It’s our second to last week of Star Wars Rebels!
The two episodes this week were titled Wolves and a Door and A World Between Worlds.
Things get trippy, so let’s get explaining!
Last week, after Kanan’s death, a giant, talking loth-wolf named Dume pointed Ezra
in the direction of the Jedi Temple on Lothal.
This week it wasn’t explicitly stated, but I think we can say with some certainty that
the wolf was Kanan acting as a sort of spirit guide.
So our heroes ride loth-wolves and teleport to the temple, which had fallen under Imperial
control last we saw it in season two.
The Empire is excavating it and trying to unlock its secrets.
It’s very reminiscent to the Nazis digging up Tanis in Raiders of the Lost Ark, and even
the music was similar at times.
Just like the Nazis they have some of the facts, but not all, and the good guys have
the missing key.
The excavation is led by a new character named Minister Hydan, who at first I thought was
Vanee, Vader’s attendant in Rogue One.
They’re different people, but I think they are meant to serve similar roles.
Disciples of the dark side, like the Emperor’s advisers seen in Return of the Jedi.
Ezra and Sabine find a mural of the Father, Daughter, and Son from the Mortis arc of the
Clone Wars, and are told it opens some sort of door.
Sabine tells Ezra how to unlock it with the Force and he does, and he’s able to jump
through the portal before being captured, but Sabine isn’t so lucky.
Minister Hydan warns her that the Emperor is searching for Ezra, and she is forced to
help study the mural, and for once we got a pretty decent use of the Death Trooper in
this show!
They were actually menacing!
Through the portal, we are introduced to an insane new location for the galaxy.
A place existing outside of time and space.
You can hear quotes from Star Wars Rebels, The Clone Wars, the original trilogy, the
prequel trilogy, the sequel trilogy,and Rogue One, which is crazy cool.
I wouldn’t be surprised if there are lines hidden in there from Solo too.
I think the wolves teleportation ability is related to whatever this place is, but maybe
on a more personal level, as we revisited a number of moments throughout the show during
that sequence.
I actually think this has huge implications for hyperspace, but I’ll probably have to
explore that in another video.
This entire location is going to need multiple videos and a lot more time to properly explore,
but we can say one thing for sure.
It allows for time travel in Star Wars.
And we learn about it in the most insane way possible.
Ezra is led by a convor, who is a spirit guide form for the daughter, to a portal of some
kind, where he can see Ahsoka battling Vader.
And Ezra saves her life.
Like I said, insane.
But I’m cool with it.
My biggest worries about Ahsoka surviving her fight with Vader was that he would either
let her go or that she would just straight up beat him.
But here we see that Vader won that duel and was definitely going to kill her, but Ezra
saved her life in a way that not even the Chosen One could have predicted.
Ahsoka wakes up and recognizes the convor aka the Daughter, and calls her by her name,
Morai.
As far as I can remember, that’s the first time we’ve had a name for any of the Force
Wielders.
They talk about Kanan as a spirit guide, and get into the Cosmic and Living Force a bit.
Just as a quick refresher, the Living Force seems to be what we are more used to seeing.
It is powered by all life, and gives the Jedi their powers.
The Cosmic Force is more like the will of the Force.
Anakin’s conception would be the result of the Cosmic Force at work.
The wolves and Kanan’s will continuing to be communicated to Ezra is also the Cosmic
Force.
So Ezra thinks that Kanan might him to save his life like he saved Ahsoka.
Now is a good time to address the introduction of time travel in Star Wars.
Is it a problem?
I’ve said in Q&As before that I didn’t want to see it brought into Star Wars.
So am I upset now?
Nope.
I do think time travel can bring with it some annoying tropes, but as it’s presented in
this episode, I think we’re fine.
There are a lot of prerequisites for it to work, and I think I’m gonna have to really
study this location more, but my first impression is that it has a lot of limitations.
It looks like there are multiple entrances and exits, but who knows where they are.
I’m assuming they all lead to different nexuses in the Force.
Lothal.
Malachor.
And it doesn’t exactly sound easy to operate.
My point is, it’s not some easy fix all.
But my nexus theory kind of falls apart when you realize Ezra does seem to have a chance
to save Kanan from his fate.
