Star Wars: Who Is Tera Sinube?

Introduced in The Clone Wars, Tara Sinube is a Jedi Master with a strong connection to other parts of Star Wars lore.

Star Wars Tera Sinube
Photo: Lucasfilm

This Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi contains spoilers.

Obi-Wan Kenobi, the latest Star Wars live-action series on Disney+, has shown just how desperate the situation has become for the remaining Jedi Knights hiding in the galaxy. In fact, we see in the very first episode how one Jedi fugitive is mercilessly hunted down by Inquisitors hellbent on hushing out the light side of the Force. Later, in episode 3, we learn that the only hope the Force-sensitive have left during the reign of the Empire is to be smuggled away into an Underground Railroad-like system of safe houses across the galaxy before the Inquisitors can capture and eliminate them.

While the latter episode confirms that several Clone Wars-era Jedi are still alive thanks to “The Path” — including Master Quinlan Vos — many others weren’t so lucky. Revenge of the Sith confirmed just a few Jedi who perished during Order 66 with a very depressing montage that showed Ki-Adi-Mundi, Plo Koon, and Aayla Secura being executed by their own clone troopers. We also watched as Mace Windu was zapped out of a window and into the depths of Coruscant. But what about all of the Jedi who were killed offscreen during the Jedi Purge? Subsequent animated series have confirmed the worst about a few other heroes, such as masters Luminara Unduli, Shaak Ti, and Depa Billaba.

And now Obi-Wan Kenobi episode 4 may have revealed the dark fate of yet another Jedi Master. During Obi-Wan’s mission to rescue little Leia from Fortress Inquisitorius, he sneaks into “the heart” of the Inquisitors’ command center, which contains what looks like a tomb of Jedi Masters and younglings the dark siders have hunted down in the name of the Empire. Among the dead frozen in amber is a Cosian who looks a lot like a beloved character we first met in The Clone Wars over a decade ago.

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Yes, that does appear to be the body of wise Jedi Master Tera Sinube, who was introduced in the The Clone Wars season 2 episode “Grievous Intrigue” but is best known for the Ahsoka Tano-centric “Lightsaber Lost.” An older Jedi who needed a cane to walk, Sinube spent most of his time in the Jedi Temple studying the Archives or instructing younglings. But despite his aged appearance, Sinube was also very skilled with the weapon of a Jedi Knight, and even had his walking stick refitted as a sabercane (exactly what that sounds like).

In “Lightsaber Lost,” Ahsoka’s saber is stolen while trying to catch an arms dealer in the slums of Coruscant. Sinube, who knows his way around the criminal underground of the city planet, offers to help Ahsoka recover her weapon, leading them through a conspiracy that also involves a dead assassin and your fair share of scum. In the end, Sinube helps Ahsoka get her lightsaber back by showing her the value of having patience.

Sinube appeared in several other episodes of The Clone Wars as a background character, including in the season five finale “The Wrong Jedi,” which saw Ahsoka leave the Jedi Order after being falsely accused of bombing the temple on Coruscant. While we never actually see how Sinube died in the Jedi Purge, he does briefly appear in Yoda’s vision of Order 66 in the season 6 episode “Destiny,” which foreshadows the deaths of several characters during the events of Revenge of the Sith. As we know now, Sinube’s fate was sealed even back then.

While Star Wars‘ foremost member of the Cosian race, Sinube was actually adapted from unused concept art for The Phantom Menace, according to StarWars.com. Artist Terryl Whitlatch originally designed this species as one of the many new ones to be featured in the Galactic Senate sequences, but Cosians didn’t make it into the final product. Fortunately, we finally got Tera Sinube in The Clone Wars. It’s too bad he also had to make his way into Obi-Wan Kenobi

Obi-Wan Kenobi is streaming now on Disney+.