Heir to the Empire (title)

Heir to the Empire was a position set to be claimed by Grand Admiral Mitth'raw'nuruodo ("Thrawn") in 9 ABY upon his return to the galaxy, where remnants of the fallen Galactic Empire awaited.

Description

A Survivor's Quest

"Heir to the Empire" was the title set to be taken by Grand Admiral Mitth'raw'nuruodo "Thrawn"^[3] in 9 ABY,^[2] the time in which he successfully returned from his exile on the extragalactic planet Peridea. Before his return to the galaxy proper,^[5] Thrawn's command was relegated to the forces at his immediate disposal. Those troops and starships were what remained of the 7th Fleet personnel who followed Thrawn into exile, forming an Imperial remnant force that persisted from the Imperial Era into the New Republic Era. Overall, however, that meant Thrawn's forces and resources were limited to what had survived the trials of exile or what could be found on the barren world.^[4]

His personal flagship, the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Chimaera, needed to be rebuilt but did see renewed use as the Grand Admiral's command ship. On Peridea, Thrawn also discovered allies in the form of the Great Mothers, three^[5] Nightsister^[6] witches descended from the fallen Witch Kingdom of the Dathmiri.^[4] The three witches helped Thrawn survive in exile,^[7] offered their dark magick for use in his designs, and allowed the Grand Admiral to make use of their personal fortress as a command station.^[4] The three witches respected Thrawn's authority and referred to him as their lord. Upon the Nightsister Morgan Elsbeth's discovery of Thrawn, her forces,^[8] including the mercenaries Baylan Skoll and Shin Hati,^[4] fell under Thrawn's command.^[8]

Heir to an Empire

While on Peridea Thrawn's command was limited to the resources at his disposal,^[4] command over the galaxy's Imperial Remnants awaited Thrawn upon his return from exile.^[9] As "heir" to the Galactic Empire, former Jedi Ahsoka Tano believed Thrawn would assume control of what remained of the regime.^[3] Indeed, as per the Shadow Council's designs, Thrawn was set to command what remained of the Imperial Military and return it to glory.^[1] Despite his exile,^[10] Thrawn also represented a leader to the Shadow Council despite not being present at its meetings, technically falling into Gilad Pellaeon's delegation. All the same, a new authority other than Thrawn was set to emerge in the Shadow Council's plans via Project Necromancer,^[1] a cloning operation that had been of great interest to^[11] the late^[12] Galactic Emperor Sheev Palpatine.^[11]

History

Specters of the Past

Winners Lose All

The Chiss Mitth'raw'nuruodo—commonly known by his core name of "Thrawn"—was a tactical genius who served in the military ranks of the Galactic Empire, rising to the rank of Grand Admiral in the Imperial Navy.^[13] In that capacity, Thrawn launched a campaign against the growing Alliance to Restore the Republic^[14] until his defeat in 1 BBY^[15] at the hands of the young rebel and Padawan Ezra Bridger during the Liberation of Lothal. With his flagship Chimaera taken prisoner by a pod of Purrgil brought in by Bridger,^[16] Thrawn was dragged away into exile^[10] on the planet Peridea^[4] in the so-called far galaxy.^[10] While Thrawn and Bridger were away,^[16] the conflict between the rebellion and Empire escalated into open war^[17] and ended with the fall of the Empire with the battle of the planet Jakku in 5 ABY.^[15]

Lacking its central leadership after the deaths of Galactic Emperor Sheev Palpatine and Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader at the Battle of Endor^[12] in 4 ABY,^[15] with the subsequent public leader of the Empire—Grand Admiral Rae Sloane^[18]—escaping into the Unknown Regions after the defeat at Jakku and following the death of Counselor to the Empire Gallius Rax, the Empire formally surrendered on the order of Grand Vizier Mas Amedda via the Galactic Concordance. While Sloane worked on her plans to restore the Empire in the Unknown Regions, thereby continuing Palpatine's Contingency^[19] and unknowingly playing into his plans to return to the galaxy after cheating death,^[20] the Empire in the galaxy proper would be reduced to a series of remnants^[9] that, based on what the victorious New Republic saw, lacked any form of central leadership.^[8] In reality, a Shadow Council that united several remnants emerged but elected to hold back from any open shows of strength.^[1]

