Baylan Skoll Is Not a Sith, But a Dark Jedi & Here Is What You Need To Know

The storyline of ‘Ahsoka’ introduced two new Force users that surprised people when they showed their allegiance to Morgan Elsbeth and the Imperial remnants that were working to bring Grand Admiral Thrawn back to the known galaxy. One of those Force users happened to be a Jedi-trained warrior named Baylan Skoll, who showed an affinity for the dark side of the Force by killing people without remorse. But the thing is that he isn’t a Jedi at all and isn’t even a Sith. So, what is Baylan Skoll?

Baylan Skoll is a Dark Jedi or a dark side adept. He used to be a Jedi during the time of the Jedi Order but has since fallen to the dark side after surviving the events of Order 66. He eventually sided with the Imperial remnants to gain power, as he believed that Thrawn was the only one capable of giving him the power he desired.

At this point, there are a lot of things that we aren’t too sure about Baylan Skoll and his motives. We only know that he sided with the Empire and is not exactly a good guy. But things about him made him look like he could still be reasoned with. So, with that said, let’s look at what we know about Baylan Skoll and his status as a Force wielder.

Baylan Skoll was a former Jedi

Ever since the trailer of the ‘Ahsoka’ was released, Baylan Skoll became one of the most interesting characters that fans were quick to wonder about because the trailer didn’t waste any time to show that he wielded a reddish-orange lightsaber that he used to slay officers belonging to the New Republic. In that regard, it goes without saying that Baylan sided with the bad guys even though he used the Force. And there weren’t a lot of Force wielders left in the galaxy during the timeline of ‘Ahsoka.’

Even Ahsoka was perplexed about the fact that there were other Jedi-trained warriors in the galaxy. She didn’t recognize who Baylan or his apprentice, Shin, were. But she did allow Huyang to cross-reference their lightsabers with his database, and that was when the 25,000-year-old droid concluded that one of the lightsabers belonged to a former Jedi named Baylan Skoll. And this proves the fact that Baylan used to be a Jedi.

The thing is that because thousands of Jedi existed before the fall of the Jedi Order, Ahsoka wasn’t well-acquainted with Baylan. Of course, we know that he survived the events of Order 66, as Huyang said that he disappeared during the Clone Wars. This means that he went into hiding after Order 66 and eventually disappeared during the reign of the Empire.

Then again, we don’t know much about what happened to Baylan Skoll after he disappeared during the reign of the Empire. It is possible that he remained in hiding during that time. But it is also possible that he experienced things that changed his views about the galaxy and turned him into someone who no longer believed in the values of the Jedi Order. After all, he was willing to slaughter people in cold blood during the events of ‘Ahsoka’ and sided with the Imperials that were partly responsible for the deaths of so many Jedi during the time of the Empire.

Baylan became corrupted by the dark side

Even though we know that Baylan Skoll used to be part of the Jedi Order, it became clear that the dark side of the Force corrupted him at one point in his life. That is because he was willing to use his Jedi skills for evil, as he killed innocent people in the New Republic cruiser he attacked. He also used Force choke on innocent people, and we know that the Jedi wouldn’t use the power of the Force in such a way.

To that end, he fell to the dark side at one point in his life and even took on an apprentice that he trained in the ways of the dark side as well. That means Baylan Skoll and Shin Hati are both dark-side adepts and can be considered Dark Jedi. But the thing about him is that he may not have fully turned to the dark side already. And some clues point to that possibility.

For one, Baylan Skoll wields a blood-orange lightsaber instead of one that’s completely red. We know that the users of the dark side of the Force have to “bleed” their Kyber crystals to turn them into the corrupted red color that has a strong affinity to the dark side of the Force. However, Baylan’s somewhat orange lightsaber indicates that he may not have truly fallen to the dark side of the Force but is already closer to the dark side compared to the light side.

There’s also the fact that he didn’t want to kill Ahsoka. In the second part of the two-part release of ‘Ahsoka,’ we saw that Morgan Elsbeth realized that Baylan Skoll had doubts about Ahsoka Tano. That was when Baylan revealed that he didn’t want to kill Ahsoka because only a few Jedi were left in the galaxy.

The Sith and other dark side adepts wouldn’t hesitate to kill Jedi because they all hate the Jedi and what the Jedi Order stands for. But in Baylan’s case, he didn’t want to kill Ahsoka and was seemingly hesitant to go up against her because he didn’t want the Jedi to go extinct, as only a few survived the Imperial era.

As such, there’s a good chance that Baylan Skoll is the type of person who thinks that the ends justify the means. He might not be totally evil, but he is looking to seek a somewhat good goal through his evil actions. In the trailer, he talked about how it was important to destroy things to create something new. In episode 2, he told Shin that Thrawn’s return to the galaxy would allow them both to have the necessary power they wanted.

To that end, Baylan may be only looking to use Thrawn to obtain the power that he needs to recreate the galaxy into something better than it was. He may not totally be in line with the dark side of the Force, and that’s why he doesn’t want to kill Ahsoka. The fact that he wants to recreate the galaxy might indicate that he also wants to recreate the Jedi Order in his own image, with Ahsoka as part of his long-term plans for the future.

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