Recap / Ahsoka S 1 E 8 Chapter 8 The Jedi The Witch And The Warlord

Ahsoka, Ezra, and Sabine race to stop Thrawn’s departure before it’s too late.

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Tropes:

• Awesome, but Impractical: Sabine has definitely improved at using a lightsaber, but under heavy blasterfire from the Night Troopers, her attempts at deflecting the shots are very hit or miss, and without her beskar armor, she'd likely have died very quickly. Small wonder Ahsoka tells her to switch to her blasters instead.
• Back for the Dead: One of the Night Troopers under Thrawn's command, LS-757, who was once stationed on Lothal prior to Thrawn being banished by Ezra, is killed by Sabine while Ezra impersonates him in order to escape.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Thrawn escapes back to the main galaxy, leaving Sabine, Ahsoka and Huyang, at least for the moment, stranded on Peridea. He didn't completely win, however; Ezra managed to stow away on Thrawn's ship and he himself is the proof to the powers that be in the Republic that Thrawn is back.
• Benevolent Boss: Thrawn's troops prove to be fanatically loyal to him, and he clearly appreciates their dedication, having a commendation issued for the TIE pilots who died delaying the heroes, and being visibly moved by the Night Troopers who volunteer to stay behind to delay the Jedi, and by Morgan's willingness to do the same. He's also affected to hear of Morgan's death, though he keeps up his stoic exterior.
• Big Damn Reunion: Hera and Chopper get to reunite with Ezra after he escaped the Chimaera offscreen.
• Bittersweet Ending: Ahsoka and Sabine have fully reconciled, the latter has finally unlocked her ability to use the Force in physical activities, Ezra has returned to the main galaxy with proof that Thrawn is back, and Morgan is dead and finally unable to cause any further trouble. The bad news is that Thrawn is back, ready to restart the Empire with the Great Mothers and their mysterious cargo at his side, while Ahsoka and Sabine are now stranded on Peridea alongside Baylan and Shin, who both have their own plans going forward. With Ray Stevenson's passing however, it is anyone's guess what role Baylan will play in the future.
• Black Eyes of Evil: When the Nightsisters empower Morgan, her eyes turn black like theirs and she gains similar tattoos.
• Bookends:
  • In her first live-action appearance on The Mandalorian, Ahsoka dueled against Morgan Elsbeth with the aid of a Mandalorian warrior, though he faced her Elite Mooks while she dueled the Dathomirian directly. For the conclusion of her own series, Ahsoka faces against Elsbeth again with the aid of another Mandalorian warrior, this time with Sabine saving Ahsoka from the Night Troopers to give Ahsoka the chance to kill Elsbeth.
  • The series nearly comes to an end like how it started, with Baylan's old-looking Eta-class shuttle docking aboard a New Republic vessel, with the responding New Republic troops having no idea who's onboard.
  • At the end of Rebels, Ezra sacrificed himself to drag Thrawn away using the Purgill to ensure the Rebellion would succeed, with Sabine and Ahsoka leaving to go find him. Now, Thrawn and Ezra are back, the New Republic’s very existence is at stake, and it's Sabine and Ahsoka who are lost with no way home.
• Boom, Headshot!: Like Kylo Ren, Sabine activates her lightsaber into the head of a reanimated Death Trooper, though from the side instead of the front.
• The Bus Came Back:
  • Ahsoka is briefly visited by Morai on Peridea.
  • Dathomir makes its first live-action appearance in the Star Wars franchise (albeit only from orbit), as well as its first onscreen appearance since Season 3 of Rebels and Jedi: Fallen Order.
  • LS-757 is revealed to have survived the events of Rebels and became a Night Trooper.
• Call-Back:
  • Huyang confirms that all the other members of Clan Wren perished in the Purge of Mandalore, and that Baylan was telling the truth when manipulating her in the fourth episode.
  • Ahsoka and Morgan's first onscreen face-to-face confrontation back in "The Jedi" episode of The Mandalorian had Morgan calmly ordering her troops, "Kill her," just before they duel which concludes with Morgan's defeat and capture. They're final confrontation now has Morgan scream, "Kill her!" to her troops before they duel again which ends with Morgan's death.
