Ahsoka, the new Disney Plus Star Wars show, features the Witches of Dathomir (or NIght Sisters) in episode 6, one of the strangest bits of Star Wars lore from Clone Wars.
The two-part premiere of Ahsoka, the new Star Wars series streaming on Disney Plus, did something that’s become kind of rare in Star Wars, something that was once integral to the franchise’s appeal: It had a character reference a thing that sounds freaking awesome completely in passing without ever following up on it. Just for texture! This time, it’s “the Witches of Dathomir.” They’re mentioned in relation to an artifact that protagonist Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) acquires at the start of the series while raiding a temple that once belonged to them.
That isn’t the first time a Disney Plus Star Wars series mentioned the Witches — they got an extremely fleeting shoutout in The Book of Boba Fett — but Ahsoka is the first time we’ve seen them in live-action, after they show up in “Part Six.” And boy do we get to see them: three witches in full regalia, as they greet Morgan Elsbeth and bring Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) back, per some arrangement they’ve made with him. Despite some prime screen time, that’s about all we get about the trio of witches, albeit with the promise that Thrawn requires their “dark magic” once again.
The difference between modern Star Wars and classic Star Wars is that said witches have been explored pretty extensively in other ancillary Star Wars media, namely The Clone Wars, but also in several novels, comic books, and a bit in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. (Baylan notes that stories of the galaxy the Witches are found is “considered folktales. An ancient past, long forgotten,” in the Star Wars universe, so it’s not surprising we’re only getting them in a bit part of a Disney Plus show).
