The Ahsoka Disney+ TV show introduced the mysterious Imperial Inquisitor named Marrok, and Star Wars: Tales of the Empire will essentially serve as his origin story. Viewers were thrilled when the first Ahsoka trailers showed Anakin Skywalker’s Padawan locked in combat with an Imperial Inquisitor called Marrok. Naturally, it didn’t take long for audiences to begin speculating about who he could be. In the end, though, all those theories were disproven.
Shockingly, the Marrok of Ahsoka was in fact a reanimated corpse – resurrected through the use of Lady Morgan Elsbeth’s Nightsister magick. It was initially unclear whether Marrok had ever existed in the first place, given the armor design was similar to another Inquisitor killed in Star Wars Rebels, the so-called Ninth Brother. But now, it seems all those mysteries are about to be revealed at last.
Lucasfilm dropped a surprise trailer for Star Wars: Tales of the Empire, which has presumably supplanted Tales of the Jedi season 2. A series of animated shorts, this will be divided between Diana Lee Inosanto’s Morgan Elsbeth and Meredith Salenger’s Barriss Offee;.the latter, a traitor to the Jedi Order, will become one of the Imperial Inquisitors. She will serve as the audience’s viewpoint character into Darth Vader’s elite Jedi hunters.
The Tales of the Empire trailer also confirms the return of Marrok, who’s featured prominently on the official poster too. The clear implication is that this will serve as Marrok’s origin story, revealing his true identity at last. Given the placement in the timeline, it’s reasonable to assume he will be confirmed as an Order 66 survivor rather than a later recruit from some other Force tradition. It will be thrilling to learn the rest.
It’s not hard to spot the pattern in the Tales of the Empire trailer; this show is all about wrapping up Ahsoka‘s mysteries. Morgan Elsbeth’s backstory will presumably explain why she allied with Grand Admiral Thrawn and the Empire – an allegiance that has always seemed decidedly odd, given the Sith wiped out her people. Barriss is one of the last loose threads from Star Wars: The Clone Wars, closely connected to Ahsoka Tano. And Marrok’s identity is one of the great unsolved mysteries of the Disney era.
The interesting question is whether the reality can possibly live up to the Marrok hype. There were so many theories, but in Ahsoka he proved to be rather less important than he’d seemed to be. That left a sour taste in the mouth for many viewers, and led to quite a few complaints. But Star Wars: Tales of the Empire is a chance to make that right.
Star Wars: Tales of the Empire will release on Disney+ on May 4.