During the writing of the prequels, the Jedi order itself underwent a fundamental change. The Jedi first were conceived in Journal of the Whills as intergalactic super-police, having their own army, requiring training at an academy, and providing military services such as escorting cargo through hostile territory. They re-appeared in the rough draft of Star Wars and were now more closely based on the samurai warriors Lucas came to be familiar with through Akira Kurosawa's films. As the drafts went on, sci-fi mysticism and E.E. Smith's Lensmen mixed in with the samurai aspect to create more superhero-like characters partly reminiscent of the original Journal of the Whills presentation, but a wizard-like spin provided by Alec Guinness and the character of Ben Kenobi gave them a quasi-magical quality that emphasized their spiritual aspect.
The final product introduced to audiences in Star Wars was that they were a mystical police force, a mysterious group of warriors which anyone could be recruited for and whom called upon the powers of the Force, a power which anyone could learn to harness if only they believed in themselves. Even in the sequels the Force was usually seen in a mystic, spiritual light, but Lucas brought back the “superpowers” he may have originally envisioned, such as acrobatics, telekinesis and levitation. For the prequels, Lucas decided to make the Jedi into outright religious monks, a route that the comics and novels had been heading along as well.
This of course was born out of the strong Zen Buddhist overtones of Yoda in Empire Strikes Back-appropriately, Lawrence Kasdan and Irvin Kershner are both Buddhist, and although Lucas was raised Methodist, he has not surprisingly professed heavy Buddhist leanings in the years since: “I was raised Methodist. Now let's say I'm spiritual. It's Marin County. We're all Buddhists up here.
During the initial period of pre-production for Episode I, Lucas had toyed with his original concept of a more police-like Jedi, similar to the Templar Knights of myth, the Lensmen, or the samurai warriors, as can be seen in Episode I production artwork where Obi Wan is portrayed in black body armor (Episode I's rough draft explicitly describes him as being dressed in black684). In the 1983 Return of the Jedi documentary Classic Creatures, Lucas remarks to Mark Hamill during a costume fitting that his new, sleek, militaristic black costume was “Jedi-like.”
However, in re-developing the Jedi order as a dogmatic monk-like organization for the prequels, their visual look shifted accordingly, presenting them clad in priestly robes. “At one point during the Episode I design, we were thinking of the Jedi as lone samurai, then as teams of samurai,” concept designer Ian McCaig says. “They were going to be like a police force, dressed in black and a lot more militaristic. But they evolved into the peacekeeping force they are in the current film.” The designing of the prequel costumes is described by Laurent Bouzereau:
“Everything from full body armor to long, flowing capes were considered for the Jedi's costumes—although Lucas eventually went back to the designs from the first trilogy. 'George wanted to make sure that when the audience saw these characters for the first time, it would immediately register that these were Jedi knights,' McCaig explained. For these characters and for Yoda, we had to establish some familiarity in the costumes with those existing films. I looked at the original Star Wars costumes to understand the style and influence, and I realized that those designers were very medieval, so we kept to that.' ”
However, this decision was based on a major oversight—the “Jedi garb” of the original trilogy was not Jedi garb at all! Obi Wan wore the standard desert robes of an inhabitant of Tatooine, modelled after middle-eastern dress—in fact, Uncle Owen is dressed in almost the exact same costume as him. Yoda as well is not wearing Jedi robes but merely hand-crafted rags (in a similar manner, his gimmer stick, house and belongings are crude self-made items as well). This problem may have been fostered due to a misinterpretation in Return of the Jedi-when Anakin appears in spirit in the final scene, rather than coming up with a proper Jedi costume, he was simply dressed identical to Obi Wan, perhaps creating the confusion that his clothing, identical to Obi Wan's and similar to Yoda's, the only Jedi ever seen in the films, was the traditional Jedi garb. There is at least an in-universe answer though-since Anakin is from Tatooine, his traditional clothing might be the same desert garb that Uncle Owen and Obi Wan wear. In any case, this decision is a minor but often forgotten evolution (and certainly it may confuse future viewers who may be wondering why everyone on Tatooine, especially Uncle Owen, is dressed as a Jedi and why Kenobi, supposedly hiding from the Empire, strolls around the stormtrooper and bounty hunter infested Mos Eisley streets in his Jedi dress).
The Jedi were also now made to indoctrinate potential members from infanthood, and forbade any attachment to loved ones, like Buddhist monks—this was presumably done to tie into Anakin's tragic flaw, and thus serve as his main motivation for turning to the darkside. In this light, the Jedi were more like a dogmatic religious institution, with strict codes, organised councils and their own private society, the complete opposite of the swashbuckling para-military warriors of the original film. Here their heroism was also re-interpreted, portraying them as sowing the seeds of their own demise with their arrogance, complete with an “ivory tower” temple where they reside.
