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The upcoming Ahsoka television series has the opportunity to Star Wars’ other sky-walkers in the battle for hyperspace.
WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Timothy Zahn’s Star Wars: Thrawn: Treason, Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn Ascendancy trilogy and Justina Ireland’s Star Wars: The High Republic: Out of the Shadows, on sale now.
While Ahsoka has not yet begun filming, there are still strong clues regarding the series’ possible focus. Taking both the Star Wars Rebels series finale and Ahsoka Tano’s appearance in Star Wars: The Mandalorian into consideration, it is likely that the series will focus on Ahsoka and Sabine Wren’s search for Ezra Bridger and Grand Admiral Thrawn after they were taken away to regions unknown by the purrgils. And because of the nature of Ezra and Thrawn’s disappearance, it is possible that the series will delve into new ways of viewing hyperspace as Ahsoka and Sabine try to track where Ezra and Thrawn are now.
While most people think of hyperspace as a mechanical or electronic technology, in the Star Wars universe, hyperspace travel and navigation might actually have a biological origin, as seen in the Purrgils. However, the upcoming Star Wars: Ahsoka series could feature a return of another biological component to hyperspace travel. In Timothy Zahn’s two canon Thrawn trilogies, he introduced the Chiss ozyly-esehembo, translated as “sky-walkers,” who used the Force, something they refer to as “Third Sight,” to navigate hyperspace. And by comparing the Purrgil and other biological hyperspace navigators from the main Star Wars universe to the Chiss sky-walkers, one can see how the sky-walkers might factor in to the search for Ezra and Thrawn.
Biological Hyperspace Travel in Star Wars
The Purrgil were giant, whale-like creatures with tentacles that traveled through space. While they could not actually breath in space, they instead breathed in a gas, Clouzon-36, and stored it to sustain them throughout their space journeys. The Purrgil were first introduced in “The Call,” the fifteenth episode of Star Wars Rebels‘ second season. In the episode, Ezra learned that the Purrgil, seen as nuisances to space travel, were actually deeply connected to the Force. After Ezra bonded with the Purrgil and helped them gain access to Clouzon-36, he also learned that the purrgil can in fact travel through hyperspace without any mechanical technology involved. In the series finale of Star Wars Rebels, Ezra used this bond to call upon the Purrgil to aid in the liberation of Lothal, and the Purrgil took Ezra, Thrawn and Thrawn’s fleet into hyperspace to an unknown destination.
The Purrgil were not the main Star Wars galaxy’s only beings with a biological Force connection to hyperspace, though. In the Star Wars: The High Republic subseries, Mari San Tekka, prisoner of the Nihil swarm, used the Force to map paths through hyperspace that provided the Nihil with a distinct tactical advantage in their fight against the Republic. Justina Ireland’s Star Wars: The High Republic: Out of the Shadows revealed that young Jedi Vernestra Rwoh sometimes received visions while traveling through hyperspace that could potentially gift her with the ability to navigate hyperspace as well. Therefore, the ability to connect the Force to hyperspace travel was not unheard of in the core Star Wars galaxy, but it was rare.
The Sky-walkers Connect Hyperspace to the Force
In contrast, there are far more sky-walkers able to navigate hyperspace in the Chiss Ascendancy. Because the sky-walkers rely upon the Force rather than computer data, they are able to anticipate any obstacles that might come across their path in hyperspace and navigate new, faster routes that a computer might not be able to find. As revealed in Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendancy: Lesser Evil, Chiss children found to have the ability to be sky-walkers are stripped of their memories of their childhoods to make sure that they focus on their duty to the Chiss Ascendancy and their fleets rather than homesickness or the family that they left behind.
While the Chiss have had little contact with the main Star Wars galaxy, Thrawn did meet Anakin Skywalker years before both their lives took different paths, and Thrawn saw Anakin’s name as an interesting coincidence, especially since Anakin’s Force abilities could be seen as similar to the Chiss’ third sight. However, unlike the Jedi of the main galaxy, the sky-walker’s Force abilities burn brightly but quickly, and most sky-walkers burn out by the time that they reach fourteen years of age. Therefore, the life of a sky-walker not easy, and they often are pushed to the brink for the sake of the “greater good.”
Because the sky-walkers connection to hyperspace was through the Force rather than technology, their unique perspective on hyperspace travel could be instrumental in finding Ezra and Thrawn. As revealed in both Thrawn trilogies, Thrawn still remained loyal to the Chiss Ascendancy even when working for the Empire. His exile was orchestrated in part to allow him to gather information on the Empire to prepare the Chiss if they would become a threat. Because of this fact, there are still parties within the Chiss Ascendancy who may also be searching for Thrawn in order to bring him home.
Thus, the Chiss “sky-walkers” and their rare way of viewing the Force and hyperspace could be the best way to find Thrawn and Ezra in the upcoming Ahsoka series. However, there also is the possibility that the Chiss have already found Ezra and Thrawn before the series begins due to the Chiss’ own interest in Thrawn.
To see whether the sky-walkers play a role in Ahsoka, the series is in the works at Disney+.
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