The purrgil are among Star Wars' most mysterious creatures, and Ahsoka has expanded upon their mythos with the journey to the new galaxy. While the Purrgil's ability to travel through hyperspace has always been impressive, the extension of this ability to traverse new galaxies makes their power even more impressive. However, the question remains, why would the purrgil need to travel so far?

Ahsoka, Season 1, Episode 6, "Part Six: Far, Far Away" may have the answer. At the beginning of the episode, the Eye of Sion finishes its journey to a new galaxy and to Peridea. When they arrive, Baylan Skoll comments on legends that the purrgil use Peridea as a graveyard. The Eye of Sion passes through the bones of a purrgil as Baylan relays this tale, seemingly proving the legend true. This legend resembles real world myths about elephants traveling to specific places to die. While these elephant legends have not been proven, they provide a strong new lens to view the purrgil and their culture through as they continue to gain importance in the Star Wars galaxy and beyond.

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The Purrgil Share Burial Practices With Elephants from Legends

While the purrgil mainly have been based upon whales in past Star Wars works, they do share some other characteristics with elephants. In Star Wars Rebels, Season 2, Episode 15, "The Call," Ezra Bridger learns that the purrgil migrate in part to feed upon gases that allow them to survive in the vacuum of space and travel through hyperspace. In the real world, as Avni Gupta reports for Wildlife SOS, elephants also often migrate in search of food, increasingly so as their habitats become more and more threatened. In an article for the African Wildlife Foundation, Terry Mukera explains that elephants also have adapted their migration patterns in response to poachers and other human threats, and the purrgil's adaptations to their routes in Star Wars reflects this reality.

However, the purrgil graveyard orbiting Peridea provides the strongest connection between purrgil and elephant myths. Like Baylan Skoll's purrgil legend in "Part Six: Far, Far Away," the myths of elephant graveyards center around the idea that if an elephant knows that they are going to die, they will travel to a specific location, the elephant graveyard, to spend their final days. This legend may stem from large groups of elephant skeletons or their ancestors being found in one place. For example, as Jerald Pinson reports for the Florida Museum, many gomphothere skeletons, ancestors of elephants, have been uncovered at Florida's Montbrook Fossil dig, but these gomphotheres likely died from other causes than old age.

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Another origin for the elephant graveyard myth could stem from the amount of respect that elephants pay for their dead. In an article for The Guardian by Alice Wignall, Dr. Karen McComb explains that elephants will remember their dead for years afterward, paying their respects at the site of a family members' graves and even sometimes taking part of the bones along with them for remembrance. However, McComb also explains that this fascination could extend to any elephant's remains, not just a member of their family group.

Baylan Skoll and Morgan Elsbeth both refer to Peridea as the final stop on the purrgils' migration path before they begin the cycle again. It is likely that, similar to elephants, purrgils also pay respects to their fallen family every time they visit Peridea. Thus, while the purrgils' migration could be survival oriented, the real world behavior of elephants shows that the purrgils' journey to Peridea could be in part a pilgrimage to honor the dead, support the dying and begin the cycle anew.

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The Purrgil Graveyard Reveals New Depths to Star Wars' Most Powerful Creatures

The purrgil graveyard, and their mythic journey to die reveals new depths to their sentience and their cultural practices. In "The Call," Hera Syndulla reveals that most of the galaxy views purrgil as unintelligent nuisances at best and dangers at worst, especially when they accidentally collide with ships in hyperspace. However, Ezra's connection with the Purrgil King also shows that the purrgil have their own society, culture and beliefs and are far more sentient than the galaxy realizes. With Ezra's insight, by the end of the episode, she also recognizes that the purrgil are far more intelligent and nuanced than she realizes, and Hera gains a new respect for the purrgil after all.

Hera's view of the purrgil reveals that most of the galaxy has forgotten that the purrgil are actually the origins of hyperspace travel. As Dave Filoni explains in the Rebels Recon episode for "The Call," hyperdrives were created by Star Wars scientists and engineers observing the purrgil's natural space travel. Ahsoka's "Part Six: Far, Far Away" also confirms this when Morgan Elsbeth states, with great respect, that her Dathomiri ancestors were the first to use the purrgil for hyperspace travel. Combined with Baylan Skoll's graveyard legend, both Morgan Elsbeth and Baylan show great reverence for the purrgil and for Peridea's role in the history of both the purrgil and the Dathomiri.

Thus, the purrgil graveyard in "Part Six: Far, Far Away" builds upon previous Star Wars lore about the purrgil and expands upon their culture. By connecting the purrgil to real world elephants, Ahsoka expands upon the purrgils' culture while still rooting them in real world fauna. As Ahsoka continues, the purrgil's culture will possibly come to the forefront once more when Ahsoka and Huyang arrive with a pod of purrgil to try to prevent Grand Admiral Thrawn from returning to the main Star Wars galaxy and possibly save Sabine Wren and Ezra Bridger in the process.

New episodes of Ahsoka are available to stream every Tuesday on Disney+.