New Inquisitors Introduced: There Is More Than Just One
The Seventh Sister fends off the Fifth Brother from killing Ezra
The other night, two new inquisitors were introduced on-screen in the new “Star Wars Rebels” episode, “Always Two There Are”. In the first season of “Star Wars Rebels”, we were introduced to The Inquisitor, who was tasked by Darth Vader to hunt down Jedi and their trainees. He was not only a very skilled fighter, but possessed a really awesome, spinning, double-bladed light saber, not to mention that he had studied the Jedi and knew their fighting styles. When he went down at the end of the first season in the final episode, “Fire Across The Galaxy”, it seemed as if he was all that there was who hunted down Jedi, perhaps aside from Darth Vader, whom we see at the tail end of “Fire Across The Galaxy” and in “Siege of Lothal”. However, while we got a brief glance in last week’s episode, “Relics of the Old Empire”, of one such potential hunter of Jedi, we got more of an introduction in last night’s episode, as well as to one of his colleagues. More importantly, we discover that The Inquisitor was actually The Grand Inquisitor.
Before there is any confrontation, we see one of these inquisitors, The Fifth Brother, on-board an Imperial ship, when Admiral Konstantine interestingly says, “These mystics are unnecessary. I don’t know why Lord Vader insists on sending them.” So, they are at least perceived as mystics by Imperial officers. After Agent Kallus is informed about the power surge at the decommissioned medical station where Hera, Zeb, Ezra and Chopper are:
Agent Kallus: “Could be anything. A malfunction or even scavengers.”
The Fifth Brother: “No. I sense those we seek.”
Agent Kallus: “One of your disturbances, I assume. Very well. Admiral, set a course for this medical station.”
Fifth Brother: “Your assistance is unnecessary, Agent Kallus. I shall go alone.”
From here, we see that he has an ability to sense what is going on, as well as a bit of arrogance or, perhaps, a very large sense of confidence. It’s also interesting to consider Agent Kallus’ change from last season, as Justin Bolger points out
Agent Kallus’ changing attitude towards the Inquisitorious is interesting to note, especially contrasted with Admiral Konstantine’s dismissal of them as “mystics”. Kallus respectfully defers to Fifth Brother’s judgment in this episode, while he repeatedly scoffed at the Grand Inquisitor’s Force talk last season. I wonder if witnessing the power of the Force on a regular basis has turned him into a believer?
We are first introduced to the female one, known as The Seventh Sister, when she finds Ezra:
Seventh Sister: “My pet told me you were here. I’ve been searching for you for some time.”
Ezra: “A bounty hunter?”
Seventh Sister, lighting up her light saber: “Guess again.”
Ezra: “You’re an Inquisitor.”
Seventh Sister: “Oh, good. I won’t have to explain it to you. So, you know what comes next.”
And then Ezra tries to engage in light saber duelling with her, while Sabine shoots at her droids, but it is clear that the Seventh Sister is much more skilled than Ezra is. It may also help that she wields a double-bladed spinning light saber, just as had the Inquisitor. While running, they then encounter the Fifth Brother, who, also chases them down, who also wields a double-bladed spinning light saber. These two inquisitors are quite interesting and, as Kyle Warnke observes, “Gellar’s voice is perfectly seductive and dripping with poison in every word, and the hulking, slow-moving gait of the Fifth Brother recalls the inevitable march of some serial killer from a slasher movie.”
Eventually, Ezra gets captured, letting Sabine get free. When the Fifth Brother goes to kill Ezra, she stops him, demonstrating that she has more of a strategy and less brutish than he is:
Seventh Sister: “I’m surprised to see you here.”
Fifth Brother: “The kill is mine.”
Seventh Sister: “You are short-sighted. We will use the boy as bait to draw in the others. Now find the girl.”
While in her custody, Ezra mentions to the Seventh Sister that his master had killed the Inquisitor, to which she responds, “The death of the Grand Inquisitor was a surprise to all. Yet, it does present the rest of us with new opportunities. There are many hunting you now, all intent on killing you and your master.” This revelation is fascinating for several reasons
- The revelation that The Inquisitor of the first season was actually The Grand Inquisitor
- There are more inquisitors, as can be understood from her use of “the rest of us”
- For these inquisitors, there are “new opportunities”, especially with The Grand Inquisitor’s death
- Of these inquisitors, “there are many hunting” the crew now
- Finally, the overall nonchalance with which she dispenses this information makes it seem as if she takes it for granted that this information is known and is out there, while this is brand new intel for Ezra (and the crew of The Ghost)
The Seventh Sister is quite fascinating, as she tries to pry the information out of him, trying to search his mind, inquiring, “Why can you just not cooperate? Why do you compel me to inflict pain? You know we’ll find the others, so why not just tell me where they are?” Amusingly, Ezra points out, “Because, unlike you, I can shut up. You’re like a broken protocol droid.” To which, she shushes him. After she identifies his fear in him, she then continues:
Seventh Sister: “If only you had the power to protect your friends.”
