Order 66 proved the Jedi would have been off wearing armor, but now have fans suggested a very good reason for us never seeing them don protective gear in any Star Wars media.
In the Star Wars subreddit, one fan asked why the Jedi never wore any armor like the imperials do. It’s a valid question, it would give them some much-needed protection on the battlefield. Whilst some fans gave genuine, in-universe reasons for why they would choose not to wear armor, like the fact that it restricts movement and obstructs their vision, one user had a better reason.
Like many films that pay huge sums of money for big-name actors, they’re going to want to show their faces as much as possible. Otherwise they could just have any stunt double performing the actions, although admittedly that would save them some money.
Although we’ve seen some Jedi wearing armor before, particularly in The Clone Wars, it just so happens that the “hot” ones don’t wear it, it cramps their style. But we can’t complain, when you have someone like Ewan McGregor in a movie, people will want to see his beautiful face as much as possible. But it’s not just the Jedi, it applies to the Sith as well, Kylo Ren took his helmet off halfway through The Force Awakens and never put it back on.
No helmets also allow the actor to, you know, act. This is an issue that Marvel has also had to deal with and they got around it by constantly having helmets and suits disappear when convenient. Although it does seem like a bit of a cop-out and fans are getting tired of helmets and masks being taken off all the time.
However, the theory doesn’t hold water when you consider that the biggest Star Wars show right now is hiding the world’s most sought-after daddy behind a mask.
Well, faced with that we guess we’ll have to go with the less popular, more boring theory that a lack of armor for Jedi is indeed for practical purposes.