What comes after "Ahsoka"? The ending holds surprising answers

Luca Fontana

7/10/2023

Translation: machine translated

The season finale of "Ahsoka" was not only one of the best-rated episodes of the series. It was also a preview of what we can expect in the future of Star Wars. And believe me: it's going to be crazy.

Attention: In this article there are SPOILERS to "Ahsoka", Part 8: "The Jedi, the Witch, and the Warlord". Watch the episode first before you read on.

A day on which the second season of "Ahsoka" has not yet been announced is a good day. After all, according to IMDB, the "Star Wars" series was even ranked first among the most popular current series. The end of the first season also articles to this. Especially one of the final shots of the last episode.

See: Baylan Skoll on two mysterious figures carved into rock.

If you've read the nine-part "The Doom of the Jedi Knights" book series from 2009 to 2012, you're in for a treat. Everyone else - including those who have seen "The Clone Wars" and "Rebels" - will probably be baffled. Because the stone figures in the background are the Ones. The Mortis gods. And their presence alone could tell us more about the future of "Star Wars" than even those who have seen the animated series realise. Because only those who are also familiar with the book series can possibly interpret the scene correctly.

Therefore: Get something to nibble on. Sit back and relax. Let's travel a few million years into the past and delve deep into the extended "Star Wars" lore.

The father, the daughter, the son - and the mother

The book series itself is set around 40 years after the Battle of Yavin, i.e. after the first "Star Wars" film from 1977, but the enemy that confronts the still-living Grandmaster Luke Skywalker is significantly older than any evil Luke has ever encountered. And his story begins over a million years ago.

Back then, the Celestials still lived in the galaxy. They were so powerful that they could create energy and matter, stars and planets, solar systems and galaxies - and perhaps even life itself - out of nothing. When their lifetimes expired, they passed into power. The Celestials were followed by the Ones as they sprang from a geyser on an unnamed tropical planet: the Father, the Daughter and the Son.

At first, they lived in peace and harmony in the house they had built near the geyser. However, the father warned his children never to drink from the Fountain of Power or bathe in the Pond of Knowledge. But in the end, they disobeyed his instructions and the son drank from the spring, which gave him the power of the Dark Side, while the daughter bathed in the pond, which gave her the power of the Light Side. The siblings began to fight each other while the father tried to keep the peace between them.

One day, a mortal woman found her way to them. At first she became their servant, taking care of the family's needs. But soon a deep love began to sprout between her and her father. So she became the mother who managed to mend the relationship between the daughter and the son. In fact, she even convinced the son to use his destructive nature for a constructive purpose.

But the mother was still a mortal. And as she grew older, she was no longer able to keep the peace between the siblings. One day, when another heated argument broke out in the courtyard of her house, her mother made a momentous decision in desperation: she secretly took a sip from the fountain of power and then bathed in the pool of knowledge. By the time her father realised what she had done, it was already too late.

The mother ceased to be. And Abeloth took her place.

Abeloth, the bringer of chaos

It must have been a horrific sight to behold. For the mother's mortal body was too weak for such cosmic powers. Add to that those of the Dark and the Light Side. This not only tore her body apart. But her entire being. Her being. Tiny, silver eyes emerged from her sunken black sockets. Her straw-like hair grew longer and longer until it dragged along the floor. Her once warm smile twisted into a grotesque grimace that stretched unnaturally from ear to ear, exposing bloody, pointed teeth. And long, writhing tentacles sprouted from its arms.

A cruel perversion of nature.

The new being, Abeloth, attacked both the son and daughter, forcing them to bow in reverence to her or die a gruesome death. The father was just able to intervene to save his children, take them with him and leave the planet, while Abeloth stayed behind.

The daughter and son then enlisted the help of the Killiks, ancient insect-like beings with swarm intelligence. Sharing their power and knowledge with the Killiks, the siblings spearheaded the construction of the Centrepoint Station, a gigantic space device. With it, they were able to pull together an enormous collection of black holes, creating the Maw. This maw enveloped their tropical home planet and was intended to ensure that no one could ever set foot on it or leave it again.

Not even Abeloth.

After this, the father, daughter and son moved to Mortis, a planet hidden in the Unknown Regions through which the Force itself flowed. This allowed the father to control his children even without Abeloth. But an unknown cycle that influenced the forces of the universe itself ensured that Abeloth could escape from the Maw every few hundred thousand years and spread chaos, death and destruction across the galaxy. When this happened, the father would send his children back to the Killiks, with whose help they would recapture Abeloth.

At least until, centuries later, a Galactic Republic was at war with hostile Separatists: the Clone Wars.

Anakin Skywalker's encounter with the One

The One. Most fans first encountered them in "The Clone Wars", season three, episode 15. The series described the daughter as the embodiment of the Light Side of the Force. The son, on the other hand, as that of the Dark Side. Both were in constant battle, according to the books, while the father spent eons ensuring that neither side ever gained the upper hand. In this way, he established the balance in power that the Jedi prophecy speaks of.

