Jewish coding, alongside Nazi depictions
While
Eedy and Syril are not Jewish — since, presumably, Judaism does not exist in the Star Wars galaxy — there are strong indications that they are
coded as Jews. As a Jew myself, this coding is striking — Eedy's appearance, accent, intonation, mannerisms and phrasing, as well as the topics of conversation and the dynamic of her relationship with her son. And this would extend to Syril because if we read Eedy as Jewish, then
he would be too as her son.
All of this adds up to create a visceral impression in me, and I am not the only one to feel this way. Both the Jewish author
Abraham Josephine Riesman, as well as the
right-wing publication
Bounding into Comics, share this appraisal of Eedy. While many of the elements of this coding would be fine on their own, their complete saturation of the character forms the context in which plot points like Uncle Harlo are able to take on a more sinister meaning.
This is not to say that characters can't seem, or explicitly be, Jewish while doing bad things and being bad people. No demographic group is exclusively good or bad, and this should be reflected in fiction. But, while I cannot speak to the intention of the show writers, piling antisemitic trope upon trope — narcissism, manipulativeness, shadowy influence and a greedy view of the world — can only cause harm. This harm is reinforced both by the story the show is telling about fascism, as well as the context in which it is being watched and absorbed.
