Ahsoka Theory Has Terrifying Implications for All of Star Wars
Baylan’s mission is ambitious, but it isn’t complicated.
Of all the questions Ahsoka left unanswered — and there were a lot — one looms the largest over the entire franchise. What is Baylan Skoll’s mission? He traveled to Peridea under the guise of helping Morgan Elsbeth and Grand Admiral Thrawn, but once there he left Shin Hati to pursue his own goal of creating “a new beginning” by finding something that called to him.
Just what is this new beginning? Countless fan theories have evoked all sorts of strange ideas and deep cuts from Star Wars lore, but it’s possible Baylan Skoll’s plan is quite straightforward: destroy the Force entirely. Here’s how it’s possible.
Baylan may have been overshadowed by the threat of Thrawn, but he could have even loftier goals.
Redditor MIKExSCARN suggests Baylan isn’t searching for the evil Abeloth or any other niche bit of non-canon Legends lore. Instead, he’s looking for the World Between Worlds, the realm outside of time and space shown in Rebels and echoed in Ahsoka Episode 5. Through it, he could find a way to manipulate the past and eradicate the very foundations of the Force.
The evidence is clear: our last glimpse of Baylan is of him on the outstretched hand of the Father, the Mortis god from The Clone Wars. When we saw the World Between Worlds in that very same show, it was accessed with the help of a mural of the Father. Why not access it again through another artistic representation of him?
The Mortis gods are metaphysical representations of the Force. The Daughter represents the Light side, the Son the Dark Side, and the Father the balance between them. While they were all destroyed in The Clone Wars, their spirits live on through Ahsoka, who was saved by the Daughter, and Anakin, who was prophesied to balance the Force. Their crucial influence on the very fabric of the Force lives on in their absence.
Meanwhile, the World Between Worlds has the power to change the past. In The Clone Wars, Ezra used it to pull Ahsoka out of a deadly fight with Vader. Baylan could use the World Between Worlds to reach the Mortis gods in the distant past and destroy them well before we meet them in The Clone Wars — and well before Ahsoka and Anakin take over their gigs — potentially rendering the Force deafened forever.
The last time we saw Baylan, he was standing on Peridea’s Father statue.
The mystical mechanics of the process are admittedly vague, but the only motivation Baylan expressed throughout Ahsoka was the desire to end the Jedi/Sith dichotomy, which has the galaxy trapped in an endless cycle of conflict. He’s so set on his mission that he even ditched his apprentice. Destroying the Force at its source would accomplish his goal, and destroying it millennia ago would give him an even more compelling victory.
Eliminating the Force altogether is a lofty goal, but Ahsoka is a lofty show. It traveled to another galaxy, brought several animated characters into the world of live-action, and even gave us the return of Anakin Skywalker beyond the grave. Why not include a villain who seeks to shake the very foundations of the Star Wars galaxy?
