Things got interesting in the latest Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 2 episode as Hunter, Wrecker, and the others went on a treasure hunt only to find a giant mech waiting for them. While it didn’t further the main story, The Bad Batch Season 2 Episode 5 had a Horizon and Indiana Jones-esque vibe, making it an enjoyable watch. The booty wasn’t the one expected, but the Clone Force 99 discovered a mysterious technology that dates back to the Ancients, who lived way before the Jedi.
What Happened in Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 2 Episode 5
“Entombed” took the titular protagonists on a side quest that might have repercussions on the Star Wars future. The gang ignored Echo’s requests to take up arms against the Empire but went treasure hunting after Wrecker and Omega found a compass that led to a lost star system. The episode featured Phee Genoa’s return, who couldn’t miss the opportunity to look for some lost treasure since she’s an actual pirate. The Bad Batch and Phee traveled to the Kaldar Trinary system, where they landed on a desolate planet. When they bumped into some enigmatic glyphs covering the entrance of an ancient temple-like structure, Pheec suggested they might have found Skara Nal, where a crystalized stone of great power called the Heart of the Mountain lay hidden.
After a series of dangers and perils inside the temple, the gang reached the Heart of the Mountain only to find out that Skara Nal was a giant robot-like mech — not a temple –, and the Heart of the Mountain was the key to activating the giant mech. Skara Nal unleashed havoc on the planet with its laser beam until Phee and the others deactivated it with the Heart of the Mountain, leading to the mech’s destruction.
Who Created Skara Nal?
It was pretty clear to Phee and the others that Skara Nal was a technology that pre-dated the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order. According to Phee, Skara Nal was a walker created by the Ancients, a civilization that lived 25,000 years before the events in The Bad Batch and the Star Wars movies. It’s not the first time Star Wars refers to the Ancients, as they have already been mentioned in the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic video game and, more recently, in Andor Episode 4.
There isn’t much information about the Ancients, safe for they were a very developed civilization that could create potent weapons. It isn’t very clear what Phee meant by “Ancients” either, as there were different civilizations during the Pre-Republic era. Mostly, their stories belong to the Star Wars Legends, but some are starting to become Canon (think of Luthen referencing the Rakatan civilization in Andor). However, it must not be just a coincidence producers are expanding the Star Wars lore with occasional references to the pre-Republic days in the latest shows.