The Battle of Lothal explained for Star Wars: Ahsoka

Ahsoka is the newest Star Wars show to hit Disney+, and by our reckoning it’s off to a very solid start. Featuring the return of Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano alongside the live-action debut of a slew of character from the Star Wars Rebels animated series, Ahsoka is a show which pays homage to the overall Star Wars canon in some interesting ways. Since it does have Rebels characters like Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), it should come as no surprise that this series has plenty of ties to the animated show.

Ahsoka’s two-episode premiere largely focused on the search for the villainous Grand Admiral Thrawn and the young Jedi Ezra Bridger. During the premiere, Hera says that Thrawn has been presumed dead since the Battle of Lothal. What did she mean?

What happened to Thrawn and Ezra at the Battle of Lothal?

While Ahsoka gives viewers enough context that they can watch without having seen Rebels, some may be confused about the Battle of Lothal. Lothal is the planet where Sabine Wren is living in an abandoned communication tower. It was one of the main settings of Star Wars Rebels, and much of the series revolves around a group of freedom fighters trying to liberate that planet from Imperial rule.

The Battle of Lothal — also known as the Liberation of Lothal — was the culmination of those efforts, and took place over the course of the last few episodes of the Rebels series. Hera, Sabine, Ezra, and the rest of the surviving Rebels gang were all present at the Battle of Lothal, where they worked alongside Ryder Azadi (Clancy Brown) to give the Empire the boot from the planet. Notably, Ahsoka Tano was not involved in the Battle of Lothal.

The battle was a complicated, harrowing affair. First the rebels had to capture the acting Imperial governor and lure all of the Empire’s soldiers into a massive orbital transport dubbed “the Dome.” The Dome was then launched into space in order to get them off the planet. Eventually, the entire garrison which had formerly occupied Lothal was killed when the Dome blew up near the end of the battle.

Thrawn was one of the highest ranking members of the Empire at this time and had a long-running feud with the Rebels heroes. He arrives during the battle, which ultimately leads to a confrontation between him and Ezra aboard his Star Destroyer. As Hera and Sabine watch from below, the last piece of Ezra’s surprise plan is enacted: some of his other allies lead a group of Purrgil whales to Lothal, which capture Thrawn and his Star Destroyer in their tentacles.

Purrgil are enormous sentient whales capable of jumping through hyperspace; earlier in Rebels, Ezra bonded with some of them. During the final minutes of the Rebels finale the Purrgil pull Thrawn’s Star Destroyer into hyperspace with them, taking it to an unknown, distant galaxy.

This is why Thrawn is seemingly in exile in another galaxy at the start of Ahsoka. Both he and Ezra Bridger were still aboard the Star Destroyer when the Purrgil jumped into hyperspace. As Thrawn struggled to get free from the Purrgil’s tentacles, Ezra held the Imperial forces at bay long enough for the plan to work, sacrificing himself to thwart Thrawn.

With both Thrawn and Ezra seemingly set to make a reappearance in Ahsoka, it seems that sacrifice may have only delayed the inevitable. We’ll see how Thrawn has taken his unwilling exile when he appears later this season.

New episodes of Ahsoka drop Tuesday nights on Disney+.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels