The Dark Side Replacement

SPOILERS For Recant episode












The Inquisitor bought the farm in the last episode. Now that he is out of the picture, there needs to be a darksider threat to replace him. Some may say that should be Vader (he after all appeared in the end of the last episode).

The problem with Vader of course, is that if he encounters the ghost crew in person......

Either....

1. They all die, and that's the end of the show.

2. Or Vader acquires the Idiot Ball, and they somehow escape, and it hurts Vader's character.

I could see Vader making a few appearance in season 2 (maybe even go up against Ahsoka), however if there is going to be a darksider threat in season 2, that is a threat to the Crew, but something within their power to fight back, then the darksider can not be Vader.

Some ideas.

1. Another Inquisitor, maybe even two this time working together.

2. non-Imperial Darksider (ex-imperial agent, a dark jedi, a surviving nightsister, etc).

Perhaps both of those options can be used. Similar to how in TCW, we had darksiders working (or apart) for the Sith, but others were not affiliated with the Sith.

What is your opinion on the Inquisitor's replacement?

 

There is a third option for Vader that isn't considered in your post OP. That is that Vader doesn't meet the crew or any of the rebels directly this season, but is instrumental in planning and guiding Imperial forces in a defeat for them.

With that said though, I do see another Inquisitor appearing in this season. I personally feel that it will most likely be a force user from TCW era who fell to the darkside upon giving the choice to join the Empire or die.

 

Hopefully someone in a peculiar hat.

 

Maybe there are other inquisitors. I've always been fond of the idea of Vader or Palpatine having secret apprentices that the other doesn't know about. My view of the Sith is that they are always willing to back-stab each other and break the rules. Dooku was training apprentices in The Clone Wars. In the EU I loved the idea of Vader having a secret apprentice in The Force Unleashed. I would be happy to see a secret apprentice of some sort play a role.

 

My view is once they know Vader is on Lothal they quietly head to the furthest point away from him namely Tatooine!

Well that's one way to give the Empire's most feared enforcer the bird and live well a little while anyway!

The appropriate response is to run away, even with Ahsoka I wouldn't fancy their chances with Vader, Tarkin and Kallus... well I added the last one just to ease that feeling of o£ s%&t! that should inspire after all!

 

The Inquisitors final words were in reference to Vader and how the Rebels have now gotten his attention. I read an interview snippet on StarWars7News, which gave little nods that season 2 will explore Vader's relationship with the Inquisitors (Inquisitorius is most likely now canon); but I'm guessing the new 'replacement' will be someone much closer to Vader - a Sith assassin?

I doubt killing this nameless Inquisitor will trigger Vader directly engaging with Kanan, Ezra, etc. Makes sense to send someone else, before Vader comes knocking at the door.

 

I think Kallus might step up to the mark a bit more now. The Inquisitor tended to overshadow him a little (Dark side >> rockin' mutton-chops) but Vader/Tarkin is going to need someone to do the day to day stuff whilst they go big picture/long-term, I reckon the job's his for now. Perhaps a darksider to even up the force balance in Vader's absence because as soon as Vader gets involved personally, no-one of the Ghost crew should have other plans than 'RUN!'

 

Kallus will be the next villain to be sacrificed; Vader, Tarkin and Sidious are untouchable due to the OT.

 

I don't see the need for another Inquisitor. Kanan isn't so skilled that I feel he needs to have a lightsaber wielding adversary to fight every couple episodes. I mean what fraction of ANH, ESB, or ROTJ actually consist of lightsaber fights? I was actually surprised at the amount of time devoted to lightsaber play in season 1, since I thought they were trying to move away from the PT, where lightsabers come out immediately.

The solution, I feel, is not to bring in yet another Inquisitor (who pretty much will just serve as a foil to Kanan and nobody else), but explore some of the other characters and give them their own conflicts. E.G. Zeb and Kallus. Perhaps a bounty goes out on the crew and they spend several episodes running from familiar faces like Cad Bane or Boba Fett, or someone new. Maybe the crew crosses the Hutts, maybe Sabine goes back to Mandalore and we get a bit of her backstory and she has her own demons and enemies to overcome. Build up rivalries and conflicts for the characters that don't have lightsabers.

In ANH and ESB, Vader was the guy often on the space station or bridge of a command ship orchestrating the effort to capture the heroes. He was not in the thick of it confronting them lightsaber in hand. So he could be more of a background figure trying to track down the Ghost, only to catch up with them eventually and kill Kanan or Ahsoka (though Ahsoka has been confirmed to not "have a bunk" on the Ghost, so perhaps he catches up with her elsewhere).

We already get the gist of what the Inquisitors are about, so I would think it a little lame if Kanan's next rival is just another Inquisitor who studied the Temple archives and taunts Kanan about his master.

I feel like the next foil for Kanan needs to have a more personal relationship with Kanan.

Luke/Vader - Father and son
Kallus/Zeb - Kallus gave the order to wipe out Zeb's people
Maul/Obi-Wan - Maul killed Obi-Wan's master; Obi-Wan cut Maul in half
Dooku/Anakin - Dooku tried to kill Anakin's wife and cut off Anakin's arm
Vader/Ahoka - Vader was Ahsoka's master.
Inquisitor/Kanan -...Inquisitor read about Kanan's master....

I really don't want a repeat of that relationship. Even if Vader is Kanan's opponent from afar, then Kanan's still going up against the guy that lead the effort to wipe out the Jedi. Or has Depa Billaba actually been confirmed KIA? We know she held off the clones and told Kanan to run, but did he ever see her fall or get gunned down? I mean, Filoni has thrown the idea out there that some Jedi may have fallen to the Dark Side as a bargaining chip. I mean, even if they revealed that Depa Billaba is alive as a "Grand Inquisitor" or "Emperor's Hand" (I think they need to go with another title other than "The Inquisitor"). Then you could build up a more iconic relationship between hero and villain.

