The plot of the Ahsoka series is still in the dark. With the new season of The Mandalorian just around the corner, there’s a lot of speculation about Ahsoka and what we might see in the series coming later this year. Ahsoka Tano may be the most popular character added to the Star Wars family outside the movies. Her story is tied to Anakin, and she has faced one of the most powerful villains in all of Star Wars canon. She has been woven into the lore of some of our favorite heroes, and now she’s finally getting her own show.
But where will Ahsoka’s story take her? We’ve seen her speak to Luke Skywalker in an age just after his victory in Return of the Jedi. She is familiar with Dinn Djarin in The Mandalorian. But she clearly walks her own path. Though she’s older now, fans know from the end of Star Wars Rebels that she has deep secrets and past trauma to unravel. But will that catch up with her in Ahsoka? Fans are dying to know if everyone’s favorite ex-Jedi will face down her past in a confrontation with Grand Admiral Thrawn.
Who is Admiral Thrawn?
That question is more complicated to answer than one might think. Though fans of Star Wars Rebels are familiar with a particular version of him, the character was initially created in the Star Wars novels by Timothy Zahn, known as the Thrawn Trilogy. He was invented a long time ago with connections to a different type of Jedi. In the books, Thrawn had a Jedi advisor known as Joruus C’Baoth. Joruus was a Dark Jedi, not a Sith. The Dark Jedi have been trained by the Jedi order and have force abilities closer to the Jedi than the Sith, but they operate in a selfish manner. While Jedi seek to promote harmony and peace throughout the galaxy, these Dark Jedi have no set of morals and will do whatever it takes to further their own ends. While the Sith seek unlimited power by subjugating innocents and subjecting the galaxy to their will, Dark Jedi are not out to conquer anything. They merely want to fulfill their own desire.
This blatant pursuit of personal desire and lack of a code of ethics is somewhat similar to Admiral Thrawn’s motivation in Star Wars Rebels. But what differentiates him here is that he works for the Galactic Empire. Thrawn is specifically sent to Lothal to deal with Rebels disrupting their organization and protect imperial interests there. So he isn’t exactly out for himself. This is part of the great separation of Star Wars canon. After Disney acquired the property, many of the books were to be overwritten with Disney’s plans for the franchise. So Thrawn’s character will be closer to Dave Filoni’s interpretation rather than what he was in the books.
But that’s a good thing. What we saw in Star Wars Rebels is an opportunity for Ahsoka to create her own motivation. Thrawn’s final scene in that series showed him trapped with Ezra Bridger as their ship careened into hyperspace. They were headed toward an unknown destination. And Ahsoka, now that we’ve seen her after all these years in The Mandalorian, could be on the hunt for her mortal enemy.
Ahsoka vs. Thrawn
We learned in Ahsoka’s introduction in The Mandalorian that she was looking for Admiral Thrawn. And there was a leak from a Hollywood insider about this plot point a while ago. In season 2 of the show, she and Dinn Djarin freed a small town on Corvus from the brutal rule of an Imperial Magistrate. When Ahsoka had finally defeated the Magistrate in combat, she didn’t want justice or any kind of vengeance, but rather, information. She demanded to know the location of her master, Grand Admiral Thrawn. So it seems this is where Ahsoka’s story is going. But Thrawn isn’t exactly who she’s after. She’s looking for her missing shipmate, Ezra, but thinks following the path to Thrawn will be an easier way to find him.
What fans still don’t know is whether Thrawn will be a threat. It certainly seems so if he is alive and organizing magistrates to control planets. But it leaves a lot of questions unanswered. We last saw Thrawn in the same room as Ezra, so was the young Jedi knight defeated, thus allowing the Admiral to escape? If Ezra is dead or imprisoned, then Ahsoka must be on a journey for revenge. He and a few other familiar characters from Rebels have already been cast in Ahsoka. So you can bet this showdown is going to happen. Fans are on the edge of their seats, though, as everyone expects some plot points for Ahsoka to be hinted at during this new season of The Mandalorian. Star Wars fans are waiting with bated breath as it looks like 2023 will be a big year for the franchise.