History NightmareFuel / StarWarsRebels

* When arriving on Geonosis in ''The Honorable Ones'', the crew is under the impression that the Geonosians are building new weapons for the Empire. Then they scan the planet, and find [[KillEmAll no signs of life]]. What's more, it's implied in the episode (and confirmed in Rebels Recon), that Ezra can sense the death from orbit.

* In Rise of the Old Masters [[spoiler:the corpse of Luminara Unduli is downright disturbing. Her nose and eyes appear to be gone, her face is very gaunt and her facial bones are jutting out beneath her dried out skin. The way the skin is stretched out means her teeth visible even though her mouth is closed. If it wasn't for her chin tattoos, you couldn't even recognize her.]]
** The build-up to the revelation is also pretty creepy. [[spoiler: Kanan could sense her presence in the Spire, and he finds her sitting in her cell alive and well. Then she silently stands up, walks over and phases into the casket (which is empty at first), before turning into the mummified corpse described above in way that makes it look like she's quickly rotting away. A big YankTheDogsChain moment if any. And until WordOfGod weighed in, [[WildMassGuessing there was some speculation on what that image of Luminara sitting in the cell was]]? A hologram? [[AndIMustScream Her spirit bound to her corpse]]? Or an illusion created by the Inquisitor? [[FridgeHorror And was Gall Trayvis, that supposedly sympathetic Imperial senator who protested her "imprisonment" on the HoloNet, even aware of the trap being setup?]]]]

* [[spoiler:Ezra tapping into the Dark Side to summon the fyrnock mother.]] When you make the Inquisitor take a step back in fear, you know you're onto a winner...
* Ezra facing off with the Inquisitor in Gathering Forces. The Inquisitor has just knocked Kanan out [[CurbStompBattle without breaking a sweat]]. Ezra attempts to save Kanan only to get pushed back to the edge of a cliff. The Inquisitor slowly walks towards him, taunting him by stating that he'll kill Kanan and everyone else. [[spoiler: The only thing that saves Ezra is tapping into the Dark Side, which is Nightmare Fuel on its own.]] It's worse because [[spoiler: Ezra is so angry that he's [[TranquilFury in a kind of trance]], and he has no real knowledge of the danger that the Dark Side of the Force possesses.]]

** By the episode's ending, [[spoiler:he has Kanan in custody]], and his final line is "You do not know what it takes a win a war, but I do." Tarkin's ''modus operandi'' is MakeAnExampleOfThem, which does not bode well for [[spoiler:Kanan]] or Lothal.

* Chopper ex-filtrates itself from an Imperial transport by simply opening the nearest hatch and letting itself get sucked out in the rush of air. Never mind the ''squad of stormtroopers'' that just got spaced [[ExploitedImmunity along with him]]. WordOfGod, tackling this very issue admitted that while the stormtroopers' armor ''can'' be hermetically sealed, the amount of air they would have had on them was negligible.
* [[spoiler: Kanan's]] interrogation/torture session aboard Tarkin's Star Destroyer. If that wasn't bad enough when he ''doesn't'' break they intend to take him to [[Film/RevengeOfTheSith Mustafar]], which is described as 'where Jedi go to die'.
** With the release of ''Film/RogueOne'', this line has a whole new meaning : [[spoiler:''Darth Vader'''s personal residence is located here (which Tarkin is certainly aware of as Director Krennic knows its location). So if Kanan doesn't break to the Grand Inquisitor, the Dark Lord of the Sith will certainly do the job with greater chances of success.]] [[spoiler:This may explain why the Emperor's Apprentice shows up nearly ''instantly'' with the Grand Moff at the end of the season when he returns from Mustafar.]]

* [[spoiler:The Inquisitor]] would rather [[DrivenToSuicide kill himself]] [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled than report to Darth Vader that he had failed]]. Think about that.
** Keep in mind that he is most likely [[CruelAndUnusualDeath incinerated alive]]. Vader usually just Force chokes officers that fail him, what does he do to [[spoiler:Inquisitors]] that makes burning alive preferable?

