Thread by @JSolo1994

Before a full analysis of the #Ahsoka teaser can be done we need to solve its central mystery: Baylan Skoll and Shin Hati, and use that answer as the foundation of our guesswork.

I've wavered on who these 2 are for a couple days but I think I've figured out it now.
A thread:

My guesses had ranged from Dark Jedi from the Unknown Regions, to members of the Lost Tribe of the Sith, to Sith from the Old Republic via the World Between Worlds, to Bane and Zannah themselves.
But I think ultimately the key is in their orange blades and what those symbolize.

We clearly see true red blades in this teaser with the Inquisitor, so this is not a stylistic choice or unfinished vfx, the blades are orange, but a reddish orange, intentionally.

These Sith don't want to bleed their crystals, they want the look without doing the work twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Just as we know these blades aren't meant to be red, we can safely say they're also not meant to be a normal, natural Kyber orange, as seen in Fallen Order and #JediSurvivor

I think these Force Users have synthetic crystals, like the Sith used in Legends. twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

They want red blades without doing the ritual. So what about the ritual are they avoiding?
1. The emotional toll the ritual takes.
2. The pain the semi-sentient kyber is put through to make it bleed.
3. The passion required to pour your rage, fear, hate, and pain into the kyber.

They want to strike fear into the hearts of their enemies, without doing the emotional work of the Bleeding ritual, perhaps without hurting the Kyber, and without giving into their emotions.
They certainly look like Sith though, and it's not just the red-orange blades.

Baylan and Shin also both wear armor, something else we associate with the Sith.
While the Clone Wars had Jedi in armour, that was a sign of their fall from grace. Traditionally, the Jedi wear robes to symbolize pacifism and spirituality above might twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

And yet.
We never see actually see them kill anyone.

That's kind of weird for Sith, no? All we see them do is deflect shots dispassionately, and choke a dude.
We don't see Baylan cut anyone down, the teaser cuts immediately once the New Republic soldier is lifted into the air.

I think we're being misled.
This is meant to evoke the Vader hallway scene, but Baylan doesn't want to kill anyone, and will actually be using Dark powers to minimalize casualties through terror & easier incapacitation.
This isn't casual slaughter, it's dispassionate self-defense

Shin has a Padawan braid, that's not very Sith of her.

She seems to be cutting down this New Republic officer, but could just as easily be merely slicing her blaster.
She does seem more intense though, I wonder if she'll be the first of the two to fall entirely to the Dark Side twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

We might also notice, (now that we're looking past the familiar Sith iconography that the teaser is using and looking at things with an open mind) that Baylan is not wearing black, but a dark Grey.
Both of them are wearing Grey.
Not just their clothing, even their hair is Grey.

The most iconic picture of a Grey Jedi, the image most commonly used by fans for those Grey Jedi posters you see everywhere, and the first thing that comes up when you search "Grey Jedi" on Google, is this.

A figure clad in grey, light armoring, and orange blades.

Where a Jedi might slay a hundred men in self-defense, perhaps Baylan&Shin might fry 10 men with lightning, leading to the other 90 surrendering. "Isn't saving lives more important than which abilities we wield?" They might argue. But you know what the road to Hell is paved with.

Look at how dispassionately they deflect shots and remove their obstacles. These are not Sith. These are, at least in their own minds, Grey Jedi.
They use Dark powers, but they don't give into their emotions, they stay calm, with inner peace.
Now of course, Grey Jedi don't exist twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

I think Dave Filoni is intentionally tackling the most pervasive myth in the Star Wars fandom, and will use Baylan and Shin to demonstrate what being a Grey Jedi would actually mean, and where that path leads: Invariably, to ruin.

Because the Dark Side is the One Ring.

The Dark Side is like the One Ring: It would be ideal to resist succumbing to it, to master it, and use its power to destroy evil.
But you can't master it. That's the whole point. You can't use the One Ring to vanquish Sauron without succumbing to it and becoming the next Sauron. twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

The intrinsic corruption of the Dark Side can't be resisted because the intrinsic corruption of Power cannot be resisted.
The Dark Side isn't just choking and lighting, it's not just the Sith, it's not even just giving into selfish desires.
It is the Quick And Easy Path to power.

Grey Jedi are a fanon thing, an antithetical power fantasy which fundamentally misunderstands the nature of the Force
There is no evidence in over 40 years of storytelling, over 200,000 years of lore, in Canon or Legends, that a Force User can achieve Balance between Light & Dark

Because the Dark Side is not part of the Balance, it's a cancer to the natural state of the Force, which is the Light.
George even considered it calling it the Paraforce, because he has always seen it as a parasite.
Balance is the eradication of the poison that is the Dark Side.

You cannot use the Dark Side for long without losing yourself to it. It is inherently, intrinsically, corruptive, and though it promises freedom what it brings is enslavement. It promises salvation but damns you and all you love.
You do not master the Dark Side, it masters you.

The Cosmic Force cannot be "balanced" between Light and Dark because the Dark will not allow the Light to live. It is a poison to the Light, it cannot coexist with the Light, it can only be kept at bay, yet never destroyed, by those who serve the Light.

In short, the Grey Jedi fantasy is the lie the Dark Side tells you: that you are strong enough to use it without being bound by it. That the quick and easy path to power has no lasting consequences for those strong enough to resist them.
But the reality of Grey Jedi is different

I think we'll see that reality play out through Baylan & Shin, finally letting George's apprentice (who is now a master in his own right) correct the most common and most harmful misconception about The Force. And in doing so, provide new understanding to all past and future SW

If I'm wrong, that's okay, I'm sure that whatever Dave has planned is going to be excellent.
Thank you for reading this thread, and please let me know what you think of all this! I'd love to hear alternate theories about who or what Baylan and Shin might be.

I'll be back soon with the actual analysis of the Ahsoka teaser trailer, I just had to figure out my feelings on these two characters before I could make sense of anything about the story!
May the Force be with You💜 twitter.com/i/web/status/1…