A/V STAR WARS REBELS (show's over, spoilers allowed)

I suppose....

 

Well Vader showed up at the start and then the end of S2 and to a certain extent it was the same with The Inquisitor in S1 so I’d guess Pappa Palpatine shows up in the end episode.
As for Thrawn meh ... he’s been so so in S3 (I can’t comment on S4) Brilliantly voice acted but the character is so different from EU Thrawn (even from Thrawn in Zahns new book) and rather bland, I shrug my shoulders a bit. There is only so many times a guy can steeple his fingers while talking about his plan, that can be done interestingly.

 

you say that, but I don't think he has actually ever literally steppled his fingers once in the show. He's been slow moving, but he has been occasionally effective in a way that the other Imperial characters haven't. Maybe not brilliant in the way that the novels depict him, but they do make the effort to show him as smarter than your average Imperial and someone who gets the odd win over the heroes.

The problem is, the show is getting fairly spiritual with the Force, with the Jedi protagonists of the show being more keyed into that, Mortis factoring in, and Thrawn has no real place in that part of the storyline. Even in Zahn's novels he's never been a character connected to part of the mythology.

 

I think it's more likely that there'll be two intertwining storylines - the mystical Jedi/Force stuff, and the more 'conventional' Rebellion. Thrawn's likely to be the antagonist for the latter one. Given the Chimaera's pride of place on the poster, no way does he just get shuffled off early.

Edit: Ooooo

 

I wonder if this is the medium through which we'll finally see how that fight in the Malachor Temple ended...

 

Only if we see it in the show itself. The cinestory comics are just screen grabs from the show put in a book.

 

It is so good to have him back.

 

I wonder if the Mortis connection is hinting at Abeloth making it to canon? The Ones aren't alive to keep her contained. We keep seeing this convoree that used to be familial to the Daughter. If Abeloth was actually imprisoned on Lothal, the actions of the Empire devastating the planet might hasten her release. Palpatine would have sensed this threat, and it would explain why the Loth Wolves are out and about on Lothal prophesying doom after at least a century of not being seen.
Palps and Ezra might be able to take her down together if they retcon her to be weaker when she's released from her imprisonment. Maybe Ezra bites the dust and Palps kills two birds with one stone. That way Ezra still goes out as a hero, saving Lothal and the galaxy, and Palps is still around for Luke to deal with in the OT.

 

Why would it hint at anythying like that?

 

Yeah...that would be so out of left field that they'd have to come up with a new phrase that was worse than "jumping the shark." Maybe something like "revealing the demon plant goddess"?

 

Why else would the Ones be relevant at this point in the timeline? A way to shoehorn Ahsoka back into the story for the finale? No thanks. A simple callback to TCW? maybe - but kind of lame. We don't need more callbacks to TCW in Rebels unless they're relevant to the story.

 

Just go the whole hog:

We must seek out the elusive Jedi survivor, Master F'Onz.

 

Abeloth in Rebels would be so ridiculous and hilarious. I approve.


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Holy crap... I just realized Thrawn is Lady Eboshi!



...and doing a search for "Princess Mononoke Star Wars" comes up with an OS article that specifically says Bendu is like the forest god (http://www.starwars.com/news/the-cinema-behind-star-wars-princess-mononoke-ahsoka-tano): "A very “forest-spirit” like creature that has made his way onto Star Wars Rebels in this role is the Bendu. He’s a god-like being operating on a level different than those around him. Mystical in the way the great forest spirit is."

WHY DID I NOT SEE THIS BEFORE?!?

 

Don't get me wrong, I think Abeloth in Rebels would be awesome. But it's SO not happening... I mean, yes, they did use Thrawn, but he was this EU superstar even casual fans had heard about at least once. Abeloth? Well, she's much less well known, and good luck for introducing her efficiently in a 20-minute episode.

BTW, I don't know if it's been mentioned before, but I've noticed that in the trailer

Spoiler

the convor bird has the same color scheme as the Daughter.

 

That would be a very interesting story but I doubt they'll do it.

