SPOILER WARNING AHEAD FOR ALL STAR WARS CONTENT!
Last week on Ahsoka, we got flashbacks and a heavy dose of Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker.
This week, our titular character wasn’t around too much as the camera focused on Baylan Skoll, Sabine Wren and, yes, GRAND ADMIRAL THRAWN, who has finally made his live-action debut.
If you’re unfamiliar with this mastermind strategist sporting blue skin and deep red eyes, he made his debut in the extended Star Wars’ universe in the 1991 novel by Timothy Zahn, Heir to the Empire. He quickly became a cult favorite among fans and was later officially brought into canon by Dave Filoni when he appeared in the animated series Rebels. Here, he is played by the same actor who voiced him in that show, Lars Mikkelsen (House of Cards, The Witcher, Headhunter). During the peak of the Empire’s reign, Thrawn was a brilliant and ruthless military leader with a keen sense of how to think several steps ahead of the Rebel Alliance. That is, until Ezra Bridger uses the purrgil to send himself and Thrawn into another galaxy for nearly a decade, bringing us to this episode.
A quick recap:
#Ahsoka Spoilers
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HE SAID THE THING!!! pic.twitter.com/eJ440eJ8Bb— 💙 Jenna 🧡 AHSOKA SPOILERS (@cap_rexofthe501) September 20, 2023
The purrgil are escorting Ahsoka and Huyang on an intergalactic mission as the search for Sabine, Ezra and Thrawn continues. Meanwhile, Sabine awakes on the Eye of Sion just as it exits hyperspace and approaches the planet Peridea, which, according to Morgan Elsbeth is the ancient home-world of the Dathomiri (the species Darth Maul belongs to). Baylan Skoll, however, says that Peridea is a “graveyard” and the end of the migration route used by the purrgil. Both could be true, as Elsbeth says her people were the first to harness the power of space whales and ride them.
Baylan, Sabine, Elsbeth and Shin Hati take a transport to the surface level of Peridea where they are greeted by three witches of Dathomir. The witches, unsettled by the Jedi vibes Sabine gives off – despite her inability to actually harness the Force – send her into solitary confinement while Baylan, Shin and Elsbeth await the arrival of Grand Admiral Thrawn. Soon, a Star Destroyer appears, stocked fully with Stormtroopers. No, wait – Night Troopers?
The troopers bring Sabine before Thrawn, who tells her she is free to go search for Ezra, but warns her: He may be dead, and once Thrawn’s ship leaves, Sabine may be stranded on this planet. Sabine mounts a beast of some sort – a Howler – and begins her search. Thrawn then reveals his larger plan for Sabine: Should she find Ezra, he intends to send Baylan and Shin after the pair to kill them. Thrawn also makes it clear to Elsbeth that his goal is to escape this galaxy, and he does not care if Sabine, Ezra, Baylan or Shin are left behind.
After fighting off a group of bandits with her lightsaber, Sabine follows a group of some alien species – something resembling a turtle called “Noti” – back to their encampment. Waiting for her there is a bearded Ezra Bridger. The two exchange a few barbs, then embrace in an emotional hug.
The Great Mothers – those witches – then inform Thrawn that another Jedi is on the way to Peridea.
Here’s what else we learned from the episode.
Thrawn has been busy.
While exiled on this planet, Thrawn has not sat idly by waiting to be rescued. It is apparent that he has been working with these three Dathomirin witches – the Great Mothers – to communicate beyond galaxies and to build up his small, but seemingly mighty army of Night Troopers.
What are Night Troopers? It’s not explicitly stated, but let’s point out a few things: These troopers have a new look. Their armor is a bit worn and unclean, and they wear red bandages and have some gold accents. They seem different than your average Stormtrooper. And with Thrawn leaning on the Great Mothers’ magic so much, could this legion of soldiers be resurrected Stormtroopers?
Thrawn also introduces his right-hand man, Captain Enoch, played by Wes Chatham (The Expanse, Hunger Games, Tenet). Enoch has a helmet that is similar to that of a typical Stormtrooper, but it features a gold face plate. This seems to be the first appearance of Captain Enoch anywhere in Star Wars. What he is capable of remains to be seen.
