SPOILER Implications of Last Night's Episode

And ... he didn't do it.

Nobody knows why Luke went there not even him.

 

This is off topic, but Luke says why he went there: "why do you think I went to the most unfindable place in the Galaxy?" He doesn't want to be disturbed, and since no one has found the place for Millenia, he figures he won't be found. Actually, it will probably make a great place for what's left of the Resistance to hide from the First Order.

Back on topic: I also wonder that Vader isn't all over going to this place. He'd be all over using it to save Padme. Sidious probably is keeping it secret from him.

 

He was there because it was the most difficult to find place he could think of. If the Force is everywhere, then closing yourself off to it would be difficult anywhere you went.

 

Is time travel a Legends concept or is this new canon material?

 

Not in a Back to the Future kind of way, I think.

The Mortis trilogy from the Clone Wars had similar elements like this last Rebels episode.

There also was the Muur talisman (from the now canon Vector crossover comics), where events could be witnessed through different ages.


But again, I still think the last Rebels episode didn't feature time travel, it just showed another ability of the Force.

 

Does this "ability" contradict Yoda's quote from Empire? "Difficult to see, always in motion is the future." I mean, we're hearing events decades into the future and well after the Rebellion.

 

Good question.

I think it's a point of view. We can remember the past, but not see the future. So for example, you can throw a dice, but only once it lands, we see what number is on top. Between throwing and landing, there will be six possibililties. So in that example, the future still is in motion.

Yoda, through the Force maybe can see the other possible outcomes too. But he has to watch it unfold to see which one held true. This, I believe, was the Emperor's mistake, holding on to a possible outcome where he would be victorious.
(See also the misleadings through the Palantir in Lord of the Rings)

I don't think Yoda's quote is contradicted, because we don't have an indication he accessed the World between Worlds in ESB.

The difficulty lies in holding true to what has come before (Clone Wars, the OT), while also introducing new concepts. So far, I think Filoni, the Story Group and the other powers that be are doing a great job!

 

I don't think it contradicts at all. It's actually exactly what Yoda said. Through the Force we heard the future and the past in the WBW. The only new aspect was being able to interact with a past event. The question is, did Ezra actually change it? We did see Ahsoka walking into the building after battling Vader. I don't believe we are getting into multiple timelines. Everything that is happening is meant to happen.

 

Well, as long as we hear Vader's "Obi-Wan once thought as you do. You don`t know the power of the dark side" right after Ezra rescuing Ahsoka means nothing has changed for the future. And yes, probably it would be different if none of this happened in WbW. Time travelling is tricky thing, but the way Filoni and crew shown this - outstanding...

 

If you read the new "From a Certain Point of View" book (or if you're like me and listen to audiobooks on your commute), both Qui Gon and Obi Wan seem to show a certain level of temporal awareness. Transcending Death seems to offer that. Qui Gon knew (and kept it to hemself) that Obi Wan was closer to dying than Obi Wan realized. When Obi Wan died, his consciousness bounced around his history for a minute before finally moving forward.

Honestly, it seems to me like Ezra wandered into a physical manifestation of the Cosmic Force, which is what people are supposed to become one with upon death. Palpatine called it a conduit between the living and the dead. Oddly enough, 2 of the portals seemed to link directly to the moment of someone's death. The others were ones activated from the other side. Perhaps Death was what created some of the portals. One morbid thought that crosses my mind is that the Emperor sacrificed someone in order to make the portal that he attacked Ezra and Asokha from. Perhaps you need a Jedi Temple like Lothal in order to make a portal that you can just pass through without anyone dying.

 

I don’t think so. I took his statement to mean that the future, when viewed from the present, is uncertain. It exists, but it’s malleable and ever changing. Yoda saw what ‘could’ happen, but not what ‘would’ happen. This ‘in-between’ has no present though. All time is equal there. Viewed from that vantage point, the future (in a way) already happened. It’s not a potentiality, but a certainty. Just my thoughts on it. I may be talking out an opening other than my mouth on this though

 

I personally got nothing against temporal paradoxes or causal loops, but I definitely don't want to see them show up in Star Wars. Please no.

 

What if Rey gets to WBW and stops Anakin or Ben from turning?

*head explodes*

 

Well certainly possible for Ben, but it might mean that Luke and Leia might not be born.

 

Time travel existed in legends....I can't remember all the instances but there were a few stories where characters moved back and forth in time when their ship went through a black hole. Also,

- R2D2 and C3PO once went ahead in time and then returned to the past. (read this story years ago so don't remember the details).

- Some storm troopers pursuing young Leia are sent back in time by crazy looking celestial beings.

- Darth Rivan and the dark staff traveled through time viewing and influencing events.

- Mace Windu went back in time to participate in an ancient battle, and to charge a cystal before returning to his own time (to resolve a time paradox where a jedi called Mace Windu supposedly performed these feats in the past. The jedi council were aware of this and let him travel back in time.)

In canon, Han Solo (in the Han Solo comic) briefly flew through an ancient portal where time and space did not exist while participating in a race/helping the rebels.

 

Agree with that.

I think everything has a purpose and the idea of these two episodes is to show that there are bigger things out there and to bring us the dilemma of which course of action should be taken at some point. However, I do agree with the perspective of not trying to mess up with the way things go, since perhaps the Force would work to make sure significant events are not changed. And again, this is pure speculation, but from what I understood from those two episodes is as you said, letting go, accepting the past and learning from it was the last lesson for Ezra and for all of us. It is as well the idea of having the temptation of yielding a bigger power, but realizing not because you can do something it means it should be done at all.

 

I don’t know but...
To me the most interesting thing that came out from TLJ novel to me was what
it is said about the Cosmic Force...
We also know from a while that it was the Cosmic Force that awakened in 7.

And this episode of Rebels played with the same thing.

Time travel or not ( I agree it is only to some degrees)
the thing is... that was the Cosmic Force operating (not only allowing that to happen, but
wanting that to happen).

In short, we now know that the C.F. = the Will of the Force.
And this is important, I think.

But in all honesty I’m not sure at all that novels, comics and tv shows
are meant to lead to Ep IX.

I think RJ and JJ before and after him (7 and 9) didn’t pay attention to this kind of things.
I think it was probably the Story Group that added those details in books and novels related to the
movies to better tied them to the lore...

But still it is interesting. And the timing is interesting.
In these two weeks our knowledge of the Force changed a lot.

And one may like more or less Abrams, but he is for sure one that plays with this tropes.

You may use Time travel, alternative dimensions/time lines or Felicity waking up to discover
all the final season was a dream... but this is what he does, usually.
So... I don’t really know.

But however...

That said I love Rebels and I love Filoni.
This is building up characters arcs and plot lines that lasted seasons, with a pay off.
And connecting it all.
He used TCW, the movies and he made a show that makes sense honoring it all.
Hands down.
Brilliant job.

This is being creative, doing something new but using all the potential this universe
already has.
Because this universe has an immense potential... if you wanna try.

I’m gonna miss the show.