* In ''The Future Of The Force'' Palpatine is back to his old tricks concerning Force sensitive children -- except ''this'' time he has a hell of a lot more resources to use, with no need to be subtle and nobody to really stop him now. What's more, the Inquisitors use violence if the families of the children object, with no regard for collateral damage, and the kids will quite probably either be killed outright, experimented upon, or brought up as Inquisitors themselves.

* Toward the ending of ''The Call,'' [[spoiler: Ezra falls off a platform into a crater filled with gas...[[DeadlyGas which he can't breathe]]. His helmet falls off his head, and he lies on the back of a [[SpaceWhale purrgil]] unconscious. When he finally wakes up, he quickly realizes that he's ''choking'', and reaches out for his helmet, only for it to fall beyond his grasp. If the purrgil hadn't caught his helmet and returned it to him, he'd have suffocated and died.]] Not pleasant to think about.

* [[spoiler:The new Inquisitor waits in the shadows, blending in with the petrified corpse-statues, before he strikes.]]

* [[spoiler: Maul has the Seventh Sister trapped in a Force Choke and orders Ezra to kill her. When he refuses the Seventh Sister's expression's relaxes a bit, obviously thinking of a way out of her predicament. Unfortunately for her, Maul is far less merciful and throws his lightsaber; she barely even has time to scream in horror before she's cut in half, with the camera showing [[GoryDiscretionShot only her clearly severed lower torso hitting the ground and falling over.]]]]
* During Ahsoka's duel with Vader, [[spoiler: part of Vader's helmet gets cut open, so that when he turns his head to look at Ahsoka she and the viewer can see just a part of his face beneath the mask - including the piercing, Sith yellow eye.]]
** To add to the horror, [[spoiler: Vader calls out to Ahsoka with a twisted mishmash of Anakin's voice and Vader's artificial one.]]
** Honestly, hearing [[spoiler: Vader speaking in Anakin's voice with his face partially visible while still acting like Vader only makes him even scarier. At least before he had the armor and altered voice to keep us from entirely identifying with him. Now we can see that this is the Anakin we spent the entirety of the Clone Wars following and rooting for, now a FallenHero and TheDragon to the BigBad who wiped out the majority of the Jedi.]]

* Ahsoka [[spoiler:calmly delving deeper into the Sith Temple on Malachor after her battle with Vader.]] What could possibly drive her to do that?
* [[spoiler: Vader Force-dragging Ezra towards him by the arm holding the holocron, all while Ezra is panicking and scrabbling on his feet, with Kanan desperately trying to hang onto him.]]
* Ahsoka and Kanan dismissed the Sith holocron as useless, as no Jedi would be able to open it. At the very end of the episode, [[spoiler: the Sith Holocron begins to open in Ezra's hands while he looks up at the camera with a look of pure rage, the red light of the holocron [[RedEyesTakeWarning reflected in his eyes]] as he does so.]] Ezra's going to a bad place...

* Season 2 got dark when Darth Vader joined the party. How do you top that? [[spoiler: ''[[TheDreaded Grand]] [[TheChessmaster Admiral]] [[RedEyesTakeWarning Thrawn]]'']], that's how.
** For those who don't know who [[spoiler: Grand Admiral Thrawn]] is, he's a cold, calculating, strategic genius who nearly brought the newly formed New Republic to its knees. His specialty is goading his opponents into traps, understanding a species and their future actions just by learning its culture, and being such a big fan of art that he didn't deny how beautiful his own assassination was. All in all, not someone you'd want as an enemy
** Hera is shown looking very nervous in [[spoiler: Thrawn's presence, who plans to turn the Rebels against each other, and let them destroy themselves. Hera is essentially TheHeart of the Ghost crew; kill, damage or corrupt the heart, and the body will soon follow.]]

