Ngl, the designs make it seem like they have evolved into more of a Thrawn Cult

I think the stormtroopers look a bit rough simply due to lack of resources. If you look closely, even Thrawn's uniform is torn and stitched back here and there.

One thing that really impresses me about Enoch is his strong military bearing. When he went up to Thrawn and Morgan to report Baylan and Shin had left, Thrawn gave the order to use just 2 squads to back Baylan and Shin up. Enoch was just turning away to carry out that order when Morgan spoke up and suggested they sent more. Enoch stopped in his tracks and immediately turned around, but not in a showy manner. Then Thrawn explained his reasoning and Enoch turned around and left. How Enoch handled this situation just screamed military bearing.

I think the "Die well" line is a sign of the honor (yes, a twisted honor) of Thrawn rubbing off on his troopers. Baylan also has a form of honor, which he has proven by his keeping of his word (so far) to Sabine.

It's worth noting that historically, Imperial Navy officers are the ones who resist and disobey Thrawn. We routinely see Stormtroopers work under him without issue, while Navy personnel question his methods, mutter xenophobic words, think they can do better than him, etc. Konstanine, Kallus, Pryce, Tarkin; all Imperial Navy, and all tried to sabotage or outdo Thrawn. It would make sense that the Grand Admiral would have a Stormtrooper as his second, after a long history of being betrayed, belittled, and baffled by the sort of idiots the Imperial Navy gave him.

Im not personally a fan of Night Troopers being undead. I like it a lot more if they are Thrawn's attempt of making sure his crew is alive and well armed using local techniques and cultures to do so. Honestly Nightsister magick being used scientifically by Thrawn to create a zombie legion that goes horribly wrong would be a GREAT concept for a modern take on the old Death Troopers novel

The golden crack Kintsugi effect on the otherwise stark white armor (a.k.a. fixing what was once broken with something greater) and the Night Sister ribbons is an AMAZING touch and a clear hint of what has been going on with Thrawn's army and plot in general. This is peak Star Wars IMO! I love that the Night Sisters (who are heavily inspired by the Bene Gesserit order of Dune) are having their live action moments!

I think the red ribbon around their Storm (Night) Trooper armor is a symbol of partnership with the Night Sisters, a visual form of loyalty of ideology if you will.

I view the night troopers as rugged and experienced. They look formidable with their cracked armor. It shows they've been battling and facing hardship.

There was a thing in Japan called ''Kintsugi'', which is pretty much a way to mend broken tea cups (and more I'd assume). They'd use Japanese lacquer, and would cover it with a *gold* powder. If I missed anything, or got something wrong, please let me know.

I don't think the catacombs are filled with the Nightsisters' dead. I think they're Thrawn's crew, placed in stasis for their survival, and he's relying on the Nightsisters out of necessity until he can bring them home. But it might be wishful thinking on my part. Those would be the actions of Zahn's nuanced Thrawn, not Filoni's EVIL Thrawn.

I think that the planet they found themselves trapped on is just plain hostile. Lots of crew members died, stormtroopers went out to hunt or escort naval crew on resource gathering and scouting missions to then be attacked by large and dangerous aliens. It is a terrible mess, and Thrawn is using whatever resources he can to maintain some semblance of order until he can get what is left of his crew back home alive.

Thing about Thrawn: remember that in the novels, his command style inspires such trust that his subordinates are willing to die for him. This includes knowing what parts of the military ethos are important, such as dress and deportment being far less important than maintaining military fitness and skills.

The Gold in the armor reminds me of Kintsugi. The Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold, silver, or platinum. And the Red Armored Raiders reminded me of Samurai.

I can't believe how cold and dangerous Thrawn seemed to be. Absolutely terrifying character.

Idk why but the troopers made me think of the Roman Empire and the gold reminded me of kintsugi. I think it's symbolic of how thrawn, always trying to be perfect, suffered a loss (they broke) but he's peiceing it all back together to make a big comeback. Might be a stretch but I think it also symbolizes the fall of the Roman Empire same way their Empire fell

The Night Troopers had year to both die and abandon Thrawn. But these didn't do either. These are battle hardened troops whose loyalty has been thoroughly tested and hardened.Sure Thrawn was kind enough to tell us explicitly that their numbers have dwindled when question about sending more troops after Sabine, but these Troopers are still here.

