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A new Star Wars book has revealed a pretty interesting fact about the galaxy far, far away: Luke Skywalker knows Cal Kestis survived Order 66.
The book Star Wars: The Secrets of the Jedi: The Chronicles of Luke Skywalker (an updated edition of Star Wars: The Secrets of the Jedi), by Marc Sumerak, reveals the news.
One fan posted the relevant page to Twitter. On it, Luke writes: "Order 66 might have seemed like a quick and efficient method of eliminating the Jedi, but not every member of the Order succumbed to this act of betrayal. A small handful of Jedi managed to escape execution, such as Master Jaro Tapal's Padawan Cal Kestis, but their numbers continued to fall during the years that followed."
This is a fairly significant development, since we don't actually know what the future holds for Cal Kestis after Jedi: Survivor.
The game is set in 9 BBY, AKA nine years before Luke blew up the Death Star on the Star Wars timeline. Cal's fate is completely unclear after the events of the game as he doesn't show up in another canon story, but Luke Skywalker has not only heard of him, but even knows the name of his Master. The book was "written" in 34 ABY, AKA 34 years after the Death Star, but it's not clear when Luke learned the news.
It's possible Luke heard of Cal through the Rebellion, since Cal works for Saw Gerrera in Jedi: Survivor. But, when Yoda dies in Return of the Jedi, he tells Luke that he'll soon be the last of the Jedi, which Luke doesn't dispute – so, to avoid retconning this moment, it seems unlikely Luke would learn of Cal and his survival until after this point on the timeline. Maybe Luke and Cal have even met, assuming Cal is still around post-Return of the Jedi. Or, Cal did face off with Darth Vader, so maybe Anakin Skywalker's Force ghost had something to say about him...
We might find out just how Luke became aware of Cal Kestis and Jaro Tapal someday, but, for now, it's a mystery.
Next up for Star Wars is The Mandalorian and Grogu, which hits theaters this May 22. In the meantime, check out our guide to all the upcoming Star Wars movies and shows for everything else the galaxy far, far away has in store.
