Ahsoka - SPOILERS

[Hussar]

We see it as a huge deal because that’s all we see. In a galaxy sized civilization, events like these are probably a daily occurrence. Pirates orbitally bombarding planets. Hutt enslaving populations. On and on.

Whatserface was on a frigate because she was a high ranking war criminal. Fair enough. But since she’s on a frigate, being attacked by two people on a shuttle is pretty unthinkable.

The only rumours of Thrawn’s return come from a deserter who committed repeated atrocities and Hera who has zero actual evidence. Ahsoka is hardly a credible source.

Add to that deliberate actions by those on the council who are imperial sympathizers or may actually be imperial spies.

It’s not really all that far out.

 

[Zardnaar]

We see it as a huge deal because that’s all we see. In a galaxy sized civilization, events like these are probably a daily occurrence. Pirates orbitally bombarding planets. Hutt enslaving populations. On and on.

Whatserface was on a frigate because she was a high ranking war criminal. Fair enough. But since she’s on a frigate, being attacked by two people on a shuttle is pretty unthinkable.

The only rumours of Thrawn’s return come from a deserter who committed repeated atrocities and Hera who has zero actual evidence. Ahsoka is hardly a credible source.

Add to that deliberate actions by those on the council who are imperial sympathizers or may actually be imperial spies.

It’s not really all that far out.

Somewhat far out
It's not completely implausible but they're drumming it in fairly hard.

It's not a massive deal breaker more of a nitpick.

May turn out to be somewhat relevant later.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Considering that there are rumors of Thrawn returning to lead the Imperial Remnant into a war against the New Republic, that the prisoner had been captured by a Jedi specifically because she was suspected to be involved into a plan to bring back Thrawn and overthrow the New Republic, and was rescued while en route to be questioned on the matter (all of this is in the opening crawl), I do find the behaviour of the New Republic senators puzzling.

The is no reason for the New Republic to care about Thrawn. He's just some guy. It's only the people who actually went up against him at the Battle of Lothal who would see him as a significant threat.

The Republic would be more interested in getting their stolen engines back.

 

[Hussar]

The is no reason for the New Republic to care about Thrawn. He's just some guy. It's only the people who actually went up against him at the Battle of Lothal who would see him as a significant threat.

The Republic would be more interested in getting their stolen engines back.

I think people tend to lose sight because of the focus of the shows. Sure, Thrawn was a grand admiral in the Imperial fleet. But, there were LOTS of grand admirals. And this is a grand admiral that pretty much everyone saw get sucked away to a different galaxy. As in gone and never coming back - it's not like anyone in the galaxy in Star Wars has the capability to travel between galaxies. Or, rather, it's not like the ability is more than just a legend.

If no one has traveled between galaxies in thousands of years, why would anyone take the idea seriously that elements of old imperials had the capability to do it? Frankly, hearing that some whackjob just stole a great big engine because he wants to travel to another galaxy to bring back some admiral that's been presumed dead for years probably isn't going to be that high of a priority.

 

[Zardnaar]

I think people tend to lose sight because of the focus of the shows. Sure, Thrawn was a grand admiral in the Imperial fleet. But, there were LOTS of grand admirals. And this is a grand admiral that pretty much everyone saw get sucked away to a different galaxy. As in gone and never coming back - it's not like anyone in the galaxy in Star Wars has the capability to travel between galaxies. Or, rather, it's not like the ability is more than just a legend.

If no one has traveled between galaxies in thousands of years, why would anyone take the idea seriously that elements of old imperials had the capability to do it? Frankly, hearing that some whackjob just stole a great big engine because he wants to travel to another galaxy to bring back some admiral that's been presumed dead for years probably isn't going to be that high of a priority.

In universe he's one of the best though. He's basically Napoleon, Rommel. Man's teen, Alexander the Great rolled into one.

Out of universe we know that how they implement it on the show remains to be seen. Alot of his reputation does come from older EU material and video games such as TIE Fighter.

New xanon he's essentially the same character but in both he got over ruled by Vader and the Emperor. In both he was involved in the TIE Defender program. In both he opposed things like Deaths stars, super star destroyers things like that.

He basically used something similar to Vaders death squadron minus an SSD and came close to toppling a competent New Republic.
He's the last grand admiral in both and the best one in both. He's the ony one with the rank to unite the remnants and the reputation to do much with them.

New canon we also know there's a missing super star Destroyer and several missing ISDs. Thrawn only needs 4 ISDs and smaller ships.

