I really enjoyed that. I wonder what the relationship of this coven to Dathomir and the Nightsisters is. Perhaps their precursors came from another galaxy (per Ahsoka) and then split into various colonies.
When a culture is that ancient, it's a fair bet they spawned countless off-shoot cults, sects, religions, denominations and what-have-you over the millennia; most of which that still persist may not even know of their connection to the Ancient Witch Kingdom of the Dathmiri. So it's not impossible.
That said; while I can see several parallels to the Nightsisters specifically, beyond the surface level "it's an all-female coven of force using witches" -- Nightsisters do talk a bit about the threads of fate, are considered dark side users, and claim to be living in exile -- this is a type of force use (and philosophy!) that whether they realise or acknowledge it or not is *much* closer to that of the Jedi. Nightsisters are all about the Magiks, and tapping into the living primordial power of a specific place. Dathomir, in their case.
Loved this different take on the Force. It makes sense there would be different views of it in different groups.
Like I said; I was struck by how similar their outlook was the to Jedi way in terms of the nature of the force itself. They mostly seem to be hung up on semantics and perceived differences rather than anything diametrically opposed . . . which feels pretty typical of most religious rivalries. Honestly, it seems the more in common they have, the more likely they are to start trying to burn each other at the steak.
To extend that analogy; whatever the tension is between this coven and the Jedi, it doesn't feel like a "Christians vs. Pagans" thing to me, so much as a "Catholics vs Protestants" thing (very very broadly speaking, of course!)
Where did Osha learn the Jedi were good?
I wondered about Osha's knowledge about the Jedi, too. Considering the immediacy of their arrival and the vitriol the other sisters have for them, how did Osha get that impression?
I think it was just a feeling she had. Probably through the force. Both Ahsoka and Yoda have a natural talent for seeing through to a person's true intentions and intellectually just know if they're good or bad. It seemed to be something like that.
I've always had some problems with the whole "taking very young children from their families", but this made me wonder how much say the families have in the whole thing.
From everything we've seen so far on Clone Wars, TotE etc; it's very much a choice.
I think the point of contention here isn't that there are force sensitive kids, but the whole situation would seem highly suspicious from the Jedis' perspective. I mean they're the only two kids in a group of several dozen adults (many of them armed) hiding away in an old fortress on a deserted world, supposedly using the dark side of the force . . . it has cult indoctrination and training written all over it. I think the Jedi are mostly using their right to test potentials as a way to assess just what the hell this lot are up to. Of course we still don't have the full picture oh how things went so badly sideways that night.
Side note: I suspect the not so subtle parallels to Waco Texas circa 1993 are not entirely unintentional.
I also wondered what was so dangerous about being outside of the fortress. Mother Koril made it sound like that the threat was a longstanding one and yet the Jedi only recently arrived. Was that threat what actually killed them?
I think it was less about the outside being especially dangerous, and more about keeping the girls hidden. They already knew Jedi were on-planet and in the area by that point, so it stands to reason they were trying to avoid basically what happened.