This shot of grand admiral thrawn arriving to this scene with his awesome looking storm troopers on episode 6 goes hard👌🏽🔥 #TanoTuesday #Thrawn #Ahsoka pic.twitter.com/COUM8sV4ar
— 𝙶𝚒𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚎✖️✖️//💥⏳🥀🐉 (@giselleb1234) September 20, 2023
Baylan longs for something resembling the Jedi Order.
“Do you miss it? The Order?”
Baylan Skoll’s apprentice, Shin Hati, asks him this near the end of the episode. Baylan scoffs and replies, “I miss the idea of it. But not the truth, the weakness. There was no future there.”
As this episode progressed, it kept feeling like Baylan has some motives that do not quite align with Thrawn or Morgan Elsbeth. Their goal is to get off this planet, get back to the galaxy they came from and restore the Empire to power. While Baylan never seems vehemently opposed to that idea, he often – privately, to Shin – voices other desires. And he seems to believe there is something for him on Peridea that is not Thrawn or Ezra.
“I see what once was the great Witch Kingdom of the Dathmiri,” Skoll says. “The existence of the Great Mothers confirms this.”
When Shin points out that, hey, uh Baylan, sure seems like the Great Mothers want to get the heck off this miserable plant too, Skoll replies, “Perhaps they flee a power greater of their own. Something calls to me. Can’t you hear it? Something stirs here. Can’t you see it?”
Earlier in the episode, Baylan reflects on stories he was told in the Jedi Temple about Peridea.
He then tells Shin, “When I was a bit older than you are now, I watched everything I knew burn.”
“The Jedi Temple?” she asks.
He nods. “I couldn’t make sense of it at the time. As you get older, look at history, you realize it’s all inevitable; the fall of the Jedi, the rise of the Empire. It repeats again and again and again.”
“Won’t our alliance with Thrawn finally bring us into power?” Shin asks.
“That sort of power is fleeting,” Skoll says. “What I seek, is the beginning, so I may finally bring this cycle to an end.”
Also: We now know that Thrawn knew – or at least knew of – Baylan. When they are introduced, Thrawn asks him, “Then you must be General Baylan Skoll, of the Jedi Order?”
Skoll assures him, “I parted ways with the Jedi long ago.”
That much is clear. What isn’t clear is how loyal Skoll will be to Elsbeth or Thrawn when push comes to shove.
Yet another stunning performance for Ray Stevenson as #BaylanSkoll in #Ahsoka episode 6. I find myself in an absolute trance anytime he speaks. The more I learn about Baylan, the more questions I have. Star Wars needs more layered, mysterious villains like this. pic.twitter.com/ZmSzILDkWt
— Adam (@adamblevins_) September 20, 2023
Ezra has no idea that the Empire fell.
Imagine existing in the Star Wars universe around this time and having no idea that Luke Skywalker destroyed the Death Star, or that Lando Calrissian blew up the second Death Star, or that Darth Vader is dead, or that Lothal was liberated, or that the New Republic is now in power.
After years in exile on this planet in another galaxy, that’s the territory Ezra Bridger finds himself in.
When Sabine finally locates him, he asks her of his plan to use purrgil to take he and Thrawn to another galaxy, playfully, but also seriously: “Hey, it worked, didn’t it?”
A pause.
“Didn’t it?”
Sabine assures him that it did. But other than that, Ezra seems blissfully unaware of everything that occurred from the end of Rebels – months before the Battle of Yavin – to now, around 9 BBY.
The destruction of Scarif, the Battle of Hoth, Han Solo frozen in carbonite, the death of Jabba the Hutt, the Battle of Endor, the supposed death of the Emperor – Ezra doesn’t seem to know about any of it.
Sabine has a lot to catch him up on.
The hug between Ezra and Sabine 🥹#ahsoka #Sabine #SabineWren #EzraBridger #Ezra pic.twitter.com/Bud2wDVLZ0
— RaFe 🍂 (@RaFe_Tano) September 20, 2023
