‘Ashoka’: Who Is Baylan Skoll? Meet Ray Stevenson’s Character

The release of the Ahsoka trailer allowed fans to see a first look at what to expect in the upcoming Disney+ series that will be released during the summer of 2023. Of course, one of the best things about the trailer was the revelation of Force-sensitive enemies that Ahsoka will have to contend with. Chief among them is a man named Baylan Skoll. So, who is he?

Played by Ray Stevenson, Baylan Skoll is likely a fallen Jedi or a Sith-like warrior that dwells on the dark side of the Force and is allied with Grand Admiral Thrawn. In that regard, he is likely the master of the other Jedi-like character, Shin Hati. He is likely the leader of his group of Force users.

One of the things that we know about the Ahsoka series is that there will be clashes of ideals involving the different characters. That is why there’s a good chance that Ahsoka and Baylan will end up clashing in terms of what the Jedi should be, especially because we know that Ahsoka is not even a Jedi. And this means that Baylan should be one of the most interesting characters we will meet in the post-Empire era of Star Wars.

Baylan Skoll’s Background Explained

While we already know that the Ahsoka series was going to be a reunion of the different main characters that we met in the Star Wars: Rebels series because their journey will take them on a rescue mission involving Ezra Bridger and a quest to stop Grand Admiral Thrawn, we were shocked when we saw that there were other Force wielders in the trailer of Ahsoka.

The trailer clearly showed at least two characters who wielded orange lightsabers against the New Republic. We also learned that the older of those orange lightsaber-wielding characters is named Baylan Skoll, who clashed with Ahsoka Tano in the trailer. So, who is Baylan Skoll in the Ahsoka series?

At this point, we aren’t sure who Baylan Skoll is, but we know he has been around for quite some time already and is skilled with the Force. In the trailer, we saw him easily taking down several soldiers of the New Republic without even breaking a sweat. And he is likely going to be a challenging opponent for Ahsoka.

But we also think that Baylan probably got his training from the Jedi Order before the fall of the Jedi nearly 30 years before the events of the Ahsoka series. That’s because he is already at least five decades old and even dresses up like a Jedi instead of a Sith. In that regard, there’s a good chance he was with the Jedi before Order 66 killed almost all of them in a blink of an eye.

So, if Baylan Skoll was a Jedi, that could mean that he survived Order 66 and was able to evade Darth Vader and the Inquisitors during the age of the Empire. But there’s a huge catch because the trailer shows him as someone more of a Jedi that is also Sith-like in his approach. That could mean that he is unlikely to be a Sith but isn’t also the conventional Jedi as well.

Baylan dresses up in a manner that’s similar to how Jedi dress in the sense that he wears a robe. There’s also the fact that Shin, his apprentice, seemingly has a Padawan braid. And that could mean that Baylan probably established his own Jedi Order independent of the Jedi Order that Luke is looking to create.

But there’s also a chance that he and his apprentice could be Sith-like warriors who may look like Jedi but are not afraid to embrace the dark side. After all, the rigid beliefs of the Jedi contributed to the downfall of the order. As such, it is possible that Baylan has seen the “flaws” of the Jedi Order and decided to establish an order that isn’t afraid of embracing the dark side of the Force. 

What Role Will Baylan Skoll Play in Ahsoka?

At this point, we can’t say what kind of role Baylan Skoll will play in Ahsoka, but we do know that he will end up clashing with Ahsoka Tano and the New Republic. It is even possible that he is working under Grand Admiral Thrawn, who Ahsoka described in the trailer as the heir to the Empire.

In that regard, we can expect a clash of ideals between Baylan and Ahsoka, who were clearly talking to one another in a place that resembles the world between worlds that we saw in the events of Star Wars: Rebels.

We know that Ahsoka left the Jedi Order before the events of Order 66 and isn’t even a Jedi. In a way, she is a user of the light side of the Force and is always on the good guys’ side but isn’t necessarily a Jedi in the strict sense of the word because she left them of her own will during the events of the Clone Wars. And that means she has her own philosophies that may differ from what the Jedi are supposed to believe in.

But we also believe that Baylan could have established his own Jedi Order and has beliefs that are different not only from Ahsoka’s own philosophies but from the rigid beliefs of the Jedi Order that was destroyed by the Empire. As such, we might see him clashing ideals with Ahsoka during the series.

It is also possible that Baylan Skoll is allied with the Imperial remnants under Thrawn. Remember that the Jedi Order partnered up with the Republic years before they both fell to the Empire. The Jedi also served as the protectors of the Republic, which didn’t have its own military force before the Clone Wars.

So, in that case, Baylan must have decided to form a partnership with Thrawn so that his order could serve as the protector of the new system that the Grand Admiral is now looking to establish. And it is also possible that the ideals that his group of Jedi or Sith-like Force users embody are similar to the ideals that Thrawn believes in.