were given in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace as to how the Jedi have the ability to use the Force.

Midi-chlorians are required to flow through the bodies of all Force users, and the higher the midi-chlorian count, the stronger their potential connection to the Force. Droids, while in many ways sentient, are by definition non-biological, so a Force-sensitive droid sounds like an impossibility. In fact, fans would be correct in thinking a droid Force user is impossible, at least by normal standards, but Iron Knights are not average droids. The Iron Knights’ ability to use the Force comes from an entirely biological component. 

Shards, a species of crystals native to the planet Orax, are the key to the Iron Knights’ Force usage. Though they are immobile in their natural state, Shards are sentient and have brains that create pulses of light that can be seen by any who look upon the crystals. Though the idea of midi-chlorians had not yet been realized when Iron Knights were created in Star Wars lore, with their first appearance being in the 1998 novel Star Wars Missions #14: The Monsters Of Dweem, midi-chlorians must be present within the biology of Iron Knights based on George Lucas’ own guidelines as to how the Force is accessed, and Shards explain how this can be the case. These living, Force-sensitive crystals were installed into droids by colonists on Orax, creating the droids known as the Iron Knights. 

Iron Knights first fought alongside the Jedi during the Clone Wars; one Force-sensitive droid of note named Firkrann was even killed by General Grievous. Though the Iron Knights fought with the Jedi against the Separatists, they were not accepted into the Jedi Order. Sadly, Order 66 was initiated soon after, birthing the Empire and beginning the Great Jedi Purge. Many Iron Knights were killed during the Jedi Purge, others went into hiding, and some eventually fought alongside the Rebellion against the Empire. It wasn’t until the fall of the Empire and the rise of the New Republic that Iron Knights began training as true Jedi under the tutelage of none other than Luke Skywalker. 

While the Force-using droids got their start on the pages of a book, Iron Knights didn’t receive their comic book debut until Star Wars Jedi Academy: Leviathan #4, where one is spotted among the other Jedi in training under Luke Skywalker. Though their appearances on the pages of Star Wars comics has been brief thus far, the addition of Iron Knights within the Star Wars lore offers a multitude of possibilities for future stories in the galaxy far, far away. Droids with the powers of the Jedi is an aspect to Star Wars yet to be explored to its fullest potential. Whether on the pages of a comic book, on a television show, or up on the big screen, Iron Knights are an interesting deviation from what fans have seen from a Star Wars story. No matter what the future may hold for the Force-using droids, the Iron Knights are yet another example of why Star Wars continues to excite fans throughout the many decades of the series’ existence. 

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