Star Wars: Visions Volume 3

Episode 6

By the time of Return of the Jedi, there is a single Jedi: Luke Skywalker. In the decades since the film's release, there have been numerous loopholes added to this statement. Ahsoka is time-traveling (and refused the title of Jedi Knight even before that), Ezra is literally outside the galaxy, and others like Baylan Skoll or Trilla Suduri either completely abandoned the Jedi ideals and went into hiding or were tortured into joining the Imperial Inquisition. However, it takes more than Order 66 and the subsequent work of Darth Vader and his handful of Inquisitors to wipe out an order of 10,000 spread across the greater part of the galaxy.

The reason for the extinction of the Jedi during the Dark Times is at the core of F's story—both here in “The Lost Ones” and in Volume 1's “The Village Bride.” Back in her first appearance, F was attempting to live under the radar—to hide her face, not use the force, and stay out of any conflicts. However, when push came to shove, she couldn't. F, like most Jedi, is not only a good person at heart but a person who was trained to protect the weak and fight against injustice. To turn a blind eye is to deny not only herself but everything she ever believed in.

This is why the Jedi Purge ultimately proved to be successful. To be a Jedi is to be a beacon—and in a galaxy where Jedi are enemy number one, it's only a matter of time before you put your trust in the wrong people and are forced to make the ultimate sacrifice for your ideals.

By the time of “The Lost Ones,” F has long accepted this fact. She could have easily left Theo and Ron to be crushed—remained anonymous until meeting with Joona and getting her leg repaired—however, as was showcased in “The Village Bride,” this is not the kind of person F has chosen to be. She already gave a leg to stay true to herself, and gives both the other leg and an arm by the time the episode is over.

There's a kind of melancholic acceptance that surrounds F. When the children badmouth the Jedi and belittle the Force, she doesn't become angry or hurt. She simply uses it as a teaching moment to encourage the children to learn from both knowledge and personal experience. When Theo betrays her to The Empire (futilely hoping that this will encourage The Empire to help the refugees undo the carbonite mining damage done to their planet and save his family), she doesn't even address his betrayal. She sees it as the inevitable finally coming to pass and turns herself over to the Empire without a second thought.

And then F encounters her old master. Whether resurrected by Palpatine as a test for his own ultimate resurrection or brought back as a clone via the Spaarti cloning cylinders, Shad-Rah Varcanella has fallen to the dark side and is working alongside the Inquisition in hunting the remaining Jedi. It's clear his own meaningless death is the key to his fall, and the fact that F alone left flowers on his grave is the main reason he wishes to have her join him. However, when she chooses to stay true to herself—largely thanks to his past teachings—he resolves to kill her.

F knows she is almost certainly going to die, and so recklessly gives up two legs and an arm to defeat her former master. However, what F has forgotten is the other side of being a beacon: it causes those of like mind to gather. She inspires others to follow the example she sets, be they force-sensitive or not. Twice, Ron has seen F put herself at risk to save him and those he loves. How could he do any less? And so not only does he sabotage the Star Destroyer to grant the refugees an easy escape, he heads back for F—ultimately saving her from the ship before it falls from orbit and into the planet below.

In the end, of all the Visions episodes we have been given over these three seasons, these surrounding F are the ones that embody the core of what Star Wars is to me. It's not just lightsaber battles and spaceship fights—it's more than a totalitarian empire versus the plucky rebellion. It's the story of good people trying to do the right thing and, in doing so, inspiring others to be better versions of themselves than they ever dreamed they could be.

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Star Wars: Visions Volume 3 is currently streaming on Disney+.