  • Like the opening in A New Hope there's a pursuit over a planet between an enormous Star Destroyer and a much smaller Rebel ship, but now completely inverted with Ahsoka's tiny (former) Rebel ship chasing Thrawn's Star Destroyer and heading away from instead of towards a planet, and here the ship being pursued escapes.
  • Again, a Eta-class shuttle (the very same one from the premiere, no less) comes aboard a New Republic ship using "Jedi codes." Only this time, the security team is on high alert and heavily armed; they have their weapons already drawn and instantly raise them at the first sight of Stormtrooper armor.
• Call-Forward: Sabine takes out the Death Trooper choking her out by grabbing her lightsaber and igniting it directly into its head, much like Kylo would do to the final Praetorian Guard choking him in The Last Jedi.
• The Cameo: The final shot of the season is Anakin's Force ghost watching Ahsoka and Sabine make camp.
• Character Development: Sabine giving up Ezra to help Ahsoka demonstrates character growth that contrasts with her actions in episode 4, where she was willing to give the map to Baylan and risk Thrawn's return in order to find Ezra.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Thrawn laments that he saw many Imperial officers underestimate the Rebellion and the Jedi time and time again, and that he himself underestimated Ezra at the Battle of Lothal, and was defeated and exiled as a result.
  • When Huyang reflects on his instructing Kanan in the creation of his lightsaber, he refers to him by his true name of Caleb, "Kanan" being a fake name Caleb took while on the run after Order 66.
  • Ahsoka ended her training of Sabine due to fearing her potential for the Dark Side after the loss of her family, much like how she refused to train Grogu after witnessing his strong attachment to Din Djarin.
  • When Ahsoka asks if Sabine has been keeping up with her training, Sabine says "I try", then hesitates and says "I do." After all, there is no try. She's also perhaps remembering when Ezra paraphrased Yoda in "Trials of the Darksaber".
  • Speaking of "Trials of the Darksaber", Sabine finally unlocks her ability to wield the Force physically. As far back as that episode, both the Bendu and the convors (one of whom, Morai, is connected to Ahsoka and cameos at the end of the episode) were observing her training with the Darksaber, which set her on the path to eventually becoming Ahsoka's apprentice and now a true Jedi. The Bendu and the convors ultimately foresaw Sabine's destiny as a Jedi long before she did.
  • One of the Noti accidentally shocks themselves while working with Huyang, just like poor Grogu during his botched attempt to help with Din's repairs in "The Siege", though the results here are less explosive.
  • After undergoing her ritual, the Great Mothers give Morgan the "Blade of Talzin", referencing both Mother Talzin and the very similar sword she wielded in The Clone Wars episode "The Disappeared, Part 2". The same ritual uses the same words that Talzin spoke to Ventress for her own ritual in "Massacre".
  • Sabine uses the Force to give Ezra the boost he needs to reach the Chimaera, a tactic he used several times alongside Kanan during Rebels
  • During his taunting speech to Ahsoka, Thrawn confirms he knows her master Anakin became Darth Vader, having worked with both versions of him in the new canon Thrawn novels.
  • Baylan finds statues of the Mortis Gods on Peridea, though the Sister's statue has been defaced and decapitated.
  • Ezra manages to sneak off the Chimaera by disguising himself as a Stormtrooper, just like he used to in his Phoenix Squadron days, now helped by the fact he's the right height to pass as one.
  • The final scene has cues from "It’s Over Now", the dramatic piece that capped off the ending of "Twilight of the Apprentice, Part II" which similarly featured a Bittersweet Ending for the heroes.
• Cool Sword: The Nightsisters gift Morgan the Blade of Talzin, a regular sword enchanted by Nightsister magic to be as deadly as any lightsaber and able to clash with one.
• Die or Fly: Sabine being disarmed and having the life choked out of her by one of the enhanced troopers is the instigating force to fully unlock her potential, using the Force to pull her lightsaber to herself.
