He isn’t exactly a Sith. He isn’t quite a man. Honestly, calling the Son a "villain" feels like a massive understatement because it ignores the fact that he is essentially a god-tier manifestation of the dark side itself. If you’ve spent any time watching Star Wars: The Clone Wars, you probably remember the Mortis arc. It was weird. It was trippy. It changed everything we thought we knew about the Force. At the center of that chaos was the Son, a character who basically represents every intrusive thought and power-hungry impulse in the galaxy.
He's a nightmare.
When we talk about Star Wars the Son, we aren't just talking about another guy with a red lightsaber and a grudge. We're talking about one-third of the Ones—a family of incredibly powerful Force wielders living in a realm that shouldn't exist. He’s the personification of the dark side, but unlike Palpatine, he doesn't need a political office to be terrifying. He just is destruction.
Who exactly is the Son in Star Wars?
The Son lives on Mortis with his sister, the Daughter, and their father, known simply as the Father. It’s a family dynamic that makes the Skywalkers look incredibly well-adjusted. While the Daughter represents the light and the Father tries to keep the balance, the Son is the embodiment of the dark side's hunger for more. He wants out. He wants to leave Mortis and infect the rest of the galaxy with his brand of chaos.
Think about it this way: the Force isn't just an energy field in this context. It's a living, breathing conflict.
Sam Witwer voiced the Son, which is perfect because Witwer basically is the voice of the dark side in modern Star Wars. He brought this greasy, desperate, yet sophisticated energy to the role. The Son doesn't just hit you; he gets inside your head. He shifts shapes. One minute he’s a giant, leathery gargoyle-thing, and the next, he’s appearing as Shmi Skywalker to mess with Anakin’s brain. That’s his real power. It isn't just the red lightning he shoots from his fingers; it’s the way he exploits the specific trauma of whoever he’s talking to.
The Mortis Arc: Why it's still confusing people
The whole Mortis storyline in The Clone Wars (Season 3, Episodes 15-17) is polarizing. Some fans think it's too "high fantasy" for Star Wars. Others realize it's the literal backbone of Anakin's prophecy.
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When Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka get pulled into Mortis, the Son sees an opportunity. He doesn't just want to kill Anakin; he wants to use him. There is a specific moment where the Son shows Anakin his future—the younglings, the destruction of Alderaan, the suit. Anakin breaks. He agrees to join the Son just to prevent that future from happening. It's a classic Greek tragedy trope. By trying to stop the darkness, Anakin embraces the very person who represents it.
The Father eventually has to wipe Anakin’s memory of these visions because the balance was so skewed. But the damage was done. The Son proved that the dark side isn't just about being "evil" for the sake of it; it’s about the lure of control.
The Son vs. The Sith: What's the difference?
People often get confused and think the Son is a Sith Lord. He’s not.
Sith are practitioners. They are people—humans, aliens, whatever—who use a specific philosophy to harness the dark side. They have rules (usually). They have titles. Star Wars the Son is the source. He is the thing the Sith are trying to emulate. He doesn't follow the Rule of Two. He doesn't care about the Republic or the Separatists. To him, the Sith are likely just ants playing with matches.
- The Sith use the Force as a tool.
- The Son is the Force (the dark half, anyway).
- Sith die and stay dead (mostly). The Son required a specific ancient artifact, the Dagger of Mortis, to be truly vulnerable.
His relationship with the Daughter is the most fascinating part. They are locked in a cycle. She gives, he takes. She creates, he destroys. It’s a literal representation of the cosmic balance. When the Son accidentally kills the Daughter while trying to kill the Father, he isn't happy. He’s devastated. It shows that even the personification of pure darkness has a twisted sense of love, or at least a realization that he can't exist without his opposite.
Why does he look like that?
His design is deliberate. The pale skin, the red markings around the eyes, the aristocratic but decaying clothes. He looks like a vampire because the dark side is inherently parasitic. It feeds on life.