I mean, you have Kanan running around feeling like he's a coward from running from Order 66 while his master died, and we had The Inquisitor sticking his finger in that wound, only for Kanan to overcome it. What if it were to turn out that she didn't die but instead fell as a bargaining chip to save Kanan, but now is so twisted that she serves the Empire and is being sent after Kanan? It's a little out there, but Star Wars so often is big on such huge coincidences and melodrama.

I just don't think they can bring in Joe Blow Inquisitor #2.

 

Unless, there is a Grand Inquisitor.

 

Grand Inquisitor is the same difference as The Inquisitor, unless Kanan knows the person. As I said, pretty much every rivalry has some personal element to it, even if it relies heavily on convenience; such as Kallus just happening to be the one to give the order to wipe out Zeb's species, or Anakin's old apprentice just happening to be the one to lead the Rebellion. Or the guy that Obi-Wan cut in half just happening to show up alive during TCW (and the road map that lead to Savage discovering Maul was long and convoluted).

With Kanan and The Inquisitor, there was nothing personal between them. They didn't have a very interesting dynamic, IMO. It was only starting to get interesting in that finale, only for them to kill The Inquisitor off. I was beginning to get the sense that The Inquisitor knew more than he was letting on, like he knew the answer to his question ("what was her last word to you?") before Kanan even answered. I thought it was kind of conspicuous that he actually said "word" not "words" not "what was the last thing she said to you?" but what was the last singular word she said to Kanan. It seemed like he knew the answer and knew where that conversation was going. But then they killed him off.

He was pretty much like Maul from TPM, only he spoke. TPM Maul had no relationship to Qui-Gon or Obi-Wan, he was just there to kill them because his master told him to. Someone a long time ago on the PT forums compared him to a "dragon." He was just some beast there for Obi-Wan to overcome. It wasn't until TCW, when they brought him back that they were able to play up an interesting relationship between the two.

The Inquisitor was pretty much just a dragon, too. He was some guy that studied the Temple archives, had passing knowledge of Kanan's master because of it, and was on a mission to kill Kanan, just because it was his job. Bringing in another dragon isn't going to be anymore interesting, IMO, regardless if that dragon is stronger or not. The hero needs a more interesting adversary than that at this point.

Even Dooku in AOTC had the dynamic of being Yoda' apprentice, while being mentor to Obi-Wan's master, and Anakin was Obi-Wan's padawan. So they had this chain from Yoda all the way to Anakin of masters and their apprentices. Then when they fight again in ROTS, it's more personal. Vader was the guy that killed Luke's father, then got revealed to actually be Luke's father, etc. The Inquisitor was just a "dragon" like TPM Maul.

And if they do decide to go the route of bringing in another Inquisitor, it should either be an ex-Jedi that Kanan knows, or has some kind of knowledge of. It just won't be interesting if it boils down to "I am another Inquisitor! Stronger than the last!"

 

What's up with people not putting there threads under categories

 

The Grand Inquisitor, Sith Assassion, whatever, could be a former padawan who turned to the dark side. Kanan would've trained with him/her as a youngling.

 

We've already seen that the Inquisitor was trying to recruit force sensitives for training to serve the empire, including Zare's (now missing) sister. Having one of them show up to act as a villain who is tougher than stormtroopers but not as overwhelming as vader would make a lot of sense

 

It would.

 

... Barriss Offee

 

Oh yes. That's my theory.

 

If we can't have Vader or Sidious:

 

I'd like to see a Nightsister not affiliated with Talzin's coven, similar to Mighella from the Maul comic series. It would show the Emperor recruiting from a large darkside spectrum and give us a female villain.

 

If Talzin is dead, and some rogue Nightsisters are out there, Ventress one as she is an official clan Nightsister member. We do not know of the extent of the damage the Droid army did, but they invaded twice and on each mission apparently brought the Nightsisters and Nightbrothers to extinction. Maul as the last son of Dathomir is a Nightbrother in a sense.

 

The Nightsisters from one coven were likely wiped out, but there could be countless others across the galaxy or on other parts of Dathomir. It's true that Ventress is the last known Nightsister of Talzin's coven, but like Jedi after Order 66 - its possible some survived.

 

You'd expect at this point that another Inquisitor would be redundant now that Vader has been called in. It shows Tarkin and the Emperor are of the opinion that anyone below Vaders' skill is probably not going to get the job done, so they spare themselves the trouble of relocating another Inquisitor who could be valuable elsewhere, that is if there are more, maybe. But this Inquisitors failure at the hands of Kanan wouldn't exactly shine brightly upon the Inquisitorius' reputation and effectiveness of dealing with Jedi which they are trained for.

Then again Vader will be sparingly used (so another lackey must fill up the void?) according to Filoni and a direct encounter would most likely end in disaster for a crew that is most often not thinking things through quite enough;

"They are not going to be able to defeat Darth Vader. This is an immovable object. The easiest way to explain it is, our heroes are like level five characters and Vader’s level 50. [Laughs] It’s not going to take much for him to do them in."

http://www.starwars.com/news/interview-dave-filoni-on-star-wars-rebels-part-3

 

In Filoni eyes, Vader is above Dooku and Maul in terms of power (Lucas viewed them as a all equal); only Sidious is more powerful than Vader. Going to be interesting, *if* we get to see Vader in combat.

 

The thread title sounds like an episode of The Big Bang Theory.