• Double Meaning: As Ahsoka, Ezra, and Sabine approach the Nightsister fortress, the observing Thrawn flatly states "There'll be no negotiating with the apprentice of Anakin Skywalker." This could either mean he believes it would be useless to even try because Ahsoka is enough like Anakin that no matter what he offered, she'd refuse in service of the mission; or he's just not even going to bother, in favor of the more expedient tactic of removing the threat she poses; or he knows of Anakin’s history of false surrenders and otherwise using negotiation as a ruse.
• Dramatic Irony: Thrawn gloats to Ahsoka over his victory, noting how he was familiar with her master and could see through her similar strategies, not realizing that Ezra had successfully stowed away on his ship due to a tactic used by him and Sabine instead of anything Ahsoka would've done. He vowed to never again underestimate Force-users, but did anyway by underestimating the same one he did before, and not even realizing there's another one now in play.
• Dressing as the Enemy: Ezra takes the armor of a Night Trooper he took down so he can steal Baylan's Eta-class shuttle.
• Easily Forgiven: Ahsoka, who has had to make difficult choices of her own in life and is glad to have reunited with Ezra regardless of the circumstances, doesn't give Sabine much grief for her actions, even though they directly enabled Thrawn's return.
• Elite Mooks: The undead Death Troopers accompanying Thrawn are able to give Ezra and Sabine a run for their money, delaying them just long enough for the Chimaera to float (almost) out of reach.
• Empowered Badass Normal: Sabine, already a Badass Normal Mandalorian, manages to unlock at least some of her potential with the Force, gaining telekinetic powers and some extrasensory perception.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • Thrawn is visibly uncomfortable watching Elsbeth undergo her ritual. He also shows a clear dislike of leaving his people to die; he's willing to do it for the greater good, but it still doesn't entirely sit well with him. He's borderline forlorn when he realizes how many troopers Morgan talked into a known suicide mission.
  • When contact is lost with the two TIE Fighters Thrawn sends after Ahsoka's ship, he assumes them lost and calls it "an acceptable outcome", but orders a posthumous commendation be entered into the captain's record.
• Evil Is Petty: Even Thrawn isn't above a cheap parting shot, calling Ahsoka moments before his escape to boast about his victory and needle her about possibly turning out like her master.
• Exact Words: Sabine promised that she would take Ezra home, at no point did she promise that she would accompany him on the trip.
• Facial Horror: One of the Death Troopers has his helmet damaged while fighting Sabine, revealing part of a rotted mouth snarling at her.
• Fastball Special: Sabine uses the Force to push Ezra up into the hangar of the departing Chimaera.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: Sabine is looking out into the night sky when she senses shadows within the stars. Ahsoka goes over to look, and gives a noticeable, respectful nod before leaving, and the camera then pulls back as she leaves to reveal Anakin watching over her.
• Flaming Sword: The Blade of Talzin, gifted to Morgan by the Great Mothers, is a scimitar that glows with green flames, as a sort of mirror to Ahsoka's lightsabers. Since the flames are magic, this doesn't stop Morgan from handling the blade during combat as if it weren't on fire, even though it cuts just like a lightsaber.
• Gory Discretion Shot: When Ezra decapitates the Death Trooper he’s fighting, the camera goes behind a pillar to hide it. Then when the camera passes to the other side of the pillar, the trooper’s head is seen rolling on the floor.
• Hold the Line: Thrawn has to stall for time so the Eye of Sion can launch with the Chimaera, sending numerous Night Troopers and even Morgan to delay the heroes. He escapes by the skin of his teeth, but Ezra manages to tag along, and after they make it back to the original galaxy, escapes to warn the New Republic.
• Hope Spot: Huyang gets the ship repaired and they race to intercept Thrawn before the Eye of Sion can jump to hyperspace. Unfortunately, his lead is too great and they fall just short of catching him.
• I Choose to Stay: Rather than return home with Ezra, Sabine chooses to stay behind on Peridea to save Ahsoka and accepts their stranding with grace, having succeeded in her mission of getting Ezra home.
