Star Wars: Ahsoka Space Whales – Purrgil Explained

Episode 5 of Star Wars: Ahsoka is now streaming on Disney+ and once again put the Purrgil into the spotlight – people have been calling them Star Wars space whales for a while now and that’s essentially hitting the nail on the head, but may simplify things a little.

After their initial appearance in Dave Filoni’s animated show Star Wars: Rebels, to which Ahsoka is basically a sequel, these majestic creatures had one live-action cameo appearance in Season 3 of The Mandalorian, where Grogu spots them while he and Din travel through hyperspace. That makes it somewhat difficult to follow for those among the viewers who haven’t watched Rebels.

Fear not, though, because we’re here to tell you all you need to know about the Star Wars space whales.

It’s been confirmed that just like real whales, the Purrgil seem to be a migratory species traveling along pre-established routes at certain times. It just so happens that this route doesn’t merely lead them from one star system to another, but is an intergalactic journey – indeed, they may not be a species native to the galaxy far, far away that most of the saga we know of plays out in.

At the end of Star Wars: Rebels, Ezra Bridger (Taylor Gray in Rebels, Eman Esfandi in Ahsoka), who has command of the Force and a special talent when it comes to communicating with animals, was able to save his homeworld of Lothal as well as his friends by asking the Purrgil to kidnap the fleet of imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen). Ezra himself, who was a prisoner on Thrawn’s flagship Chimaera at the time, went with them. However, it seems like not all of Thrawn’s ships actually went all the way to that other galaxy.

In The Mandalorian Season 3, we see Thrawn’s trusted officer Gilad Pellaeon (Xander Berkeley) during the meeting of the Shadow Council – he was on one of the ships kidnapped by the Purrgil, but seems to have remained in the galaxy we know. Indeed, just like Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto), he appears to know where the Grand Admiral is, suggesting that there is some sort of communication happening.

In Episode 5 of Ahsoka, we see Ahsoka (Rosario Dawson) use the same trick as Ezra: She communes with one of the Purrgil through the Force, coming to an understanding with it. The leviathan allows her ship to land inside its mouth, enabling it to make the journey to the other galaxy as a passenger with Ahsoka and Huyang (David Tennant) on board.

This gives us an interesting hint: It wasn’t just Ezra’s special talent that allowed him to get the Purrgil to assist him. It very much seems like the creatures are especially sensitive to the Force, allowing wielders of that power to commune with them on a basic level.

Purrgil have been a known phenomenon for a long time in the galaxy and seem to have inspired some species to invent hyperspace technology in the first place. As Huyang says in an earlier episode of Ahsoka, the Jedi Order maintained information about them and their migratory routes in the temple archives.

The Purrgil always are good for a surprise – just like this entire show: Not even Ahsoka co-director Peter Ramsey knows the ending.