Star Wars: Here’s How Huyang Survived Order 66
Huyang is a returning character in the events of ‘Ahsoka’ as he became Ahsoka Tano’s personal droid during her travels all over the galaxy. Of course, we met Huyang way back during the events of ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars,’ wherein he appeared in a few episodes together with Ahsoka Tano and a few younglings. But Huyang’s story between the Clone Wars and ‘Ahsoka’ is blank. So, how did Huyang survive Order 66?
It is still unknown how Huyang survived Order 66 or the Reign of the Empire. But it is possible that he was never destroyed during that time because Palpatine may have seen him as an important piece that he needed due to the fact that he is a knowledgeable droid with over 25,000 years of experience.
One of the most important things to note about Palpatine was that he wasn’t about to destroy everything about the Jedi just because they reminded him about the Jedi Order. Instead, he used everything at his disposal to reach his goals, including using knowledge that only the Jedi had. This might explain why or how Huyang was able to survive. So, with that said, let’s look at what happened to Huyang.
What happened to Huyang after the Clone Wars?
While he may have been just a supporting character in the events of ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars,’ Huyang provided fans with a good look into the Jedi Order and its history. He was introduced in an episode wherein Ahsoka Tano assisted a group of younglings who had just gotten their Kyber crystals on Ilum and were looking to construct their own lightsabers. And that was where Huyang came in.
Using the starship called the Crucible as his base of operations, Huyang worked as a droid architect for the Jedi Order. He oversaw the basic lightsaber construction course that all younglings had to go through before becoming Padawans. But the most surprising part was that Huyang has been around for 25,000 years, dating back to the Dawn of the Jedi Order.
While the Crucible was destroyed during the Clone Wars, Huyang survived and continued his service to the Jedi Order even until the end of the Clone Wars. But we know that the end of the Clone Wars was also the start of the fall of the Jedi Order because that was when Palpatine initiated Order 66 and allowed the clones to kill all of the Jedi they could find. In that regard, the Jedi were purged, and even the Jedi Temple was occupied by Palpatine as his new Imperial Palace.
Much of Huyang’s story after Order 66 remains a mystery. We only know that he survived because he is now in ‘Ahsoka’ as the companion droid that Ahsoka Tano is traveling with. This means that he was never destroyed during the reign of the Empire.
We don’t know what happened to Huyang or what he did after the Jedi Order’s fall and during the Empire’s Reign. It is possible that he was in the Jedi Temple after the destruction of the Crucible, which was the ship that he stayed on during the events of the Clone Wars. There’s also a good chance that he stayed on Ilum to stay close to his responsibility of teaching younglings how to construct a lightsaber. But we also know that the Empire occupied Ilum.
As such, much about the storyline of Huyang between the Clone Wars and the events of ‘Ahsoka’ is a mystery. But something must have happened that allowed him to survive Order 66 and the Imperial era. Or one of the Jedi might have rescued him. The only thing we know is that he is alive and well.
But there’s also a good theory regarding Huyang’s survival. We know that Huyang wasn’t with Ahsoka during the events of ‘Star Wars: Rebels.’ At the end of Ahsoka’s character arc in ‘Rebels,’ she disappeared into the World Between Worlds, a mysterious plane beyond time and space. We saw that Ezra was able to basically go back in time to rescue Ahsoka from Vader using the World Between Worlds.
In that regard, Ahsoka may have traveled to one of the timelines wherein she saw Huyang. She may have decided to save Huyang from the wrath of the Empire by taking him out of his timeline through the World Between Worlds. But there’s no confirmation whether Ahsoka actually went time-traveling during her spiritual journey in the World Between Worlds.
Why didn’t Palpatine destroy Huyang?
Of course, to state the obvious, Order 66 only compelled the clones to kill all of the Jedi. That means that allies of the Jedi or even their droids were excluded from the mandate of the clones during the events of the Clone Wars. He would have survived Order 66 because the clones wouldn’t have destroyed him without remorse.
But if Huyang was in the Jedi Temple or was captured by the Empire during the Imperial era, there would have been a good chance that he was spared. And that’s because he is a droid over 25,000 years old and is basically a walking history book.
The thing that needs to be understood about Emperor Palpatine is that, as evil as he may have been, he was a cunning and manipulative individual who wanted to use whatever knowledge he could get his hands on to his advantage.
We know that Palpatine was a scholar of both the light and dark sides of the Force, which was why he understood the Jedi better than the Jedi understood themselves. It was partly due to his knowledge of the Jedi that he was able to develop a plan to destroy them.
Even after Palpatine ordered the execution of all of the Jedi, he didn’t even destroy the Jedi Archives in the Jedi Temple. That’s because he needed the knowledge of the Jedi as there was still information hidden in the Jedi Archives that he wasn’t privy to. Remember that Palpatine’s main goal was not to destroy the Jedi but to remain in power forever by achieving immortality.
In that regard, he wasn’t about to destroy anything that could help him attain his goal of living forever, including the Jedi Archives. Of course, because Huyang is basically a walking archive due to the fact that he has been around since the Dawn of the Jedi, Palpatine may have realized just how important the droid’s knowledge was. And that was likely the reason why the emperor didn’t destroy Huyang.
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