• Immune to Bullets: Just to make things that little bit harder, the two Death Troopers Sabine and Ezra face have armor immune to blaster-fire, though a few focused, point-blank shots from Sabine manages to break one of their helmets, exposing the undead soldier within, and leaving it vulnerable to being killed by way of a lightsaber to the brain.
• Implacable Man: The Night Troopers are only inconvenienced by blaster fire and most lightsaber strikes, and they just keep coming. The undead Death Troopers are even more deadly, with their superior armor shrugging off Sabine and Ezra's attacks until their vulnerabilities are attacked.
• In Mysterious Ways: After glimpsing Morai on Peridea, Ahsoka comes to the conclusion that she and Sabine were meant to be stranded as part of some greater destiny, and are exactly where they need to be for whatever lies ahead.
• Insistent Terminology:
  • Huyang and Ezra bicker about the droid's filing arrangements, with Huyang insisting that he has a system. Ezra tries to claim he also has a system, but Huyang counters that Ezra has a "method", and what he's doing cannot be called a system by any measure.
  • Thrawn is insistent that everything that is happening is "For the Empire" and is quite uncomfortable with the idea that his troopers are willing to go on a suicide mission out of personal loyalty to him rather than to the Empire. He sees the Empire as necessary to protect order in the galaxy and sees himself as merely an instrument of that.
• Internal Reveal: Huyang reveals to Ezra what happened to Sabine's family and the destruction of Mandalore, along with why Ahsoka abandoned training her.
• It Can Think: The two undead Death Troopers that face off against Ezra and Sabine do have a slightly zombie-like jerkiness to their movements, but still demonstrate seemingly intelligent martial techniques and situational awareness. Notably, the Death Trooper that fights Sabine immediately removes her Beskar helmet as soon as he gets into hand-to-hand, which makes this zombie already more intelligent than a Dark Trooper.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: Morgan's villainous Plot Armor finally runs out when she is slain by Ahsoka in a Designated Girl Fight lightsaber-versus-flaming-sword battle on Peridea, a fate that's been a long time coming since Morgan was a ruinous planetary despot on Corvus in The Mandalorian. Averted for others like Thrawn, Baylan and Shin, who all live to inevitably cause more trouble in the future.
• Literary Allusion Title: The title of the episode alludes to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
• Mind over Matter: After trying for the entire season, Sabine finally manages to use the Force for telekinesis, summoning her lightsaber to her hand to kill an undead Death Trooper and managing to push Ezra onto the Chimaera.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Ezra and Sabine fight against undead Death Troopers as Elite Mooks. The Death Troopers also share their name with a Legends horror novel that featured zombified Stormtroopers, which are also called by that name and are their namesake within the current canon as well. In this episode, the reference comes full-circle. The resurrected Night Troopers further evoke the ones from the novel.
  • The episode's title refers to Ahsoka (along with Ezra and Sabine) the Jedi, Morgan as the (singular) Witch, since she's the only Nightsister directly taking on the Jedi, and Thrawn being the Warlord (even though he's actually been away from the war for several years); somewhat similar to the trio in the debut of Dathomir and the Nightsisters, with Luke Skywalker, the leader of the Nightsisters (Gethzarion), and Imperial Warlord Zsinj.
• Night of the Living Mooks: The Night Troopers sent to delay the Jedi are pretty easily slaughtered. Then Thrawn has the Nightsisters use their magic to reanimate the corpses. It's also shown that at least some of his troops have already been subjected to this process, such as the two Death Troopers guarding the ramp to the Chimaera.
• Noodle Incident: One has to wonder where Ezra managed to get a kyber crystal on Peridea. Or if Ahsoka and Huyang managed to have one available aboard their ship.
  • Huyang keeps a workshop full of spare lightsaber parts; it's entirely reasonable that he'd keep kyber crystals as well, just in case. After all, they're the primary component of a lightsaber.
