Ahsoka Sets Up Thrawn’s Plan for the Star Wars Galaxy, and It Includes a Huge Connection to Darth Maul

Star Wars: Ahsoka is done, but the series has set up some huge ramifications that will play out in the next few years of Star Wars storytelling. 

(SPOILERS) The Ahsoka finale episode “The Jedi, The Witch, and the Warlord” brought a final resolution to the series-long race to locate both Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) and young Jedi Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi) in the distant galaxy where they were stranded for ten years. It was a serious battle on multiple fronts, and in the end, Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) and Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) had to make the sacrifice of staying behind on planet Peridea and allowing Ezra to hide in Thrawn’s company until he could make it back home. 

However, it was one of the final shots of Ahsoka Episode 8 that raised the ominous threat of what Thrawn will do next, as his Imperial Star Destroyer the Chimaera was seen heading down to the planet Dathomir. 

What Is Thrawn’s Plan for Dathomir? 

The final episodes of Ahsoka revealed that Grand Admiral Thrawn used his time on Peridea to ally himself with a power native to the planet: the magic of the Nightsisters and their Great Mothers. The Nightsisters’ magic allowed Thrawn to call to his minion, the Nightsister Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto) across galaxies; the Nightsisters’ magic allowed Thrawn to operate his armada, gather intelligence, and affect things through magical influence. Most importantly, the Nightsisters’ voodoo-style control over the corpses of the deceased has given Thrawn an entire army of “Night Troopers,” zombie Stormtroopers who can rise and fight over and over again. 

So why does Thrawn need to be on Dathomir?

It’s not hard to surmise why Grand Admiral Thrawn’s first stop after returning to the Star Wars Galaxy. As stated, Thrawn survived on Peridea by allying himself with the power of the Nightsisters; well, after originally journeying to the Star Wars Universe from Peridea, the Nightsisters and their Nightbrother Zabrak counterparts (like Darth Maul and his brother Savage Opres) made their home on Dathomir, in the Outer Rim Territories.

The reason the Nightsisters were drawn to Dathomir was due to it being extremely resonant with the dark side of the Force – which is the source energy of the Nightsisters’ “magick” power. Now that Thrawn has brought the Great Mothers to the Star Wars Galaxy, it’s only natural that they would seek to consolidate their magical power there, which is connected to Dathomir. 

As for what the Great Mothers need a reservoir of magic for: The Ahsoka finale confirmed that Thrawn’s Night Troopers have been magically endowed (cursed?) by the Nightsisters’ magic to rise from the dead; it also seems pretty obvious now that Thrawn’s “cargo” were actually coffins. Whether there are Stormtroopers or ancient Peridea warriors in those coffins, there are definitely enough coffins packed in that ship to create a full-fledged zombie army; however, you would also need a whole lot of magical energy to re-animate them all. That amount of magical energy may only exist on Dathomir. 

Star Wars: Ahsoka is now streaming on Disney+.