Ahsoka Episode 4 Answers Questions About Marrok (And Raises Others)
This article contains spoilers for "Ahsoka" episode 4, "Fallen Jedi."
We have already hit the halfway point in season 1 of "Ahsoka" on Disney+ and, for hardcore "Star Wars" fans, it left us with much to think about. Some deep lore from a galaxy far, far away was touched on, some big surprises were dropped on us, and a few key mysteries began to unravel. One of the biggest mysteries had to do with the Inquisitor Marrok, who had been fighting alongside Jedi-turned-mercenaries Baylan Skoll (Ray Stevenson) and Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno). Marrok's identity had (has?) been kept secretive but episode 4 of the series, "Fallen Jedi," answered some questions in that department while raising several others. Let's dig into it.
This episode is filled with action as Ahsoka (Rosario Dawson) and Sabine (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) race to try and get the map from Baylan, Shin, and Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto) before they can fully uncover the coordinates to Grand Admiral Thrawn. At one point, Ahsoka and Sabine duke it out with Shin and Marrok in the woods, who were sent to slow the former Jedi and her apprentice down. It works, but Ahsoka manages to seemingly kill Marrok in the process, cutting him virtually in half with one swift strike of her white-bladed lightsaber. While the action moves on pretty swiftly, viewers will care to note some strange stuff going on when he dies.
A green-ish smoke pours from the cavity in Marrok's body before he collapses to the ground. This wasn't a clean slash like the one Sabine suffered early in the season either. Ahsoka cut Marrok across the chest, making it seem far less likely that he'll survive. So, a new character that had been the cause of much speculation from fans is now dead, for one, with no clues to their identity given. Beyond that, we've now got this bizarre smoke to wonder about. Much to consider, much to process.
Who (or what) was Marrok?
First, let's address the identity of the Inquisitor under that mask. As is often the case, fans went crazy theorizing who Marrok really was, with some even positing that it was none other than Ezra Bridger who had somehow been corrupted by the Dark Side. Given the unceremonious death, that seems highly unlikely. More than anything, this death indicates that Marrok was not anyone of note from "Star Wars" history that we should concern ourselves with, barring another crazy reveal.
That doesn't quite feel like something writer/producer Dave Filoni would do. So, while we're probably going to get more of an explanation in the coming episodes, the theorizing almost certainly will amount to very little in the end. Not every character is some big twist waiting to happen. Fortunately, this didn't devolve into a "Who is Snoke?" or "Who are Rey's real parents?" situation, but it may amount to self-imposed disappointment for some who put a lot of stock into any of the theories currently floating around. The dangers of a theory not panning out.
But what about that green smoke?
Now, onto the bigger elephant in the room: What the hell was that smoke? Again, we're almost certainly going to get a more thorough explanation in the coming weeks but this is where theorizing may pay off. What we know for sure is that Morgan Elsbeth is a Nightsister, aka one of the Witches of Dathomir, who fans will know from "The Clone Wars." They are a group of Force-wielding witches that have been known to raise the dead on occasion (see "The Clone Wars" episode "Massacre").
So, could it be that Morgan, using her Nightsister powers, raised some Force-sensitive being from the dead to help do her bidding? Or, more specifically, to ultimately help Thrawn do his bidding? Maybe! It's worth pointing out that the smoke that poured out of Savage Opress, a brother of Dathomir, when he died in "The Clone Wars" looked eerily similar to what we saw come out of Marrok. It would therefore make sense if whoever was hiding under that mask had ties to Dathomir, be it through Morgan or some other as-of-yet unseen presence lurking in the shadows.
In the end, it may not be that Marrok's identity was all that important. What might be important is how exactly they came to serve Morgan in the first place. If it could happen to them, it could happen to someone else as well. Marrok may just be one sample of a larger concern for Ahsoka Tano and her rebel friends.
New episodes of "Ahsoka" premiere on Tuesday nights on Disney+ at 6:00 pm Pacific, 9:00 pm Eastern.