Vision of the Future

All the while, Thrawn had remained trapped on Peridea, where his forces dwindled in number but remained loyal. Of those forces, the resources at Thrawn's disposal included^[4] a legion^[22] of stormtroopers—who in time took on the name Night Troopers^[5]—who had managed to survive the exile. The stormtroopers would be marshalled under Enoch, the Captain of the Guard, and the head of Thrawn's personal guard. In terms of starships, Thrawn's forces that persisted through his exile included several LAAT/le patrol gunships and TIE/ln space superiority starfighters,^[4] while the Chimaera was left in a damaged state.^[5] Meanwhile, Bridger went off on his own path across Peridea.^[4] Eventually, Thrawn discovered and awoke the slumbering Great Mothers.^[5] Carefully putting together a plan to escape Peridea,^[23] Thrawn established an alliance with the witches^[5] on the promise that they could return him to the galaxy,^[4] with Thrawn promising to deliver them and their cargo to the Nightsister planet Dathomir in the main galaxy should they escape.^[5]

To that end, Thrawn began the process of rebuilding the Chimaera.^[5] Guided to Thrawn's location by the Great Mothers,^[4] Morgan Elsbeth—herself an old ally of Thrawn,^[24] a former Nightsister,^[9] and Imperial industrialist^[10]—led the effort to return Thrawn to the galaxy^[9] under the hope his return could bring about the resurgence of the Nightsisters.^[5] To reach the far galaxy^[10] and return home once they arrived,^[5] Elsbeth—who regarded the effort as something that was inevitable and the path to fulfilling her destiny^[21]—began constructing a massive hyperspace transport ring, the Eye of Sion.^[10] Captain and Shadow Council member Gilad Pellaeon,^[1] himself a former subordinate of Thrawn,^[16] was aware of the effort to return Thrawn to the galaxy and promised the council it would soon come to pass; per the Shadow Council's designs, Thrawn's return would galvanize the Imperial Military back into a powerful force, thereby giving time for Project Necromancer to be completed.^[1] Indeed, Thrawn's return promised to galvanize the Imperial Remnants for a new war against the New Republic,^[9] with Thrawn set to claim the position of "heir to the Empire" as the regime's new leader.^[3]

Dark Force Rising

By 9 ABY,^[2] rumors had begun to swirl of Thrawn's imminent return.^[9] Nonetheless, one member of the Shadow Council, Moff Gideon, had heard no whispers that provided credence to the idea of Thrawn's return and challenged Pellaeon over it during a Shadow Council, hoping to secure leadership over the council for himself, only for his efforts to end with his demise during the conflict on Mandalore.^[1] Hearing those rumors of Thrawn's return and believing them,^[9] former Jedi Ahsoka Tano made an effort to prevent Thrawn's return with her apprentice Sabine Wren and droid companion Huyang while Elsbeth finalized her designs with the Eye of Sion and her personal forces,^[3] whose number included the Force-sensitive mercenaries Shin Hati and Baylan Skoll.^[4] Deciding to put her desire to reunite with Bridger before the danger Thrawn posed, Wren surrendered the Pathway to Peridea route to Skoll during a battle on the planet Seatos, from which the Eye of Sion jumped to the far galaxy through the pathway^[3] while Tano, who was assumed dead by Skoll,^[4] experienced a final lesson in the World Between Worlds with her former master, Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker.^[25]

In the New Republic, General Hera Syndulla, an old enemy of Thrawn's who defied orders in an effort to join the battle on Seatos, warned Chancellor Mon Mothma that they needed to prepare for the Grand Admiral's return.^[8] Reaching Peridea, Elsbeth's forces united with the Great Mothers and Thrawn,^[4] who assumed command over Elsbeth's personnel.^[8] With Thrawn's blessing, Wren was permitted to reunite with Bridger in the Peridean wilds, albeit while being followed at a distance by Skoll and Hati on Thrawn's order.^[4] Tano and Huyang, meanwhile, arrived over Peridea by traveling through hyperspace with the Purrgil,^[8] who traveled a migratory route from Seatos^[25] to Peridea. Having anticipated her survival, Thrawn had mines planted above Peridea and ordered Elsbeth's fighters to attack her T-6 shuttle. Nonetheless, Tano and Huyang managed to reunite with Bridger and Wren, fighting off two squads of Night Troopers Hati was left in command of when Skoll went off on his own in search^[8] of a great power he felt was connected to Peridea.^[4]