When I first saw Capt Enoch, his helmet reminded me of Emperor Aurelian. Love the design. Hopefully we'll see more of him.

The nightsister ribbons may have to do something like Maul getting legs. So these strom troopers may have injuries like lost limbs, severe chest and leg trauma where organs are heavily damaged. And these ribbons are there to magically keep them healed or animate portions of their bodies as well as making them stronger

What I find interesting and also to be considered is, that he told Morgan he won’t waste more troopers to aid Balen and Shin since he lost casualties during the exile.

Thrawn mentions that their numbers have dwindled. If they were full zombies they could resurrect the entire crew and be at full strength? Maybe they're not fully dead but held together by magic keeping them alive or replacing lost limbs explaining the red wraps on different parts of the troopers bodies. Also, when we first see Enoch his entire shirt under his armor is dark red instead of the traditional black making him the most wrapped trooper.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens, but I personally think it might be dumb to make them be dead. Like how come Thrawn and Ezra would be the only survivors? I think they’re just his remnant legion, but I could always be wrong. Anyway the Chimaera was awesome to see… I hope it becomes a Lego set

I don't think that the Night Troopers are zombies, but are simply Storm Troopers that have been bolstered by Night Sister magic. Their armour, like Thrawn's ship, has been cracked and repaired using the same local materials. They may look dishevelled but they still stand and move with discipline and speak organically. Any crackling in thier voices is probably just do to their radios being old. Even Thrawn's uniform has been stitched and patched in places. Thrawn even says that their numbers have diminished over time. Thrawn cares for his men and wouldn't turn them into zombies, He specifically calls out the captain of his guard by name. Why would Thrawn do that if the guy was just an animated corpse? Thrawn is practical and will use every resource afforded him. Unlike many Imperial Officers Thrawn doesn't dismiss the Jedi and the Force and antiquated fairy tales. He thanks the Mother's multiple times for their assistance. He does not fear them but he does respect them and that respect is reciprocated. We have seen how Night Sister magic can bestow abilities on others in the past so why can the same thing not be happening here?

It is very likely that Thrawn encouraged his surviving troopers to embrace the culture of their Dathomiri hosts; but I believe that the Troopers are being sustained by dark magic, and a select few are enhanced by the magic. In effect, I believe Thrawn, rather innocently, handed his own troops over to the Nightmothers for them to make their own army. It may not happen, but I think Thrawn may be falling victim to the cunning power of the Dathomiri and we may see him be betrayed by the Nightmothers. I'd like to think that if this happens he has the opportunity to take the pragmatic approach and join Ahsoka and co to stop the Nightmothers, and also give us the deeper look at Thrawn that he so desperately deserves.

While the Night Troopers walk normally and not like a zombie, perhaps this is why Marrok existed in the script: Marrok walked like a normal person, but he was only a animated by green Nightsisters magic

For 70's kids, the Chimera and Night Troopers also evoke the Cygnus from "The Black Hole", Disney's 1979 sci fi horror film where a lost cathedral-like science ship is found full of sinister robots half of which turn out to be the lobotomized original crew.

I can't say I am a huge fan of mixing mysticism and the macabre into Star Wars. For me them holding together discipline through in a hardscrabble life purely on faith in Thrawn's leadership just builds up the idea of how charismatic, competent, and dangerous to the new republic he is. But also it CLEARLY tells us there is something going on in that galaxy that is extremely dangerous.

The first thing that came to my mind was Kintsugi. Where gold is used to fix the cracks in pottery. It was used for the Star Destroyer and the Stormtroopers.

I think that the new decorated armour of the night troopers could be down to field repairs originally and as thrawn appreciates art I don't think he would really mind much, he might have even embraced the change. some of the golden streaks in the troopers armour looks similar to the weld marks in Kylo Ren's helmet so I think it's likely to be repairs with local metals

"die well" is a mando saying, there is another depending on what the mando was doing. you can find reference to that in Legacy of the Jedi when Jaina goes to attack her brother Jacen on the bug moon.

I have one thing to say since Thrawns Star Destroyer wasn't detected by Morgan when she arrived, I would think Thrawn explored this other Galaxy so they could have had Food to survive all these years

The advance golden interior of the giant hyper ring, the strange golden vessel with yellow engine lights instead of the normal blue colour and even the droids inside them gave off an Eternal Empire feel to me; they all seem a bit different for the Star Wars we are used to. (Though that can be said about this entire series so far.)