But when the father felt his life force was running out, he took Anakin, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka through a Force nexus to Mortis. Eventually, someone had to take his place to control his children and maintain the balance between light and dark. A task that, according to prophecy, is destined for the Chosen One - Anakin Skywalker. The crux of the matter: only on the planet Mortis was it possible for the father or the Chosen One to maintain control over his daughter and son. That's why fans call them the "Mortis Gods".

And so Anakin refused to take his father's place.

The fate of the Mortis gods

A new battle soon broke out. First, the son tried to draw Anakin to the dark side. Then the son corrupted Ahsoka before draining her of her life energy. When the daughter was mortally wounded in battle against the son, she used her last spark of life to revive Ahsoka. But with the daughter's death, the Force was also thrown off balance. In a final epic showdown, the father killed himself to weaken his son. For the powers of his children flowed through him, the father. So Anakin was able to kill the weakened son.

In the end, Anakin restored balance to the Force. Something - according to his dying father - that Anakin would soon do again. It was predestined for him. After all, Anakin was truly the Chosen One.

What nobody knew at the time, after "The Clone Wars", was that the death of the One would have fatal consequences for the galaxy. Consequences that had previously only been shown in the then still canonical "The Doom of the Jedi Knights" book series. This is the reason why just having seen the animated series is not enough to correctly interpret the future of the franchise.

Because with the One, the only ones who could recapture Abeloth if she ever escaped the Maw died. In fact, there has never been so much chaos and unrest in the galaxy since the day the One met their end. The balance of power is more disturbed than ever. Until today.

Voilà. I've just summarised a million years of Star Wars history for you. For context, the Jedi Order was founded 25,000 years before the Battle of Yavin. So when I talk about cosmic beings like the Celestials or the One, we're really going way back in time. And when the books talk about the prophecy of the balance of power, it's one that the Emperor could never really influence. For even his power is nothing compared to that of the One - or that of Abeloth.

But what does Abeloth have to do with "Ahsoka"? Let's return to the present, at the end of "Ahsoka".

Closing the circle to "Ahsoka"?

We know that Baylan has been answering a mysterious call throughout the season. At first, we thought it was Thrawn's call. But the ex-Jedi hinted early on that he was pursuing a different goal. Because Baylan wasn't just looking for the missing military genius. He was looking for "power like no one had ever dreamed of".

Abeloth's power?

Good to imagine. In the books, Abeloth has the ability to telepathically call out to other beings and manipulate their minds, even if they are many thousands of light years away. She can also change her appearance. In book form, she often appears as an attractive woman who casts a spell over others. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it's Abeloth's manipulative reputation that Baylan is following.

Adapting the now non-canonical book story to the new Disney canon wouldn't be a problem either. Some could have banished Abeloth to a completely different galaxy instead of the Maw - to Peridea, where large parts of "Ahsoka" take place. Hence the partially broken statues of the One, which may have originally served as a memorial before they were destroyed. Perhaps even by Abeloth.

It would also explain why Thrawn and the Nightsisters in the series were always in such a hurry to get off the planet as soon as possible. After all, they were possibly in the same place as perhaps the most powerful being that ever existed in the Star Wars books.

When could Abeloth appear on the scene?

Let's take the idea further. Since the "Star Wars Celebration 2023", we know that Disney is planning three new cinema films. Among other things, a film that takes place before "Episode VII: The Force Awakens" and brings the series "The Mandalorian", "The Book of Boba Fett", "Ahsoka" and the upcoming "Skeleton Crew" series to a brilliant conclusion. My guess: The main threat there will be the now-returned Grand Admiral Thrawn and the story a loose adaptation of Timothy Zahn's "Heirs of the Empire" trilogy from 1991.

Disney is planning even further. Since the Celebration, we also know that Daisy Ridley will return as Rey. Her film will be set 15 years after "Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker". Rey is now a Jedi Master and has founded a new Jedi Academy to rebuild the Jedi Order. Disney pulled off a real coup for the script: author Steven Knight, whose best-known works include "Peaky Blinders" and "Serenity", took up the pen.

What if Abeloth is the all-threatening evil there? She would definitely be a worthy adversary for a new, fledgling Jedi Order. Perhaps Disney could spin it so that she was the one who "somehow" allowed the Emperor to return. She would certainly have the power to do so. That way, Disney could at least halfway rectify one of its most infamous own goals. And after the Emperor failed again in "The Rise of Skywalker", Abeloth might have thought to himself: "All right, then, I'll take matters into my own hands."

What do you think, am I crazy? Is Mephisto behind everything after all? Or do we have a theory with a basis in fact?

Luca Fontana

Senior Editor

Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.ch

I'm an outdoorsy guy and enjoy sports that push me to the limit – now that’s what I call comfort zone! But I'm also about curling up in an armchair with books about ugly intrigue and sinister kingkillers. Being an avid cinema-goer, I’ve been known to rave about film scores for hours on end. I’ve always wanted to say: «I am Groot.» more

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