‘Ahsoka’ Makes Same Terrible Mistakes As ‘The Force Awakens,’ The Most Egregious Being A Map MacGuffin

John F. Trent |

Aug 28, 2023

Natasha Liu Bordizzo as Sabine Wren unlocks the map that allegedly leads to Grand Admiral Thrawn in Ahsoka (2023), Lucasfilm

The recently released Ahsoka series is the latest in a series of failures from Lucasfilm and it’s one anyone who saw The Force Awakens should have stepped in and put a stop to.

With two episodes of the series release, the entire point of the series appears to revolve on finding Grand Admiral Thrawn. The way to locate him is based on the discovery of a map that was located in the ruins of a planet named Arcana that previously served as a base to the Nightsisters.

Ahsoka learned of the map’s location after interrogating Morgan Elsbeth, who is revealed to be an ancestor of the Nightsisters. She discovers the map and safely takes it Lothal after defeating a number of droids. On Lothal, she hopes to enlist the help of Sabine Wren, who is revealed to be her former Padawan.

Her hope is seemingly fulfilled as Wren appears to unlock a location pinpointed within the map.

While Ahsoka discovers the map and Sabine Wren unlocks it, Elsbeth is freed from a New Republic prison cell by former Jedi Baylan Skoll and his new apprentice Shin Hati. After arriving on Arcana and discovering the map has either been destroyed or Ahsoka Tano fled with it, Elsbeth orders Hati to go to Lothal to confront Wren.

While on Lothal, Hati does indeed to confront Wren, but it’s after two of her droids had already ambushed Wren and taken the map. Nevertheless, a fight ensues with Hati getting the best of Wren.

Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) in Lucasfilm's STAR WARS: AHSOKA, exclusively on Disney+. ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.

While the show completely centers on this map, it does not make a lick of sense if you watched this series after watching the conclusion of Star Wars Rebels. At the end of that animated series it reveals how Grand Admiral Thrawn disappears.

In the series finale, Grand Admiral Thrawn’s plans of crushing the Rebellion on Lothal are undone by Ezra Bridger. Bridger outwits Thrawn by having The Ghost piloted by Mart Mattin, an obvious self-insert of Lucasfilm story group member Matt Martin, and former Clone Trooper Wolffe lead a herd of Purrgil to Lothal. The Purrgil proceed to destroy Thrawn’s Imperial fleet before entering the planet’s atmosphere and attacking his flagship, the Chimaera.

As the Purrgils destroy the rest of Thrawn’s fleet and begin attacking the Chimaera, Ezra Bridger uses his Force ability to take control of the Purrgil. He then uses them to attach themselves to the ship and take it everyone on board including himself and Thrawn to an unknown location.

Grand Admiral Thrawn is strangled by Purrgil in Star Wars Rebels (2017), Lucasfilm

The idea that Thrawn left a map hidden on the planet Arcana to his unknown location is beyond the pale. First off, he would have to have predicted that Bridger would use the Purrgil. He would then have to know where exactly the Purrgil would transport him.

Even if you believe he left the map to a location he would travel to if he happened to go missing, you still have to buy the idea he indeed knew he would lose to Ezra Bridger and the Rebellion on Lothal. It’s unbelievable.

Grand Admiral Thrawn looks at a map in Star Wars Rebels Season 3 Episode 20 “Twin Suns” (2016), Lucasfilm Ltd.

Not only does the idea of a map leading to Thrawn make absolutely no sense based on Star Wars Rebels, but the whole idea of using a map to find a famous character in order to turn the tide of war or prevent war is the exact same plot point from J.J. Abrams’ The Force Awakens.

The opening crawl from that film explains, “Luke Skywalker has vanished. In his absence, the sinister First Order has risen from the ashes of the Empire and will not rest until Skywalker, the last Jedi, has been destroyed. With the support of the Republic, General Leia Organa leads a brave Resistance. She is desperate to find her brother Luke and gain his help in restoring peace and justice to the galaxy. Leia has sent her most daring pilot on a secret mission to Jakku, where an old ally has discovered a clue to Luke’s whereabouts.”

That clue is part of a map given to Poe Dameron from Lor San Tekka that leads to Luke Skywalker.

The incomplete map to Luke Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015), Disney

The map MacGufin is not the only thing that Ahsoka takes from The Force Awakens. The series rips scenes from George Lucas’ iconic original trilogy as well as the prequels as nostalgia bait to delude Star Wars fans into thinking the series is original.

The opening sequence takes from the original Star Wars movie as well as Return of the Jedi. Instead of Luke, Han, and Leia sneaking onto the forest moon of Endor by using an Imperial shuttle, a former Jedi uses an old Jedi code in order to obtain entry onto a New Republic ship. They then proceed to tear the ship apart similar to how the Strormtroopers did in the first film.

Baylan Skoll’s slaying of the New Republic navy also appears to be a weak version of the Darth Vader hallway scene from Rogue One. At the end their mission is rescuing a female prisoner. It’s similar to how Han and Luke save Leia.

The series also takes from The Phantom Menace when Shin Hati gets a report from a probe droid about the location of Sabine Wren. However, instead of Darth Maul immediately setting out upon his probe droid reporting back to him, Hati apparently waits until night to make her move.

For what reason? Who knows. I guess it gave Sabine time to crack the map and thus rendering the droids who steal the map and then proceed to destroy her home pointless.

The series has a pointless MacGuffin and is chock full of what I’m sure Filoni and Lucasfilm would describe as Easter Eggs, but that’s not what they are. They are George Lucas’ ideas that expertly worked in the original trilogy that have now been twisted to serve a resurrected, shambling corpse. It’s truly a mockery than anything even nearing an homage.

What did you make of Ahsoka’s reliance on the map MacGuffin and its various aping of Lucas’ original ideas to cobble together a series in the vein of The Force Awakens soft rebooting Star Wars?

NEXT: New ‘Ahsoka’ Rumor Claims Show Will Feature Multiple Possible Outcomes Of Ahsoka’s Life Including Fighting Darth Vader On Mustafar Instead Of Obi-Wan Kenobi

Mentioned This Article:Ahsoka Dave Filoni Disney Lucasfilm Star Wars

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