Star Wars Just Made A Strange Jedi Power Canon
Tales of the Underworld is digging into the deep cuts.
After nearly five decades of Star Wars, you’d think the rules and powers of Jedi would be set in stone. But in a 2019 Mandalorian episode, Grogu was suddenly able to heal Din Djarin, and that power was seen again just a few weeks later in The Rise of Skywalker. Force healing may not have previously appeared in the modern canon, but in the old, now non-canonical Legends timeline, it was described in the novel Splinter of the Mind’s Eye. Now, another Legends power is entering the canon, and it could come in quite handy.
In the new animated series Tales of the Underworld, bounty hunter Asajj Ventress is shown lying low when she encounters Lyco, a young Jedi seeking the Path, the underground network that helps Jedi escape the Empire. At first, Ventress isn’t willing to help, but then Lyco mentions the Path was established by Quinlan Vos, the lover she was forced to abandon in exchange for being brought back to life by the Nightsisters.
Lyco has a Force-powered grasp of languages.
So Ventress sets off with Lyco, and in Episode 3, they end up on a desert planet. There, they get roped into helping some settlers defend themselves against raiders, but Lyco suddenly yells that the settlers were stealing the raiders’ water. “You understand them?” Asajj asks, to which Lyco replies, “I am a Jedi.” He then has a conversation with the raiders, even though this is the first time he’s ever heard their language.
This marks the first canonical appearance of a long-standing Legends Jedi power: the ability to understand every language and, somehow, speak them. The Mandalorian used something similar to allow Ahsoka and Grogu to speak telepathically, but this is the first time we’ve seen a Jedi speak an entirely different language.
In Clone Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi translated for a Nelvaanian shaman.
This power first appeared in the 1994 novel The Courtship of Princess Leia, and was later used by Jedi like Luke Skywalker, Mace Windu, Qui-Gon Jinn, and Obi-Wan Kenobi. But we’ve never seen it in the modern canon. The last time it was shown at all was in a 2005 Clone Wars episode, so it’s never been a core component of the Jedi repertoire.
Lyco talks about this power like it’s something every Jedi has access to, but that doesn’t quite make sense considering all the instances where a Jedi has needed a translator. Regardless of how common it is, this power could reappear down the line now that it’s canonical, and it could certainly help move some stories along. Apparently, the Jedi toolbox wasn’t so complete after all.
