Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Ahsoka Episode 3.
The Big Picture
- Ahsoka‘s latest episode delves into enemy territory and uncovers a planet full of Purrgil, referencing Star Wars Rebels.
- Ahsoka’s droid, Huyang, reveals that Morgan Elsbeth is using hyperspace lanes from the High Republic era, tying into the larger Star Wars universe.
- The High Republic era is expanding beyond novels, influencing the Star Wars comics, Jedi: Survivor, and upcoming Disney+ series The Acolyte. The High Republic brings new characters and concepts to the franchise.
The latest episode of Ahsoka is a breezy thrill ride that sees Ahsoka (Rosario Dawson) and Sabine (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) enter deep into enemy territory as they attempt to discover how Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto) intends to save Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) from exile. In the process, they discover a planet teeming with Purrgil, the hyperspace traveling whales that Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi) utilized in order to send himself and Thrawn to another galaxy. This remains yet another deep cut from Star Wars Rebels that the series has utilized. But there is another reference that may have gone unnoticed.
During the episode, Ahsoka’s droid companion Huyang (David Tennant) attempts to scan the hyperspace ring that Elsbeth is building. However, her trio of dark side users attack Ahsoka’s ship, causing Huyang to briefly shut down. When he reawakened, he tells Ahsoka that the ring is capable of traveling great distances through hyperspace, even gaining the ability to venture to other galaxies. Huyang also points out that Elsbeth is following a series of hyperspace lanes intended for interstellar commerce. Those lanes happen to be a major part of the High Republic era storylines.
The High Republic Carved Out a New Path for the Jedi in ‘Star Wars’ Storytelling
The High Republic era is a multimedia initiative comprised of novels, comics, and other print media that takes place 200 years before the events of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. It chronicles the Jedi Order at the peak of its power, and the events that lead to their ultimate downfall. In the debut novel, Light of the Jedi, the ship called the Legacy Run is shattered into pieces when it collides with a mysterious object. The end result sends debris cascading through the other hyperspace lanes, causing chaos and destruction. The Jedi Order works tirelessly to help those affected by the “Great Disaster,” coming across the pirates known as the Nihil in the process.
Eventually, the hyperspace lanes are reopened — with a caveat. The space station known as Starlight Beacon is established to guide travelers through said lanes, while keeping in contact with Republic forces. But the Nihil eventually infiltrate Starlight Beacon and set off a series of bombs that destroy the station. Thus, many of the hyperspace lanes are left to legend…until now. Ahsoka has established that Elsbeth is attempting to utilize the Pathway to Peridea, where she claims Thrawn was stranded after his final confrontation with Ezra. She managed to find the pathway using a map that Ahsoka recovered from the temple of her ancestors, the Nightsisters.
The High Republic Is Already Making Its Mark on Other ‘Star Wars’ Properties
In the same vein that Ahsoka sprung forth from events in Star Wars Rebels and Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the High Republic is spreading out to influence other forms of Star Wars media. The current Star Wars comic has a storyline called “Operation Starlight,” where the Rebel fleet attempts to reunite following the events of The Empire Strikes Back — a callback to the High-Republic-era Starlight Beacon that reestablished hyperspace travel in that era. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor also features elements from the High Republic in its story, with Jedi Master Santari Khri discovering a planet named Tanalorr that is a conduit for the Force. Jedi Knight Cal Kestis uncovers more history about the High Republic during his quest to find Tanalorr, eventually dueling a fallen High Republic Jedi named Dagan Gera in the process.
But the biggest leap concerns the upcoming Disney+ series The Acolyte. Described as a “mystery-thriller” that takes place in the final days of the High Republic, it will mark the first time that this era has been explored in live action and Ahsoka is setting the stage for that to come to fruition. For a multimedia initiative that was solely limited to publishing to have such an impact within the space of two years is unheard of, but it speaks to the strength of the High Republic’s story. Time will tell what other stories the High Republic has, as well as the impact it will have on future films and television projects in the Star Wars universe.
‘Ahsoka’ and the High Republic Can Give the ‘Star Wars’ Universe a Breath of Fresh Air
The most important element that the High Republic introduces is a wholly new corner of the Star Wars universe to explore. While there are familiar concepts like Jedi and the Force, and Yoda is a very prominent figure for the most part, it deals with original characters and concepts. That has been an area in which Star Wars has mostly lacked; for all of its efforts to push forward, many characters end up related to the Skywalker saga or the series somehow ends up on Tatooine (or a desert planet that suspiciously looks like Tatooine). Ahsoka looks like it will continue the trend of adapting High Republic concepts, and the notion of the hyperspace lanes opens up bold new possibilities. There are plenty of new worlds and species in the galaxy, which will expand the avenues for new Star Wars stories moving forward.
The series hasn’t even hit its halfway point, and there are still plenty of questions to answer. Chief among them is what happened to Ezra and Thrawn during their years in exile, as well as the motivations of Baylan Skoll (Ray Stevenson) and his apprentice Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno). Those answers could also lead to even more stories — after all, The Mandalorian eventually led to The Book of Boba Fett as well as Ahsoka. It’s also fitting that Dave Filoni is the hand behind this new direction. His work on Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels helped lay the foundation for Star Wars‘ current direction, in addition to exploring aspects of the universe that the movies hadn’t. That type of storytelling has allowed the Star Wars universe to flourish before, and it seems like Filoni is going to use the High Republic as a way to continue building out a Galaxy Far, Far Away.