• Not So Above It All: The normally perfectly cool and collected Thrawn finally allows himself a moment to needle Ahsoka once he knows his escape is assured: he points out that he knew Anakin, used that knowledge to guess that Ahsoka's strategies would be similar, and ends by musing "just how similar you might become". Ahsoka is very clearly not amused by his words.
• Not So Stoic: Thrawn's expression visibly twitches with frustration as he realizes that Ahsoka, Sabine, and Ezra have made it into the fortress. Later, as the Eye of Sion prepares to depart for home, he's visibly emotional at finally making his escape, and while he keeps his composure, he's clearly affected when the Great Mothers report Morgan's death.
• Off with His Head!:
  • Ezra chops the head off his zombified Death Trooper.
  • In the shot of the statues of the three Mortis gods, the Daughter's head is missing, likely defaced and destroyed long ago.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Ezra managed to steal Baylan and Shin's shuttle off of the Eye of Sion and slip away, seemingly without Thrawn ever even realizing that he was onboard.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Chopper is normally belligerent at best, and he and Ezra were constantly at odds back in Rebels, so when Chopper quietly rolls up to the disguised Ezra and gets a loving pat on the head in return, it's clear just how happy they are to see each other again.
• Orbital Bombardment: Thrawn orders Enoch to "rain hellfire" on Ahsoka, Sabine, and Ezra as they approach by howler. Thankfully, Imperial aim is as bad as ever and they fail to hit their targets. Once the Chimaera docks with the Eye of Sion, he orders the entire castle razed as a last-ditch attempt to kill his foes.
• Orphaned Etymology: Thrawn describing Ahsoka as a rōnin is one of the most explicit references to Earth-based cultures in the Star Wars franchise.
• Our Zombies Are Different: The reanimated Night Troopers still possess some degree of sentience, remember their military training, and in absence of direct orders are able to set up tactics. Although, there are not as intelligent as when they were alive, since it takes them several minutes of banging their fists against a closed metal door before realizing they can use their weapons to blast it off.
• Out of Focus: Hera, Shin, and Baylan only appear at the end of the episode. Shin and Baylan don't even get any lines. Mon Mothma is entirely absent from this episode as well.
• Pet Positive Identification: Well, for a given value of "pet". When Ezra comes off the shuttle still in stormtrooper armor, the rest of the New Republic are wary. Chopper, on the other hand, rolls right up to him to say hi and receive pets, at which point Ezra takes off the helmet.
• Properly Paranoid:
  • Thrawn declares that with the Jedi ship disabled, the odds of them reaching his ship in time to prevent their departure are almost impossible. So naturally, he orders immediate preparations for a ground assault, then throws undead stormtroopers, an empowered Morgan and two extra Death Troopers at them to slow them down before bombing the fortress to rubble on the way out. All of that still only buys him just enough time to make the jump, and Ezra manages to get on board anyway.
  • Given what happened the last time a "Jedi" shuttle came aboard a New Republic ship, Hera doesn't risk it. She lets the ship aboard but has her entire security team armed with blasters and ready to shoot in case the new arrival might be hostile. Thankfully, despite being the same ship, the man inside is far from hostile.
• Ramming Always Works: When the TIE fighters damage the ship, leaving it on the verge of crashing, Sabine shunts all available power into the engines for a burst of speed and crashes into the TIEs before they can react. Since the Jedi ship is much tougher than the TIEs, it plows right through them with no apparent damage. Unfortunately, it then drops out of the sky moments later, since it has no power for engines.
• Rank Up: The Great Mothers "promote" Morgan from Acolyte to full Nightsister via a ritual that gives her black eyes, pale skin, and the black facial markings of the other clan members, even bestowing the magical Blade of Talzin upon her so she can fight the incoming Jedi.
• "Ray of Hope" Ending: Thrawn has successfully returned to the main galaxy with plans to restart the Empire, while Ahsoka, Sabine, and Huyang are now trapped on Peridea with Shin and Baylan still on the planet. Shin is last seen seemingly trying to lead or at least join the bandit tribe who tried to kill Sabine and Ezra in the previous episodes, while Baylan is closing in on the source of power he came for. Despite this, Ezra's also returned to the main galaxy after stowing away on Thrawn's Star Destroyer, sneaking out in Baylan's Eta-class shuttle to reunite with Hera and warn her of Thrawn's return and the whereabouts of Ahsoka, Sabine, and Huyang. Meanwhile, Ahsoka believes being stranded on Peridea was fate, since Morai appears to her, so there must be a higher purpose they're meant to achieve on the planet.
