Prior Episodes | 7973 (4 BBY) | Next Episodes
Continuity & Analysis

Star Wars: Rebels - Always Two There Are (2015) [S2E5]
Thanks to Rex's intel, Ezra, Sabine, Zeb, and Chopper head out to an abandoned
Republic medical station with the hopes of finding much-needed supplies.
When they encounter new enemies, however, the stakes become much higher.
Star Wars: Rebels - Brothers of the Broken Horn (2015) [S2E6]
When Ezra answers a distress signal from the Broken Horn, the young Jedi finds someone
unexpected waiting: the legendary pirate Hondo Ohnaka. But is he friend or foe?




CONTINUITY
These two standalone episodes are about Ezra and his uncertainty about his path.
The planet Nixus is seen for the first time. Two worlds are seen in these episodes:

It doesn't seem like too much time has passed since last episode, as the Spectres are now acting on the information they just obtained.
At this point, it can be assumed that enough time has passed when there was space between the episodes set in this calendar year
that it is now about a third of the way, or perhaps almost half-way, through the year 7973 (4 BBY).

- Numerous Haven-class medical stations were built during the Clone Wars as regional hospitals for injured Republic soldiers. Some, if not
all, of these stations have been abandoned, however they are still technically connected to the Imperial network, as is seen when
the powering of the station by the Spectres triggers an alert. Since it is Admiral Konstantine's flagship which receives this alert, it
can be assumed that the station they visit was somewhere in or around the Dominus Sector.


- It is explicitly stated that there is "no power", and yet gravity and life support are still functioning on the station. This is further evidence
of something made clear in much SW material: these systems have independent power-cells which are not reliant on the primary
systems, require minimal amounts of power to operate, have extremely long-lived batteries, and give off the faintest of energy
signals, far too low-powered to be distinguished from background radiation by scanners.
Main Article: Scanners, Sensors, and Cloaking Devices

- Konstantine says regarding the Inquisitors, "these mystics are unnecessary. I don't know why Lord Vader insists on sending them." The use
of Sith agents, including Vader himself, is often shown to be objectionable to Imperial officers, either because they are irregular
personnel not part of the military structure, because of their desire to take action based on 'mystical' information, or simply
because they are jealous of their powers and don't like their own authority to be challenged. Konstatine seems to regard these
Sith Acolytes and Lord Vader as part of a strange 'mystic' religion, and he is only concerned with their effect on his prestige.
Main Article: Awareness of the Jedi and the Sith


Why is Agent Kallus giving orders to Admiral Konstantine? Despite his promotion, an officer with the equivallent rank
of a Commander or Colonel should not be giving orders to a Fleet Admiral. It could be that this operation with Kallus
and Fifth Brother is under the authority of the ISB and the Inquisition, thus making Kallus officer in command of
the overall mission. It seems unlikely that Konstantine would permit such insubordination if this were not the case.
Konstantine personally attending this mission suggests this has been given priority above his regular duties as
commander of the Lothal sector fleet. Despite this, he still should not be speaking to him as a subordinate.
Main Article: Ranks and Rank Insignia


- Seventh Sister is seen for the first time, both on screen and chronologically. She is the third Inquisitor to be introduced on screen, however
she has since become the fifth known Inquisitor and the last to have appeared chronologically in canon.

- The Inquisitors learned about Ahsoka from Vader. Kanan did not know there was more than one Inquisitor, which is consistent with his
reaction to first meeting the Grand Inquisitor which showed he had no prior knowledge of them. Kanan says he doesn't know
if Ahsoka knows, but given how she got her lightsaber crystals according to non-canon material she is aware of this. It seems
like Ahsoka has maintained the Jedi tradition of not giving their fellow Jedi all the facts they really should know.

- Garel City is one of many major cities on Garel, and is host to an important spaceport. It functions as the planet's capital, which combined
with its name suggests it was probably the first large city built on the planet during colonization. Based on the view from orbit, it is
likely surpassed in population by many of the other large cities. The city is built into a crater from an asteroid impact, like many cities
on Garel, and appears to have been laid out with the same foresight in planning seen on most of the Core civilization's colony worlds.


- Rinn is a planet in the Bazel Sector, within Slice region of the Outer Rim, which in galactic terms is not far from the Lothal Sector. Commander
Sato describes it as the "frozen planet of Rinn", apparently to explain why they are "facing an energy crisis." In legendary material, Rinn is
the homeworld of the Tintinna, a rodent-like species which are not yet part of canon. There was no reason to believe that Rinn was frozen
or even cold based on that material, and it is unclear why the creators chose to define the entire planet as frozen, essentially bringing
the expanded universe planet into canon but undercutting is established nature. Apparently this planet has settlements which are totally
reliant on generators and heaters to keep them from freezing to death, which raises the question of what they are doing on the planet.
Unless the answer is mining or other resource extraction, it seems like a very poor choice to have settled on an extremely remote and
frozen planet, especially when there are so many habitable planets in the Rim which are unsettled or have small populations.