* The trailer features shrieking, skeletal spirits bound to a table with runes on it. [[spoiler:At one point, one of them caresses Kanan's face and then possesses him, using his body to fight Darth Maul. Seeing Kanan grinning creepily as he steps off the table, his ruined eye sockets filled with green ichor, is what nightmares are made of.]]
** And then it turns out [[spoiler:Kanan isn't the ''only'' one subjected to this DemonicPossession; one teaser shows Maul getting it, and so do Sabine and Ezra in the Rebel Beat commercial. And the spirits are making them fight ''each other''.]]
* In the midseason trailer, [[spoiler: [[OhCrap Thrawn has found Chopper Base]]. And we see scenes in the trailer of Atollon being destroyed ([[ChekhovsGun in what seems to be Base Delta Zero]], which was long [[{{Foreshadowing}} foreshadowed]] back in Season 1), with only the shield generator (or as some speculate, the Bendu's powers holding off the Imperials [[HeroicSacrifice long enough for the rebels to flee]]) protecting Chopper Base, but for how long?]]
** Practically everything about the midseason trailer is unnerving. [[spoiler: While scenes are shown briefly covering how things are taking a turn for the worse for the rebels, the ominous repetition of Obi-Wan's warning plays across the trailer, giving a much darker and uneasy tone to the short moments as they play out]].
*** [[SchmuckBait There might also be]] [[RewatchBonus something disturbingly hidden]]. [[spoiler: The faint-sounding noise heard at the very end [[HellIsThatNoise is actually Maul shrieking "Kenobi"]] as they prepare to duel in Tatooine]].

*** The group is then pinned down by the same walker. Ezra takes [[MindControl control]] of the walker pilot's mind with the Force and makes him fire on the stormtroopers and then [[spoiler:[[PsychicAssistedSuicide step off the platform to his unambiguous death]]]]. Scary enough, but the way Ezra's movements mirror that of the pilot's shows that it's less of a JediMindTrick, and more like PeoplePuppets or maybe even [[GrandTheftMe outright possession]]. It's basically the Force equivalent of [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender bloodbending]], and the others are visibly shaken by it.

*** It's even worse when you think about it from the pilot's point of view. Imagine a routine day on the job, shooting at members of a small rebel cell (or what you believe to be one). Suddenly, you get utterly stripped of your will and manipulated like a puppet into shooting your friends while they scream for you to stop. [[spoiler:After that, you die. How do you die? You tumble through the clouds, probably just now becoming aware of yourself and your surroundings again before you inevitably smash into the ground. It's seriously a cross between GrandTheftMe, MindRape, and possibly AndIMustScream, with the worst possible outcome.]]

--> '''Ezra:''' [[spoiler: We're not leaving any witnesses]].
* Do you remember those [[SarcasmMode lovely, adorable spiders]] who provided so many entries on this page during the second season? [[spoiler: Kanan blunders right into one while blind and at their mercy.]]

** As shown in [[Literature/StarWarsThrawn his book]], Thrawn didn't cause those civilian casualties. The casualties were actually caused by [[spoiler:Governor Pryce]] when [[spoiler:she detonated a cache of explosives located under a shield protecting the settlement where the insurgents were hiding. Because of the shield, the shockwave of the explosion rebounds and hits the settlement again and again, obliterating it]]. All this just to [[spoiler:cover up her murder of an Imperial agent, and she lets Thrawn take the credit/blame]]. The fact that this level of civilian casualties is considered ''acceptable'' is rather disturbing.
** [[spoiler: Note that it is Pryce who defends the casualties as justified, not Thrawn.]]

* [[spoiler: Darth Maul has captured Hera, Sabine, Zeb, and Chopper and is holding them hostage, tied up with blasters to their heads and threatening to kill them if Ezra and Kanan don't co-operate.]]
** [[spoiler: And then there is Maul probing Hera's mind for information, doing it the same way that [[Film/TheForceAwakens Kylo Ren]] does. Hera isn't in as much pain throughout as [[Film/TheForceAwakens Poe]] was, but it remains an unpleasant process.]]
* After Ezra and Kanan arrive at the station, [[spoiler: Maul has two droids take Ezra to a place where they can fuse the holocrons, while he takes Kanan to an airlock, which he then throws the hapless Jedi out of.]]
** While Kanan survives [[spoiler: being thrown into space, he ends up being almost frozen and is gasping for breath by the time he gets back to the station.]]
* Near the end of the episode, [[spoiler: while Ezra looks away from the holocrons, Maul has a full view of them just as they explode. Immediately after, he disregards the entire Ghost crew and just hastily stumbles his way out of the station, into his ship, and flies away, cackling maniacally and saying "He lives!" over and over again. Just ''who'' is he so eager to meet? And earlier in the episode, the Bendu states "[[GoMadFromTheRevelation Once a secret is known, it cannot be unknown]]". Seeing how unhinged Maul seemed after the explosion, and how he didn't turn away, he may have very well '''''[[MySkullRunnethOver gone insane]]'''''.]]
** What makes the whole thing worse is that [[spoiler:the holocrons never finished their revelation, with Ezra having cut off the connection before they could find the full answer. Given how badly just fragments of that knowledge hurt Ezra and Maul, what would have happened had they found what they were looking for?]]

