A new canon Star Wars book has finally revealed what it means to be a Jedi Master and surprisingly, Anakin Skywalker and his son Luke don’t make the cut.
In a sense, the story of that galaxy far, far away is the eternal clash of light against darkness, embodied by the in-universe forces of the Jedi and the Sith. The two respective parties operate like a religious sect, each with their own version of a hierarchy. Though up to now, the lore hasn’t exactly established what these seemingly random ranks indicate, especially in the days of the Empire and the Sequel Trilogy. After all, in that period, the Order was all but destroyed, so the last remaining Jedi Masters played fast and loose with the Jedi Code.
Now, however, thanks to a new reference book, titled The Star Wars Book, we’ve learned a lot about these unexplored echelons within the light side of the Force. Apparently, there were five ranks in the Order before the Dark Times: Initiate, Youngling, Padawan, Knight, Master, and Grand Master.
After going through the Jedi Trials, the Council would bestow the accomplished Padawans with knighthood in an official ceremony. Knights who then take on a Padawan and train them to knighthood will become a Jedi Master themselves. But based on this new definition, neither Anakin nor Luke ever had the opportunity to achieve this status in the Skywalker Saga.
Of course, in Disney’s Sequel Trilogy, people refer to Luke as Master Skywalker, but in reality, the son of the Chosen One never really trained any Jedi Knights. In fact, most of his students were killed when Ben Solo betrayed the new Jedi Order, and an older Luke never got the chance to properly mentor Rey.
In fact, it could be argued that in the Star Wars timeline, the only Skywalker to ever rise to the rank of a Jedi Master was General Leia, who took over training Daisy Ridley’s heroine in the last movie of the saga and actually completed it before passing away and becoming one with the Force.