• Removing the Head or Destroying the Brain: The reanimated Night Troopers shrug off body shots and lightsaber slashes. Even a couple blaster bolts to the head fail to kill the Death Trooper fighting Sabine. A lightsaber through the skull, on the other hand, does the trick. Ezra follows that up by decapitating his opponent.
• The Reveal:
  • Ahsoka abandoned Sabine's training because, after the Night of a Thousand Tears, she feared that if she unlocked Sabine's potential, she could potentially become "dangerous".
  • As said by Huyang, the Night of a Thousand Tears happened at the end of the Galactic Civil War.
• Rōnin: Thrawn explicitly calls Ahsoka this in his monologue shortly before his jump to hyperspace.
• Rule of Symbolism: When Baylan stands on the statues of the Mortis Gods, he's standing on the Father's statue, and close to the Son's, while the Daughter's is so damaged as to be almost unnoticeable, all of which mirrors Baylan's own character: he has forsaken the Jedi, is closer to but decidedly not a Sith, and seeks something more than either philosophy can offer.
• Sequel Hook: Thrawn has returned to the main galaxy, as has Ezra. Shin sets herself up as the potential leader of a bandit tribe. Baylan stands upon a statue of the Mortis Gods, the Father's finger pointing toward a distant mountain with a pulsing light visible. Ahsoka and Sabine, for now stranded on Peridea, prepare for their next adventure.
• Ship Sinking: If Ezra calling Sabine his sister hadn't sunk the Ship, the fact that they stayed in separate galaxies seems to have finished the job. Yet, Sabine's reaction to being separated from him again does seem to indicate a small ray of hope that may not be the case yet, provided if her and Ahsoka find a way off Peridea.
• Shout-Out:
  • The title sounds a lot like "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe".
  • The sight of the Mortis Gods statues is like those of the Argonath statues.
  • The reanimation of the Night Troopers is accompanied by a riff of "Psycho" Strings clearly evoking Camille Saint-Saëns' Danse macabre.
  • Glowing, green mystical energy creating an army of vicious and nigh-unstoppable undead was done before in another Disney-produced media.
• Sinister Scimitar: The Blade of Talzin is a magical Nightsister-made version of a scimitar that glows with green fire and is capable of blocking even a lightsaber. The way Morgan fights with the weapon is even based on real-life scimitar forms.
• Some Day This Will Come In Handy: Huyang held onto the sibling component for Kanan's lightsaber, feeling one day it would be needed for someone.
• So Proud of You: Anakin is seen at the end, visibly smiling at his old apprentice.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: Sabine pulls this on Huyang and Ezra. She was affected negatively by the comments and worried about her bond with Ahsoka after Huyang's comment about the relationship between the master and the apprentice is as much challenging as it is meaningful. Once Ezra finishes his saber, he turns to Sabine to ask her a question to find her no longer there, instead on the outside hull of the ship.
• Stealth Insult: While Thrawn praises Ahsoka as a Worthy Opponent, he also idly compares her to Anakin, wondering "how similar" to him she might become, a clear allusion to Anakin's less than pleasant history. The remark is not lost on Ahsoka, who visibly fumes with anger at Thrawn's words.
• Stealth Pun: In the original EU, the term death troopers referred to zombie stormtroopers. In the new canon, Death Troopers are an unit specializing in protecting high-value assets. This episode gives us death trooper Death Troopers.
• Taught by Experience: After his showdown with Ezra on Lothal left him stranded in another galaxy for the remainder of the Galactic Civil War and then some, Thrawn has vowed to never again underestimate Force-users.
• There Is No Try: When queried by Ahsoka on whether she kept up with her training on the outside of the shuttle, Sabine said she tries, then corrects herself to saying I do.
