Discussion of Star Wars and the Jedi Order

[Jordan]

So I've been reading the Star Wars: Force and Destiny book; the adventure specifically, and in it the narrative reinforces the idea that the Jedi are forgotten, and believed to be a myth or children's fairytale.  Yet the Clone War and Order 66 only happened at most 25 years ago.

Prior to that, all evidence in the available material suggest that Jedi were a well known phenomenon.  So how is it that the Jedi, many of who were Generals in the clone war can be relegated to myth and legend in just a few short years? I am having trouble reconciling these two facts.

[Dawn OOC]

Honestly, they're myth because of Order 66. They're dead and gone, so they're legends. We never got a full picture, either. Sure people remember that they were around, but they were already larger-than-life myths, and I'm sure that the Empire suppressed discussion and rewrote history.

Here's another way to think about it. Who does the audience hear talk about the Jedi (this is all based on my numerous viewings from many years ago) in any detail? 

Luke was clueless because his aunt and uncle wanted him that way. He was told nothing about the Jedi and seems pretty isolated on Tantoonie.

Han knew about them, but he'd have been 5 (ish?) when Order 66 happened, and we don't know what his status was at that time. His was clearly a skeptic, and obviously hadn't bothered to learn more.

Leia knew less than Luke, at least personally. 

Obi Wan and Yoda talk about the Jedi, but they censor what they tell Luke pretty hard. 

tl;dr: We only see the universe's perception of the Jedi through limited points of view, many of whom had agendas.

[SalmonMax]

Yar. Not to mention, during the reign of the Emperor, he ruthlessly suppressed any and all history regarding the Order and it's place in the galaxy. The Empire spanned most of the Old Republic's area, and even the worlds that it didn't govern were typically in the galactic boondocks, and not exactly in touch with politics or the Jedi (with exceptions like Dantooine, which was evacuated by the first trilogy...most likely in reaction to the Purge).

It's likely that even people who did remember, or know, of the Jedi Order wouldn't be talking much about it. You never know who's an Imperial spy, and the Emperor doesn't use stormtroopers to hunt down Jedi...he uses an elite guard of personally selected assassins who are no joke and don't miss.

So, paradoxically, anyone who knows of the Jedi actually assist the Emperor in suppressing knowledge of the Order, because to do otherwise is to invite the destruction of the last remnants of the Order.

[Jeremy]

And more generally, movie-verse wise, the only two Imperial force users are Darth Vader and the Emperor, who are anyway much more figures of mystery and fear to those around them. Most people in the galaxy will never see them, much less an obvious use of their abilities. By 'debunking' the Force, a lot of the Jedi underpinnings become more disbelieved.

Imagine if cars were gone, and it became 'common knowledge' that' they never existed. Big, things of metal that moved people around faster than horses and across the land in a day with only sludge of the earth as food? Absurd.

Thus, NASCAR drivers become a 'hokey myth.' Because 'cars' are just fantasy, and there could never really be an order of people who simply rode on the metal things around the world just to challenge each other. Or something.