“Far, Far Away,” the sixth episode of Ahsoka, took the series, and us, to a whole new galaxy full of potential and new mysteries. But in doing so, it touched on a fascinating piece of old Star Wars history in the Nightsisters of Dathomir—one that ties several of Star Wars’ prior investigations of extragalactic entities together.
“Far, Far Away” finally brings us to the planet Peridea, the extragalactic world that was the original home of the Dathomiri—the end point of the Purrgil’s own journey between galaxies, and where the witches of the Nightsisters first learned to ride the whales, and, presumably, used them to eventually relocate to the planet Dathomir in Star Wars’ main galaxy. Described by Baylan Skoll as what was once a “Great Witch Kingdom,” the barren world re-introduces an idea about Dathomir itself that traces all the way back to the planet’s introduction in the 1994 Dave Wolverton novel, The Courtship of Princess Leia.
In current continuity, it appears the Nightsisters were always the primary sentient species that called Peridea, and then Dathomir, home—although both the former and the latter worlds also became homes for other species. But in the EU, Dathomir’s original inhabitants before the witches were very different, and had long-reaching impacts on Star Wars’ ancient history.
Who Were the Original Dathomiri?
Dathomir was originally home to a blue-skinned, Force-sensitive saurian species called the Kwa. Before the founding of the original Galactic Republic, thousands upon thousands upon thousands of years before the events of the Star Wars movies, the Kwa were a highly advanced civilization that used their understanding of the Force to develop near-instantaneous interstellar travel through massive superstructures called infinity gates.
The infinity gates were both the means of the Kwa’s expansion to other worlds—and perhaps even how they ventured from another galaxy to come to Dathomir in the first place—and also a powerful weapon. The gates could unleash the vast energies contained within them as a targeted wave, capable of eradicating planets and disrupting hyperspace travel in their wake. The power was so vast that the Kwa began building vast pyramid-like structures called Star Temples around the gates, heavily fortified to protect the gates within from intruders.
On the backs of this power and the technology of the gates, in time the Kwa formed the Kwa Holdings, an empire that was one of the oldest galactic powers in history—but it also, in their hubris, laid the groundwork for their eventual downfall.
What Happened to the Kwa?
Journeying out from Dathomir, the Kwa Holdings eventually came to the planet Lehon, and encountered the primitive Rakatan species that called it home. Realizing the Rakata were strong in the Force, the Kwa uplifted them as they had countless other races across the galaxies—granting them advanced technologies and teaching them in the ways of the Force. But the Kwa denied the Rakata knowledge of, and access to, the infinity gates, and as the Rakata grew both more powerful and more capable in the Force, the Kwa realized their mistake: the Rakata’s hunger for power and conquest corrupted them, and they became dangerous masters of the Dark Side. The Rakata turned on the Kwa, using their might and their advanced technology to forge the nascent Rakatan Infinite Empire, a tyrannical regime that would go on to dominate much of the known galaxy for 10,000 years.
The Kwa attempted to cut the Rakatan’s imperial ambitions off by invading Lehon, aiming to destroy the infinity gate they had built there, but the Rakatans had grown too powerful, beating the Kwa back and forcing them into a slow regression as the Holdings declined, destroying and disabling the gates that had led to their advance along the way. Eventually, the Kwa were pushed back to Dathomir itself, and all but wiped out by the Rakata during the Infinite Empire’s reign. But what was left of the Kwa species would be forever changed.
Believed by the Nightsisters that had also come to call Dathomir home that the ancient spirits that powered their magics had transformed them as divine punishment, the Kwa devolved into an animalistic saurian form, eventually becoming known as the Kwi. The Nightsisters decimated what was left of the Kwi as they became the dominant sentient species on Dathomir and sought to try and harness the remnants of the infinity gate housed on the world as a superweapon, and the Kwi were diminished even further after the Galactic Empire invaded Dathomir, leaving the Kwi all but extinct. The remnant Kwi formed their own nomadic, tribal groups—several of which even worked with more benevolent groups of Nightsisters by the time of the New Republic, allowing themselves to be ridden as mounts. An unfortunate fate for a species that had once, for better or worse, helped shape the entire Star Wars galaxy as we once knew it.
What Does All This Mean for Ahsoka?
The answer, logically, is in fact very little. The show has already flattened out much of the bizarre complex history of Dathomir’s original inhabitants by simply keeping it as just the Nightsisters themselves who traveled from one galaxy to the other, and did so even further by establishing that they taught themselves to ride the Purrgil as a means of doing so. Unless those cute little rock-snail creatures Sabine and Ezra befriended on Peridea get named Kwa or Kwi as a reference, all this will remain as it is: a fascinating allusion to a much older and much weirder piece of obscure Star Wars history.
And yet, it’s another intriguing connection to a race that has already been directly referenced in contemporary Star Wars continuity of late—the Rakatans. The Knights of the Old Republic precursor villains were first name-dropped on-screen in Andor, of all places, but references to them and their ancient technologies have been littered in tiny moments here and there throughout current canon. That includes most pointedly in Star Wars Rebels, where the symbol of the Rakatan’s empire, and the vast Star Forge weapon—an almighty Force-powered mobile superweapon/factory that could endlessly build legions of droid warriors, starships, and weapons—appeared on the planet Malachor, itself a pointed nod towards KOTOR’s sequel, The Sith Lords.
At this point, Ahsoka suddenly introducing the Rakata with two episodes to go would be insane on a level beyond introducing them as a threat in current continuity at all, but hey, we’re already in pretty wild territory with vague allusions to the Kwa, of all things. What if there’s more connections than it seems, and the ancient power calling to Baylan on Peridea that he believes could break Star Wars’ endless cycle of conflict is tied to the Rakata themselves, perhaps even the Star Forge, and this is just another clue?
Probably not. But it’s fun to speculate, sometimes!
Want more entertainment news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and DC releases, what’s coming to cinemas in Australia this year, and everything streaming this month across all platforms. Check out our dedicated Entertainment tab for more.