On Marrok: Why I hated your theories and why I am glad I was right all along:

So, Marrok ended up being literally no one, and this I sort of knew. I’ve blogged about why. I’ve also blogged about why I thought your theories sucked, but let me break it down for you again because I feel like gloating a little.

First, your theories about Barriss Offee:

Barriss was done hella dirty in The Clone Wars. In legends, she was one of the greatest healers the Jedi had. And, to this effect, it would make sense that she would hate the war and what was happening. She felt that shit on a molecular level. Every cell in her body probably pulsated pain from what she was witnessing day in and out on the battlefield. Orchestrating a bombing of the Jedi temple though? Eh? I don’t know. I get WHY she was the choice, but… it still sucked. There is a pretty sizable chunk of fandom that still have a lot of negative feelings about it too (people that the Ahsoka series was made for). And, even on a Watsonian level, Barriss’s reasoning for bombing the temple would suggest that she would never become an inquisitor willingly. It just wouldn’t make sense that she bombed the temple because she was keenly aware of the fact that the Jedi were unknowingly (in their defense) fighting for the dark-side only to later become an inquisitor. She would likely sacrifice herself before it came to that. Never mind, on a Doylist level, the fact that ship has sailed. If Filoni had intended to use her as a mere Inquisitor, he would have already done so in Rebels. Barriss could have easily been the seventh sister, but she wasn’t (Filoni has said so).

Could we still see Barriss? Perhaps. I don’t hold my breath, but I think a lot of folks want to know what became of her. I tend to think IF she shows up in the Ahsoka series, it will be as whatever the hell kind of “Jedi” Baylan and Shin are. While Shin obviously has a sort of dark wild-side, Baylan seems as though he is motivated by something he sees as a greater good. What becomes of this is anyone’s guess, but I could see Barriss trying to better the Galaxy… whatever that may mean for her.

Second, your theories about Ezra Bridger:

So, this one I have not talked about prior, but I still thought it was sort of a stretch. While being the most compelling option if Filoni had wanted to take the “he’s someone important” route, it didn’t make much sense characteristically for Ezra at this point. And, I say that because Ezra already flirted with the dark side in Rebels and gave it up. We saw him struggle with anger and attachments, so much so that he was able to open the Sith holocron, attain knowledge from it, and use questionable dark side powers to help his friends (him controlling that Imperial in the walker in season three was peak; I’m not going to lie, but…). Ezra was already brought back in. He failed epically and nearly got his friends killed, and Kanan was able to talk him off of the ledge. By the end of season four, Ezra was zen in a lot of ways, wise in others and was willing to let go of his attachments for the greater good. He overcame.

Ezra serving the dark side in New Republic times would be a step backwards, and I don’t think that’s going to happen. I don’t know how Ezra is going to get pulled back into the fold, but when he is, he won’t be evil.

Third, your theories about Galen Marek (aka Starkiller):

I’m going to be real with you. This seemed to be the most popular theory, and yet it was my least favorite one. Mainly because of the toxicity that would have surrounded this choice on so many levels.

First, Starkiller was grossly overpowered. He brought a fucking Star Destroyer out of the sky with the force, melted an entire legion of storm troopers and wiped the floor with Vader in a duel. Ahsoka wouldn’t have stood a chance in hell. And, folks are like “well he could have been nerfed!” But no, because the toxic element of fandom that truly wanted Starkiller to face Ahsoka would have been pissed that he was nerfed… and they would have bitched loudly about it.

Second, thematically, it made no sense. It would have been the worst possible fan service known to mankind. It would have made virtually no sense narratively, and it would have sent up dozens of questions about canon that would be yet another mess creatives would have to clean up afterward. So, no. Bad. Bad all around.

Third, and this is just me being who I am, but I know good and goddamned well an uncomfortably large set of fandom would have shipped him and Ahsoka. There’s probably a small underbelly of fiction about it that already exists. And, honestly, I’m completely surprised we didn’t get Marrok shipped with Ahsoka (Marrosoka? Ahsorok?) because it feels as if Filoni is purposely avoiding men to ship Ahsoka with in this series. Like, you’re being force to grasp at straws. Regardless, it would have been gross. It would have been problematic on so many levels. It just makes me cringe thinking about it.

In closing:

Anyway, it was good watching Marrok literally go up in smoke. For those of you that aren’t privy to this, that was night sister magic. Marrok was the equivalent of a night sister zombie. If you haven’t seen The Clone Wars, you probably didn’t know that and congrats, Filoni just gave you the finger again for not being in the know. I will say that while this moment seemed insignificant in the short term (Marrok’s existence as an entity), this is going to come back to haunt the heroes later… as there is likely a whole hoard of undead night sister zombie creatures waiting in the wings to wreak havoc on everything and everyone. It isn’t coincidental that everyone stopped battling the moment Marrok went up in a puff of green smoke including Shin. Wait for it.

The real Marrok is the friends we made along the way.

(I honestly couldn't give a crap, for the record 😂 saw his irrelevance coming from a mile away, if he actually was someone noteworthy the cinematic language would've framed him as such; we'd see close-ups on him, we'd see him display some semblance of emotion, maybe an insert on his clenching fist, something other than having him just linger in the background and struggle against Ahsoka. He's always been "just an extra goon".)