50 Most Memorable Moments from Star Wars Rebels

Photo property of: Lucasfilm

45. Space whales are responsible for hyperspace travel

Episode: Season 2 Episode 15: The Call

The Moment:  The Ghost crew gets stranded in space low on fuel and encounter a pod of space whales, known in Star Wars as purrgil.

While stranded, the Phantom( the ghost crew’s ship), is waiting for reinforcements from Phoenix squadron and are bombarded by these space creatures.

Hera, the ship’s captain, initially wants to attack the purrgil, but Ezra tells her to hold off. Strong in the Force, in particular with the art of connecting with living creatures, Ezra is able to make a deep, positive connection with the purrgil.

Why It’s Memorable: Ezra’s connection to living things in the Force has always been on full display in Rebels. It’s even got he and his master Kanan out of a few sticky situations.

Even though Ezra has at times flirted with the dark side, his behavior here shows the goodness that lies within his soul. Later on, when he fights an Inquisitor in the 7th sister, he refuses to harm her as well. Ezra also was able to withstand the advances of Maul’s offer to join in as a dark side apprentice.

Being able to connect with wild animals is something we’ve seen only one time in the films when Anakin Skywalker is able to calmly control the mind of a beastly reek. The fact that Ezra is able to do the same, and at a higher level, is showing us just how powerful and how much potential Ezra has within the Force. Hyperspace travel apparently originated in these curious space whales. We see them travel in hyperspace at the conclusion of this episode, which is a really cool spectacle.

It made me wonder though, what means or methods did space travelers use in the past that allowed them to use the purrgil as a source for traveling in hyperspace? Were they able to preserve the life of the creature? Or did they have to destroy them in the process? If so, we know that Ezra would not agree with these methods.