'Rogue One' Subtly Retcons The Season Finale Of 'Star Wars: Rebels' Season 1 — And Makes It Even Cooler
The Star Wars universe is a wonderful, complex thing, transcending film to incorporate a wide range of media, including tie-in novels, comics, and even animated series.
The Star Wars universe is a wonderful, complex thing, transcending film to incorporate a wide range of media, including tie-in novels, comics, and even animated series. As a Star Wars fan, one of the most thrilling parts of this is seeing how all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle come together (sometimes, in the most unexpected of ways). In this case, Rogue One — the phenomenal Star Wars spinoff movie — has subtly changed the canon, and in so doing, it has carried out a retcon that most fans will have missed...
Welcome to Mustafar
As fans of the #StarWarsRebels animated series will remember, the first season came to an explosive end with Kanan Jarrus — a Jedi Padawan who had survived the Clone Wars and become a rebel — captured by the Empire. Knowing that Kanan's friends would try to rescue him, the Imperial Inquisitor arranged for Kanan to be taken to a certain iconic world; the planet Mustafar.
Kanan's friends described Mustafar as "where Jedi go to die". At the time, this was an obvious homage to the famous duel between Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, which had led to an injured Skywalker secretly becoming Darth Vader. But now, thanks to #RogueOne, that ending takes on another meaning.
Mustafar is the home of Darth Vader.
Rogue One, you see, established that Mustafar is the home of Darth Vader himself. The Sith Lord resides in a Sith castle, one dedicated to the Dark Side, and the creative team went to such trouble with the design that we're sure to see this fortress return in other media. But this adds a new layer of depth to the capture of Kanan Jarrus; the Empire didn't just take him to a random world, they were bringing him to Darth Vader himself.
It makes perfect sense; of course Darth Vader would be interested in a surviving Jedi who'd taken on an apprentice. He'd also know full well that rebels would try to rescue Kanan — the Inquisitor explicitly stated that it's a trap — and that any other surviving Jedi could potentially be drawn out into the open. So Kanan is actually being taken to Darth Vader himself.
Of course, this raises a tantalizing question: where is Vader? He plays no part in the battle, but that's not really a problem. The reality is that the Sith Lord is a busy man, and so presumably simply wasn't home at the time. Season 1 ended with his arrival, though, so he was clearly on the way.
It's a subtle detail, and easy to miss, but it adds another layer of tension to the dramatic end of Rebels Season 1. Thanks to Rogue One, Mustafar has become more important than ever before; it's no longer just a planet of tragedy, but instead it's become a key Imperial system. After all, this is where the Dark Lord of the Sith resides; no wonder it's where Jedi go to die...
About the Creator
Tom Bacon
A prolific writer and film fan, Tom has a deep love of the superhero genre.
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