This article contains spoilers for Episode Four of Star Wars: Ahsoka on Disney+, as well as Star Wars RebelsThe Star Wars galaxy is home to some truly outlandish sci-fi fantasy concepts. Whether it be with giant space whales that can travel faster than the speed of light or the First Order turning an entire planet into a giant superweapon capable of destroying multiple other planets at once, Star Wars fans have more than grown used to these crazy and often silly ideas. However, one of the strangest things to be introduced into the Star Wars canon has been a place called the “World Between Worlds,” which first appeared in the animated Star Wars Rebels series and has just reappeared in the new live-action Disney+ series Ahsoka.
When the World Between Worlds was first introduced in Rebels, it turned out to be a fairly controversial development for Star Wars fans. That is because many fans viewed it as Dave Filoni introducing the concept of time travel into the galaxy far, far away. If that’s true, bringing it back in Ahsoka could have major ramifications on the series and the future (and the history) of Star Wars as a whole. But is the World Between Worlds actually time travel? Only sort of. Here’s what we know:
The Nexus of Time and Space
When it was introduced in Rebels, the World Between Worlds was depicted as a realm that existed within the Force, beyond the confines of time and space. The show’s hero, Ezra Bridger, entered the realm through a doorway he opened at a Jedi Temple on the planet Lothal. The key to unlocking this doorway was hidden in a painting of three characters known as the Mortis Gods, who were first introduced in Filoni’s Clone Wars animated series and are way too complex to dive into in-depth here.
In short, they were gods of a sort with deep connections to the Force; one of them (the Daughter) embodied the Light, while another (the Son) was the Dark and the third (the Father) was the balance between the two. Given that Ezra entered the World Between Worlds through artwork of these characters, many fans believe they are directly tied to the realm in some way as well.
With all of that said, the World Between Worlds itself is a place that is a concentrated manifestation of the Star Wars galaxy and its extensive timeline. It connects everything together, binding it as the Force is often said to do. As Ezra explores the realm in Rebels, he hears voices from characters from throughout the past and future of the franchise, ranging from Yoda, Anakin Skywalker, and Qui-Gon Jinn to Rey, Kylo Ren, and Maz Kanata.
Essentially, the World Between Worlds exists as a realm from which everything that has happened or will happen in the Star Wars galaxy can be observed. Its real purpose is unknown, but the Jedi Order has studied it, and it is even written about in one of the ancient Jedi texts that Luke Skywalker kept on Acht-To in Episode VIII – The Last Jedi.
Its Use in Rebels
Ezra’s visit to the World Between Worlds only occurs within one episode in the final season of Rebels, so the realm has not been explored all that in depth. We are likely to get more information about it through its appearance in Ahsoka though. In Rebels, Ezra finds the entrance to this realm as he is investigating an Imperial operation at the Jedi Temple. Emperor Palpatine, aka Darth Sidious, had been searching for the entrance, as he believed controlling the World Between Worlds would mean having complete control of all the galaxy: past, present, and future.
While Ezra explores the realm, he encounters a myriad of different doorways that lead to different points and places in time. One of these doorways shows Ahsoka Tano’s battle with Darth Vader at the end of Rebels’ second season. The young Jedi witnesses the battle and, just as Vader is about to kill Ahsoka, Ezra reaches out and pulls her through the doorway. He removed her from that point in time and brought her into the World Between Worlds with him. As the two survey the realm together, Ezra is tempted to go back and save the life of his master, Kanun Jarrus, as well, but Ahsoka explains to Ezra that they cannot change the past and that they must let things happen as they will.
Shortly after Ezra decides to leave Kanan’s fate as-is, Ahsoka and Ezra encounter Darth Sidious through one of the portals. Fearing he will gain access to the realm, they quickly flee, and Ezra seals the entrance. However, one key aspect to know is that Ahsoka returns to the time and place that she was taken from, rather than joining Ezra on Lothal.
This is crucial because the Rebels season two finale briefly showed Ahsoka leaving that location where she dueled Vader. She always survived, but it was not immediately clear how. Ezra pulling her out of the battle did not change the past, it showed how she had survived all along. That event had always happened, and her returning to that point closed the loop.
Limiting its Effect
The World Between Worlds is a tricky thing to introduce to Star Wars, because it does flirt very closely to time travel. By having Ahsoka return to her time in Rebels, Filoni avoided creating any sort of paradoxes within the Star Wars timeline. There were no Back to the Future 2-style alternate futures created, nor, to borrow an MCU term, were there any branching timelines established. The Star Wars galaxy remained as it was and had always been. By bringing the World Between Worlds back in Ahsoka, Filoni is attempting to balance on the edge of that knife once again.
However, if he was able to show restraint with the realm before, we believe that he will be able to do so again here. Fans might be treated to some interesting and exciting flashbacks with Ahsoka and Anakin, but there would be no creative reason to go back and change things.
So does the inclusion of the World Between Worlds mean that Star Wars is about to become a franchise centered around time travel or the potential alternate universes that can span from it? No, not at all. If anything, we expect that Filoni will actively want to avoid that kind of storytelling for two clear reasons. One is that other franchises like Marvel and DC have really struggled with multiverse storytelling, and audiences have not been as compelled or excited about it as anticipated. Secondly, is that Filoni is not going to want to significantly alter the Star Wars canon.
Filoni has largely been very respectful of the wider Star Wars universe and the countless stories that have unfolded within it. He is not going to undermine all of that by introducing or embracing a method through which to change everything. In Ahsoka, we anticipate that the World Between Worlds will be a method through which to view the past and future, but not one to change it.
If it’s anything beyond that, it’ll maybe also be a means to transport Ahsoka to the other galaxy that Ezra and Thrawn reside in. It might make for some cool moments, but we doubt it’ll be anything that will have ramifications affecting the whole franchise. It won’t be an easily accessible time-traveling device, because time travel is such a far cry from what makes Star Wars interesting, and if anyone is going to understand that, it’s Dave Filoni.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
