The Lightsaber of Baylan Skoll

Baylan Skoll and his Padawan Shin Hati make their Star Wars debut as antagonists in Ahsoka. Hired as mercenary knights by Morgan Elsbeth, Baylan and Shin are neither Jedi nor Sith, though Baylan himself was once of the Order, a Jedi General who disappeared at the end of the Clone Wars "like so many others" (Huyang, "Part Two: Toil and Trouble"). He and his Apprentice represent a distortion of the Jedi Arts, a foil to the Master/Padawan dynamic displayed by Ahsoka Tano and Sabine Wren. Both Baylan and Ahsoka are, technically, divorced from the Jedi Order; but Baylan's consistent framing of the Clone Wars, the rise of the Empire, and the education of the "breed of bokken Jedi trained in the wild after the Temple fell" ("Part Six: Far, Far Away") orients the fallen Jedi antagonistically to Ahsoka's parallel journey. Here is a phenomenal introduction to his character:

But, and this remains important throughout the Star Wars franchise, while Baylan and Shin are "no Jedi" ("Part One: Master and Apprentice"), Baylan's assertion is not the same as Ahsoka's own utterance of the same. His introduction to Ahsoka makes use of costume, imagery, and scene staging to draw the intentional parallel between Baylan/Ahsoka and Shin/Sabine, a parallel which continues throughout the first season. It is where Baylan and Shin reject the formulation of the Star Wars narrative, not Jedi, but not Sith either, that I find most compelling for future narratives. It all begins, as many Jedi tales do, with the lightsabers carried by both characters.

Lightsabers indicate status in the Star Wars universe.

They are the weapons of the Jedi and the Sith, a visual signifier of education, skill, and allegiance. Obi-wan tells Anakin, “this weapon is your life,” a lesson he in turn imparts to Ahsoka Tano. It is only Ahsoka who inverts this paradigm of Jedi authority, telling her own student being a Jedi isn't about wielding a lightsaber" ("Part Eight: The Jedi, the Witch, and the Warlord"). More than a simple signifier of Force abilities, however, a lightsaber’s visual cues indicate personal differences amongst aligned members of Force communities. 

From the High Republic era, where the Jedi are numerous and display incredible variety not only in the color of each Jedi's lightsaber blade, but in the construction of its handle and use of fighting style as well. These weapons are part of the High Republic Jedi's construction of self-identity, and while the process of withdrawing from the Galactic Rim to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant explains the more uniform quality to the saber's wielded during the Prequel Trilogy, to say nothing of the singular blue saber in the series' debut, post-Jedi Order and post-Empire Force-sensitives are beginning to display similar variety.

Perhaps the stagnation of the Jedi, represented through their involvement as Generals in the Clone Wars, explains the rigidity of saber construction and color differences? Most Jedi of the Republic wield blue or green sabers, with notable exceptions such as Mace Windu explained by external, non-narrative, forces. Lightsaber colors did expand and carry important connotations in the Extended Universe novels of the pre-Disney continuity now named Legends, but the same expansive study of color has not been undertaken in new canon. Instead, audiences must rely on the patchwork of Legends and new canon sources to determine what a saber's color may say about its wielder. I enjoy Scoot Allan & Robert Vaux's summary updated in April 2024 as a summary and useful launch-point: https://www.cbr.com/star-wars-lightsaber-color-meanings-explained/

Baylan and Shin's Debut

As I stated, their first scene makes use of established Star Wars motifs to give background and context for these new characters. The reference to outdated clearance codes, the robes worn by Baylan and Shin, and the imposing walk down Republic hallways work to establish the stakes and allegiances at play. They are, Baylan confirms, "No Jedi," but their "identification" is a leap to violence predicated by the ignition of Shin Hati's orange lightsaber. Here's the full scene in question:

The color of Shin and Baylan's lightsabers is, according to showrunner Dave Filoni, intentional: "I didn't make them just a stark red. [...] it's identifying a little bit of something [..] that they might not straight up be what you think they are in the beginning" (https://screenrant.com/ahsoka-dave-filoni-orange-lightsabers-response/). They do not wield the red blades of the Sith, who must intentionally bleed the kyber crystal at the heart of a Jedi's weapon to achieve their own saber.

I say intentionally here because of the visual examples currently approved canon has provided in regards to the creation of a Sith blade. My favorite visual example comes from The Acolyte episode 8: "The Acolyte," which takes time to show Osha's hand making contact with the exposed kyber crystal as she trembles with rage, grief, and emotion.

She did not set out to bleed this kyber crystal, but in making physical contact while leaning into the negative emotions the Jedi are meant to eschew, she fundamentally changes the core of the weapon. Another clear example comes from Jedi: Survivor, when a Jedi named Dagan Gera kept alive in stasis since the High Republic expresses his extreme feelings of betrayal and loss as he makes repairs to his weapon, bleeding the exposed crystal as he does so.

In both cases, the kyber had to both:
a) be exposed to direct "touch" from the Force-user in question and
b) experience an extreme outpouring of emotionn.

