We discuss how Gungi survived Order 66 and why the Trandoshans use Imperial tanks.
The Bad Batch Season 2 Episode 6 brings Cloneforce 99 back to the familiar planet of Kashyyyk, and sees them cross paths with Gungi, one of the younglings first introduced in Star Wars: The Clone Wars season 5. Dave Filoni and the writers are able to balance his reappearance with beats that are repurposed from an unfinished arc of The Clone Wars in an entertaining episode and one that embodies the idea that the Force can be expressed and felt in different ways.
A lingering question from the episode is how Gungi survives the infamous Order 66. We aren’t told, other than he bears an understandable fear of the Bad Batch, driven by a fear of clones. The Clone Wars also doesn’t give an answer to his survival, but some clues are available to speculate on. Hunter’s question of how the Trandoshans got their hands on Imperial tanks also goes unanswered in the episode, but it’s possible to explain it.
How did Gungi survive Order 66?
The Bad Batch Season 2 Episode 6 reintroduces audiences to the Jedi youngling Gungi. He was part of a group of five other younglings called Petro, Katooni, Byph, Ganodi, and Zatt, and audiences saw them construct their lightsabers and get captured by the pirate Hondo.
The younglings haven’t been mentioned after this arc, and their fate was left ambiguous. It’s most likely that they perished during Order 66, though there is a theory that Katooni survived and became an Imperial Inquisitor known as the Fourth Sister, as they are the same species. It is of course possible they survived like Gungi, and are trying to survive under Imperial rule.
Gungi is the only youngling that we know for sure outlasted Order 66, and it’s not clear how. As a Jedi youngling, the most likely location for him to be during Order 66 would be the Jedi Temple, where Anakin and the 501st murdered the younglings and any other Jedi they found. From there, he might have made his way into the Coruscant underworld to try and get a ship but instead got captured by one of the many gangs that roam the streets, such as the Droid Gotra. This is just speculation as Gungi could have been anywhere when Order 66 was triggered.
Who is buying Gungi in The Bad Batch Season 2 Episode 6?
In the episode, the leader of the crime group Vanguard Axis says that he doesn’t want to hurt Gungi, but instead wants to keep him alive for his buyer. But the episode quickly moves on without revealing who this buyer is. And while it could be anyone, there are two likely options.
- The first is that the Empire wants to purchase Gungi, as Vanguard Axis do know he is a Jedi (their leader has his lightsaber) and that the Empire would want to interrogate him about the possible location of the other younglings and other Jedi. They might then press Gungi into slavery. While the Empire could simply take Gungi by force, they did deal with some criminal syndicates, notably the Hutts.
- Another likely candidate could be Trandoshans. They have a deep hatred for Wookiees and often hunt them and other aliens for sport. This can be seen at the end of Star Wars: The Clone Wars season three. It’s possible they were buying him to use for sport and didn’t know he was a Jedi.
Why are the Trandoshans using Imperial tanks?
Partway through episode 6, when figuring out who destroyed the village on Kashyyyk the Bad Batch try to take Gungi to, they realize that there are Trandoshans burning the nearby forest. Hunter realizes they’re using Imperial tanks and is confused by this.
When we see the Trandoshans, we see the tanks they’re using are Separatist Armored Assault Tanks (AAT), with the Imperial logo on them. These tanks seem damaged and are modified to have a flamethrower instead of a typical main gun. The Empire must have claimed these tanks as part of the spoils of war, perhaps from old battlefields like Kashyyyk, and given them to the Trandoshans. After all, it saves the Empire from having to give the Trandoshans new equipment and spending the time to train them on it.
The Empire working with the Trandoshans is unusual on the surface, as the Trandoshans used to be Separatists, the former enemy of the Republic. But the Empire now has the same enemy as the Trandoshans, as they want to take resources from the planet, and the Wookiees would stand in their way. Forming a partnership with the Trandoshans means the Empire doesn’t have to commit extensive amounts of troops to the planet and can get others to do their job for them. And the benefit of their partners using damaged Clone Wars-era tanks is that they’re much more disposable.
