Spoilers for Part VI of Ahsoka, Far, Far Away

After being teased about his return ever since the second season of The Mandalorian, Grand Admiral Thrawn returned to Star Wars in Part VI of Ahsoka. But the brilliant tactician wasn’t alone. Apart from three Nightsisters, he was flanked by hundreds of stormtroopers. Now these don’t appear to be your run-of-the-mill soldiers, with their shattered masks and patched-up clothwork binding their suits together. So based on visual cues and naming conventions, I wanted to explore the Night Troopers a little more.

So here’s what we know for sure. The Night Troopers are the military might of Thrawn’s flagship, the Chimera. They have all been stranded on Peridea for around nine years, ever since Ezra Bridger whisked them all away to a far-off galaxy in the series finale of Star Wars Rebels. On Peridea, the defeated soldiers would form an unholy alliance with the Dathomiri, as the Nightsisters actually originated from this far-off planet. They would seek to help Thrawn and his troops get off-world, but seek something in return.

Kintsugi

I think the first thing we’d notice about the Night Troopers is their visual design. A far cry from the classic pristine white of the Imperial Empire, the armour on Thrawn’s Night Troopers feels dirty and cobbled together, each trooper feeling slightly distinct from the next. The plates are bound together by red cloth and gold accents fill out any holes or damages that the armour has sustained over the last nine years. As seen in the photo below, the trooper’s helmet features some of that gold trimming. This evokes the Japanese art of Kintsugi, which was last seen in Star Wars in The Rise of Skywalker when Kylo Ren repaired his helmet. In short, it’s an art form that repairs broken pottery with a lacquer (a shiny coating) usually made up of gold, silver or platinum. The effect allows for the broken crack lines to become boldly accented by the lacquer, making the fractures impossible to hide. The mindset was that the break was part of history and shouldn’t be hidden. So we can take this as these soldiers have been through the wringer and instead wear their scars openly and have learned from their history. So while Thrawn cites dwindling numbers due to nine years of what seems like The Lord of the Flies on another galaxy, the ones remaining are likely brutal, effective and disciplined. Which brings me to my next point.

Captain Enoch

As Thrawn’s loyal bodyguard died in Star Wars Rebels, the military leader was in need of a new number two. That role looks to be filled by the Captain of the Guard, who goes by the name Enoch. There’s a lot to digest here with his unique armour and his name. Let’s start with the armour, chiefly that face mask, which is unlike anything we’ve seen with Stormtrooper armour. The first visual cue for me, personally, was Tigris of Gaul from Ridley Scott’s Gladiator. He’s the fearsome and, up until his fight with Maximus, the undefeated champion who fought with tigers in the arena. While likely not a reference to the movie, it was Tigris’ mask that came to mind and then, as a result, the Roman Empire. Enoch’s salute to Sabine, “die well”, reminded me loads of Tigris’ own salute of “we who are about to die, salute you”. Chiefly, Enoch’s helmet reminded me of something like the Emesa helmet, which was a calvary helmet with a personalized faceplate made of silver and gold. There was only one such helmet recovered and is thought to have belonged to an elite soldier. On the topic of the Roman Empire, much like the Night Troopers, there was a legion with the Roman Army, the IX Legion Hispania, that just vanished from the history books, so Thrawn’s troops, in a way, are a lost Legion themselves.

His name is also quite interesting. Translating from Hebrew, it means “disciplined, dedicated and trained” which backs up the idea that these soldiers aren’t your typical Stormtrooper. In the Bible, Enoch was the great grandfather of Noah and is said to be the only person to go to heaven without actually dying. The Book of Enoch never made it into the Bible but was a text that focused heavily on apocalyptic themes, including the rebellion of the angels before the flood and the divine knowledge Enoch was given by God. Considering that the Night Troopers worship Thrawn as some sort of all-powerful being, seemingly diefying him as a cult, this lines up.

Undead Nightmare

So let’s talk about that unholy alliance with the Nightsisters. Before their departure from Pridea, Thrawn instructs the Dathomiri to empty the catacombs, a task that will take three rotations to complete. As we see, the troopers begin loading the Chimera with coffins, but to what end? Well, as we know in The Clone Wars and in Jedi: Fallen Order, the Dathormir witches can create zombies. So instead of using clones like Thrawn did in the original Heir to the Empire trilogy, he’s likely going to be commanding an undead legion. Who knows, perhaps the Night Troopers already are undead, as denoted by the red cloths addoring their suits, mimicing the Nightsister’s red cloaks. My guess is that these troops will make Thrawn the ultimate thread come the inevitable Heir to the Empire movie that Filoni is working on.

To War!

As I mentioned in my review, there’s a lot of paralels to The Lord of the Rings going on here. There’s some visual cues I didn’t reference, such as how the Nightsister temple looks a lot like Minas Morgul from the base, while the top is evokative of Orthanc, the tower of Saruman, with it’s pointed top. With the creation of unholy soldiers, Thrawn and his white garb mirror Sauruman in Tolkien’s work, which were superior orcs created by crossbreeding and benefitted by being able to walk the earth during daylight, something regular orcs can’t do. The way the troopers even chant Thrawn’s name reminded me a lot of how the regular Uruks would chant a chieftans name in the Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War games.

So that’s my breakdown of the Night Troopers. I want all of these variants as Black Series figures immediately but until then, we’ll just have to wait for next week’s episode.