Obi-Wan Kenobi episode 3 features the unexpected mention of Quinlan Vos, a character who not all Star Wars fans might be familiar with. When Obi-Wan is reading from a list of travelers who have made their way down the “Path” to safety, this Clone Wars fan favorite pops up for a brief mention. So who is Quinlan in Kenobi, and why does this little Easter Egg matter?
Who is Quinlan Vos in Kenobi episode 3?
Quinlan Vos is a complicated Jedi who made his canonical debut in The Clone Wars animated series, though has also made notable appearances in other Star Wars media, including the acclaimed book Dark Disciple by Christie Golden. This story explores Quinlan’s descent to the dark side, along with his relationship with the Sith assassin Asajj Ventress.
Quinlan’s story is an interesting one, providing one of few relatively high-profile examples of a Jedi falling to the Sith and then returning back to the light side. In the Dark Disciple book, Quinlan attempts to assassinate Count Dooku alongside Ventress before being lured in by the dark side, becoming Dooku’s apprentice in the process under the alias Admiral Enigma. However, Quinlan eventually returns to the light following Ventress’ death, surviving Order 66 alongside his lover Khaleen Hentz, being hunted by the Empire as a result of him living through the Jedi Purge.
In Kenobi, Quinlan is seemingly alive and well, with Obi-Wan being informed that the Jedi has been helping transport younglings to safety. However, his eventual fate is less certain, as hinted at by the 2017 Charles Soule comic run Star Wars: Darth Vader.
In the final 25th issue of Soule’s run, Vader deals with horrific and traumatic Force visions, including one such vision of the Jedi Temple. This sees him fighting and killing the Jedi inside it, including Mace Windu, Yoda, and Quinlan Vos. There is one common theme among all the Jedi who are featured in this vision — they’re all known at that point to be dead. Either Quinlan Vos is the one Jedi among this batch who survived and, for some reason, appears in Vader’s vision, or he dies, too.
Quinlan’s quick mention in Kenobi cements his position in Star Wars’ live-action canon — something that might diverge from the animated series, given the Grand Inquisitor’s death — but it remains to be seen if we’ll be seeing him in the following Kenobi episodes.