* [[spoiler:Hera pretends that she's an ordinary Twi'lek servant when she gets caught in a doorway by Thrawn and an Imperial officer. And Thrawn being [[MagnificentBastard Thrawn]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVst5R1v3cU it definitely]] didn't get past him]].
** [[spoiler: Thrawn appears to have taken a close interest in Hera.]]

--> '''Thrawn:''' [[spoiler: I've found this whole experience to be very...enlightening]].

* The idea that [[spoiler: not only is Sabine's family fighting the other side of a war from her, but that her mother is with the Empire, and possibly now hostile to her daughter]].

* [[spoiler: Thrawn engineers Mr. Sumar's death when his hover bike overheats, to enforce the fact that sabotage will not be tolerated. Ezra and Kanan have to watch their friend be violently killed, unable to help for fear of breaking their own cover.]]
** [[spoiler: Even Kallus is shocked and horrified by Mr. Sumar's death. Not surprising considering his first unit was killed in a similar manner.]]
* [[spoiler: Kallus is the new Fulcrum -- and Thrawn quite probably ''knows this.'']]

* [[spoiler: Ezra's first visions of Maul, who appears at the edge of his vision before quickly disappearing, with Maul's voice saying his name in an extremely creepy way. And it culminates with Maul appearing right behind him, screaming right in his face!]]
** [[spoiler: The whole scene plays out like a horror movie, with erratic camera movements, eerie stormy atmosphere, creepy music, sound starting to echo, and Maul looking right at the camera, his face shadowed and his eyes glowing like some kind of demon specter from hell.]]
** Kanan and Ezra go to see Bendu in an attempt to try and solve Ezra's issues. When Bendu asks what Ezra wants, he replies that he wants to stop seeing Maul. [[spoiler: "Then don't turn 'round." Of course they do and, complete with a ScareChord, find Maul only a short way off, staring coldly at them.]]

* [[spoiler: When Sabine's possessed by a Nightsister ghost and stalking Ezra through the caverns, she crawls along the wall in a way no human should be capable of; more like a lizard or spider than anything else.]]

* The ENTIRE episode. [[spoiler: From the beginning, with Erza having waking hallucinations of Maul, to Maul actually showing up, to Maul and Ezra going into a cave on Dathomir filled with Maul's creepy collection, to them drinking an unidentified liquid and having green smoke come out of their EYES, to the Nightsister ghosts, looking like green smoky zombies, chasing them, culminating in Sabine and Erza being possessed and stalking Ezra with glowing green eyes, unnatural jerky and insect-like movements, and creepy voices, the episode is non-stop nightmare fuel. Seriously, don't watch this before bed.]]

* The Empire had wiped out all Geonosians [[spoiler: save for one and a queen egg]] for reasons unknown to our heroes save that they were building something. It just shows how far they were willing to go to keep secrets hidden from the galaxy.
* When [[spoiler: Klik-Klak is questioned what he and the other Geonosians were building for the Empire, he responds by drawing a circle within a circle. During the journey deeper into Geonosis, the heroes assume he was either drawing the planet's rings, the queen egg, or the bio-weapon canisters the Empire used to kill his kind. [[DoomsdayDevice Of course]] ''[[DoomsdayDevice we]]'' [[DoomsdayDevice know what he really meant...]]]]

** [[spoiler: Zeb re-programmes the droid so that, when it returns to the Star Destroyer it was sent from, it self-destructs -- taking out not only the two techs examining it, but quite a lot of the Star Destroyer as well. Zeb caused the deaths of who knows how many thousands of people.]]
** What's more, Thrawn is able to take this disaster and coldly analyse it: [[spoiler: now he knows to look for the rebel cell on the planets to which those droids were sent.]]

