Yes. Bring on the Sun Guard! Muggles who worship the Sith - as distinct from the Separatists, of whom only a few are merely allied with the Sith - could be potent antagonists in TCW. Funnily enough, TCW's recent use of "third edge" factions like the Nightsisters, Death Watch and the Grim Twins makes the introduction of elements like the Sun Guard more imaginable now than in S1 days. The apparent daring is cause for optimism, in my view.
The third-party factions of the war are always interesting. I'm hoping that we see the Prophets of the Dark Side soon in TCW. Of course, the Sun Guard would be a welcome addition to the series. TCW could define the Thyrsian culture more with the Sun Guard and on top of it, dive more into Darth Plagieus's past.
The link between the Sun Guard and Plagueis is one of the reasons why I'm so keen on seeing them show up in TCW. How a variety of Sith spinoff groups relate to Sidious and Tyrannus would be fascinating to see portrayed. Do they fall in line? Do they consider Tyrannus to be a mere pretender like Maul does? Which faction do they align with; Republic, CIS or neither? What is the vision that motivates them? With there existing a possibility of Death Watch and Maul being marginalised, groups like the ones you mentioned could have great value as antagonists.
I once suggested that the Sun Guard may not side with Sidious because he was the one that killed Plagueis, and as far was we know, the Sun Guard were loyal to Plagueis. But if it were up to me, I would have the Sun Guard side with the Republic because that would create shades of grey and shades of grey in TCW are always welcome. I could see the Sun Guard arc resembling the Soviet War in Afghanistan; the Seperatists are like the Soviets while the Sun Guard are like the mujahideen.
Nice idea, @InterestingLurker ! Since TCW actually decided to show Black Sun -- a major EU creation -- anything is possible!
The Sun Guard "mujahideen" concept is a good one. Thrown into this analogy is the equivalent of Pakistan and Afghanistan - a sector of the Galaxy that is destabilised by the proxy wars between the Republic and CIS and later becomes a big source of problems for the Empire and New Republic. The Sun Guard do remain loyal to Sidious in the EU, working for him in much of the media released around TPM and AOTC. Their first canonical appearance is actually the TPM game, where they supposedly work for Palpatine. If they retain loyalty to just the most pre-eminent of the two Sith Lords in existence at one time, then they wouldn't have such undivided loyalties when the apprentice inevitably kills the master. I recall a (possibly apocryphal) story about the medieval Byzantine Empire's elite Varangian Guard unit that's somewhat relevant to this. An emperor was being attacked by an usurper and so the Varangian Guard were summoned. By the time they crossed the palace, the emperor lay dead at the feet of the usurper. They bowed before the usurper, who was now the Byzantine Emperor and thus had their loyalty. So with the Rule of Two in effect, I doubt the Sun Guard would care much about the inner workings of the Sith Order when their loyalty is to the Order itself. However, I can imagine the Sun Guard turning against Sidious and Tyrannus for a variety of reasons. During the time of the Empire, Palpatine does not appear to divulge his Sith identity to the Galaxy at large, so if the Sun Guard are loyal to Sidious rather than Palpatine, then the Empire could be fair game to them. Doubly so if they have a falling out with Sidious for one reason or another. During the Clone Wars, the same is the case for Dooku/Tyrannus, who could be dismissed as a mere fallen Jedi and the CIS as a valid target. Buoyed by the success of the Onderonian Loyalist insurgency, the Republic decides to arm and support a group of violent Sith cultists against the CIS. The Jedi Council might consent to this plan if it allows them to dig deeper into the mystery of the elusive Darth Sidious, but if the Senate, the intelligence community and other factions within the Republic run roughshod over them then this is a sign of the Jedi Order's increasing marginalisation. The Sun Guard scheme is a short-to-medium-term success, but it results in serious blowback against the Republic and Empire. By the time of the Live Action Series, the Sun Guard is the new boogeyman for the Empire to fight. A bit of a digression, but whatever.
Well, I must say, I'm impressed! This season has gone 12 episodes without a single bad one. And if that was truly Kiner's music at the end of "Missing in Action," then my anticipation for the Maul arc has increased. I'm sure Kiner has the ability to inject lots of emotion into the story, which I know from the Shadow Conspiracy thread will be great(if the novel is accurate, of course).
The season has gotten great. Spoiler (Move your mouse to the spoiler area to reveal the content) Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler In no small part because of the score. Gregor's 'last stand' was the most epic of the series.
From the 100th ep thread: And I enjoyed it well enough, probably gonna give it a 7. Just more proof that having low expectations going in doesn't necessarily result in poor reception.
I enjoyed Missing in Action in spite of the low expectations that I had. As much as I liked Gregor, I'm hoping that the writers have the balls to let a dead character lie.
Optimistically, I just want this arc to be over. Some of the worst of the entire series. But we have Maul next!! And then presumably Clovis? Looking forward to loving The Clone Wars again.
Right, but they messed around with the episode order a lot this season, didn't they? I've been lead to believe it's 3 episodes of Maul, 3 episodes of Clovis, then 3 episodes for the finale (Jedi Temple?).
Yeah, because "Revival" was pushed up? I guess I should probably rewatch "Revival" before "Eminence" airs.
Watching the Season 3 "Nightsisters Trilogy", Season 4's "Ventress/Maul Arc" and Season 5's "Maul/Mandalore Arc" would just demonstrate for me why I absolutely love The Clone Wars. I might have to do that at some point.
The four part arcs play best when watched in one go more like a movie. The Rako Hardeen arc for example, I didn't really appreciate until I watched it together. Then it hit me how complex and awesome it was. Sometimes I longer arcs with episodes think are connected. TCW can be like a fun game of connect the dots.
Oh, yeah, I completely agree. I've actually already watched Onderon and the Younglings Arc as a mini-movie, and I enjoyed them both better than my original viewings. I only wish the Blu-Rays allowed you to watch arcs uninterrupted (cuts out the titles and puts all the credits at the end). Maybe in the complete series box set...