Depends on how they use him. Back in the 90s he won or came second in a poll for greatest Star Wars villain. Vader was number 1 or 2 I forget who won.

Thrawns Revenge mod is still going, seems to be growing and is popular own sub reddit, youtube videos etc. Not bad for a game coming up 20 years old.

His books are the best selling of the new Disney canon. His old EU ones outsold 5E 2 or 3 to one iirc. That may have been a single copy (Heir to the Empire easter egg reference in Ahsoka).

The Star Wars Renaissance also started with him in 1991. Star Wars was essentially dead outside an RPG.

That Thrawn.

In universe he wasn't that well known though and spent most of the rebellion era elsewhere.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

This show just keeps getting better and better!

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I would be interested to see a version of Star Wars that did start digging deeper into the notion of factions rather than white hats vs black hats.

The newer movies and shows have danced around the edges of this. Characters like Saw Guerrara for example.

It’s a much more nuanced and complex setting though. Not sure if Disney will go that way. Maybe. We’re already seeing different interpretations like the difference between Andor and Ahsoka.

A broader approach is kinda nice. But I’m not sure if they are telegraphing which shows follow which concepts very well.

I’m not really ever as hyper-wound-up as a lot of fans online, but one thing in SW that I really strongly dislike is ditching the “white hats and black hats” paradigm.

No interest in Rogue One or Andor, much less further expansion of that vibe in SW media. If anything ever causes me to stop consuming new SW, it’ll be that and/or a hard canonization of “the dark side is part of the balance of the force so you can totally be a grey Jedi” garbage.

The geek media world is overrun with moral ambiguity. It’s okay to have some things that remain not that.

 

[Vael]

I wonder if it'd have been better if I just waited for the full series before binging. Because, while each episode has been a vibe, I'm just still thinking that the pacing has been glacial.

That said, loving the design work here. The patchwork stormtroopers, the battered Star Destroyer all look almost cooler than their pristine counterparts.

Glad to finally dig in with Baylan, still bummed over Stevenson's passing, but this role has been great.

 

[Hussar]

AAAUGHH. I don't wanna wait another week!

The scene where Sabine yells at her dog/wolf thing for abandoning her was hilarious. That's about as Star Wars as it gets.

@doctorbadwolf - I get what you're saying. And, there's a lot of me that agrees. I just think that there's room for both to be honest. There's nothing wrong with the kinda straight forward good guys and bad guys stuff - like the Sequel Trilogy really. Or a lot of the animated stuff too. Then, there's room for things like Andor. Ahsoka and The Mandolorian are kinda in the middle. The good guys are good, the bad guys are pretty bad and there's some stuff that might be a bit of both.

I did see one interpretation of Ahsoka and Anakin online that I rather liked. This was Anakin as a fully fledged force ghost who had come to terms with balancing the force. He was both Vader and Anakin, in balance and able to draw on both at any time. Really kinda neat idea.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

AAAUGHH. I don't wanna wait another week!

The scene where Sabine yells at her dog/wolf thing for abandoning her was hilarious. That's about as Star Wars as it gets.

@doctorbadwolf - I get what you're saying. And, there's a lot of me that agrees. I just think that there's room for both to be honest. There's nothing wrong with the kinda straight forward good guys and bad guys stuff - like the Sequel Trilogy really. Or a lot of the animated stuff too. Then, there's room for things like Andor. Ahsoka and The Mandolorian are kinda in the middle. The good guys are good, the bad guys are pretty bad and there's some stuff that might be a bit of both.

I did see one interpretation of Ahsoka and Anakin online that I rather liked. This was Anakin as a fully fledged force ghost who had come to terms with balancing the force. He was both Vader and Anakin, in balance and able to draw on both at any time. Really kinda neat idea.

The idea flows from things Filoni did in CW, but tbh I didn’t love the Mortis gods and the Bendu.

At least the Mortis Gods showed what the dark side actually is in the end, which is just blind destruction of any balance or natural state. The Bendu kinda had a “neutrality is a myth, and sometimes it blows up in your face” vibe at the end but still.

Sometimes I almost wish the franchise had stopped with the OT and just let it be. The tinkering with concepts over decades has muddied what we’re very clear waters.

Anyway, ignoring the OT and the older attitude from Lucas about the Force and all that, it’s cool that Filoni is bringing Anakin full circle with his arc over the course of TCW, and cool that Hayden gets to be Anakin for that.