Animated anthology series Star Wars: Tales of the Empire is, at heart, another canon-expanding exercise. Yet the show’s real achievement isn’t fleshing out established lore – it’s beefing up Morgan Elsbeth’s characterization.
To date, Elsbeth’s only appeared in two other Star Wars productions – The Mandalorian and Ahsoka – and left her mark on neither. But this wasn’t necessarily the former Imperial magistrate’s fault; she’s not the main villain in The Mandalorian or Ahsoka. Indeed, in both shows, Elsbeth’s more of an obstacle than a character – a challenge our heroes must overcome on their journey, rather than a fully realized person. We get hints that Elsbeth has more going on than her icy exterior suggests, however, such moments are fleeting. Elsbeth and her arc just aren’t the focus.
But in Star Wars: Tales (or half of it, at any rate), Elsbeth’s arc is the focus, and it’s enough to transform a forgettable character into a genuinely great one.
Live-Action Morgan Elsbeth Is a Cartoonish Villain
Little about Morgan Elsbeth’s Star Wars debut in The Mandalorian Season 2 points to her untapped potential. For the entirety of Season 2’s fifth episode, “Chapter 13: The Jedi,” Elsbeth is a one-note baddie – remote and ruthless. That’s all we know about her and it’s all we really need to know. She’s bad and Din Djarin and Ahsoka Tano need to defeat her. Simple.
True, there are clues that Elsbeth’s past hides some secrets worth learning. By the end, it’s clear she’s linked to legendary Star Wars villain Grand Admiral Thrawn. Plus, Elsbeth’s Beskar spear and martial prowess – she goes head-to-head with Ahsoka and holds her own – hint she’s more than a mid-level Imperial crony. Yet none of this moves the needle much in terms of Elsbeth’s overall appeal. Stripped of her ties to Thrawn and her space kung fu, she’s not especially compelling.
Things are only slightly better in Ahsoka Season 1, even though Elsbeth gets a lot more screen time. Sure, we discover she’s a Nightsister (something Ahsoka alludes to in The Mandalorian) and there’s a heightened sense of the trauma at her core. Her people, the Witches of Dathomir, were massacred decades ago, but the pain of this tragedy still drives her. Ahsoka Season 1 also hammers home the true nature of Elsbeth’s loyalties. She’s devoted to Thrawn and his vision for a galaxy far, far away, rather than the Empire in general.
These are all fascinating enough puzzle pieces, however, Ahsoka never slots them together in a satisfying way. Right up until Ahsoka fatally skewers her, Elsbeth’s the same cartoonish villain. It’s like she attended an “Evil Dialogue 101” class. Nothing she says offers any meaningful insight into her deeper feelings about her past, present, or future. Her ultimate goal – beyond rescuing Thrawn – remains frustratingly vague. So, when Elsbeth dies, it’s a perfunctory affair, at best.
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Cartoon Morgan Elsbeth is 3D in More Ways Than One
Fortunately, there’s nothing perfunctory about Morgan Elsbeth’s three-part Star Wars: Tales of the Empire yarn. Here, we finally get to witness the Nightsister massacre from Elsbeth’s perspective, and it’s genuinely affecting. More than that, it properly establishes this experience’s corrosive effect on Elsbeth. Nothing – not even taking on the Separatist forces responsible – will ever heal the wound left by her people’s genocide.
And it’s a wound that never fully scabs over. Instead, it festers to the point where she wants revenge on the galaxy itself. Elsbeth admits as much when Thrawn recruits her in Tales of the Empire‘s second episode. Speaking plainly, she declares that vengeance still drives her, even after the Separatists are long gone. “I seek power to ensure my future, to destroy my enemies,” Elsbeth tells Thrawn. Her revenge on a chaotic world is to gain control over it, and never be a victim again.
That’s why Elsbeth’s so loyal to Thrawn: his designs for an orderly galaxy will grant her the control she craves. It’s more than just a generic “rule them all” motivation, or even retribution in the classic sense. What Elsbeth wants in her own twisted way is safety and agency. This doesn’t excuse her crimes in The Mandalorian and Ahsoka, but it does make them easier to understand.
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Elsbeth’s Tragic Backstory Unlocked Her True Potential
Of course, not all great villains need this kind of relatability. Heck, one of Star Wars‘ most iconic evildoers, Emperor Palpatine, is practically the Devil incarnate. Yet it doesn’t hurt, either. After all, the franchise’s flagship baddie, Darth Vader, is so arresting precisely because of his all-too-human fall from grace. The same is true of Morgan Elsbeth. She needed a fully-fledged, pathos-laden backstory to unlock her full potential as a character – and that’s just what Tales of the Empire did.
All six episodes of Star Wars: Tales of the Empire are currently streaming on Disney+.
Published: May 12, 2024 07:00 pm