Allen those aren't' cracks showing through a gold undercoat. that is Kitsugri. The Japanese art of repair to highlight the "flaw" in gold rather that try to make it seamlessly disappear. This is done to give the object a story and character, and is a great Star wars implementation for the armor here.

Interesting how in Rebels Thrawn underestimated the Force but this time he’s using Nightsister Magic and has some Force sensitive

I like the gold kintsugi art motif of the army. Thrawn litteraly patching the army together into something better than it was before. Beautifull

Man, I just finished watching you LAST episode of Generation Tech and then here you are, just 8 hours ago posting another vid. Every day you keep us informed with relevant analysis and interesting news in the world of Star Wars. Thanks so much for doing all this. Cheers from a Trekkie from the Philippines 🖖

This is my favorite stormtrooper look, I hope they're still alive and aren't treated as cannon fodder like other storm troopers.

My first thought about stormtroopers sounding weird was that their helmets just have damaged electronics. As for lack of navy personnel, it can be just another instance of Filoni going with what's cooler, because stormtroopers always raise more cheers than some randoms in uniforms. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

I think his forces has become less sophisticated due to the lack resources he mentioned before, in which brute force become more effective and efficient method in his time. The various decoration might've been intentional to gain sympathy with the night sister or even instilling fear to opponents he encounters in the past. It's not even a stretch that his stormtrooper might be locals that got inducted later on.

We have waited years to see our blueberry finally in live action and we were not disappointed. Plus, dadbod Thrawn is right up there on my list. This is supposed to be family friendly so I will not tell you what list. 😊

An explanation for all the wrapping around the night troopers' armour may be similar to what we see in the bad batch when the crosshair is assigned to that base in the snow. The troopers lacked supplies arms and gear, their armour was wrapped to cover cracks and chips in the armour, as well as to keep the heat in. Would not be surprised if the night troopers have simply been given more freedom of choice by thrawn, and using whatever means they can to keep themselves in fighting shape.

Roman signifer's also had a mask on their helmet and there is archaeological evidence these were worn in battle. The signifer also had an adminstrative role as well.

My theory is that the nighttroopers are stormtroopers who were seriously wounded to the point that they needed the Night Sisters' magick to keep them alive (so they have the red ribbons over the area wounded). They may not be zombies but the process has its own cost for the survivors. Enoch is the last one remaining who does not have these severe wounds and is why he is named Enoch. Biblical Enoch joined god as a living human, Star Wars Enoch is the last fully living stormtrooper to be with Thrawn.

The real menace of the Empire were the cleaners because they did all of the mop-up operations absolutely spotless.

The kintsugi touch on the armor is so badass and I’m really liking the Roman look of these troopers and I cannot freaking wait till next episode because shits gonna hit the fan

this show has been amazing so far the design of the hints of gold and red cloth on the armor

This was a great set-up episode, it introduced lots of questions that we viewers want answered.

Great video. This was a huge world building episode which is essential storytelling. Thrawn's ship is named the Chimera and is now visually a chimera with what look like similar tech to Morgan's gold spaceship and his troopers also reflect that with the gold plating and red ribbons. I speculate that the Nightsisters saved Thrawn and his crew by performing their magic on him. Magic that works differently in the Star Wars galaxy compared to this new one. Thrawn also implies that the witches were in exile as well which tells me that there may be some property to the planet that keeps the there. Hopefully in the next episode we'll get some insights or flashbacks of Ezra an Thrawn's arrival that will fill in some gaps to their exile.

I could see thrawn having to turn to black magic after he could not feed his troops. He always cared for his troops in some sense. Also, if it is dust, it is similar to the thousand sons from 40k. So thrawn to in a way to "save" his troops had to turn to dark measures. Enoch is one of my favorites character. Love his roman vibes.

The Kintsugi armour and styling is really cool.

The gold repair of the storm trooper armor reminds me of how tea cups are repaired in traditional japaneese culture. To me, the gold repair represents the delicate preservation of and reference for imperal culture while the group is exiled so far away from the influence of the empire. Rather than replace their broken armor, they would rather repair their authentic imperial armor and demonstrate their sacrifices they've made with their shiny repairs.