- As seen from orbit in this storyline and others, Garel has at least two settled continents, one of which is heavily urbanized. The cities are laid
out in megacity rings like most worlds of the Core civilization. This pattern of city rings combined with city grids is the preferred lay out
of colonial planners, and is based on this civilization's advanced technology and millennia of experience in urbanization. Many worlds
which were heavily populated but whose city placement was not originally planned out eventually had these features integrated into
their worlds over the millennia as new construction and infrastructure is slowly replaced. Few worlds are even remotely similar to
Coruscant in regard to its layers of city built on top of city, and no other planet has thousands of layers of city and hundreds of billions
of people on them. Nevertheless, there are many worlds which are an ecumenopolis, or 'city world', where there is a continuously
connected urban area which spans the entire planet's surface. This does not mean every square inch of the planet is urbanized, in fact
most city worlds have more undeveloped land than developed land, as there are large areas of low settlement within the planet-wide
maze of mega city areas. Garel does not quite qualify for this category of planet, however it is clear that at least 40% of the planet's
surface is already totally covered in a single urban super-grid. The population of Garel must be tens of billions, even if the planet is
physically somewhat small, based on the visual evidence from orbit of the illuminated cities. A planet this developed with this large
of a population should probably have a great deal more traffic in its atmosphere and in space than it does. Any planet with this kind of
development, history, and population should certainly have some orbital facilities of some kind, and while they would not necessarily
be visible in any one shot, no orbital facilities or even other traffic is ever shown when ships come and go from the planet, mostly
because it makes the animation much more complicated, but also because the creators don't always consider such larger implications.
Main Article: Galactic Population


- Hondo Ohnaka was last seen 15 years earlier in The Clone Wars 'Revival' (S5E1). At some point after the Clone Wars, he "lost my whole
crew, thanks to the Empire", and is seen to be working alone at this particular point. Azmorigan calls him a "washed-up, old relic."
At this point in time, the Rang Clan has bounty on his head which is not insignificant.

- The Broken Horn has "breached an Imperial checkpoint" somewhere in the Lothal Sector. Apparently ships which fly through these
checkpoint zones in space without authorization or an approved flight plan are routinely stopped for inspection.

- Nixus is a frozen planet in the Astal Sector, within the Trailing Sectors of the Outer Rim. It is desolate and has a thin atmosphere which is
not breathable, due primarily to its relatively low gravity. This feature also makes this planet useful as a port and makes construction
on its surface relatively easy. There are hundreds of small stations on the planet, which seem to be unimaginatively named Nixus Hubs.
The Broken Horn lands at Nixus Hub 218, which is seen to be a small trading post used for cargo exchange.



Chopper picks up two blasters by their handles and proceeds to charge and fire them. How does he squeeze the triggers?
Chopper's main 'arms' have clamps for hands, with no fingers which would allow him to both grip the blasters and fire
them at the same time. How did this make sense to the writers, animators, or the producers?


- Hondo refers to himself as "an old Jedi sympathizer", and states that "one of my best friends was a Jedi. I'm pretty sure we were friends."
It seems most likely he is referring to Obi-Wan, as he was usually respectful towards Hondo despite disapproving of his pirate ways.
He could also be referring to Anakin, as both Jedi had dealings with Hondo, including a similar amount of interaction with him when
the other was not present. Anakin was usually less cordial, and Hondo did seem like he had developed a strange friendship with
Obi-Wan, based on their later conversations and the fact that Hondo stopped trying to capture and ransom Obi-Wan.

ANALYSIS
The death of the Grand Inquisitor was a surprise to the Sith Lords and their Inquisitor acolytes, which has created a struggle for dominance
The "new opportunities" Seventh Sister mentions are Kanan and Ahsoka, which off the chance to rise above the pack and become the next
Grand Inquisitor. Some Inquisitors were killed during the many years of hunting Jedi and force-sensitive individuals, and those which remain
have had less serious opponents to deal with due to the effectiveness of the Inquisition. Most of their rare encounters with Jedi are those like
Ezra who were introduced to the Jedi religion after Order 66. They have so effectively eliminated the Jedi of the Republic era, or driven them
deep into hiding, that there is a serious lack of knowledgeable teacher to train these Jedi. Having concluded that "the Jedi of old are dead",
the Inquisition is beginning to outlive its primary purpose. Now that two Republic era Jedi have surfaced, the Inquisitors can once again hunt.

The frozen planet of Rinn is facing an energy crisis, however the reason for this is not explained. When their supply of fuel cells is gone,
the settlements will not be able to power the heaters they need to survive, and will subsequently freeze. As discussed above, it is really their
own fault if they settled on this planet with no economic gain, and it can be assumed that there is some kind of mining or mineral extraction
taking place on the planet which warranted settling somewhere that fuel is necessary to maintain life support. The location of this system is
remote, so it is quite possible this planet is not in regular interaction with the rest of the Empire. This means that something must have gone
wrong with whatever business ordinarily allows them to purchase the fuel they need to survive. Contacting the Empire for help would likely
mean getting their operation taken over, or simply being robbed in compensation for the fuel. Regardless of whether or not this is an option,
the rebels of Phoenix Cell are motivated by a desire to help those in need and save civilian lives, and don't need an Imperial motivation to act.


FURTHER ANALYSIS
Report Pending