The Acolyte Makes A 45-Year-Old Star Wars Alien Canon
It’s weird that when The Acolyte actually does change canon, there’s absolutely no fanfare whatsoever. The Acolyte just plucked an obscure 45-year-old Star Wars alien race from Legends and made it canon. Episode 4 of the divisive series introduced Bazil, a Tynnan skilled in finding people—or things—that don’t want to be found.
Han Solo’s Revenge
Bazil’s species, the Tynnans, were first created by Brian Daley for his 1979 novel Han Solo’s Revenge. Tynnans are aquatic mammals that resemble a cross between an otter and a beaver. The species is first introduced through the character of Spray, a skip tracer trying to repossess the Millennium Falcon.
Skip tracers were bounty hunters or other collection agents charged with finding those who had skipped out on their debts, hence the name. Having Bazil be the one to track down Mae in The Acolyte was a nice nod to Legends, where the first Tynnan we ever see is also a tracker of sorts.
Of course, anyone who has read Han Solo’s Revenge knows Spray is really a CoreSec agent in disguise trying to bust a slaving ring, but we’re not here to take a deep dive into obscure Star Wars lore.
The Tynnans Are Official
No, we’re here to praise Leslye Headland for taking the Tynann species out of Legends and depositing it firmly into the land of canon Star Wars. Before anyone starts picking nits, yes, Tynnans appeared in the Rogue One prequel novel Catalyst first, which is technically canon.
But—and it’s a big but—we all know that most Star Wars fans don’t consider something a part of the franchise until they see it in live-action.
In fact, despite Disney’s promise that everything the company put out—comics, books, video games, etc.— after they acquired Star Wars would be part of the same canon as their live-action output, they’ve already proven that they favor the movies, and shows over everything else.
For example, the storyline surrounding Cob Vanth in The Mandalorian Season 2. Parts of Vanth’s story in live-action didn’t gel with his story from the novel Star Wars Aftermath.
Headland Dived Deep
This is all to say that we consider the Tynnan in The Acolyte to be the species’ first, real true appearance in canon.
Oddly enough, despite the showrunner expressing her desire to make certain things from Legends canon in interviews, the Fandom Menace still claims Leslye Headland doesn’t know anything about Star Wars.
One interesting bit of trivia about Tynnans is they’re author Daniel Wallace’s favorite species.
Wallace was the author behind such Star Wars reference guides as The Essential Guide to Planets and Moons, Who’s Who in the Imperial Military, and Star Wars: The Comics Companion, as well as countless others. In other words, he knows his Sith.
Tynnans Are A Breed Apart
Wallace once praised the Tynnan for bucking the trend of all mammalian aliens being based on cats.
“Tynnans are a goofy cross between an otter and a beaver,” Wallace described them affectionately. Bazil from The Acolyte sure lived up to that description.
There was a small buzz around Bazil’s cameo in Episode 4 of The Accolyte, but sadly, it had nothing to do with the fact that he was the first live-action Tynnan.
No, all the attention surrounding Bazil had everything to do with Osha calling him “they.” Not in an effort to be woke but because, in the context of the show, she had never seen a Tynnan before and had no idea what gender Bazil was just by looking at him.
More Obscure Aliens Please!
Despite that reasonable explanation, certain fans were still up in arms about pronouns in Star Wars. Luckily, those fans can now rest comfortably. Wookieepedia confirms that Bazil the Tynnan is indeed a “he/him.” Not that it should ever matter…
With one of KOTOR’s fish-like people, the Selkath, in an earlier episode and now a Tynnan, Leslye Headland seems deadset on bringing lesser-known creatures from Legends into The Acolyte.
We don’t know about you, but we can’t wait for the next episode to see what obscure easter egg she’s included this time.
