A History Of The Ones Who Resided In The Realm Of Mortis
You may recognize the mural above as a detail from the final season of Star Wars Rebels. The show didn't delve into the lore or do much explaining about who the beings were, but that doesn't make them an insignificant piece. Referring to anything in Star Wars as simply “The Ones” can sound a bit confusing, mysterious, or downright boring. Let me assure you, they are anything but.
The Ones are a family of three, generally associated with the title "Celestials" referenced in the Killik species’ history. They are known as the Father, the Daughter, and the Son, all Force-wielders and very powerful. The children the differing sides of the Force, the Light and the Dark, as evident from everything from behaviors, to powers, even down to their appearance, with the Daughter having a light, ethereal appearance synonymous with the light side and the Son having a similar look to the Inquisitors and other dark side denizens. The Father maintained a balance between his children and their respective extremes of power.
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The Father, as mentioned, maintained a balance, but that wasn’t always his role, and his children had not always represented the extreme ends of the Force. In the past, the Father had forbidden his children from indulging in the nexus of extremes, such as the Font of Power on Abeloth's planet and the Pool of Knowledge in the Maw Cluster.
The Font of Power was heavy with dark side energy, while the Pool of Knowledge was heavy with light side energy. The children snuck to these sources of power and indulged in them, respectively. This led to their rivalry and violence, which the Father tried to mediate.
You may be wondering, there’s the Father, the Daughter, and the Son, but is there a Mother figure? There was, for a time. Originating as a servant, she eventually rose to a motherly position within the family structure. For a time, she healed the relationship between the children and kept them in check. Until she too fell into temptation and indulged in both the Font and the Pool. A creature of chaos she became, Abeloth, forcing the family to flee to survive, abandoning her and traveling to the realm of Mortis. This planetary location allowed the Father to keep the children in check more easily by himself, since they were now lacking the previous control figure, and to keep the Force balanced as well.
Mortis was never on any map. The Force presence and the way it fluxed actually shifted the landscape as time would pass. The world itself was like a dream. The time of day reflected the literal Force presence, the daylight hours were full of life and prosperity, while the nighttime contained wilt and painful shadows.
More recent Star Wars fans may recognize the family from Star Wars Rebels, but that wasn’t the first time they came into play. Their first appearance was in Season 3, Episode 15 of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the episode titled Overlords. This followed an arc where Obi-Wan, Anakin, and his Padawan, Ahsoka, are called to investigate an odd, extremely outdated Jedi distress code. They can’t find anything where the coordinates lead and their ship loses power while they black out, waking up on Mortis. The Father wants to verify that Anakin is the Chosen One from the prophecy, and during this, the Son attempts to assassinate the Father. The Daughter steps in front of her brothers blade, saving her fathers life, but at the cost of her own life and throwing the balance of the Force off. Not long after the first attempt, the Son tries again, but the Father takes control of the situation, stabbing himself to create an opening for Anakin to step in and kill the Son himself. The Force is brought back into balance with the death of the three, and Mortis goes up in light like it never existed in the first place.
While the family dies here, their influence doesn’t. Their absence creates a lack of a physical balance in the Force, which Luke Skywalker later addresses in the novel Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse. The Son and the Daughter were considered deities to the Nightsisters. The family had a great influence on the Force, living proof that it has been woven through the galaxy for centuries upon centuries. Even after death, their influence and symbolism have reach and a lasting impact.
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Source(s): Wookieepedia