Star Wars: Ahsoka: Could SPOILER Be Inquisitor Marrok?

Watching Star Wars: Ahsoka, Star Wars fans have become fixated on the identity of Inquisitor Marrok. The most common theory is that he is Ezra Bridger, the young Jedi from Star Wars Rebels, tortured into turning to the dark side of the Force, as were most other members of the Inquisitorious. Other suspects exist, such as rogue Jedi Bariss Offee or the resurrected Kanan Jarrus or Grand Inquisitor. However, with Star Wars: Ahsoka's third episode, "Part Three: Time to Fly," bringing in another familiar face from Star Wars Rebels, a new theory emerged that involves time travel and allusions to the old Star Wars expanded universe.

The new theory suggests that Inquisitor Marrok is Jacen Syndulla. Jacen is the son of Hera Syndulla in the late Jedi Kanan Jarrus. The child appears in this week's episode of Ahsoka to speak briefly to his mother. How, then, could he possibly be Inquisitor Marrok? That's where the time travel gets involved.

Wait, there's time travel in Star Wars?

Star Wars fans who haven't watched Star Wars Rebels may be surprised to hear about the idea of time travel in the Star Wars universe. Star Wars is one of the few franchises that hasn't explored time travel and the multiverse to any extent. The one exception comes from Star Wars Rebels, and it's a significant part of Ahsoka and Ezra Bridger's story.

In the Star Wars Rebels Season 2 two-part episode "Twilight of the Apprentice," Ahsoka comes face-to-face with Darth Vader, learning that he is what has become of her former master, Anakin Skywalker. The two duel in the Sith temple on Malachor and an explosion seemingly kills them both.

Darth Vader survives. Ahsoka may have died if not for a retroactive rescue by Ezra Bridger. Sometime after Ahsoka's apparent death, Ezra discovers a way of entering the World Between Worlds, a plane within the Force that acts like a nexus of time and space, allowing those within to travel through time via a series of doors. Ezra enters the World Between Worlds and discovers a door leading to Ahsoka's duel with Vader. He reaches through the door and pulls Ahsoka into the World Between Worlds, allowing her to escape and return to life.

A theory posits that Marrok is Jacen Syndulla from the future, having fallen to the dark side of the Force. He likely used the World Between Worlds to return to the past. It's a bold theory because it assumes the use of the World Between Worlds' portals in a way Star Wars hasn't done before, which will force the franchise to develop rules for how time travel, predestination, and a potential multiverse work. It also means that someone found a new way to access the World Between Worlds since the Jedi Temple on Lothal, where Ezra found his entryway, collapsed (unless, of course, someone excavated the ruins and found the portal to the World Between Worlds still intact).

What's Jacen and the old Star Wars Expanded Universe got to do with it?

The motivation for this theory comes from fans drawing a connection between Jacen Syndulla and a character from Expanded Universe that shares his name, Jacen Solo. Like Jacen Syndulla, Jacen Solo was also the child of a rebel pilot and a Jedi -- Han Solo and Leia Organa-Solo. Jacen trained with his uncle, Luke, to become a Jedi but fell to the dark side and became the Sith Lord called Darth Caedus. Previously, Jacen's EU arc has been compared to that of Han and Leia's canon son, Ben Solo, who became Kylo Ren. Now fans wonder if the new Jacen will turn out like the old one.

However, Dave Filoni previously said that he chose Jacen's name as an off-the-cuff nod to Jacen Solo when he never expected to have the opportunity to bring the character back for more stories, an Easter egg rather than foreshadowing. "It seemed, in a very small way, naming him 'Jacen' was a way to honor the expanded universe character of Jacen Solo who just really isn't there anymore as the timelines have changed," Filoni told io9. "I thought that's a little bit of a wink to people that I know that was an important character. And maybe, in some way, that lives on through this character. I don't know yet."

That doesn't mean he couldn't have made plans once the opportunity to bring Jacen back presented itself. The first three episodes of Star Wars: Ahsoka has drawn heavily from the original EU Thrawn trilogy. Whether that extends to Jacen Syndulla's fate paralleling Jacen Solo's remains to be seen.

Fan-favorite Star Wars hero Ahsoka Tano returns in the brand new series on Disney+. Rosario Dawson stars in Star Wars: Ahsoka, which premiered on August 22nd on the streamer. The series picks up after the events of The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, in which we saw the former Jedi searching for Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) and helping Luke Skywalker train Grogu. Ahsoka will be joined on her new mission alongside longtime allies Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) and Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) as they attempt to track down Thrawn, who was last seen disappearing to the far reaches of space after a confrontation with Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi). Star Wars: Ahsoka is the latest live-action series from Lucasfilm's creative duo of Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni.