History Recap / StarWarsTheCloneWarsS7E12VictoryAndDeath

* DistantFinale: The episode ends an undetermined number of years later, with Imperial Stormtroopers and probe droids combing over the wreckage of the ship, and Darth Vader picking up Ahsoka's lightsaber.

*** Finally, the helmet is left behind, forgotten in the snow, emphasizing the clone troopers' tragic use as disposable fodder in a pointless war that ended with them being forced to destroy the Republic they were created to save for the sake of one man's desire for power.

* TechnicalPacifist: Ahsoka and Rex don't want to kill the 332[[superscript:nd]], so they come up with a plan to only stun them and have the droids tamper with the platforms that they're standing on. What the two weren't expecting was Maul to crash the ship, [[KillEmAll which ends up doing it for them]].

* KillEmAll: Jesse and the entire 332[[superscript:nd]] are killed in the crash, despite Ahsoka and Rex's efforts to not kill them. In fact, this was exactly what Maul wanted, but the latter two just got lucky.

*** Another example comes in the previous episode, where the then-brainwashed Rex ordered all the ship's escape pods destroyed, leaving none for the crew to save themselves when the ship crashed.

** Maul is the only person aboard the ''Tribunal'' to get what he wants. Ahsoka and Rex survive, but they fail to save the 332[[superscript:nd]] Company thanks to Order 66 and the destruction of the ''Venator''. Maul, on the other hand, gets away clean to rebuild his criminal empire [[note]]he was apparently successful, given ''[[Film/SoloAStarWarsStory Solo]]'' presents him in command of Crimson Dawn nearly a decade after this episode's events[[/note]] and leaves almost no witnesses alive for the Empire to follow.

* DisneyVillainDeath: The now-villainous 332[[superscript:nd]] Company ends up suffering this fate as their Star Destroyer plummets down at terminal velocity. The actual crash happens off-screen, but the [[DeadHatShot ruined helmets in the crash site]] confirm no one survived.

* ApocalypticLogistics: It's years before anyone finds the wreck of the ''Tribunal''. Maul dropped it out of hyperspace completely out of the blue, they evidently never send out a distress signal, and the only information the Empire would have to go on is the ship's course and the last time they established a signal. That's a lot of space to search, and thus by the time it's found, clone troopers have clearly been replaced by stormtroopers.

** Ahsoka wears a light-colored cloak at the end (albeit covered in ash), referencing the white cloak she wears at the end of ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels Rebels]]''.

* VillainExitStageLeft: Darth Maul's only objective is to escape the madness on the ship. And he does just that with little hassle.

* PersonOfMassDestruction: In one of the more impressive displays of Force prowess in the canon, Maul completely tears the ship's hyperdrive generator from its mountings, causing the ship to suffer catastrophic system failures as it roughly drops out of hyperspace.

* ForegoneConclusion: Regardless what happens, it's clear Ahsoka, Rex, and Maul will survive past Order 66 and go into hiding from the Empire. Also Rex gets demoted back to Captain so he can stay "Captain Rex" in ''Rebels.'' Meanwhile, Palpatine and the Empire begin their reign over the galaxy with Darth Vader in tow.

* HeadgearHeadstone: Ends with the Venator-class star destroyer crash-landing on the surface of a moon. Ahsoka and Captain Rex are the only ones to escape in time,but none of the Clone Troopers survives. To honour the dead clones, they place their helmets before they leave. When Darth Vader arrives several years later, the helmets are almost entirely covered in snow.

** The mass burial of the clones is a honorable gesture but perhaps not the wisest decision considering that Rex and Ahsoka were planning to make it seem as if everyone on board died, though certainly the number of clones on the cruiser far exceeded the number of graves they dug. Fortunately, the crash site isn't discovered until many years later and by that time the burial isn't obvious anymore.

* ItIsDehumanizing: When Rex and Ahsoka try to negotiate, Jesse bluntly tells Rex to execute "it". In a similar vein, he refers to Rex by his [[YouAreNumberSix number]] rather than his name while communicating with other clones, something that he protested in the Umbara arc.
* KarmaHoudini: As was expected considering his future appearances in the franchise, Maul manages to yet again evade justice and makes sure to drop the ''Venator'' from orbit adding the deaths off all the clones on-board, and the attempted murder of Ahsoka and Rex, to his long list of crimes from the Clone Wars. [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels For]] [[KarmaHoudiniWarranty now]].

* LoopholeAbuse: Rex suggests to Jesse that Order 66 does not include Ahsoka because she is no longer a Jedi and hasn't been for some time. He doesn't expect it to work -- he issued the orders to kill her, after all -- but needs to stall until the droids can hack into the hangar lifts and drop the clones to the lower level. Interestingly, it might have worked if Rex had not personally doubled-down on the orders earlier.
* ManlyTears: Rex weeps thinking the only way to save himself and Ahsoka is to slaughter his way through his brothers.

* SimultaneousArcs: Majority of this episode takes place concurrently with the final part of ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith''.

* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: Maul's idea of dealing with the clone troopers hunting him is to ''tear out the ship's engines and crash the thing into a planet'' (or the planet's moon in this case). It works spectacularly, killing ''everyone'' on the ship save for himself, Rex, and Ahsoka.

** This can also to extend to the entire Clone Wars. Over the course of ''The Clone Wars'', we've come to know characters on both sides of the war, from Jedi to Separatist generals, clones to droids, and everything that every one of them had been working for is ultimately pointless, as the war was the final stepping stone to Palpatine seizing total power over the galaxy and forming the Galactic Empire. The final shot may also reflect this; the Clone Wars are now over and those who were lost will be forgotten to time, and those that did survive are either in hiding or [[FaceHeelTurn serving Palpatine]].

* DownerEnding: Although Ahsoka and Rex manage to escape with their lives, Maul causes the cruiser to crash on a remote snow moon and escapes, and Jesse and the rest of the 332[[superscript:nd]] are unable to be reasoned with and are killed in the crash, all while [[BigBad Palpatine]] [[TheBadGuyWins gains complete control of the galaxy and wipes out nearly all of the Jedi]]. Ahsoka and Rex make a proper burial for their fallen friends before leaving off-world to destinations unknown. Years later, a troop of Imperials led by Vader investigates the site. Vader finds Ahsoka's shoto and silently reminisces on it before leaving with it, while Morai ominously flies overhead. All seems lost... [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels but we]] [[Film/RogueOne know]] [[Film/ANewHope better]].

* OminousLatinChanting: When the episode begins with dark, mournful chanting, you know it's not gonna be sunshine and roses.

* ForegoneConclusion: Regardless what happens, it's clear Ahsoka, Rex, and Maul will survive past Order 66 and go into hiding from the Empire. Also Rex gets demoted back to Captain so he can stay "Captain Rex" in ''Rebels.''

* RealityEnsues: It's years before anyone finds the wreck of the ''Tribunal''. Maul dropped it out of hyperspace completely out of the blue, they evidently never send out a distress signal, and the only information the Empire would have to go on is the ship's course and the last time they established a signal. That's a lot of space to search, and thus by the time it's found, clone troopers have clearly been replaced by stormtroopers.

* DownerEnding: Although Ahsoka and Rex manage to escape with their lives, Maul causes the cruiser to crash on a remote snow moon and escapes, and Jesse and the rest of the 332[[superscript:nd]] are unable to be reasoned with and are killed in the crash, all while Palpatine gains complete control of the galaxy and wipes out nearly all of the Jedi. Ahsoka and Rex make a proper burial for their fallen friends before leaving off-world to destinations unknown. Years later, a troop of Imperials led by Vader investigates the site. Vader finds Ahsoka's shoto and silently reminisces on it before leaving with it, while Morai ominously flies overhead. All seems lost... [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels but we]] [[Film/RogueOne know]] [[Film/ANewHope better]].

** This can also to extend to the entire Clone Wars. Over the course of ''The Clone Wars'', we've come to know characters on both sides of the war, from Jedi to Separatist generals, clones to droids, and everything that every one of them had been working for is ultimately pointless, as the war was the final stepping stone to Palpatine seizing total power over the galaxy and forming the Empire. The final shot may also reflect this; the Clone Wars are now over and those who were lost will be forgotten to time, and those that did survive are either in hiding or [[FaceHeelTurn serving Palpatine]].

** The episode's final minutes being [[SilenceIsGolden dialogueless]] may be a reference to a quote from one of the 501[[superscript:st]] journals in ''Legends'':