* Thrawn's EliteMook, ImplacableMan droids he spars with. [[spoiler:Even [[ColdHam the]] [[NervesOfSteel Admiral]] [[TheStoic himself]] invokes a hint of OhCrap when they suddenly break into his office, manhandle his Stormtrooper escort, come after him next, and refuse to obey his verbal override anymore (all courtesy of Kallus). Even worse? This is a MythologyGag to his final fate in ''Legends'': being killed InTheBack by bodyguard Rukh, whose name is the aforementioned override here.]]

* As he obsessively searches the boundless desert for [[spoiler:Obi-Wan]], Maul is reduced to muttering to himself before ''shrieking'' his quarry's name [[SkywardScream to the sky]], clearly on the verge of losing what's left of his mind.
-->'''Maul:''' [[spoiler:'''''KENOBIIIIII!''''']]
* Ezra, Chopper, and Maul all find themselves dealing with the unpleasant reality of crossing the desert without food or water. Aside from Ezra's brief encounter with a few Sand People, none of them are fighting any enemy aside from the endless sands and implacable sun. Before long, Maul has gone even more insane, Chopper is forced to shut down while Ezra [[PleaseDontLeaveMe begs him to stay]], and Ezra eventually passes out. If [[spoiler:Ben Kenobi]] hadn't found Ezra, Ezra would have died, and Maul would likely have spent what was left of his life searching in vain.

* [[spoiler: Maul and Obi-Wan's final confrontation has them throwing taunts and jabs at each other one last time, with Obi-Wan gently trying to convince Maul to stand down and leave. However, Obi-Wan slowly realizes that this isn't an option, as Maul confirms he knows about Luke. Obi-Wan stops playing around and [[PapaWolf draws his lightsaber with ''every'' intention to kill.]]]]

* [[spoiler:Pre-release information shows that Kallus tried to ''desert'', but he still ends up in Imperial custody while flanked by Death Troopers that could kill him the second Thrawn hands out the order, but Thrawn [[ForcedToWatch wants him]] to [[WatchingTroyBurn watch the rebels on Atollon burn]]. And if you look closely, ''he's bleeding'', meaning that either he was beat up by the Death Troopers or subject to ColdBloodedTorture.]]
* [[spoiler:Imagine being trapped on your small military base because you're cornered by about more than few enemy cruisers than your defense can handle. If there's no [[TheCavalry cavalry]] coming to help you, you're as good as dead.]]

** [[spoiler:Likewise, Thrawn eventually manages to AttackItsWeakPoint and incapacitate the Bendu -- even if it was very temporary -- without [[AntiMagic any]] [[Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy Ysalamiri]], no less. This guy's officially capable of DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu, thus giving the Rebels even more reason to see him as TheDreaded.]]
* [[spoiler: The Bendu cryptically foretells Thrawn's defeat, and Thrawn himself appears unnerved. He shoots the Bendu, only for the great being to disappear with a disembodied laugh, leaving Thrawn just as spooked as we are.]]

* The midseason trailer reveals that [[spoiler: eventually, Ezra will have to confront '''Palpatine himself'''. And Palpatine has taken an interest in him, for whatever reason. If you thought Maul was bad, this is a thousand times worse.]]

* The fight between Ezra and the short & scrawny but deceptively dangerous Trandoshan ore-crawler commander ends with [[spoiler:the latter tumbling backward into a smelting pit full of glowing-hot molten metal... and judging by the screams, his death was ''not'' instant]]. Not to mention that when the giant ore press continues pounding up and down afterward, [[spoiler: the pounding sounds ''[[{{Squick}} squishier]]'' than it did seconds earlier.]]
** Arguably more disturbing than even [[spoiler:the death]] itself is Ezra's nonchalant, sardonic reaction to it, which hints at some persisting flirtation with the dark side on his part. There is even some ambiguity as to whether Ezra himself may have caused it to occur [[spoiler:by subtly using the force to shift his dropped lightsaber to a position that caused Seevor to trip and fall into the pit]].

