With the premiere of Ahsoka, the stakes are set: it’s a race to find Grand Admiral Thrawn. Ahsoka Tano and the heroes want to find Thrawn to stop another war; Morgan Elsbeth and the villains want to find Thrawn to start one. But everyone is agreed that Thrawn’s return would be monumental.
In the first episode of the series, Ahsoka finds a starmap that supposedly holds the key to finding Thrawn. She tells Hera Syndulla that this starmap holds the secret Morgan is looking for: “The location of the last missing Imperial Grand Admiral. Thrawn.” Hera doesn’t believe that’s possible, since Thrawn was presumed dead at Lothal, but Ahsoka says it was never confirmed and she’s been hearing whispers of Thrawn’s return.
But it is interesting to hear Ahsoka call Thrawn the last missing Grand Admiral, because we know of another one: Rae Sloane, who disappeared after the Battle of Jakku to the Unknown Regions, where she would help to form the First Order. So how should we reconcile Ahsoka’s statement with this? We’ll surely find out more sooner or later (though maybe not in this series), but I’ve got some thoughts. It seems that there are a few possibilities.
Option 1: Thrawn really is the last Grand Admiral. Maybe the simplest solution is that Thrawn actually is the last one remaining. It’s been mentioned in canon that Sloane was still around as of six years prior to The Force Awakens, serving as one of the first leaders of the First Order (which later was led by Supreme Leader Snoke), but it would be a relatively minor thing to correct, all things considered, since it’s only been mentioned a couple times. While this answer would be disappointing, it’s always possible they could push the timeline up and have Sloane out of the picture earlier than the current canon indicates. I doubt this is the answer, because there’s really no need for it to be. Rae Sloane is, for all intents and purposes, out of the picture by this point. She’s away with the First Order, having disappeared, and therefore there’s no need to be forced into explaining away her absence. So that leads to another option.
Option 2: The New Republic views Thrawn as a far bigger threat. This one is almost certainly true, whether or not it’s the intended explanation or not. Not all Imperial Grand Admirals were equally as formidable a threat, and it’s undeniable that Thrawn is the most dangerous of the twelve and the most likely to rally the Imperial remnants together. Additionally, I find it quite plausible that the New Republic wouldn’t take Rae Sloane as seriously because she was only promoted to the rank of Grand Admiral after the Emperor’s death at the Battle of Endor. By that point the Empire had already begun to fall, and it could have been viewed simply as desperation. More dangerous would be one appointed by Palpatine himself. There are surely elements of this that are true, but I think there’s probably more at play too.
Option 3: The New Republic simply doesn’t know what’s happening with Rae Sloane. This is the most likely explanation. Remember that while we know these things, that doesn’t mean the characters in-universe at a certain point in the timeline know all of it. For example, we know that Sloane went into the Unknown Regions to build the First Order, but there’s no way the characters in this show would know that. The New Republic doesn’t learn about the existence of the First Order for another few decades, and even when they do only a few, like Leia Organa, take it seriously. They might not even know Sloane is alive, but regardless, they would have no way of knowing what she was up to.
So I think this is the easiest and most likely explanation: the New Republic didn’t know Rae Sloane survived to go start the First Order, and her absence isn’t nearly as concerning to them because they don’t view her as the same kind of threat as Thrawn anyway. See, what these stories need to do is be able to balance the rising First Order (in secret) with the threat of Thrawn’s return. It would be a shame if Sloane’s story were rewritten, but it would also be a shame if Thrawn was just one of several Grand Admirals who could come back. So Ahsoka is right, in many ways, that the last threat from the old Empire that is unaccounted for is Thrawn. The threat from Rae Sloane isn’t so much from the old Empire, but from a new one that’s being rebuilt.
Of course, unbeknownst to any in the New Republic at this point, there is a greater threat from the old Empire still lurking out there: Palpatine survived, and he’s on Exegol. So let me get into some real crazy speculation that’s almost certainly not true and almost certainly irresponsibly done, and throw out another option…
Option 4: There’s more calling to Morgan than she knows. It is very curious that Morgan Elsbeth says Thrawn is calling to her, because we’ve not known Thrawn to be Force sensitive. Even though some younger Chiss were Force sensitive navigators, Thrawn wasn’t. Could he call out to her from another galaxy through the Force? That seems doubtful. Which means that Morgan might be stumbling upon a bigger deal than she thinks, as perhaps there is someone or something else calling to her to find Thrawn. So… what if it was Palpatine? The Emperor is playing the long game, wanting a new clone body and wanting a rebuilt Final Empire, but he needs time to grow in strength in the darkness. What if, as a way to shroud the darkness growing in the Unknown Regions while his new Empire is being built, Palpatine is leading Morgan Elsbeth to find Thrawn to wage war on the New Republic?
Ok, admittedly, that’s quite far-fetched. But I do think there’s more to this mysterious calling Morgan is hearing, so we’ll have to wait and see what it’s all about. To conclude this article, though, it’s probably true that Thrawn is the last remaining Imperial Grand Admiral, from a certain point of view. Rae Sloane was only a Grand Admiral after the Empire began to fall, and the New Republic would have no way of knowing what she’s up to. And even if they did, it’s Thrawn who’s the more concerning threat of the two.
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