My last video was a tribute to the late Ray Stevenson.
If you haven’t heard, the Ahsoka series, The Clone Wars, and Star Wars Rebels actor
passed away at the young age of 58 years old on Sunday, May 21st.
If you want to see my tribute video and what he said about his character in the Ahsoka
series, I’ll leave a link in the description.
I don’t want to go on and on about it, even with as sad as this news has made me.
But again, my deepest heartfelt condolences and love to the ones closest to Ray Stevenson.
As I DID talk about a cryptic message that Ray Stevenson passed along at Star Wars Celebration,
regarding the ambiguity of his character, Baylan Skoll, I wanted to further that conversation
today.
Ray Stevenson said you don’t know where he’s from or if he is good or bad.
Early rumors started circulating that Baylan Skoll had been recruited by Grand Admiral
Thrawn to work with him.
Whether that’s true remains to be seen.
Typically I don’t give much weight to rumors.
Most of them end up being false.
So, I don’t get my hopes up.
But given the scene we ARE shown in the Ahsoka series trailer, Ray Stevenson’s character
is likely working with Thrawn.
Or at least affiliated with him to some degree.
But there is so much more to what this character and that of Shin Hati, portrayed by Ivanna
Sakhno could be.
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Okay, let’s get back to who Baylan Skoll and Shin Hati MAY be.
In the trailer for the Ahsoka series, shown to the public from Star Wars celebration,
we see Ray Stevenson and Ivanna Sakhno portraying two very new characters…Baylan Skoll and
Shin Hati.
Both seem to be antagonists to Ahsoka.
This doesn’t necessarily mean they are villains.
And there are clues that show us that maybe they aren’t villains in the strictest of
senses.
Ray Stevenson was at Star Wars Celebration and spoke of his character.
Basically, what he said was that his character could be good, or he could be bad.
We will have to wait and see.
Now, when we look at previews for other Star Wars shows and movies we are given a definition
of a character.
Whether it’s a loose definition or just a broad understanding.
For instance, there was no doubt that Moff Gideon was a villain, even before the Mandalorian
season 1 aired.
Darth Maul, Darth Vader, and Supreme Leader Snoke were the same…defined as villains.
Even though we were not given an understanding as to what motivated them to be villains,
we still knew they were not the good guys before even stepping foot in the theater or
turning on the television.
But with Baylan Skoll and Shin Hati we don’t get that.
We get a clouded statement from Ray Stevenson that could go either way.
Meaning, we are in for some twists and turns when it comes to his character.
But when we watch the Ahsoka series teaser we become a little more clouded in our judgement
of the two new characters.
YES!
They are at odds with Ahsoka Tano in the trailer.
But trailers are misleading.
And this is on purpose.
If they gave away everything in the trailer, we would have no real need to watch Star Wars
shows or movies for the plot.
At that point it just becomes about the pew, pew and the woomp, woomp.
And how gratifying is that?
Not very.
So, we are not told the specifics of characters that are to remain clouded for judgement.
When we watch the Ahsoka teaser trailer we also see something that just about every Star
Wars sleuth has covered.
And that is the orange lightsaber blades of both Ray Stevenson’s Baylan Skoll and Ivanna
Sakhon’s Shin Hati.
Okay, so they have orange blades.
This is significant to the characters, as we all know the color of the blade represents
qualities in who wields it.
Red being a dark side user, most notably with the Sith…or in Maul’s case…just a renegade
dark side user.
Blue or green being light side of the Force, most commonly among Jedi.
Purple being whatever the Hell Mace Windu did to deserve that, and white being pure
light, such as Ahsoka Tano.
But orange?
We haven’t really seen that since the old Expanded Universe.
And back then it meant a gray Force user.
Someone who struggles with balancing the light side and the dark side.
Notice I didn’t say gray Jedi.
That’s kind of an oxymoron term.
Jedi are the light side.
That is their teaching.
Not dabbling with anything to do with the dark side of the Force because it leads to
the dark side dominating their destiny.
But there are those who have sone it.
See the Bendu.
But he’s more of a balance between the two.
The Bendu is the one in the middle.
And that’s what the orange lightsaber blades represent.
A middle.
Dark and light.
Not committing to either side.
But that brings me back to Ray Stevenson’s character, Baylan Skoll.
If the orange blade is any indication, that means his and Shin Hati’s arcs will be worthwhile.
A journey of discovery and POSSIBLE redemption.
But let’s look at another piece of evidence.
We have all concentrated on the orange blades since the Ahsoka teaser trailer was released.
But we haven’t looked at the lightsaber as a whole.
