Ahsoka Episode 3 is now playing on Disney+, and it featured quite a few moments that will have Star Wars fans intrigued. From more Star Wars Rebels continuations to hints at how the events of the sequel trilogy came to be, let’s look at what made this episode worth a watch.
New Republic, Old Mistakes
When Hera Syndulla asks for assistance from the New Republic in her mission to ensure that Grand Admiral Thrawn is still alive and plotting, Chancellor Mon Mothma and her senators decline to provide the resources Hera needs. They cite her connection to Ezra — who went missing with Thrawn in Star Wars Rebels’ finale — as too personal.
Like the Republic before it, this New Republic seems content to plug its ears and pretend the war is completely over, allowing the leftover embers of the Empire to rekindle and grow into the First Order. Just as the previous Republic couldn’t see Palpatine’s machinations, this one seems ready to ignore all lingering threats until it’s too late.
Jacen Syndulla the Jedi
Originally seen at the end of Star Wars Rebels, Hera and Kanan’s son Jacen has made his live-action debut in Ahsoka. The green-haired kid seems to love hanging out with Chopper, as he got some gossip about Sabine’s training from the maniacal little droid.
Like his father, Jacen also wishes to become a Jedi, though I imagine this storyline won’t pay off for a good while. It’s interesting that the character shares a name with Jacen Solo/Darth Caedus from the Expanded Universe, though I’m not sure there will be many more similarities between them for the time being.
The Few Mandalorian Jedi
Ahsoka’s droid pal Huyang mentions that there have been very few Mandalorian Jedi, which is a true statement. The ones that have existed have been fairly important, however, and there’s plenty of history between the Jedi and Mandalorians.
Tarre Vizsla was the first and he created the legendary Darksaber — an item of immense importance in Ahsoka’s sister series The Mandalorian and in Star Wars lore in general. There was also the Mandalorian-Jedi war, which left the surface of Mandalore extremely damaged. With all that history in mind, Sabine will hopefully be the latest Mandalorian to buck tradition and become a powerful Jedi of her own.
Return of the Purrgil
The space whales, or Purrgil, made another appearance in Ahsoka Episode 3, as their relation to hyperspace and Thrawn/Ezra’s disappearance continues to be relevant. At the end of Star Wars Rebels, Ezra used multiple Purrgil to take the Chimaera — Grand Admiral Thrawn’s flagship –into hyperspace and away from Lothal, where it was locked in a battle with rebel forces.
Ezra was on the ship with Thrawn, meaning he and Thrawn were both brought through hyperspace to an unknown destination by the creatures. The Purrgil’s hanging around Morgan Elsbeth’s Eye of Sion suggests that their relation to hyperspace may be known by the Empire’s remnants as well.
Non-Traditional Jedi
When Ahsoka defends Sabine’s Jedi potential against Huyang’s claims that the Jedi Order would have never accepted her, the droid notes that Ahsoka herself comes from “a long line of non-traditional Jedi.”
This is clearly in reference to Anakin Skywalker — Ahsoka’s master who often flouted convention to accomplish his goals in unusual or more efficient ways that the Jedi often didn’t approve of. It goes even further back then that, though, as Obi-Wan himself was often prone to go alongside Anakin’s misadventures while still maintaining a more Jedi-esque composure. Before Obi-Wan, though, there’s Qui-Gon Jinn, whose mentality was more outside-the-box than the other Jedi of his time. A long line of non-traditional Jedi, indeed.