* Pryce's ColdBloodedTorture of Hera is likely one of the darkest scenes in the show. The whole scene is portrayed ''very'' realistically and pulls no punches in showing just how much pain Hera is in and how nasty Pryce really is. Hera is seen being strapped to table and repeatedly electrocuted as she screams in pain, while Pryce gleefully smiles, doubles down on the torture, and responds to her screams by ''complimenting the sound of her voice''. It's no wonder that along with [[spoiler: Kanan's death]], this episode is what cemented Pryce as one of the [[HateSink most hated characters]] in the show among the fandom. It gets even worse when you realize that Hera was [[spoiler: ''pregnant'' the whole time]].
** Thrawn then arrives and rubs [[spoiler: Hera's brother's death]] into her face, which must have been a horrible experience from her. Then Pryce uses a droid with a sharp needle-like syringe to inject truth serum into ''Hera's neck'' (and unlike the scene with Leia in ''Film/ANewHope'', the scene does not cut away), with only the droid itself [[SceneryCensor blocking]] the sight of the serum being inserted into Hera's neck.
* [[spoiler: Kanan's death]], while both Tearjerking and visually stunning, is also rather nightmarish with the hellish landscape of the [[spoiler: burning fuel station]] surrounding him. Not to mention that [[spoiler: Kanan died by being [[BurnedAlive consumed by a huge wave of fire]], which is NOT a pretty way to go]].

* [[spoiler:In the aftermath of Kanan's death, Governor Pryce tries to cover up the destruction of the TIE Defender production line with a parade celebrating her victory over the Rebels. Thrawn, of course, is not fooled for an instant, and is probably the most angry we've ever seen him; hissing a statement, not a threat, that can only be described as certain doom in words. The sheer menace and anger Lars Mikkelsen is able to portray in so few words as he explains to her exactly how she gave the rebels a victory and compromised the TIE Defender project, is absolutely terrifying. And he never raises his voice.]]
--->'''Thrawn''':[[spoiler:"''I will'' '''deal''' ''with you, when I return'', '''Governor.'''"]]
** [[spoiler:Thrawn likely won't be held accountable for the TIE Defender project being compromised, which isn't actually too likely especially since this isn't the first time she's screwed up her own or Thrawn's plans. It's much more likely that Pryce will be held responsible and that she will be punished instead of Thrawn. Which adds an unhealthy heaping of FridgeHorror when you realize, if the reporting really goes that far up the chain of command, that her actions may have just brought down the wrath of Thrawn, Tarkin, '''AND''' Palpatine on her head.]]

** [[spoiler:However, WordOfGod has stated that Thrawn is still alive. Hey, Bendu ''did'' say "defeat", not "death".]]
** [[spoiler:The Mandalorian confirms that Ahsoka is tracking Thrawn's location, meaning that he's still alive.]]

* Maul strikes Kanan's eyes with his lightsaber, permanently blinding him. [[https://i.imgur.com/WBC02hXl.jpg They even show the aftermath shown in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it form!]] In a meta sense, Kanan's improvised helmet has given MANY viewers the heebie-jeebies, since [[Franchise/FridayThe13th it looks like a certain killer's hockey mask.]]
** Maul in general. After his defeat by Palpatine, Maul has learned the arts of subtlety and deception, but lost little of his trademark savagery.

* Most of Lothal had been burned to the ground. Its unknown what could have done it but seeing we had the [[Film/RogueOne Death Star]] at its lowest setting and [[ComicBook/StarWarsShatteredEmpire Operation:Cinder]], what the Empire had might have been equally as bad.

* [[spoiler: Maul and Obi-Wan's final confrontation has them throwing taunts and jabs at each other one last time, with Obi-Wan gently trying to convince Maul to stand down and leave. However, Obi-Wan slowly realizes that this isn't an option, as Maul confirms he knows about Luke. Obi-Wan stops playing around and draws his lightsaber with ''every'' intention to kill.]]

* Palpatine's glamour of his ''Clone Wars'' era self is [[UncannyValley deeply disturbing]]. He's also garbed in [[LightIsNotGood pure white robes]] and [[BitchInSheepsClothing really playing up the kind old man act]] which is a jarring contrast with the monster we know he really is. Even In-Universe, this catches Ezra off-guard.