He finds a portal that shows him the exact place and time of Kanan’s death.
And we have to see him die again, so thanks for that, Filoni.
But Ahsoka is able to talk some sense into Ezra.
Convince him to let go and honor Kanan’s sacrifice, because pulling him out that moment
would also mean the deaths of others.
So Ezra resists temptation, but the thing is, I actually don’t think Ezra ever had
a chance to save Kanan.
Look at that portal.
That is some straight up Sith iconography.
And what happens moments after Ahsoka and Ezra turn to leave?
Palpatine reveals himself.
I think the Emperor was tempting Ezra with exactly what he wanted to see.
He was showing him a chance to save his master, and had he jumped through, he would have found
himself face to face with Darth Sidious.
Through the portal, we see Palpatine with his altar and blue flames, and we’ve seen
him using exactly this type of dark side magic in the Clone Wars to create illusions.
Part of that illusion showed the altar to be located in the Industrial Sector of Coruscant,
but I think the more likely true location is the Sith shrine we know was underneath
the Jedi Temple, which by the way is the Emperor’s palace now.
So the portals leading to nexuses in the Force still might be true.
I’m not sure why the Emperor can’t just step through his, but that’s a mystery I’m
willing to accept.
We have no idea how that place works, and neither do our main characters.
As Sidious attacks, Ezra and Ahsoka part ways, heading back to their respective origin points.
Ezra tells her to find him when she gets back, and she promises to.
Her return to Malachor lines up exactly with the end of the season two finale Twilight
of the Apprentice, where we see Vader leaving, and he must be confused as hell, and then
we see Ahsoka heading deeper into the temple.
So what has she been up to for the past two to three years?
Well, now that we know that Ahsoka does, indeed, live, let’s revisit the artwork Dave Filoni
released shortly after her fight with Vader.
She walks down the steps to find a body of water.
Guided by Morai, she makes her way through and finds another set of stairs, which she
ascends.
The final image should look pretty familiar now that we know the circle of wolves is a
portal.
So maybe she finds her way back to the World Between Worlds, and then heads to Lothal.
Maybe she will be in one or all of the final three episodes.
There are two problems with that.
First, after Ezra makes it back to his time, he and everyone else destroy the temple.
I’ve kind of been neglecting the other part of this whole story, but Hera and Zeb and
Chopper disrupt things enough to save Sabine and pick up Ezra when the time is right.
So the temple is just gone now.
I don’t know what that means for portals to and from Lothal now.
Second, Ahsoka’s survival means we’re back to having two Force users in the Rebellion
again.
We still need a very good reason for Ezra and now Ahsoka to not be around during the
events of the original trilogy.
Luke has been seeking guidance in the Force in every story that takes place after the
Battle of Yavin.
Ahsoka and Ezra don’t necessarily have to die, but we need a satisfying reason for their
absence.
I’m not really worried about that, though.
They just introduced time travel to the universe and I didn’t bat an eye, so I feel confident
Filoni has got this figured out.
In the final moments of the episode, Ezra and Hera say goodbye to Kanan together.
I totally glossed over this before, but Kanan’s presence seemed to be with Hera, comforting
her.
I don’t think he was a straight up Force ghost, like Obi-Wan or Yoda or Anakin, but
I think he was allowed to be present in the Cosmic Force to some degree.
Hera asked Ezra if he is really gone, and Ezra agrees.
Kanan’s final mission was carried out, and I think now he is truly one with the Force.
I don’t expect we will be seeing him again.
But Ezra did get one final moment of closure, seeing a loth-wolf in the distance.
I have so much more I want to say about these episodes, specifically the World Between Worlds,
but I think I’ve got some more unwrapping to do.
Needless to say I’m excited.
But I’m going to wrap up for now.
Next week is the series finale.
Just to warn you, it’s pretty likely that my review won’t be out until Wednesday,
because we’re actually going to be on a plane when the episodes air.
Lucasfilm loves to release major news when it’s inconvenient for me.
But rest assured, a review will be up as soon as I can possibly release it.
Now I want to hear what you guys thought of the episodes!
Leave your comments and questions below!
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As always, thanks for watching and may the Force be with you!