Stop Complaining About Witches in ‘Star Wars’
Is it witchcraft? Or another version of the Force?
No one loves complaining about Star Wars more than Star Wars fans, but some of the complaints border on the ridiculous. The most recent gripe some fans have is with the Nightsisters of Disney+’s Ahsoka and how “witches” don’t fit in with the franchise’s established lore—which goes to show how little they know about Star Wars lore.
Like Grand Admiral Thrawn, the Nightsisters did not originate in Disney canon but were a race of Force-witches from the Star Wars Expanded Universe (now known as Legends). They debuted in Dave Wolverton’s novel The Courtship of Princess Leia, where Luke Skywalker finds himself almost married to a Nightsister who recognizes his power in the Force. Wolverton actually stated that he created them because Star Wars felt very male-dominated and he wanted to add some powerful women to the galaxy, so he created the Hapes cluster (a rich and powerful matriarchal planetary system) and the Nightsisters (a tribe of Force Witches).
Originally, the Nightsisters were descendants of a Fallen Jedi known as Allya, and while their appearances vary greatly, some aspects, like their ability to tame and ride large beasts like Rancors, remain consistent.
The Nightsisters in Disney canon
Even after the Star Wars Expanded Universe was decanonized, the Nightsisters remained canon thanks to their appearances in The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, and the EA Star Wars Jedi games, Fallen Order and Survivor.
The Clone Wars revealed that multiple well-known dark-siders, including Darth Maul and Sith Assassin Asajj Ventress, were from Dathomir. The look for the main leader, Mother Talzin, actually came from concept art for Darth Maul. (Yes, we almost got a female Darth Maul.) The Nightsisters were eventually massacred by General Grievous and Count Dooku, leaving almost no survivors. This was also where their ability to raise the dead to act as an army was first established.
Rebels continued that story by showing Maul use Nightsister magicks to give him knowledge that neither Sith nor Jedi holocrons could, while also confirming that the Nightsisters use “some aspect of [the Force].” Of course, the magic comes at a price and leads to Kanan Jarrus and Sabine Wren being possessed by the spirits of Nightsisters.
Jedi: Fallen Order and Jedi: Survivor gave us Merrin, one of the last Nightsisters of Dathomir. After being violently protective of her homeland, she bonds with the Jedi Cal Kestis and eventually joins the crew of the Mantis. The sequel reveals that she has separated from the crew for a time to find herself and her place in the galaxy, before devoting herself to helping people flee the Empire and committing to a relationship with Kestis.
Now, Morgan Elsbeth and the Great Mothers have brought the Nightsisters and the strange magicks into live action, making them more widely known—and critiqued—as a result.
Witchcraft vs. the Force
If you still think that the Nightsisters’ magic doesn’t fit in with the established understanding of the Force, then you’re not the only one.
George Lucas reportedly stated that the Nightsisters of his canon do not use the Force but instead draw their magic from some other power. In fact, the revelation that the Nightsisters originate from a different galaxy could be seen as evidence that they do not use the Force.
However, we’ve also been seeing a trend towards exploring how the Force is seen differently by different planets, cultures, and societies. We’ve seen alternate views of the Force explored in Rebels and the EA Jedi games, with people like the Lasat and the Zeffo having come from planets beyond the main galaxy. Chirrut Imwe in Rogue One offers an alternate greeting of “May the Force of Others be with you,” and shows how those who are not Force-sensitive may still follow its teachings. Thrawn himself is from the Chiss Ascendancy, a people who see the Force as a gift given to some children that allows them to pilot through treacherous terrain.
Personally, I think it’s fascinating to see how other Star Wars cultures view the Force and how it rounds out the greater galaxy. Not everyone is going to see or use the Force in the same way, and that’s not necessarily wrong. While the Nightsisters’ power appears to be dark, Merrin uses it to defend people from the Empire. The Force works in mysterious ways and is always changing, as it should. The only wrong way of seeing the Force is seeing it as the same 4 skills with no room for change or creativity.
(featured image: Disney+)
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