Ezra: “Shows what you know. I’m growing more powerful every day.”
Seventh Sister: “Unfortunate there’s no one left to train you. The Jedi of old are dead.”
Ezra: “Not all of ’em.”
Seventh Sister: “We know about Ahsoka Tano.”
It’s interesting that when it comes to Jedi, they know about Ahsoka Tano, but not about any others. Also interesting is that Ezra doesn’t know Ahsoka Tano, well, at least not by that name.
The Fifth Brother is able to track down Sabine and Zeb, knocking them out. He takes Sabine back with him and, arrogantly, instructs his droids, “The other is yours”, as if he has no lack in confidence about their ability to retrieve him. When he meets up with The Seventh Sister, he asks her, “What has the boy revealed?” Sharply, she replies, “Nothing I wish to share.” Clearly, there is competition amongst them(!).
Eventually, the two inquisitors fall for a ruse that Chopper and Zeb cook up to break Sabine and Ezra free and they return to The Ghost, although not before the two inquisitors use the Force to nearly yank the Phantom back into the hangar.
When they get back to the Ghost, Ezra tells Kanan and Hera about the inquisitors. When it’s just Rex, Hera, and Kanan, Hera asks Kanan about his knowledge of them:
Hera: “Did you know there was more than one?”
Kanan: “No, I didn’t.”
Hera: “Do you think Ahsoka knows?
Kanan: “I honestly don’t know. We really have no idea what we’re up against.”
In the Rebels Recon that followed up the episode, Andi Gutierrez has the opportunity to get two of our favorite Star Wars icons to speak on these new characters. Pablo Hidalgo states that
Now, we’re starting to understand the structure of the Inquisitorius a bit more. It’s still wrapped up in mystery and for good reason, but we now understand that the Inquisitor from season one is The Grand Inquisitor and these two new inquisitors follow in his footsteps.
He further states
They have numbers in their names, which, to me, suggests that there’s a desire for advancement. Now what exactly they mean, we’re not ready to say just yet. But it does suggest that there’s a small number of them and that there’s a degree of competition among them.
Dave Filoni states that
We reveal that they refer to each other as “Brother” and “Sister” at this point, which, of course, they’re not related, but it’s kind of to make them feel more like some sort of strange cult. They’re not called “Darth”s because they’re not Sith, so they’re First Brother, Second Brother, Third Brother….
Looking ahead, Hidalgo then states, “I will say as we go through season two, you’re going to find out more about where they came from; …you will find out more about their origins.” Filoni then builds on this and says, “You will learn a great deal about the Grand Inquisitor.” But then he goes on to tease us: “You will be able to guess at who the Grand Inquisitor was. This is the cruellest thing to say, but: it’s not the first time you’ve ever seen him. He has been in The Clone Wars. you just didn’t know it.” This is cruel and exciting at the same time.
What these multiple inquisitors do, is scary and fascinating, as Germain Lussier observes:
Last season, a single Inquisitor was the primary adversary of the Rebels. This being used a lightsaber, The Force, but was not a Sith. Instead, he was employed by a Sith–Darth Vader–to help track down the remaining Jedi. Well, that Inquisitor was killed by Kanan and this episode introduced not one, but two new Inquisitors. That’s bad news for the Rebels, but great news for fans of Star Wars.
…
[T]he possibility of more, adds a whole new dimension to Star Wars as a whole. “Always two there are, no more, no less, a master and an apprentice.” But that may not necessarily be true anymore, because of this mysterious group of lightsaber-wielding badasses called Inquisitors. No longer do you need to be a Jedi or Sith to use the Force, and no longer are you limited by numbers.
How this set-up of these inquisitors is unclear, but it may not have come out of nowhere, as Justin Bolger insightfully points out
The Inquisitorious has been a dream of Palpatine’s for a long time. In this episode he hires Cad Bane to kidnap Force-sensitive children to be trained as, “an army of Force talented spies in my service. Trained in the Dark Side to peer into every corner of the galaxy from afar”. Sound familiar?
This second season of Star Wars Rebels is going to be awesome.