 

Abeloth was poorly written in Legends. She was only shoehorned into the Mortis characters by Troy Denning in a situation that didn't really make sense. I'll be glad if she never turns up ever ever EVER again.

 

From the introduction of Maul into the series, through Bendu, and now the wolves, Ezra and Kanan's story has been very wrapped up in exploring the sides of the Force, the balance, the "middle," which is what Mortis was largely about. My guess is the Lothal temple has a special connection to Mortis, and Kanan and/or Ezra don't die to keep them out of the original trilogy, but take over as guardian(s) of the temple/Lothal's special destiny/the balance.

 

I really liked Abeloth when she was first introduced, her and her planet were exceptionally creepy.

I liked her less and less as the series went on, even before the last second Mortis rewrite was completely unnecessary.

 

If she had her own trilogy (with no connection to the current crap) and the lack of a Mortis connection too, and you know actually died!, I would've liked her. Putting her in the middle of a series that was supposed to figure out where Jacen went Dark Side amongst the chaos that is Daala, really took away from the story.

Fate of the Jedi should've been a nine-part trilogy focusing on Luke and Ben finding out what happened to Jacen (whether Daala exiled him or Luke came to the choice on his own is another question), the Galactic Alliance facing an election between Daala and various new contenders (a younger pro-Imperial Haydet Treen, anti-Jedi candidate Kameron Suldar (not a Sith lord), pro-Jedi candidate Padvil Ovin) with the Jedi being part of the focus. No Mandalorians, no Sith, no crazy Force being. True political / mystery nine part with maybe the Imperials dealing with an internal crisis, the Hutts in a civil war with the GA supporting both sides, and a break out of possible new hostilities between the still largely independent Confederation and the GA through an accident (with the Jedi being the neutral third party - Corellia under Denjax Teppler [who sides with the Jedi instead], Kashyyyk and Hapes), cultiminating in an attack that devastates Coruscant so severely, the government is forced to transplant elsewhere and the perpetrators being Treen, Lecersen, Thraal, a younger Fost Bramsin and Salinor Pavera to win the election for Treen's faction (with Daala and Suldar's faction being among the casualties), leading Ovin to win the election and Wynn Dorvan becoming chief of staff and Luke figuring it out that the Jacen responsible for the chaos since the Dark Nest crisis wasn't really Jacen at all.

Sorry to put this in the midst of a Star Wars Rebels thread .

 

Under the spoiler is a tweet from Freddie Prinze Jr. about what's going on with Hera (nothing surprising or anything, with regards to season 4) but...

Spoiler

Can we just talk about how he keeps calling Hera 'my lady Twi'? Because that's so adorable

 

Why wouldn't the Ones be relevant at this point in the timeline?

The Ones were a manifestation of the balance of the Force. The balance of the Force is currently nonexistent, and as has been a running theme in Star Wars lately, the Force tends to fix itself when this happens. The Ones are a perfect conduit for that.

You do have a good point about the Lothwolves though. However, like it or not Ahsoka is definitely involved in this. Here's my theory:
As shown in the mural, as well as Luke's compass in Battlefront/TFA, the Ones were once able to travel between worlds using the Force before the Father exiled them to Mortis. Only certain worlds were strong enough in the Force to allow for this though, Lothal, Malachor, and Ahch-to are among them. We see Ezra using one of these Force bridges, if you will, in the trailer, being guided by the Convor avatar of the Daughter. Ahsoka used these same bridges after the duel on Malachor (source), also guided by the Daughter. Wherever Ahsoka ended up is connected to the Loth-wolves, in fact I'd bet that her arrival triggered their return to Lothal, and set in motion the return of the Ones.

As for Palpatine's role in this, the compass Luke took from his observatory on Pillio is very similar to the patterns surrounding the Lothal temple, as well as the mural featuring the Ones shown in the trailer. Assuming this is a map of Force bridges, Palpatine is obviously aware of them and likely pretty interested in their power. Especially as they relate to the Ones, and while he may not know much about them I'm sure he knows that they're a threat to his Empire. This may be connected to Palpatine's belief that there is a source of dark side energy waiting in the unknown regions.