Ahsoka Official Ahsoka Series Discussion (Spoilers Allowed)

I can’t really, and I know this is perhaps a bit heretical, I can’t take Carson Teva all that seriously.

When the Imperial Remnants are being struck and their plans foiled, it’s really the Mandalorian and his assorted scoundrels who have been doing the leg work with Carson showing up well after the fact. Doesn’t help either that a lot of his scenes are essentially cop gags, trying to pull people over and then being left in the dust scratching his head. It’s not my idea of an effective representative of New Republic law enforcement.

Maybe it’s just Favreau and Filoni being more simplistic in their storytelling and go for the comedic beats, but right now I honestly get the impression that Boba Fett of all people is doing a better job at fighting the Empire and keeping the peace in the Outer Rim than the NR.

 

They’ve literally not intervened once to really effect any of the major villains plans across these Mandoverse series. And I get that the show sort of needs to exist without them for the adventures to unfold, but it reflects poorly on them when unaffiliated Mandalorians and criminals are the ones who do their jobs for them.

And I don’t think you can really chalk their inaction in the outer rim as proof that they’re just untameable systems. That’s a defeatist attitude.The Empire let crime flourish there because they’re evil and they didn’t care about life, but the New Republic is supposed to be better than that and we have them basically sitting by and watching as the Pyke Syndicate wage war over Tatooine. That scene with Carson is pretty damn egregious.

 

Largely because both Gideon and the people opposing him have been actively avoiding the New Republic, staying out of its space and running away from its operatives. That the New Republic has heard even the slightest bit about what are ultimately very small skirmishes in the middle of nowhere is honestly kind of surprising, all things considered.

As for the Pyke situation on Tatooine - to be blunt, that is completely irrelevant. We aren't talking about if the New Republic is all knowing, or even well informed, we are talking about if it is powerful enough that Thrawn would likely try to avoid them, at least until he can build up his forces.
I mean, it is kind of like arguing that the US isn't a military superpower because the army doesn't interrupt gang fights in the streets of American cities.

And on the topic of the show and the need for adventures - there was going to be a show entirely about the New Republic military. It got canned, but for reasons other than the New Republic being too incompetent to carry their own show. And given that it has been stated that the plotlines of Rangers will get incorporated into future seasons of Mando and other related shows, I expect we will get more NR content in the future.

 

I think the Pyke situation is entirely appropriate to bring up, considering that the way Star Wars has handled the major Crime Lords is that they’re a bit more than street gangs. This would be more akin to having the US government officials being present but being either unaware or unwilling to step in when the next Pablo Escobar came into power. But even then, the New Republic isn’t really being depicted as a military force, but rather law enforcement, which is why they use a lot of Cop gags with Carson. And if I’m remembering the report from that one banned source correctly, Rangers of the New Republic wasn’t actually a military/Top Gun type series, but rather it was meant to be focused on Cobb Vanth and a small crew as Texas Ranger types going out as peace keepers. They’re very much going for an Old West mentality rather than galactic superpowers.

Which is why I don’t think, should Thrawn return, that we’ve seen much to indicate that he should be afraid of them. Especially when this is a character whose classic story featured him having limited resources and still being able to bring the NR to a tipping point. Right now the various factions of Mandalorians and wandering Jedi seem to be a more realistic threat to him.

 

My general expectation of Thrawn in this show was that he is in the Unknown Regions involved in some other conflict (perhaps in the Chiss Ascendancy itself?) and using ex-Empire people as his feelers into the rest of the galaxy, not that he was still fully aligned with the Empire and trying to overthrow the NR. If he wasn't up to something somewhat unrelated, why wouldn't he have returned to the Empire between Rebels and RO/ANH? (I guess we don't know for sure that he didn't, but context clues seem to suggest otherwise?)

 

Fair point about the Pykes and Rangers.

Thrawn does make do with less resources, but it was also stated that part of his strategic genius was knowing when not to fight, or when to give up fights. He is not the type to act reckless, even if might occasionally appear reckless to those not knowing what trick he is pulling. And yes, he does have other, more immediate threats*

Actually, let's turn this around: Why do you think Thrawn's forces so far have been devoid of traditional imperial equipment and symbols?

*Though, thinking again, I don't think he hasn't anything to do with the Mandalorians. Din fought some of his forces, but rather incidentally, on his way to a larger goal, and didn't even hear his name when Ahsoka interrogated the Magistrate. Plus, descriptions of the Ahoska trailer mention her working with Hera who was a New Republic general last we saw her, and we are getting a live action version of Ahoska's scene in the Rebels epilogue, where Ahoska's ship had an escort of X-Wings...hmmm....

Good ideas.

Though given that he was yeeted to the far ends of space, I just get the impression it took him years to get back to the known parts of the galaxy. Like the Odyssey.

Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if after Ahoska comes out we get a Zhan novel series about Thrawn fighting his way back to galaxy. Or maybe even an animated series, though that is probably a lot less likely.