Who have we seen that is able to even construct a lightsaber?
Sith and Jedi.
Okay, no big deal.
That still leaves us questioning the origins of these two characters.
They could be either or.
But that’s just it.
To build a lightsaber takes a certain bit of training or understanding of the weapon.
To construct one properly, the builder must understand how to connect with the Force to
make it properly during the build.
A rogue Force user can’t just walk in and put one together.
First, finding the Kyber crystal is a daunting enough task.
Traversing Illum to gain a Kyber Crystal was a test for even the most skilled Padawans
and Sith usually used the crystals from a saber they liberated from a defeated foe.
Not always, but usually.
The Sith would then use a process called bleeding to turn the crystal red and in turn the blade
of their sabers.
But the blades of Baylan Skoll and Shin Hati’s lightsabers are NOT red.
They are orange.
A lot of people have speculated that they are inquisitors.
Not Sith but Jedi who were turned to the dark side, in order to find remaining Jedi and
eliminate them.
Well…Inquisitors have red lightsaber blades and every Inquisitor we have seen has rounded
guards on a double-bladed hilt.
No single-bladed traditional hilts.
So, that pretty much rules these two out as Inquisitors.
But the orange blade is a key indication that they aren’t Sith either.
Nor have they probably ever been.
Instead, they are likely lost Jedi.
Jedi who have been so disillusioned due to running and hiding for so long that they have
lost their way.
Running and hiding from the Empire.
Even hiding their abilities until a suitable moment where they wouldn’t have to hide
it anymore.
And where is a good place to be a Jedi…or Force user…without fear of the Empire?
Well, we know the outer rim isn’t safe.
We see that in the Kenobi series on Tatooine.
Where could former members of the Jedi Order find themselves that offers a bit of privacy?
The Unknown Regions.
Neither the Empire nor the Republic had a way of navigating this area beyond the outer
rim and was largely left alone.
It isn’t hard to imagine a Jedi running without direction from the Empire and ending
up in the Unknown Region.
A region where Force sensitivity isn’t quite understood.
Where Chiss females have a certain degree of Force sensitivity at an early age but lose
it when they are going into their teenage years.
Yes, this is a fact.
If you haven’t read the Thrawn novels, I’d suggest doing so.
But there is one Chiss who has a better understanding of the Force than almost anyone else in the
Unknown Regions.
And that Chiss is none other than Grand Admiral Thrawn.
It really isn’t a far stretch to think that Baylan Skoll and Shin Hati had been hiding
out in the Unknown Regions before Thrawn returned after the Empire’s failure at Lothal.
While working for the Empire, Thrawn got to know how Jedi were.
He also got to know Sith.
And if you have read the Thrawn novels, the Chiss are alert of everything in the Unknown
Regions.
Rumors of two beings with extraordinary abilities would catch attention.
Yes!
Even among the billions living in the region.
It only takes one person to see them and the Chiss would be informed.
Even if they were rumors until Thrawn returned, Thrawn would know exactly what they are.
With two lost Jedi, Thrawn would not hesitate to recruit them in the defense of the Chiss
Ascendancy.
Even at the hesitation of the Chiss leadership.
And maybe what we see in the Ahsoka trailer isn’t Baylan Skoll attacking Ahsoka Tano,
but rather them defending themselves or someone else (Thrawn).
Thrawn being the one to take them in respect their abilities would gain a certain amount
of loyalty from Ray Stevenson’s Baylan Skoll and Ivanna Sakhno’s Shin Hati.
Two lost Jedi who would rather not return to the old ways of the Jedi Order due to being
betrayed by their own government.
The Chiss…or merely just Thrawn…have embraced them.
But not everyone in Star Wars has to be a Jedi, Sith, or Mandalorian.
It could be that these two new characters are completely different from a faction we
have seen before.
But the fact that they carry lightsabers seems to point to at least former Jedi.
Okay, I know this is purely speculation.
But there are clues to suggest this.
I never let my own speculations become an expectation, and you shouldn’t either.
If it doesn’t play out this way, it’s fine with me.
I just can’t wait to see Ray Stevenson in live action in Star Wars.
But let me know what you think in the comments.
I’d love to hear your own thoughts on it.
I do try to read all comments and I respond to as many as I can.
So, if you’re looking for a Star Wars YouTuber that enjoys engaging with his audience, I’m
that guy.
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Thank you all for hanging out with me today.
Until the next video, this is Gerald, a Star Wars Fanatic wishing you all great health,
happiness, and peace.
Thank you all for watching and remember, this is the way…and positivity in the Star Wars
community should be the only way!