This article contains spoilers for Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 2, episode 6.Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 2, episode 6 features yet another Jedi who survived Order 66, but this one proves once and for all that the Jedi were wrong about their attachments rule. Since the traumatic events of Order 66, Star Wars has introduced numerous Jedi survivors, all of whom took different paths to ensure their safety. Prominent Star Wars characters like Obi-Wan Kenobi, Grand Master Yoda, Ahsoka Tano, Kanan Jarrus, and Cal Kestis have all been vital survivors of the Jedi’s genocide. Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 2 revealed the young Wookiee Padawan Gungi, who was last seen in a season 5 arc of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, also survived.
Before the Jedi Order was decimated by Palpatine’s cruel plans, the Jedi had strict rules against forming emotional attachments. This was something many prominent Jedi struggled with, though perhaps none so famously or as desperately as Anakin Skywalker. The Jedi believed any type of strong emotional attachment had the power to lead to the dark side, as emotions like jealousy, anger, and fear would have an easier time breaking a Jedi’s balanced state of mind. Though Anakin Skywalker eventually proved them right to some degree, the survivors of Order 66 have proven the opposite can be true too, and Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 2 provides an powerful example.
Gungi's Return To Kashyyyk Was An Act Of Defiance
In Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 2, episode 6, “Tribe”, Gungi explains to Clone Force 99 that dreams told him to go back to the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk. The Bad Batch manage to help Gungi find a new community on his homeworld where he can settle down, a significant moment given Order 66 took everything away from the Jedi. An entire history, culture, and religion were wiped out in a matter of days. Palpatine tried to destroy that which gave the Jedi hope, but Gungi’s return to Kashyyyk is the ultimate act of defiance in the face of Palpatine’s cruelty. Gungi’s immediate acceptance in the Wookiee community proves that attachments can and should be encouraged in the face of extreme adversity.
The young Wookiee Jedi Gungi was alone before this, about to be sold off to the highest bidder. He had no one, trusted nothing, and was bound to be subjected to a lifetime of mistreatment. Being part of a community again changed Gungi’s entire outlook on his future; he communed with the trees and became a part of something bigger. He found another culture in the face of genocide, and despite what the Jedi might have previously believed, it was this sense of belonging and attachment that saved Gungi’s life. The Force willed Gungi to go back to Kashyyyk through his dreams, to find a place where he could hide, but most importantly, to find a place where he would belong.
Jedi Relied On Attachments To Survive Order 66
Gungi wasn’t the only Jedi who relied on attachments and community to survive Star Wars' Order 66. In the aftermath of the trauma, many Jedi retreated in on themselves, trying to find ways to survive without really living. Star Wars Rebels’ Kanan Jarrus, for instance, is described as scraping his way through life in John Jackson Miller’s novel A New Dawn. That is, until he met Hera Syndulla, fell in love, became part of the Ghost Crew family, trained Ezra Bridger in the ways of the Force, and made a real difference in the galaxy. Kanan’s attachments brought him out into the world again, a world in which he was instrumental in the fight against the Empire.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order’s Cal Kestis went through something similar. Left to fend for himself on Bracca, Cal was hoping to hide from the Inquisitors but never really led any kind of life. That is, until he met the crew of the Mantis, became true friends with them, and worked with them to save hundreds of Force-sensitive children’s futures. In the aftermath of Order 66, it was the Jedi’s new attachments that helped them make a difference in the galaxy and helped them genuinely live life, not just coast through it. The Jedi’s attachment rules in Star Wars made sense in certain contexts, but Star Wars: The Bad Batch just proved that they could never account for all scenarios.
New episodes of Star Wars: The Bad Batch release on Wednesdays on Disney+