Andor did a great job of giving fans subtle Easter Eggs that never took away from the show’s overall story, but there was one Old Republic Easter Egg that can finally become part of canon again. Andor‘s writers tended to play a clever game with canon and lore; the show feels like a standalone, even if it has subtle connections to lore.
When Lucasfilm was acquired by Disney in 2012, everything except films and shows like Star Wars: The Clone Wars were officially removed from canon; the old Expanded Universe was designated Legends, but the new canon has drawn significantly on these older concepts.
Characters like Grand Admiral Thrawn were reintroduced in тιтles like Star Wars Rebels, but Andor also did some subtle work to bring back one aspect of Star Wars history from the Old Republic. The groundwork to bring one superweapon back into canon is there; it’s now up to the powers that be at Lucasfilm to make it happen.
Star Wars Rebels Secretly Set Up The Return Of The Star Forge
A Superweapon 30,000 Years Old
Legends introduced the Rakatan Empire, a race of conquerors who ruled the galaxy some 25,000 years ago – and whose evils led to the dawn of the Jedi to resist them. The Rakata were ᴀssociated with a superweapon called the Star Forge, which drew energy and matter from nearby stars, and made them also unbeatable.
The Star Forge was also able to create ships, droids, and other matériel that helped keep the Rakata in power for thousands of years. The Star Forge also has a dark history that includes slaves being used as forced laborers aboard the space station. The Rakata were already known as a cruel species, so their use of slaves isn’t entirely surprising.
Runes of the Star Forge can be seen in the buildings on Malachor, indicating that the Sith who used to inhabit the world knew and possibly planned to utilize the power of the weapon.
Carvings of the Star Forge appeared in Rebels season 2, when Ezra Bridger, Kanan Jarrus, and Ahsoka Tano travel to the forbidden Sith planet Malachor. Runes of the Star Forge can be seen in the buildings on Malachor, indicating that the Sith who used to inhabit the world knew and possibly planned to utilize the power of the weapon.
The Star Forge’s Creators, The Rakata, Are Officially Star Wars Canon
Thanks To Andor
Andor has made two major references to the Rakatan Empire throughout the show’s two seasons. In Andor season 1, Luthen Rael gives Cᴀssian Andor a kyber crystal from the Rakatan Empire as an advanced payment for the raid at Aldhani.
Additionally, in Andor season 2, Davo Sculden shows off a Chandi Merle, a statue that had been stolen from Chandrilla by the Rakata some 25,000 years ago. These two references to the Rakata, plus the images of the Star Forge, may set the stage for the Rakatan Empire to be seen in Star Wars canon yet again.
It’s the perfect setup for James Mangold’s upcoming Dawn of the Jedi movie. The film is set to take place around the same time that the Chandi Merle were taken from Chandrilla, meaning that Dawn of the Jedi may be set during the Rakatan Empire. Conveniently, this shares an Andor screenwriter – Beau Willimon.
It’s so interesting to see the ways that Star Wars continues to bring different elements of Legends back into canon. Sometimes, these recanonizations hit audiences over the head, but bringing the Rakata back into canon through Andor is subtle, and may just show us where Star Wars is headed next.