 

I don't think they would have dropped that tease in Mandalorian S2 if Thrawn isn't doing anything related to the Imperials. But I bet his loyalty is divided between his Imperial subordinates and his duty to the Ascendancy. He would be a more complex character that way rather than just being the mustache twirling villain like Gideon.

 

There’s a bit of a wear and tear with the forces on Corvus, so it wouldn’t surprise me if the Magistrate is actually an older contact of Thrawn’s from before the Liberation of Lothal.

I’m actually suspecting, given how little build up the character has received across the live action shows and how secretive they’re being about his involvement in the Ahsoka series, that he might not have returned to the galaxy at this point and what Ahsoka is chasing are a series of leads and clues based on the Empire’s own search for Thrawn.

Which is not to say that I think Thrawn is happily back with the Chiss Ascendancy or anything like that. But I think wherever Thrawn’s been during the last decade immediate return hasn’t been an option.

 

Help us Obi -er- Dave Filoni, You're our only HOPE.






for real though i need this show to be a banger. I have faith in the man in the hat.

 

*shrug* Personally, it seemed clear to me that the point of the tease was to set up Ahsoka's show. Same as Boba's conflict with Bib at the end of the season.

But yeah it should be interesting to see the relationship between Thrawn, his forces, and the ascendancy. After all, Thrawn is dedicated to protecting the ascendancy, not obeying its wishes....

Certainly. Thrawn doesn't pick his allies lightly, I am sure he and the magistrate go way back.

That's an interesting idea, I had not considered that. Though it does raise the question of how Ahoska learned of the Magistrate's connection to Thrawn.

 

Of course Thrawn will be the main bad guy, why else have Ezra in this? Thrawn is as much Ezra's nemesis as Vader is Luke's.

 

I'm hoping this show will give a convincing reason for Ahsoka and Thrawn's absence from the OT. Four years is a long time to be gone, even with Ezra and Thrawn being lost.

 

It’s actually closer to ten years.

I don’t know about that. Vader and Luke were father and son, and Vader killed Luke’s mentor, the relationship was incredibly personal and complex. Whereas Ezra and Thrawn don’t even share dialogue until the final episode of Rebels, and even then it’s Palpatine who is posing a more personal and existential threat to Ezra’s soul.

With Thrawn it was always more Hera that he was playing his mental games with, and she’s the one he directly speaks to the most in the conflicts.

 

Over the three films, Vader is Luke's nemesis and Luke doesn't find out until two thirds of the way through.

 

Vader personally affects Luke in all three films though. In ANH Vader is introduced as the man who betrayed and murdered Luke’s father, he kills Luke’s mentor in front of him and his dogfight with Luke over the Death Star is the final obstacle Luke needs to overcome in the film. In ESB Vader spends the majority of the film fixated on finding Luke before finally maiming him and revealing their connection, with Luke also being haunted by the spectre of Vader on Dagobah. Then of course RotJ essentially being about Luke trying to save Vader’s soul.

Conversely, Thrawn is only in a dozen or so episodes in the back half of Rebels, and the majority of his animosity is directed towards Hera. There’s not really a relationship there that warrants the term “nemesis”. Frankly, that’s more applicable to characters like Maul and Palpatine who do directly influence Ezra’s character and growth.

 

Agreed. And come to think of it, Hera is probably in this too, and that sounds like a fun rematch.

I also how much Ezra will be in this series. Given the whole thing is about finding him, I could easily seem him being a living macguffin who doesn't even show up until the last episode...

 

There’s a shot in the Celebration teaser of someone using the force to bring a cup of water to their hand.

Some have speculated that it’s Ezra, but personally I’m thinking it’s probably Jacen Syndulla. And if that’s the case that he’s a character with a role in this show, I could see him being a potential target of Thrawn’s. Which would further build on that rivalry with Hera. (And also be a neat shoutout to Jacen Solo’s role in HttE)

 

If it’s Jacen, let’s hope they’ve improved his appearance in live action.

 

Yeah. Just thought it was a pretty lazy design. A bit more of the Twi'lek should've shown through. As it stands, and as you said, he's just a human kid with green hair. Give him some stumps on his head or something, I don't know.

 

I personally hope that they tie this story in with Timothy Zahn's new Thrawn series that he wrote for Disney. Namely that I hope the big baddy ends up being the Grisk rather than Thrawn. Because if they keep with their canon, he should actually end up being a protagonist.

IMO it would make sense for Thrawn to explain to Ezra what his motivations have been for being a part of the Empire, namely to find a way to fight off the Grisk threat and to save not only the galaxy as a whole but the Chiss specifically. I would love to see Ahsoka and Hera find Ezra and Thrawn, thinking that they were going to save Ezra FROM Thrawn, only to find out that they are actually working together now for the greater good and that all is not as they thought it was in the GFFA. This would allow Lucasfilm to finally give us a new enemy to see them fight against rather than the Empire or another rehash (aka the First Order).

 

Speculation on all future series has slowed significantly with the disappearance of Fredrik Vallestrand from these boards. Where are you, Fred?

 

Did Bordizzo have short hair like Sabine at the end of Rebels?