Hello, ladies and gentlemen of Star Wars fandom! With Star Wars Rebels now over, it’s time to stop and reflect on the last season. Star Wars Rebels has introduced a lot of new ideas into the canon, and one in particular has left fans wondering how much impact it will have, if any, in future films.
Time Travel and Star Wars. Two things that, until now, had seemed to never mix. Well, it wasn’t long ago that I thought we’d never see a flashback in Star Wars. But before we can discuss time travel, we must discuss time.
Time
The concept of time has come up here and there in Star Wars. This is an important topic to visit because we know that the laws of physics in the galaxy far far away are not the same as they are for us here in the Milky Way. We don’t have a “Force”, at least nothing like we see in Star Wars. Also, communication through holonet can happen faster than light in Star Wars. I’m a little confused about whether hyperspace travel is faster-than-light, so maybe someone can clarify that for me…but that’s beside the point.
Perhaps the most clear quote about time comes from Yoda:
Always in motion is the future
This is perhaps a significant quote, and it directly relates to what happened in Rebels. Yoda was explaining to Luke how to interpret his visions of the future. Yoda is basically saying that your fate is not pre-destined. Your actions can change the future outcomes. That said, the Jedi did spend a lot of time thinking about prophecies. So part of time is pre-determined, but part of it is in flux. Similarly, you could say that there are some aspects of the Force that deal with “destiny” and some aspects that deal with the moment, and are in flux: the “Cosmic Force” and the “Living Force”. It seems to me that Yoda changed his views as he grew older, even between Revenge of the Sith and Empire Strikes Back, the reason being his connections with Qui-gon Jinn. However in the prequel era the Jedi were very interested in prophecies, such as the prophecy of the Chosen One, which begs the question…how could the Jedi gain information about the future through the Force?
If we go back to the exchange between Yoda and Luke, we may ask, how did Luke see the future? In a similar way, Anakin had visions of the future when he saw his mother, and had visions of Padme dying in childbirth (side note: those visions of Anakin could certainly have been mischievously “transmitted” from Palpatine, we don’t know for sure). If Jedi can see the future, then there must be something timeless about the Force. The Force must be able to send information forward and backward in time. But if information and visions can travel through time, can a person?
Time Travel
Probably the biggest concern about introducing time travel into a fictional world is the potential of damage it could do, or at least the massive changes it could cause. It adds an element of narrative complexity that at best could make plots confusing, at worst totally contradictory. For example, with access to this kind of power, what would stop the Emperor from preventing his enemies from ever being born?
Well, in the recent episode A World Between Worlds, Ezra enters another dimension, another space outside ordinary space and time, and gains access to other place-times in the galaxy. He is able to save Ahsoka from Vader 2 years prior to when he entered this area. What’s worse, the Emperor used some sort of Sith magick to gain access to this area as well, and shoot flames at Ezra and Ahsoka. He also put his hand through a portal, suggesting that he could theoretically enter the portal. So what would stop him from entering complete, and shooting flames at other places and times to alter history?
With this said, Ezra’s actions to save Ahoska are presented as doing something that “already happened”, so he didn’t really alter the past. So as it stands right now, it isn’t clear that we saw the past altered, but maybe part of a loop that has always been. At least we can say that the timeline that we saw in season two was the same one as season four, where Ezra saves Ahsoka.
It does make sense that the Force would be connected to this type of timeless zone, because through the Force you can see the future. If Jedi can see the future, then doesn’t it make sense that the Force must have a connection to all times? The portal almost seems like a physical manifestation of how the force allows the Jedi to see the past, the future etc.
Narrative Disaster?
Like I said, the problem that people have with time travel and the ability to alter the past. But is it really so different from the Jedi’s premonitions? Namely, is going back in time to alter the past fundamentally different from gaining information about the future through the Force?
I don’t really know how I would like alternate timelines in Star Wars. I trust the Lucasfilm story group to wield this power carefully. It took a lot of effort for Ezra and Sabine to enter the portal to this world, so I expect it is very difficult. Even though Darth Sidious was able to enter and made it look easy, I suspect that this very difficult, even for him.
Overall, I think this is a one-shot type of use, at least for the Skywalker era of Star Wars. I could see this being used in an Old Republic story, not for time travel, but perhaps the famous prophecy was a gateway a past Jedi viewed? This could in theory even be an in-universe way to explain the now defunct “Legends” EU. The possibilities are endless but the application will likely be limited and probably just to TV or books from now on.
Brought to you by @davestrrr. Stay tuned to SpoiledBlueMilk for the best of Star Wars!