• There's No Kill like Overkill: Thrawn does everything in his power to take absolutely no chances when it comes to killing Ahsoka, Sabine, and Ezra, having the Chimaera "rain hellfire" on them when they approach on mounts, and ordering the entire building on which they stand to be levelled as his forces depart. That all this still doesn't kill the heroes is a testament to both their hardiness and how justified Thrawn's tactics really are.
• Took a Level in Badass: Sabine can finally use the Force, becoming an Empowered Badass Normal.
• Tranquil Fury: Ahsoka is visibly, but silently fuming when Thrawn mentions Anakin, clearly agitated by her enemy's reference to her old master and by the fact that Thrawn is about to slip right through her fingers.
• Undying Loyalty:
  • Sabine towards Ahsoka, to the point that she gave up returning home with Ezra to stay and help her.
  • Almost 3 dozen Night Troopers volunteer to stay behind and delay Ahsoka's party from reaching the Chimaera before it departs, knowing full well they'll either be killed or stranded. When Thrawn realizes they need more time despite the delay, Morgan also volunteers to stay and engage the Jedi to give him the time he needs without complaint.
• The Unfought: Thrawn lampshades the fact that, despite her mission to stop him, he and Ahsoka never even lay eyes on each other, much less confront each other directly, before Thrawn's escape (and with Ahsoka stranded on Peridea, it's very likely she'll never get a chance to face him).
• The Unreveal:
  • The Nightsisters weren't just exiled on Peridea, they were "sealed" somehow until Thrawn found them, but who, how and why go unexplored.
  • Likewise, the contents of the hundreds of cargo pods that were loaded aboard the Chimaera for delivery to Dathomir remain unrevealed.
  • The mysterious power that Baylan is seeking is never shown outside of a connection to The Ones of Mortis.
• Vehicular Turnabout: Ezra steals Baylan's shuttle to escape the Chimaera.
• Villainous Breakdown: Morgan's sanity has been gradually slipping throughout the whole season, but it reaches its zenith after her transformation by the Great Mothers. During the final duel with Ahsoka, a shot from Sabine is enough to make Morgan absolutely lose her mind and scream at the Night Troopers to kill her.
• Villainous Valor:
  • Thrawn's Night Troopers volunteer to stay behind to delay Ahsoka, Sabine, and Ezra, proudly doing so for the benefit of Thrawn, though he insists that it's for the Empire.
  • Morgan doesn't hesitate to accept Thrawn's order to remain on Peridea to kill Ahsoka, and even when Ahsoka is surrounded by Night Troopers, Morgan insists on fighting her personally, only having the Troopers attack when Sabine makes her presence known.
• Visual Pun: Thrawn's zealously devoted Night Troopers rise again to keep fighting in their master's name; they literally have undying loyalty.
• Wham Shot: The statues of the Mortis Gods on Peridea.
• Worthy Opponent: Thrawn tells Ahsoka he considers her as one, and laments they couldn't have met in person. That said, his words can also be construed as a semi-Hannibal Lecture for referring to her Master (implicitly telling her of his history both with Anakin and Vader):
  Thrawn: Ahsoka Tano, allow me to commend you on your efforts today. You've been quite a worthy opponent. I regret we haven't met face to face, and perhaps now we never shall. Still, I know you because I knew your Master. I concluded your strategies would be similar. One wonders just how similar you might become. Perhaps this is where a ronin such as you belongs. Today, victory is mine. Long live the Empire.
• Wrecked Weapon: Ahsoka's shoto lightsaber is destroyed by Morgan in their duel. Ahsoka strikes back by taking Morgan's sword and killing her with it.
• You Are Too Late: Huyang arrives in time to rescue Ahsoka and Sabine as Thrawn has the castle bombarded, but their ship simply cannot catch the Eye of Sion with the lead it has, even with Huyang diverting full power to the engines. Thrawn calls to gloat that he managed to delay Ahsoka long enough to secure his escape, even though he regrets not meeting her face to face.

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