Spoilers for Ahsoka Part Eight: The Jedi, The Witch, and the Warlord
Controversy isn’t the right word, but something about Ahsoka “Part Eight: The Jedi, The Witch, and the Warlord” is not going to sit right with some viewers. Thanks to Dave Filoni’s vision and the fact he’s a Star Wars fan first, Ahsoka did almost everything right… until now.
A fanbase divided will have a new argument after the Witches of Dathomir in Thrawn’s service have provided a plot device previously thought to only exist in Legends material. Along the way, in the Expanded Universe, Star Wars introduced zombies when they were saturating, or better yet, infecting the entertainment world. Death Troopers, the novel by Joe Schreiber, and its prequel, Red Harvest, were part of a convoluted Star Wars timeline with questions on canon. During the golden age of the undead in our world, the Blackwing virus was introduced in the Old Republic. Resurrected by Darth Vader and secreted to Dathomir, giving us ties to the Great Mothers, Star Wars zombies were a real thing.
Perhaps better off left with the scraps of Legends, Filoni apparently sees the undead as a way to justify the return of Palpatine in The Rise of Skywalker. He’s putting out fires with fire in this case. Pandora’s jar of zombies is going to make Star Wars a hokey joke, while Homers will argue it supports the line, “Somehow Palpatine returned.” It will be all thanks to Thrawn and his Witches. Doubling down on the poor planning of the sequel trilogy will harden the resolve of everyone who’s decided Disney ruined Star Wars, and as a defender of the franchise, I can’t blame them. It’s official. Star Wars has zombies.
Before we took a trip into left field, the episode began innocently enough. Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto), Witch of Dathomir, informs Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) that the cargo transfer is complete. Hints were there, but now it’s more obvious the cargo is cadavers in caskets, presumably the fatalities of the crew. Maybe they died in the battle during the final episode of Rebels. Maybe they starved on the desolate planet of Peridea while waiting decades for someone to rescue them.
Thrawn knows the Jedi group is heading toward them, so he dispatches two TIE fighters to intercept them. Meanwhile, the Great Mothers induct Morgan into their state of being with their majiks (their tapping of the Force). Arming Morgan with the blade of Talzin, a strange sword that reeks of their majiks. A duel is in the cards for sure.
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The Noti caravan is covered by Ahsoka’s shuttle. Inside, Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi) constructs a new lightsaber for himself, this time a blue blade. Huyang (voiced by David Tennant), who has taught lightsaber construction to young Jedi for centuries, learns of Ezra’s former Master, Kanan Jarrus. Uninformed viewers might be confused when Huyang reminisces about helping Caleb construct his own lightsaber. Caleb Dume was Kanan’s pre-Order-66 name. We also learn more about Sabine and Ahsoka’s in-between relationship from Huyang.
Ahsoka felt she couldn’t continue to train Sabine because of what happened to Mandalore. The Night of a Thousand Tears, referenced originally in The Mandalorian, was the night Sabine’s parents were slaughtered by the Empire along with hundreds of thousands of Mandalorians. Ahsoka was worried Sabine would tap into the Dark Side from her anger about it. Unfortunately, this tasty morsel of trivia leads nowhere in the story, at least not this season.
As Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) and Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) make amends after Sabine betrayed her trust to save Ezra, the caravan is attacked by Thrawn’s TIE fighters. In a sacrificial move, Sabine takes the fighters out with Ahsoka’s disabled shuttle. The Jedi group mounts Howlers to reach Thrawn faster as they realize time is short. Huyang and the Noti stayed back to repair the damaged ship.
Thrawn sends a volunteer battalion of Night Troopers for a ground assault against the Jedi group as they approach. They’ve arrived too soon, so first, it’s hellfire from above as Thrawn’s Star Destroyer mows the ground around them. Thrawn is visibly flustered for the first time. His Night Troopers attack Ahsoka, Sabine, and Ezra at the base of the fortress, but the Jedi group makes quick work of the repurposed bunch… until a finger twitches amongst the dead. Night Sister majik is telegraphed with green mist as the Night Troopers rise again. Ezra confirms for the rest of us, “This is new.” Even the soundtrack borrows strings from classic horror. This close to Halloween, one could almost accept Star Wars’ use of the undead. This time, the Night Troopers don’t go down as easily.
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Thrawn orders Morgan to slow the group down, and she understands she’s being left behind. Sabine and Ezra move on to stop Thrawn as Ahsoka takes on the witch and her new sword. As each battles the next level of sacrificial security, Thrawn locks the Star Destroyer in place as the Eye of Scion warms up the super-sized hyperspace engines. The fight choreography gets nasty, and Sabine successfully uses the Force under duress to retrieve her lightsaber in time to ignite it through the head of a Death Trooper. For a hilarious instant, his eyes glow green before his ultimate rest.
Sabine and Ezra make it to the landing platform, but Thrawn’s ship is already on the move and gaining momentum. In a scene reminiscent of the Death Star cavern scene, Sabine uses her newfound connection with the Force to give Ezra a jump boost onto the platform of the leaving Star Destroyer. Ezra makes short work of the Troopers and takes the armor from one of them. Sabine turns to make the jump but hesitates to help Ahsoka. She’s betrayed and separated herself from Ahsoka enough. This time, she stays.
Ahsoka, still in combat with Morgan, who is surprisingly adept at swordplay, is surprised and relieved to see Sabine has stayed behind to fight alongside her. Sabine takes out additional undead Troopers while Ahsoka finally cuts Morgan Elsbeth down with her own sword and Ahsoka’s remaining lightsaber for good luck.
As Thrawn’s ship continues to depart, Huyang arrives with Ahsoka’s ship to pick up his master and Sabine to give chase. Before leaping into hyperspace, Thrawn leaves them with a gloating monologue. Sabine and Ahsoka are trapped on Peridea.
A spaced-out epilogue brings Ahsoka and Sabine back to the Noti to regroup. Ezra reunites with Hera for a tearful moment, and Thrawn approaches Dathomir (more on this below). Ahsoka sees a Convor, implying she’s being watched over by the ancestors of the Jedi, and the show closes with the Force Ghost of Anakin Skywalker proudly watching Ahsoka join the caravan again.
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The non-ending was also not much of a cliffhanger since we only know vaguely of Thrawn’s plans. Dave Filoni’s plans seem more clear, though much is left to speculation, probably by design. As the next few Star Wars streaming shows in this section of the timeline continue to merge, we are to expect a motion picture culmination of the Thrawn story. We can likely expect it to mimic the beloved Heir to the Empire trilogy by Timothy Zahn.
Drawing from the Expanded Universe is all most Star Wars fans ever wanted. It’s a shame it’s being done as a finger in the dike to stop the bleeding caused by the fumbles of “Episode IX.” My suspicion is that Dathomir is being brought into play for more than the obvious specific reason. The research facility there houses the Blackwing virus that may very well be the source, in conjunction with Majik, of “Somehow Palpatine returned.” Don’t expect the First Order to be retconned as an Empire of undead, though.
The unpopular opinion that will start to grow is far more cheesy and delicious. We’ve seen him ‘come back from the dead’ on more than one occasion. A favorite underdog villain who never gets his chance to shine for very long has had associations with the Darksaber, Mandalore, and all the characters in The Clone Wars and Rebels. The son of Dathomir himself, Maul. You heard it here first. Maul will replace the Rukh character from Heir to the Empire. He will be Thrawn’s new right-hand man and play out Rukh’s role as his eventual assassin.
Dave Filoni’s film will be the redemption story for our beloved, no longer Darth, Maul. Maul kills Thrawn. I mean, why not? Star Wars has zombies now. Anything goes!
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