Who Is Baylan Skoll In Star Wars Ahsoka?
Anyone following Ahsoka knows that it’s not so much its own thing as it is Star Wars: Rebels season 5 (not that that’s a bad thing). As such, the show’s cast is mostly identical to the cast of Rebels—new to live-action but old favorites as far as Star Wars is concerned. One exception, however, is ex-Jedi Baylan Skoll, a mysterious antagonist brand new to the Star Wars universe. What’s that guy’s deal?
Baylan Skoll (played masterfully by the late Ray Stevenson) first appears in “Part One: Master and Apprentice,” the first episode of Disney+’s Ahsoka. Baylan’s first few moments on screen make two things immediately apparent: he’s a Force user, and he has an apprentice.
So who is Baylan Skoll? So far, an intriguing bucket of contradictions wrapped up in a sweet black cloak.
Ahsoka‘s first few episodes firmly set up Baylan and his apprentice, Shin Hati, as the dark opposites of Ahsoka and Sabine Wren—as evidenced when the four combatants square off in the most recent episode.
Not much is known about Baylan Skoll’s backstory so far, but what has been revealed—or hinted at through context clues—has been interesting, to say the least.
For starters, Baylan has discussed his time in the Jedi order on multiple occasions, meaning he was once on the side of the good guys. The fact that he’s running around in Ahsoka, which takes place a few years after Return of the Jedi, means that he obviously survived not only Order 66 but the Empire’s inquisitors as well.
What he was up to in the time between the Star Wars: Episode III-Revenge of the Sith and the time in which Ahsoka is set is unknown—even Wookipedia just says he became a mercenary.
We know that Baylan doesn’t consider himself a Jedi currently. He says as much when rescuing Nightsister Morgan Elsbeth. Skoll also doesn’t seem to consider himself a Sith either, which is possibly why he wields an orange-red lightsaber instead of the plain red blades favored by the Sith.
Skoll also mentions Anakin Skywalker and his transformation into Darth Vader—something not widely known in the Star Wars galaxy during the Empire’s reign.
While Baylan Skoll certainly leans to the dark side when it comes to the force, fans can assume that he wasn’t always evil by the fact that he never joined Darth Vader’s team of Inquisitors—a team mostly made up of dark Jedi who survived Order 66 and switched allegiances.
It would be easy to assume Baylan Skoll simply acted as a mercenary during the Star Wars’s Galactic Civil War, never picking a side and only emerging as a dark side-wielding quasi-sith once the New Republic was established. But, one of the other things we know about Baylan is that he isn’t just helping Morgan because she hired him but because he desperately wants Grand Admiral Thrawn to return and reclaim the galaxy for the Empire.
Skoll’s allegiance to Thrawn would indicate that the fallen Jedi is a fan of the Empire, which only makes it weirder that he didn’t serve them in some capacity during the Civil War.
Baylan is unique as a Star Wars villain because he seems to still have great respect for the Jedi Order. He speaks fondly about the past, and it’s clear while dueling Ahsoka that he respects her a great deal rather than looking down on her for following the light like most other Sith/dark side practitioners would.
Skoll also mentions Anakin Skywalker and his transformation into Darth Vader—something not widely known in the Star Wars galaxy during the Empire’s reign.
So who is Baylan Skoll? So far, an intriguing bucket of contradictions wrapped up in a sweet black cloak. He doesn’t seem to hate the Jedi, but he prefers the dark side of the Force.
He knows that Vader was really Anakin Skywalker but wasn’t an Inquisitor, and lastly, he has an apprentice whom he is presumably teaching to wield the dark side of the Force, but whom he treats more like a Padawan than a Sith apprentice.
Baylan And Shin’s Names
One clue that may or may not yield some answers down the line comes from Baylan’s last name, Skoll. In Norse mythology, Skoll is a wolf that chases the Sun. Coincidentally, Hati, the last name of Baylan’s apprentice, is the name of a wolf that chases the moon in Norse mythology.
The name’s meaning may turn out to just be a fun little Easter egg, like Obi-Wan’s home planet being named Stewjohn after comedian John Stewart, or it could have a deeper meaning. Fans will hopefully find out which by the end of Ahsoka‘s run.
In the meantime, all we really need to know about Baylan Skoll is right there on the screen: he wields a lightsaber like a boss, isn’t mustache-twirlingly evil, acts with honor, and, along with his apprentice Shin Hati is bringing the samurai aspect back to Jedi/Sith in the way he moves and acts.
Baylan Skoll is a decent villain as far as Star Wars villains go, and it will be interesting to see if he develops into an even more interesting character by the end of Ahsoka or if something comes out of left field that retroactively makes the character kind of dumb. Fans will just have to wait and see.