While the sudden lack of Skoll destroyed his plan for the skirmish against the Jedi, the event served to delay his enemies until the transfer of the Great Mothers' cargo into the Chimaera was nearly complete,^[8] with his remnant force then completing the transfer before the Jedi could storm the Great Mothers' fortress. Nonetheless anticipating such an attack, even after two TIE fighters downed the T-6 shuttle for the time being, Thrawn prepared his forces for the incoming Jedi, whose attack began with the ensuing battle of Peridea. Relying on the magicks of the Great Mothers after his aerial bombardment and dispatched Night Troopers failed, Thrawn allowed the Nightsisters to raise those deceased Night Troopers to fight again and then left Elsbeth behind to delay Tano. Although Elsbeth was killed by Tano, Bridger managed to sneak back to the galaxy aboard the Chimaera, and Thrawn was forced to destroy the Great Mothers' fortress in a last ditch effort to defeat his enemies, Thrawn, his forces, the Great Mothers, and their cargo would all manage to escape Peridea aboard the Eye of Sion-docked Chimaera, all after he directed a final message to Tano pondering what would become of her on Peridea.^[5]

The Last Command

Successfully returning to the galaxy proper aboard the Chimarea and Eye of Sion, Thrawn, his forces, and the Great Mothers made their way to Dathomir with the Nightsister cargo.^[5] Following this return, Thrawn launched his effort to overthrow the New Republic, marking the turning point in the power balance between Neo-Imperialism and New Republicanism. While the New Republic had failed to recognize the threat before it until it was too late, the government would ultimately survive Thrawn's campaign, defeating the Imperial remnant, and classifying many of the details about its defense effort. However, the New Republic ended up repeating its mistakes by not acting against the rising First Order, an Imperial successor state that would successfully crush the galactic government^[26] in 34 ABY, thirty years after the Battle of Endor.^[15]

Behind the scenes

The title of "heir to the Empire" was used by Ahsoka Tano to describe Thrawn in the Star Wars: Ahsoka episode "Part Four: Fallen Jedi."^[3] However, it would first be used publicly in the teaser trailer for Ahsoka, where dialogue was altered^[27] to combine Tano's lines from "Part One: Master and Apprentice"^[9] and "Part Four."^[3] Within the teaser,^[27] Disney+ subtitles for "Part Four,"^[28] and episode guide for "Part Four,"^[29] the h in "heir" is not capitalized.^[27][28][29] However, it was capitalized in the official trailer for Ahsoka released on July 11, 2023.^[30]

The name "heir to the Empire" has its roots in Timothy Zahn's Star Wars Legends novel Heir to the Empire, which marked the first appearance of Thrawn^[31] and kicked off the Star Wars Expanded Universe^[32] later rebranded as "Legends."^[33]

Appearances

• Star Wars: The Mandalorian — "Chapter 23: The Spies" (First mentioned) (Indirect mention only)
• Star Wars: Ahsoka — "Part Four: Fallen Jedi" (Mentioned only) (First identified as heir to the Empire)

Sources

• Ahsoka | Teaser Trailer | Disney+ on the official Star Wars YouTube channel (backup link) (Posted on StarWars.com) (First mentioned)
• Ahsoka | Official Trailer | Disney+ on the official Star Wars YouTube channel (backup link) (Posted on StarWars.com) (as Heir to the Empire)
• New Ahsoka Trailer: The Former Jedi Prepares for the Return of Thrawn on StarWars.com (backup link)
• "Part Four: Fallen Jedi" Episode Guide | Ahsoka on StarWars.com (backup link)

Notes and references