In darkness we grow, in shadow we fight. We are without light before the arrival of the Emperor. So it is only natural that when his will arrives, we shy away from it, dark sinners fearing the rightful approach of his reign, like worms in the mud, fearing the Cruel Dawn.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Battle Discretion Shot: The Custodian's one-sided massacre of the rogue naval armsmen inside the hangar of the Luminous Reign isn't shown as that part of the story is told from the POV of the Bad Batch, who were hiding out of sight inside a shuttle in the hangar and thus only hear the sounds of the battle. Once the Custodian and Udama's retinue have left the hangar to go deeper into the ship, the Bad Batch peek out from inside the shuttle to find thousands of dead armsmen laying still on the hangar floor.
- Bullying a Dragon: The Luminous Reign's captain thinks that pettily antagonizing an Inquisitor and trying to obstruct her investigation through death threats is a good idea simply because he himself is already in service to an Inquisitor Lord and he assumes Screw the Rules, I Have Connections! is in place (it isn't).
- Continuity Nod: While looking through Tahr Whyler's armory aboard the Luminous Reign, Anakin mentions to Khayon how he lost his arm to a Sith Lord.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The Custodian vs. 5,000 rogue naval armsmen in the hangar of Tahr's warship. The fight doesn't even last two minutes and ends with all the armsmen dead while the Custodian and Udama's Inquisitorial retinue seemingly took zero losses or injuries.
- Gas Leak Cover Up: Inquisitor Udama's gunship has entered the hangar bay of Tahr Whyler's warship Luminous Reign where she is met by the ship's complement of naval armsmen. Udama intends to carry out an inspection of the Luminous Reign, which is currently on lockdown due to most if not all of Tahr's prisoners (including Iskandar Khayon) having broken free from the ship's secret prison thanks to Anakin, and are currently staging a bloody Prison Riot (as revealed in "Our Chains Are Broken"). In an attempt to cover up the fact that their ship was carrying secret prisoners and that said prisoners have just escaped their cells, the captain lies to Udama that the entire ship is under quarantine due to "issues with our Warp engines" which makes it unsafe for her to be aboard. Udama doesn't buy it for one second.
- Not Worth Killing: The Bad Batch are hiding in the hangar bay of Tahr Whyler's warship where they have just overheard a Custodian effortlessly kill thousands of rogue naval armsmen within the span of minutes. The Custodian then walks over to where the Bad Batch are hiding and nearly finds them before suddenly leaving.
Word of God is that the Custodian knew the Bad Batch were there because he could literally smell their fear, but didn't do anything because none of them were his target and he didn't consider them a threat. - Right Hand Versus Left Hand: This episode introduces yet another Inquistor named Udama, who makes an unannounced visit to the Luminous Reign with a search warrant as part of her internal investigation into Tahr, who she suspects is guilty of heresy and sedition. Udama finds her way blocked by thousands of naval armsmen working for the Inquisition, who are under strict orders by Tahr to prevent anyone from entering his ship without his permission, including other Inquisitors. Udama tries to convince the armsmen to let her pass by informing them of Tahr's suspected crimes, warning them that they are impeding an Inquisitorial investigation, and even revealing a member of the Adeptus Custodes as part of her retinue. When the armsmen refuse to budge, a battle breaks out in which Udama's Custodian brutally slaughters them all in order for Udama to finally gain access to the ship.
- Sensing You Are Outmatched: The Bad Batch are hiding inside the hangar bay of Tahr Whyler's warship when a shuttle arrives carrying an Inquisitor being accompanied by a Custodian. Even before the Custodian disembarks the shuttle, Hunter can't help but feel uneasy. Once the Custodian exits the shuttle, Hunter is suddenly overcome with paralyzing fear as every instinct in his body is warning him not to mess with the new arrivals. This gets validated when the Custodian then singlehandedly kills thousands of rogue voidsmen in minutes, which confirms to Hunter that he and the Bad Batch have no hope of defeating the Custodian in a fight.
- Too Dumb to Live: The captain of Tahr's ship first willfully obstructs and needlessly antagonizes an Inquisitor trying to do her job. Then, he takes things to a whole new level of dumb by refusing to comply with direct orders from the Adeptus Custodes. No surprise he's the first of his men to get violently Killed Offscreen by the Custodian.
