Demon Worms
In “Sacrifice” (The Clone Wars 6.13), Yoda travels to the ancient Sith temple on the planet Moraband as the last stage of his journey to learn the way to immortality. Before entering the temple, Yoda encounters the malignant shades of dead Sith, who take the form of a monstrous entity with glowing red eyes comprised of a mass of dark, writhing worms.
The grotesque imagery of this demonic entity draws inspiration from a similarly monstrous figure in the great Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki’s renowned film Princess Mononoke, in which a demon – a purplish mass of dark, writhing worms with glowing red eyes – attacks the heroic prince Ashitaka.
The homage to Princess Mononoke in “Sacrifice” is apropos, because both stories contrast the wisdom that comes with accepting death against the self-destructive folly that results from trying to unnaturally prolong one’s life. In Princess Mononoke, the human quest for immortality disrupts the balance of nature, and the fear of death corrupts the boar spirit Nago, transforming him into the worm-like demon. In “Sacrifice,” the Sith, driven by their own fear of death, tempt Yoda with various ways to achieve immortality, whether it be by creating a legacy that will last beyond the grave or ritually sacrificing the lives of others.
However, in both Princess Mononoke and “Sacrifice,” the willingness to die is, paradoxically, the path to new life. At the end of Princess Mononoke, the god of the forest “dies” and, by its death, renews the natural world. At the end of “Sacrifice,” Yoda overcomes the temptation of the Sith by choosing to sacrifice his own life to save Anakin Skywalker’s. Having passed this final test, he can set out on the path to live on after death.
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Characters: Yoda
Shows: The Clone Wars
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Concepts: life and death / monsters / nature and technology / sacrifice / Sith / temptation
Influences: anime / Studio Ghibli
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After reading this I must request an article on the (perhaps even more dreadful) mind control worms.