** [[spoiler:Of course, what is ''Tarkin'' going to do to Thrawn if he find out about this? Knowing Tarkin since "A Call To Action", he will ''likely'' give Thrawn anything worse than you can imagine]].
*** [[spoiler: Tarkin may not have to do anything. Given that he arranged a meeting between the Emperor and Thrawn, he will likely leave Thrawn to the Emperor's wrath, which as we know, means that Thrawn is fucked.]]
*** [[spoiler: That is, if Thrawn is held accountable for the TIE Defender project being compromised, which isn't actually too likely especially since this isn't the first time she's screwed up her own or Thrawn's plans. It's much more likely that Pryce will be held responsible and that she will be punished instead of Thrawn. Which adds an unhealthy heaping of FridgeHorror when you realize, if the reporting really goes that far up the chain of command, that her actions may have just brought down the wrath of Thrawn, Tarkin, '''AND''' Palpatine on her head.]]
*** [[spoiler:It's also worth noting that Thrawn already had Hera as leverage to save face with the Emperor when his [=TIE=] Defender project was at risk of losing support. So yes, ''definitely'' Pryce is the only one in trouble]].

* [[BigBad Palpatine's]] one-sided confrontation with Ezra and Ahsoka within the eponymous EldritchLocation. Both lightsiders are horrifically outmatched, and can do nothing but run as the Emperor attacks them with some form of Sith sorcery, cackling and snarling as only Creator/IanMcDiarmid can.

* Continuing the trend from "An Inside Man", the Imperials are becoming better and better at preventing rebel infiltration of their ranks. Ezra's TrojanPrisoner gambit fails when he's immediately taken to Thrawn's Star Destroyer for questioning, and Kanan and Rex's attempt to board the ''Chimaera'' using a stolen shuttle and Stormtrooper armour barely lasts a minute before they are found out by Governor Price and fired upon. If not for Kallus, their mission to hack Thrawn's database would have failed. It shows just how effective the Imperial military can be with competent leadership, and how much tougher the rebel's operations will be moving forward.

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%%[[AC: "Double Agent Droid"]]

* The idea that [[spoiler: not only is Sabine's family fighting the other side of a war from her, but that her mother is with the Empire, and possibly now hostile to her daughter]] is AdultFear mixed with NightmareFuel.

* [[spoiler: Maul and Obi-Wan's final confrontation has them throwing taunts and jabs at each other one last time, with Obi-Wan gently trying to convince Maul to stand down and leave. However, Obi-Wan slowly realizes that this isn't an option, as Maul confirms he knows about Luke. AdultFear kicks in, and Obi-Wan stops playing around and draws his lightsaber with ''every'' intention to kill.]]

* Maul strikes Kanan's eyes with his lightsaber, permanently blinding him. [[https://i.imgur.com/WBC02hXl.jpg They even show the aftermath shown in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it form!]]

** The comic show us when Luke encounters him after Bespin. No dying didn't prevent it, and yes he's STILL BURNING.

* Rex is clearly on the verge of a PTSD flashback when he awakens to find himself captured and surrounded by battle droids, which, as a clone (or any soldier in general), is the last thing you want (though it isn't a rarity) when you're in enemy territory in a warzone. [[PlatonicLifePartners He even calls out for Cody]], [[FreudianSlip mistaking Kanan's voice for his]]. Doubles as TearJerker.

* Ezra, Chopper, and Maul all find themselves dealing with the [[RealityEnsues unpleasant reality]] of crossing the desert without food or water. Aside from Ezra's brief encounter with a few Sand People, none of them are fighting any enemy aside from the endless sands and implacable sun. Before long, Maul has gone even more insane, Chopper is forced to shut down while Ezra [[PleaseDontLeaveMe begs him to stay]], and Ezra eventually passes out. If [[spoiler:Ben Kenobi]] hadn't found Ezra, Ezra would have died, and Maul would likely have spent what was left of his life searching in vain.

