Ahsoka Episode 6 Changed Star Wars History & May Have Created A Big Plot Hole
The following article contains spoilers for "Ahsoka" Episode 6, "Part Six: Far, Far Away"
With the arrival of the sixth episode of "Ahsoka," titled "Part Six: Far, Far Away," on Disney+, Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) has officially made the jump from animation to live-action. His allies, Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto), Baylan Skoll (Ray Stevenson), and Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno), have used the Eye of Sion to travel from the "Star Wars" galaxy to the one he's been exiled in since the events of the "Star Wars Rebels" finale. It turns out he's been stationed on the planet Peridea with legions of stormtroopers and witches of Dathomir at his disposal.
During their visit, it's revealed that the witches of Dathomir have a historical connection to Peridea. It's the home of their ancestors, who took their magic to the main "Star Wars" galaxy long ago in the ancient past. This is a fascinating bit of lore to attach to the magic users, but there's one big issue with it. It was previously claimed that Dathomir is the planet of origin for these witches, who were supposedly taught about the Force by a banished Jedi named Allya, thus turning their society into a magical one.
It's plain to see that the witches' connection to Peridea somewhat complicates the history of Dathomir and its natives. It's entirely possible that the Lucasfilm team has done some heavy retconning to better connect the "Star Wars" galaxy to the newly-introduced one Peridea resides in, using the existing haziness surrounding the early days of Dathomir as a cover. Regardless of the narrative direction, it's becoming increasingly clear that canon contradictions are inescapable in "Star Wars."
Star Wars canon is messier than one might think
When Disney first got ahold of Lucasfilm and "Star Wars" in 2012, one of the big decisions from the company was to streamline the franchise's story. That meant revising the canon, which resulted in the creation of the Legends label. Pretty much anything other than the "Star Wars" films and "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" were deemed non-canon under this banner, allowing Disney to have a fresh start with the saga as it told new stories. Unfortunately, this initiative went out the window in short order, with all kinds of canon contradictions arising as books, video games, comics, and more reached the masses.
While it's one thing for movies and TV shows to reinterpret small details, it's a bit egregious when projects completely overwrite existing stories. Take "Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi" for example, specifically the episode titled "Resolve." While in hiding from the Empire, Ahsoka Tano (Ashley Eckstein) ends up in a confrontation with a Sith Inquisitor. She handily defeats him, protecting the people she had been in hiding with. The way this story plays out is vastly different than how it does in the canon "Star Wars Ahsoka" book by E. K. Johnston, which came out years before. Why the "Tales of the Jedi" team made these changes or even decided to cover this story in this way is anyone's guess.
The "Resolve" and Dathomir witches debacles are but two of many examples of how messy and contradictory the "Star Wars" canon can be. One can only hope that the Lucasfilm Story Group manages to keep its multimedia timeline from getting even more jumbled up in the coming years.