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If you look closely at his movements, he's incredibly fluid. He doesn't walk; he glides. It gives him this otherworldly presence that makes him stand out from every other villain in the series. George Lucas and Dave Filoni wanted the Mortis gods to feel like they stepped out of a different era of mythology, and they nailed it with the Son’s aesthetic.
The Dagger of Mortis and the death of a god
You can't just shoot the Son with a blaster. You can't even really kill him with a standard lightsaber. The only way to stop him was the Dagger of Mortis, an object capable of stripping the Ones of their power.
The end of the Mortis arc is bleak. The Daughter is dead. The Father kills himself with the dagger to strip the Son of his invincibility. Then, and only then, can Anakin finally run him through with a lightsaber. But here’s the kicker: did he actually die?
In Star Wars, especially with entities like this, "death" is a loose term. We see the Son's influence pop up later in Star Wars Rebels. The mural of the Ones on the Jedi Temple on Lothal is a massive plot point. The Son is there, etched into the stone, still looming over the galaxy’s fate. His presence is felt in the World Between Worlds.
The lasting legacy of the Son's influence
The Son’s impact on the lore didn't end in 2011. He redefined what "Balance in the Force" means. For years, people thought balance meant "no Sith." But the Father’s struggle to keep the Son and Daughter in check suggests that balance is actually about the containment of these forces.
If the Son represents the inevitable darkness within everyone, then balance is the act of not letting that darkness take the wheel.
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Recent series like Ahsoka have brought the Mortis lore back into the spotlight. We see statues of the Father and the Son on the planet Peridea. This suggests that the influence of Star Wars the Son extends far beyond the main galaxy. He is part of a universal constant. If Baylan Skoll is looking for a power that can "break the cycle," he’s almost certainly looking for something related to the legacy of the Son.
Some things you might have missed:
- The Son's "monster" form is actually called the Bat-form, and it's meant to contrast with the Daughter’s Griffin-form.
- He is the one who corrupted the planet's ecosystem, turning the beautiful day-cycle of Mortis into a permanent, decaying night.
- The Son is technically the reason Ahsoka is still alive. When she died on Mortis, the Daughter gave the last of her life force to revive her. This tied Ahsoka to the Light Side in a way that essentially makes her the Daughter’s successor.
How to actually understand the Son's philosophy
If you want to understand the Son, don't look at his actions; look at his motivations. He felt trapped. He felt that his father’s insistence on "balance" was just a form of imprisonment.
"Is it wrong to want to be free?" he asks.
From his perspective, he's the hero of his own story. He thinks the Father is a senile old man holding back the natural progression of the universe. It’s a very seductive argument. It’s the same argument every dictator in history has used: that the current order is broken and only they have the strength to fix it.
Actionable insights for the casual fan:
- Watch the Mortis Arc first: Don't jump into Rebels or Ahsoka lore without seeing the Son's debut. It's only three episodes.
- Pay attention to the color palette: Notice how the Son’s environment changes. The dark side isn't just red; it’s grey, cold, and stagnant.
- Look for the murals: When you rewatch Star Wars Rebels, keep an eye on the background art in the Jedi Temple episodes. The Son's positioning relative to the Daughter tells you exactly who is winning the "war" for the soul of the galaxy at that moment.
- Read the 'Fate of the Jedi' novels: If you want to see the "Legends" (non-canon) version of this kind of entity, look up Abeloth. She was basically the "Mother" who went insane. It adds a whole other layer of horror to the Son’s backstory.
The Son remains one of the most complex figures in the mythos because he isn't a person we can relate to—he’s a mirror. He shows Anakin his own potential for evil, and he shows the audience that the dark side isn't just a choice you make. It's a force of nature that's always waiting for the Father (the balance) to get tired.
To dive deeper into how this impacts the future of the franchise, your best move is to re-examine the statues in the final episodes of Ahsoka Season 1. They point toward a return to these "Gods of Mortis," and the Son's shadow is likely going to be the biggest hurdle for the next generation of Jedi. Keep an eye on the transition between seasons; the visual cues of the Son (red lightning, shifting shadows) are already starting to leak back into the aesthetic of the New Republic era.