*** Then he had her followed and killed and blamed it on the Rebels, turning Lothal against them.

*** When they got to the fleet, he followed alone in a single fighter and utterly decimated them. The only reasons he didn't take them all and end the series right there were Hera's uncanny piloting skill and the Imperials' own incompetence. What's worse, they didn't stop him, only change his goals - he broke off the attack himself, after discovering that Ahsoka was there. He soon makes it clear he wants to take her in alive...
** Beside his strategic mind, his combat skill, piloting skill and mastery over the Force were no joke either:
*** He easily overpowered Kanan and Ezra during a duel. Using one hand, in a fight he intentionally let them escape.
*** He alone vs an entire rebel squadron and their ships. It's a CurbStompBattle in his favor.
*** Even though he was half machine, his mastery of the Force was still very powerful. He easily lifted the fallen walkers when they fell on top of him. And when Ahsoka attempted to read him through the Force, the backlash (along with the sheer horror at sensing exactly who he [[FallenHero is]]/[[ThatManIsDead was]]) was enough to knock her out.
*** When they attempted to escape after their initial confrontation, Sabine attempts to cover Kanan and Ezra by firing on Vader. He deflects both shots and both of them end up hitting her; one in the shoulder, the other ''her head''. If she hadn't been wearing armour, she would have been killed.
** Vader's WhamLine when he realizes that Ahsoka is a part of the rebellion; [[WhamLine "The Apprentice lives."]] While creepy on it's own, WordOfGod would later drive it home even further by revealing that Vader wants to destroy anything and everything [[ThatManIsDead associated with his former life as Anakin.]] So there will not be any heartfelt reunion the next time the two meet.

* There's also Vader [[spoiler:using the Force to almost have Ezra slice his own head off with his lightsaber!]]

* Vader chews out Tua for being unable to find the Rebels, and she protests that she's just a public official, not a military commander. Vader replies that she can tell it to ''Tarkin'' the next day. As Tua got a front row seat to what happened when Tarkin was displeased with Aresko and Grint's failures, Tua knows ''exactly'' what this means. Kallus even takes a moment after Vader leaves to reassure Tua that they'll manage just fine in her ''absence''.

-->'''Seventh Sister:''' Once we have the others, we'll dispose of them both. ''Very slowly.''

Creator/Disney may be running the show now, but that hasn't made this galaxy any less scary.

Disney may be running the show now, but that hasn't made this galaxy any less scary.

*** Possibly tying in with Grand Admiral Thrawn's introduction in the same episode, but the technique Ezra used on the walker pilot is exactly the kind of thing Joruus C'baoth was famous for.

** There is also a throwaway line during a [=HoloNet=] news broadcast, the same one where the crew learns about Luminara, that mentions "another successful planetary liberation through the Base-Delta-Zero initiative". In ''Legends'' (and this is [[BroadStrokes confirmed to be canon]] from its description in ''Sabine My Rebel Sketchbook''), this is the Empire's phrase to describe wiping out ''everything'' on the planet's surface via orbital bombardment.

** [[spoiler: Even Kallus is shocked and horrified by Mr. Sumar's death.]]

* [[spoiler:In the aftermath of Kanan's death, Governor Pryce tries to cover up the destruction of the TIE Defender production line with a parade celebrating her victory over the Rebels. Thrawn, of course, is not fooled for an instant, and is probably the most angry we've ever seen him; hissing a statement, not a threat, that can only be described as certain doom in words. The sheer menace and anger the voice actor is able to portray in such few words as he explains to her exactly how she gave the rebels a victory and compromised the TIE Defender project, is absolutely terrifying. And he never raises his voice.]]

*** [[spoiler: That is, if Thrawn is held accountable for the TIE Defender project being compromised, which isn't actually too likely. It's much more likely that Pryce will be held responsible and that she will be punished instead of Thrawn. Which adds an unhealthy heaping of FridgeHorror when you realize, if the reporting really goes that far up the chain of command, that her actions may have just brought down the wrath of Thrawn, Tarkin, '''AND''' Palpatine on her head.]]
*** [[spoiler:It's also worth noting that Thrawn already had Ezra as leverage to save face with the Emperor when his [=TIE=] Defender project was at risk of losing support. So yes, ''definitely'' Pryce is the only one in trouble]].

* Thrawn's {{Leitmotif}}, "Thrawn's Web", is both this and AwesomeMusic. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OGix6gtObE The piece played in the episode]] begins on an elegant and oddly serene tune, almost fringing on OminousMusicBoxTune. Then the OminousPipeOrgan begins, emphasizing the fact that despite his externally affable demeanor, Thrawn is a very dangerous tactician and a NoNonsenseNemesis, which is followed up by an eerie mixture of both "Thrawn's Web" and "The Imperial March".