Jason Isaacs has portrayed a range of iconic roles, from Lucius Malfoy to Captain Hook, and most recently captivating audiences with his work in HBO’s The White Lotus. But Isaacs’ work in voiceover has been just as notable, including Command Zhao in Avatar: The Last Airbender and the Grand Inquisitor in the 2014 series, Star Wars Rebels. It is the Grand Inquisitor who looms largest in the animated Star Wars universe, posing a great danger to the two Jedi among the Ghost crew–Kanan Jarrus and Erza Bridger. Throughout the first season, Isaacs’ Grand Inquisitor tracked Kanan and Ezra mercilessly, establishing himself as a worthy, if not unbeatable, adversary that was seemingly set up to be the main antagonist of the series.
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However, viewers were shocked when the Grand Inquisitor was defeated in the finale of the first season.
The Grand Inquisitor Was an Important Piece of the Empire’s Plans
The Grand Inquisitor was introduced in the very first Rebels episode, “Spark of Rebellion,” as a dark side Force-user who led the “Inquisitorius”– a group of Jedi hunters under Imperial command. The Ghost crew–consisting of Hera Syndulla, Chopper, Kanan Jarrus, Sabine Wren, Zeb Orrelios, and Ezra Bridger–operate mostly on the Outer Rim planet of Lothal. Their increasingly bold subversive actions against the Imperial presence on Lothal catches the attention of the Imperial Security Bureau (ISB). However, it is when Kanan reveals himself to be a Jedi that the Grand Inquisitor, more skilled than any ISB agent, was called in.
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The entire first season revolves around Kanan and Ezra trying to dodge the Grand Inquisitor, who is so adept at his job that he intercepts them at every turn. The cat-and-mouse game comes to an ultimate climax in the Season 1 finale, “Fire Across the Galaxy,” when the Grand Inquisitor finally takes Kanan prisoner. Knowing Kanan will soon be transferred to Mustafar — known to be a place where Jedi go to die — the Ghost crew embarks on a rescue mission to save Kanan before the Grand Inquisitor can leave the temporary holding location for Mustafar.
Ultimately, the team is successful in freeing Kanan, but he and Ezra wind up face-to-face with the Grand Inquisitor. After a whole season of dodging his attempts to capture or kill them, Ezra and Kanan make their final stand. The fight is fraught with tension, as the Grand Inquisitor is the strongest threat to the Jedi known at this point and neither Kanan nor Ezra’s survival was guaranteed, plotwise. The Grand Inquisitor’s skills with a lightsaber are unparalleled and he quickly overpowers Ezra, who is a padawan with very limited training, giving Ezra the two lightsaber scars on his face. Thinking his padawan is gone, Kanan has nothing left to lose and rises to the Grand Inquisitor’s goading, unleashing his true power as a Jedi, which results in disarming the Grand Inquisitor and leaving him clinging to a ledge. Kanan, ever the Jedi, offers a hand to his enemy.
Death Was a Preferable Option for the Grand Inquisitor
Considering how pivotal the Grand Inquisitor is as a character, and for the plot of Rebels, the outcome feels obvious: Kanan will haul him back up and the two will either continue battling or Kanan will take him as a Rebel prisoner. However, in a shocking turn of events, the Grand Inquisitor warns Kanan, “there are things far worse than death,” before releasing his grip on the ledge and letting himself fall to his fiery demise. It is a shocking moment, both for Kanan and the audience. But the full implication of Grand Inquisitor’s final words are soon revealed, when Darth Vader himself comes to Lothal to handle the Rebel insurgency.
Throughout the first season, the Grand Inquisitor is built up to be a formidable and undefeatable foe, making his death so early in the series unthinkable. However, when it is revealed that Vader is the next line of defense after the Grand Inquisitor, the seriousness of the situation in which the Rebels have placed themselves fully comes into view. If there is one thing “far worse than death” for a Jedi or an Imperial failure, it’s Darth Vader.
The Grand Inquisitor’s death puts an irrevocable series of events in motion that go on to shape the fate of not only the Ghost crew, but the entire galaxy itself.
Star Wars Rebels is streaming on Disney+.