I do not think either Osha or Dagan meant to become Sith in this moment, however. A key theme to The Acolyte emphasized the role of self-identity and allegiance-formation (i.e. "I have no name, but a Jedi like you might call me Sith"), while Survivor offered Dagan as a parallel and warning to Cal Kestis, lest he lose himself in the pursuit of an "any means necessary" goal. The dark side often relies on extreme emotions to fuel their power, with examples like Kylo Ren leaning into his own injuries for the spike in ability that raw pain will ignite. Similarly, the suit Darth Vader dons subsequent to his defeat on Mustafar is designed to keep him under a consistent level of pain, constant and unyielding. The kyber crystal held by a Force-wielder must likewise undergo sustained trauma for it to bleed, fundamentally changing its relationship to the Force.

Taking these factors into consideration, then, and noting the emphasis many Star Wars narratives place on the intentional use of words, signs, and symbols, it's clear to me that, while Baylan no longer considers himself a Jedi, neither has he aligned with the Sith. He has trained his own Apprentice to move beyond this binary paradigm, to be, like Osha and Dagan, "something more" ("Part Six: Far, Far Away"), utilizing elements of both the Jedi and the Sith.

A Jedi's newly constructed lightsaber displays its color immediately, but that is not to say the color of lightsaber a Jedi carries will not change through their life. I can only think of examples where a Jedi's second weapon changes color, as when Luke Skywalker must replace his father's blue blade after The Empire Strikes Back and returns with his own green blade in The Return of the Jedi, and not of a single saber changing over time. However, that possibility hasn't been explicitly denied, either.

Ezra Bridger notably constructs three lightsabers: a blue, then a green, then a blue. While the first blue saber is destroyed, unsure whether or not the kyber itself is new. However, his third blue saber, constructed on Peridea, must be a new crystal because his green saber is now wielded by Sabine Wren.

The Color Orange

The orange displayed by Baylan and Shin is therefore one of two things. The first requires the assumption that Baylan's current weapon is, at the very least, carrying a different kyber heart than when he was a Jedi of the Order. I make this assumption on the importance of costume design in the narrative universe; Baylan's belt is adorned with what appears to be a green kyber crystal. Importantly, kyber crystals, until bonded to a Force-user, are a more translucent icy blue.

He could be reserving his Jedi-aligned crystal for many reasons, but, if my reading holds true, the intimate relationship between Force-user and kyber crystal may prohibit certain usages if the owner strays too far from who they were at the time of bonding. The one exception thus far explored in media (I may be missing some comics) is the opposite to the dark side's bleeding, the purification of an already-bled crystal. This process, undertaken by Ahsoka Tano in the E.K. Johnston novel Ahsoka, restores a red crystal and gives Ahsoka her distinctive white blades. The process of purification itself is wrapped up in the construction of new hilts, leaving space for ambiguity surrounding the process. Did Ahsoka intentionally undertake a process during construction that purified the crystal, or is it simply her relationship to the kyber and the Force that displays itself so uniquely? As in the case of Baylan and Shin, Filoni once stated this color was a visual identification that Ahsoka has moved beyond the Jedi/Sith binary, her "non-affiliation" with either side (Rebels Recon).

So, Baylan's motivations for keeping a green kyber on his belt, especially if it truly is the crystal once housed in his Jedi weapon, could be through sentimentality, a refusal to truly break with the ideals he once espoused. As he moved further beyound the boundaries established by the now fallen Jedi Order, he needed a weapon that would function properly, bond to him as he was in the moment. Shin, as his Padawan, would therefore construct and bond similarly to her own weapon and kyber crystal, resulting in a unique color.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Extending this reading, Baylan's continued display of his Jedi associated crystal reminds me clearly of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Gawain, whose bravery and adherence to the tenets of chivalry has been tested via the magical interference of his aunt Morgan le Fay, intentionally wears a mark of shame for his initial failures and cowardice in the line of duty. He takes the green garter, a magical token and symbol of his struggle, and displays it around his arm as he returns to Camelot. Perhaps Baylan wears this crystal not out of nostalgia, not out of the fear of corrupting what is essentially a visual representation of his soul, but in commentary on his, and the Jedi's, historic failures?

Concluding Thoughts, For Now

I have many more thoughts surrounding Baylan and Shin, some of which are appearing in my PhD thesis chapter on the enchantresses of Ahsoka. The intentional parallel between Master/Padawan pairs, reflected in the unique display of their lightsaber colors, situates Baylan and Shin importantly in the metaphysical world of the Force. From his names, Baylan from Arthurian traditions and Skoll from Norse, to his functionality as a mercenary knight for Morgan Elsbeth, Baylan offers unique insights in myriad aspects of the Star Wars overarching narrative.

While I'm devastated Ray Stevenson's death means the character will be recast moving forward, Baylan's pursuit of the legendary fairy tales told to Jedi younglings seems to be pushing him towards the Mortis gods. If so, his importance to Ahsoka increases exponentially, moving beyond a site of comparison to a place of influence.