Star Wars: Visions episode 7: “The Elder” ending explained

The anime anthology series Star Wars: Visions is filled with unique tales from the galaxy — a total of nine — and the short story named “The Elder” is the seventh episode in the series.

Coming from the studio Trigger, this installment in the Disney+ series featured three main characters. The first is the young padawan Dan, voiced by Jordan Fisher. The second is his Jedi Master Tajin, voiced by Stranger Things’ David Harbour. And the final character is who this episode is named after — the Old Man himself, voiced by James Hong.

In the episode, Tajin and Dan are on their ship, patrolling the outer rim when they feel a heavy disturbance in the Force. It leads them to land on the planet Habo, as they try to track down the cause of the disturbance. And they find their opponent, the Elder, is quite the interesting man.

Star Wars: Visions episode 7 ending explained

By the end of episode 7, “The Elder,” thankfully, the day is saved and the planet is safe. Keep in mind, Star Wars: Visions is not part of the official Star Wars canon, so there are no bigger implications in the lore based on this tale.

But prior to defeating the old man, Dan and his master decided to split up when looking for the Elder. They weren’t quite sure who he was or where he came from, but they did expect him to be quite powerful.

Splitting up, of course, was a terrible mistake — seeing as the Elder surprised the young Padawan while his master went in the opposite direction. Dan was left to fend for himself against the foe until his master could arrive. Unfortunately, Tajin had arrived quite late because Dan had already been seriously wounded by the Elder in combat.

So, who is this old man? He carried two special red lightsabers, shaped to look like a blade. But in this timeline, the Sith hadn’t been around for hundreds of years. When asked about his identity, the Elder revealed that he wasn’t necessarily a Sith. He saw a flaw in the Sith, and they have since died out. He has not. And so, he has spent his time traveling the galaxy looking for a worthy opponent to fight. Though, apparently, he finally met his match with Tajin on Habo, quite easily succumbing to the Jedi Master after only a few moments in battle.

There’s an unspecified time jump at the end of the episode. Dan is healed. And they look upon the Elder’s ship, which he destroyed just before his death. That meant they would not be able to gather any more information about who he was or where he came from. And so, they would just have to move on from this mystery and continue their patrolling of the outer rim.

The ending, then, seemed to carry a message with it. Perhaps not a strong message (no pun intended), but one that put an emphasis on power, strength and age. The Elder, in Tajin’s eyes, must have been foolish to seek out such a fight in his old age. And Tajin himself admitted that as he grows older, even he weakens in power.

Perhaps the lesson here is don’t be overconfident. Or possibly know your limitations as you age. But whatever the case, the episode certainly wanted the viewer to take away something from the old man’s story. So the true meaning of the episode’s ending will depend on whatever lesson resonated with the audience after watching this episode.

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