The Mandalorian introduced a new ability to Star Wars canon with Force-healing, but the power actually makes its first canon appearance in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Following the purchase of Lucasfilm by Disney in 2012, several stories were struck from official Star Wars canon, but The Clone Wars feature film and animated series remained. In the years since, Disney expanded the galaxy far, far away with a new trilogy of movies and Star Wars' first live-action TV show, but The Clone Wars continued to be a vital piece in the overall saga, even receiving its final season on Disney+. As such, it isn't too surprising that something considered to be one of Disney's newer additions to Star Wars canon can actually be traced back to The Clone Wars.

Just prior to the theatrical release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, The Mandalorian season 1 episode, "The Reckoning", was released and it includes a scene of The Child (aka Baby Yoda) healing Greef Karga by using the Force. The scene and its timely release was intended to prepare audiences for the reveal of Rey's Force-healing ability in The Rise of Skywalker, creating a precedent for it within Star Wars canon. It's even led to new fan theories that Obi-Wan Kenobi used it during A New Hope. The thing is, a precedent for the use of Force-healing already exists within official Star Wars canon and it's found in The Clone Wars season 3 episodes referred to as the "Mortis Arc".

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The "Mortis Arc" in Star Wars: The Clone Wars season 3 is comprised of three episodes: "Overlords", "Altar of Mortis", and "Ghost of Mortis." The episodes see Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Ahsoka Tano visit a strange planet called Mortis where they meet unusual beings who appear to be manifestations of the Force - the Daughter is the light side, the Son is the dark, and the Father is the balance between them. During the second episode, "Altar of Mortis", Ahsoka is killed by the Son and later resurrected by Anakin with help from the Daughter and the Father. At this point, the Daughter has also been mortally wounded by the Son, and as her last act, she instructs the Father to help Anakin transfer her life force into Ahsoka. The scene is a much flashier version of what is later seen in The Mandalorian and The Rise of Skywalker, but what's happening is unmistakable - Anakin uses the Force to transfer life energy from the Daughter and into Ahsoka, healing and bringing her back to life.

Anakin Skywalker acts as a conduit between Ahsoka Daughter to bring Ahsoa Tano back to life in The Clone Wars

By having the first canon use of Force-healing appear in The Clone Wars instead of The Mandalorian, it not only establishes such a profound ability earlier in the timeline, but it better explains why Rey would be able to learn how to Force-heal from ancient Jedi texts. With the Mortis Gods (as The Daughter, Son, and Father are sometimes called) shown to be familiar with Force-healing, The Clone Wars is implying the ability is an innate power of the Force. And by having them lead Anakin in Force-healing Ahsoka, it's shown to be a teachable ability. Anakin and the others, of course, don't remember their time on Mortis, and what's learned there is forgotten. But that doesn't mean Force-healing couldn't be ability that's simply been lost to time, and instructions for how to perform Force-healing can only be found in ancient texts like those Rey takes from Ahch-To.

As for how The Child knows to use Force-healing, that remains a mystery, like so much about the tiny Force-user. But if healing is, in fact, an innate power of the Force, then it seems possible for an exceptionally gifted Force-user to discover that power on their own. And seeing as The Child is just that, a child, it may even be he's able to perform Force-healing out of his strong desire to help rather than a conscious decision to use the power. Regardless, Force-healing is a powerful and oddly infrequently used ability, but the fact remains that the ability first appears in Star Wars: The Clone Wars well before it shows up in The Mandalorian and later The Rise of Skywalker.

Next: How Kylo Ren Knew Force Heal In Rise Of Skywalker