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During the Clone Wars, Jedi Master Even Piell is one of the toughest members of the council. But, this didn’t stop him from dying on two occasions.
During the Age of the Republic, there were countless Jedi Masters ready to uphold peace throughout the Star Wars galaxy. However, when the Clone Wars started, these peacekeeping knights were turned into soldiers and generals in what felt like a never-ending war. While some Jedi were unprepared for the battles ahead, Master Even Piell was battle-hardened long before the Battle of Geonosis. But even with his wartime skills, he was unable to cheat death on two separate occasions. As a result of these deaths, even the canon was left in a brief moment of confusion.
Master Piell first appears during the celebration on Naboo at the end of The Phantom Menace and continues to serve on the council until the early years of the Clone Wars. He is recognized due to his short stature, large ears and scar over his left eye. As a Jedi of few words, he instead focused on using his actions, charging into battle utilizing his telekinetic abilities in conjunction with his lightsaber skills.
Piell’s canon death occurs on March 11, 2011, in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Season 3, Episode 20, “Citadel Rescue.” In the scene, Piell and his squad are ambushed by Separatists. As the battle ensues, Piell is blindsided by an anooba — a dog-like creature with a sharp chin tusk used to slash its prey — that gravely injures him. While in his last moments, Piell passes vital information on to Ahsoka, reminding her that she is now the most important person on the mission before dying. While tragic, Piell’s death shows that he never stopped being a warrior, even in his final breaths.
Piell’s initial death occurred three years prior in the novel Coruscant Nights I: Jedi Twilight. In the story, Piell survives the Clone Wars and the Jedi Purge. However, his days as a warrior are over as he lives in hiding as a fugitive on the city-planet. The story tells how he is cornered by stormtroopers and forced to fight his way out on little sleep and sustenance. His last-ditch effort to escape was instead met with a grenade exploding at point-blank range. The stormtroopers had outmaneuvered the Jedi, leading to his death. While his final stand is vastly different from the show, it’s maintained that Piell delivers important information about his mission to the person with him in his last moments.
The change in canon from Coruscant Nights I: Jedi Twilight to The Clone Wars takes place years before Disney established the canon and Legends continuities. As a result, fans were confused about which story contains the true death of Master Piell. Lucasfilm’s resident “Keeper of the Holocron,” Leland Chee, quickly clarifies the confusion and explains why Piell was chosen to die in the novel. According to him, he states, “We never fully explained who Anakin replaced when Palpatine appointed him to the Council, and so we just went off the assumption that it was Piell who got the short shrift.” The fact that Piell was barely in The Phantom Menace and only seen in reused footage in Attack of the Clones also justified their choice. Chee later explains, “It wasn’t until after the Coruscant Nights trilogy was completed that we learned that Even Piell’s death would be rewritten with this episode.”
The confusion surrounding Even Piell’s death at the time of The Clone Wars‘ episode release shows how the Star Wars canon isn’t rigid, but always in flux. Even before the Disney merger, nothing is completely set in stone when it comes to side characters. This practice is still seen with events in past projects being contradicted by more recent outings. So long as they serve the story better, these changes can be excused, and in Piell’s case, his death helped Ahsoka Tano’s character grow even more.
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