When it comes to the villains of the upcoming Ahsoka series, the legendary Grand Admiral Thrawn reigns supreme. But in actuality the series will show the heroes and villains both racing to find Thrawn, the heroes wanting to stop his return and the villains welcoming it.
Among the other bad guys that Ahsoka Tano and her friends will have to face are Morgan Elsbeth, Baylon Skoll, Shin Hati, and an Inquisitor named Marrok. All four are rather mysterious figures who we don’t know a lot about, but we’ve had a few tidbits released recently through the Star Wars databank. There are short profiles written up about various characters, and it’s been updated with information about Ahsoka.
It seems that it all traces back to Morgan Elsbeth. She’s described as “an ally of Grand Admiral Thrawn and an enemy of the New Republic”, which we learned in The Mandalorian. But she is also described as “a formidable fighter with a mysterious past”, which only fuels some of the speculation fans have had since seeing the trailers for this series. In the trailer, Elsbeth uses what looks like green magik to work some of the navigational maps – causing many to wonder if she’s a Nightsister. There’s no confirmation to that yet, but the hints of her fighting abilities and mysterious past don’t quiet the speculation either.
The bigger thing we learned regarding Elsbeth, though, is that she’s the one connecting all the other dots. We are told that Baylon Skoll and his apprentice Shin Hati are mercenaries for hire. They’re not Sith, nor Jedi, but dark siders using lightsabers and the Force in service of the highest bidders. But we’re also told that they are allied with Morgan Elsbeth, working for her – with Skoll being someone “in search of power who believes that another war is inevitable.” That would help explain his interest in aiding the return of Thrawn.
Even more interesting, though, is the reveal that Marrok is also a mercenary working for Elsbeth. It is also officially confirmed that Marrok was a former Imperial Inquisitor, but now is working for the Magistrate. Which means, of course, that Morgan Elsbeth has three dark side lightsaber users in her employ, with Baylon Skoll, Shin Hati, and Marrok. All three of them seem to come into conflict with Ahsoka (and Sabine), in search of Thrawn.
This is helping us to begin putting the pieces together around how the factions with this series will work. It seems that Morgan Elsbeth is the one running the show in Thrawn’s absence, assembling forces to find Thrawn and return to power. Fans of the Heir to the Empire trilogy will no doubt remember how Thrawn enlisted a former Jedi (and a clone) in his service as he tried to re-build the Empire, which was especially important since Thrawn himself is not a Force user nor a lightsaber-wielder. I wonder if what we’re seeing are the seeds being planted for Thrawn’s forces including plenty of formidable Force users to counter the threat(s) posed by those like Ahsoka. And if Elsbeth is in fact a Nightsister, add another warrior to the mix who could be a match for Jedi.
There’s a lot we still don’t know, but it’s significant to know that all of these dark siders are connected, and that the connection point is Morgan Elsbeth – a mysterious ally of Grand Admiral Thrawn. All the pieces are coming together for Thrawn’s return.
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