Ahsoka has been championed by many Star Wars viewers for being one of the best live-action series in the franchise, yet it tended to ask more questions than it answered. Ivanna Sakhno and the late Ray Stevenson stole the show as Shin Hati and Baylan Skoll, respectively. Both characters play crucial roles in the tapestry Dave Filoni is weaving. Nevertheless, several aspects of their characters remain a mystery. For example, Baylan’s Order 66 backstory seems to be the key to his character’s motives, but Filoni refused to show what happened. Baylan hints about the destruction he saw at the Jedi Temple, but how he survived is still a mystery.
In addition to Baylan’s backstory being a mystery, the series also failed to address Baylan’s vision for Shin Hati. It’s clear Baylan and Shin aren’t Sith, but throughout Ahsoka he talks about how he trained Shin to “be more” than just a Jedi. Despite his apparent plans for her future, he sends her off to work for Thrawn in Ahsoka episode 7. Meanwhile, Baylan heads off to find the Mortis Gods on his own. In any case, Ahsoka season 2 has plenty of Baylan and Shin questions it needs to answer, but the most important thing Filoni needs to address has to do with their appearance.
Baylan & Shin’s Orange Lightsabers Seemed To Be Such A Big Deal
Ever since appearing in the Ahsoka trailer, everyone has been asking why Baylan and Shin’s lightsabers are orange. After all, this is the first live-action appearance of an orange lightsaber. Previously, Cal Kestis from the Star Wars Jedi games was one of the few other characters to wield an orange lightsaber in Canon. And even then, Kestis’ orange lightsaber was purely a cosmetic option the player could choose. With Baylan and Shin, Filoni had the opportunity to give some sort of meaning to their unique lightsaber color by explaining it in his story.
George Lucas once said that the good guys in Star Wars get green or blue lightsabers, while Sith are often seen with red. But he made an exception to this rule for Samuel L. Jackson, who requested a purple lightsaber instead. In Star Wars Legends, lightsaber color correlated with a Jedi’s profession. Blue represented a Jedi Guardian, while green was for Jedi Consulars. At one point, several Jedi and Dark Jedi used orange lightsabers, though the true meaning behind the color remains unclear.
Ahsoka Treated Baylan & Shin’s Orange Lightsabers As Normal
Baylan and Shin are the first orange lightsaber wielders in Canon, but the series and the characters ignore this. Ahsoka Tano has fought dozens of lightsaber wielders, but at no point does she acknowledge that Baylan or Shin have a lightsaber color she’s never faced. With 11 live-action films, multiple animated TV shows, and several live-action series, the Star Wars franchise has never shown an orange lightsaber on screen in its forty years of existence. In short, Ahsoka fails to react or explain what should have been a groundbreaking moment for the franchise.
