A Forgotten Force Power Could Fix Ahsoka Season 2
What’s really hiding on Peridea?
Ahsoka wrote itself into a corner from the start. By incorporating Thrawn, Hera, Sabine, and Ezra, it alienated viewers who hadn’t seen Rebels, and while most of these characters were re-introduced in Season 1, there’s still one element that continues to confound viewers.
This particular problem doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. However, with just one minor change, Ahsoka Season 2 could avoid repeating its big mistake, and incorporate a little-seen Force power that’s existed since Empire Strikes Back.
In Empire, Luke ventures into a cave on Dagobah and is met with a horrific vision of Darth Vader and his own face within Vader’s iconic helmet. This “Cave of Evil” could show this to Luke because it was a Force vergence, a place so imbued with Force energy it could manipulate reality itself.
Lost Legends is an Inverse series about the forgotten lore of our favorite stories.
Luke’s spooky vision on Dagobah was the result of a vergence.
This never came up again in the movies, but books and games later explored the idea, and now non-canonical examples of vergences vary quite a bit. Jedi and Sith Temples were established on vergences all over the galaxy, and some vergences even contained vergences themselves, which allowed any Force-sensitive beings to have greater powers.
Meanwhile, in Ahsoka Season 1, the mystical side of the Force was explored where a drowning Ahsoka woke up in a strange realm and interacted with Anakin from beyond the grave. For Rebels fans, this sight was familiar. The World Between Worlds, previously visited by Ezra Bridger, is a place outside of space and time, and Ahsoka used it to reunite Ahsoka with Anakin and explore their past. But for the majority of fans who only watch live-action Star Wars shows, this went completely unexplained.
This lack of explanation was a significant issue with Ahsoka Season 1, and the mystical Force elements don’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. The season ended with Baylan Skoll standing on a statue of the Force deities known as the Mortis gods, another mystical element introduced in animation. He has a mysterious plan involving the Mortis and the Force, but it’s so vague that it’s difficult for fans to get invested.
There’s no need to bring back the World Between Worlds when a vergence vision would serve the same purpose.
But if Season 2 swaps out a World Between Worlds or Mortis plotline with a Force temple built on a vergence, it would be a simpler story to tell and a far more comprehensible device for live-action-only fans. Not everyone has seen the relevant episodes of Rebels and The Clone Wars, but it’s pretty safe to assume that Star Wars fans have seen The Empire Strikes Back.
All the same abilities could be used. We could still have more appearances of Hayden Christensen as Anakin, more visions of the past, and even powerful hallucinations. Perhaps in Ahsoka’s extragalactic setting of Peridea, vergences are powerful enough to shift the nature of the Force entirely, without having to evoke gods, multiverses, or astral planes. That kind of power would let Baylan advance his plan without drowning readers in lore.
Ahsoka Season 1 made it clear that less is more when it comes to worldbuilding. Incorporating characters and storylines from the animated series can work with enough context, but mystical sci-fi devices and realms are a bridge too far. If Empire taught us anything, it’s that not everything needs a thorough explanation. Sometimes, the Force can just have such a strong presence in a cave that it becomes a Cave of Evil.