Reminds me of the 1979 film Black Hole. The crew of a spaceship led a mutiny that failed and the survivors were lobotomized into mindless drones. I think some of the stormtroopers try to lead a rebellion against Thrawn and now all that's left of them are puppets controlled by the Night Sisters' magic to serve Thrawn.

The broken golden pieces in the ship and stormtroopers are a reference to a Japanese practice of restoring broken weapons and pottery with gold, to don't hide the damage or "error" that happened but show it as a sign of growth and experience

With how the night sisters brought back their undead, I can believe that these night troopers are no different. Meanwhile Enoch looks like one of the immortals from 300.

I think it’s also likely that due to lack of food rations, there had to be some kind of Roman Colosseum style fight to the death in the victor joins the army type of deal. I also really like that they weathered his uniform, and gave him a dad bod

This looked so cool. Just an amazing aesthetic.

Captain Enoch’s (Wes Chatham) helmet or mask (w/his armor) reminds me of an Imperial Tank Trooper version of Mordred's (Robert Addie) suit of "Golden" armor from Excalibur (1981). Definitely Greek, Roman and Arthurian influenced.

I think the gold might be following the Japanese art of Kintsugi: Repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum.

9:26 the reason for that is that most of Night troopers are actually alive. The nightsisters can reanimate them if killed, (seen later in Ezras ambush) but (most) of the troopers in the first scene are living.

Thank you for taking me back to memories of binge reading legends. I need to reread

I can always tell how much you're enjoying a show by how many daily videos you create for it. Btw, I am thoroughly enjoying Ahsoka too.

Looks more like enhanced troopers similar to the way Savage Opress was enhanced. They've been out on their own surviving and likely fighting the locals for over 10 years or so now. I think the state of their armor is a sign of that struggle and the gold with red wraps shows that Thrawn wasn't above using black magic to keep his numbers as high as possible. It's certainly within the realm of possibility that a large portion of his crew turned against him when they found out their situation.

Another great video! Death Troopers was the first Star Wars novel I read, and I've never looked back. I would love to see Alan's top 5 Star Wars reading recommendations.

Thanks for explaining the red ribbons on the stormtrooper armour

I've been a clone wars fan for over almost 10 years and i have never heard of night troopers, and was surprised that every other star wars youtuber somehow know who they are ( despite looking at wookiepedia confirming episode 6 was their first appearance )

For some reason, these night troopers remind me of dune's sardaukar, in a sense. They also sort of reminded me of the other warriors that attacked Sabine. I wonder if they are somewhat related.

I'm wondering if the Night mothers were also exiled to this other Galaxy. As for the Night Troopers, I think they really are resurrected by Night Witch magic.

The most likely answer for the lack of naval officers would be the fact that the army was stranded on a hostile world for a very long time. Most likely, the surviving naval officers were either killed off or donned stormtrooper armor for their own protection.

Maybe they have been battling the Grysk and that's why they all want to leave that galaxy, and why almost all the troopers have been killed and reanimated. Also at the end when Thrawn says he needs to use their dark magik again I imagine it's also a reference to the soldiers being reanimated.

There is a massive difference between how they move normally and how they do when resurrected later in the series.

I don't comment much, but thanks Allen for making all your videos and sharing. Theyre all well thought out and easy to understand. Plus very cool lol thanks man

I thought like the fixes and patches they were making to their armor was very intentional like Japanese Kintsugi. It shows the level of reverence they have for that armor and for Thrawn.

Thanks for the Video, I was absolutely fascinated by the troopers! My hope is that they are living, and battle hardened, which would make them that more interesting.

great video as always

The flying dutchman vibes were present in this episode. I loved it!

I think the key wording here is "Once again". Makes you wonder what would warrant him needing their dark magic before, and what other need could there be but for a legion to help survive a new, hostile environment when already badly crippled.

These Troopers are the Star Wars equivalent to the Emperor's Children from WH: 40K. They've consigned their souls to their armor in exchange for supernatural abilities. At least that's the vibe I get from them.

Hi Allen! Thank you so much!

The Great Mothers immediately made it clear why even Palpatine feared the Nightsisters and Mother Talzin. They're _scary._

As you were exploring the un-dead crew theory I had this flashback to Disney's Black Hole movie and the relationship of the Cygnus cyborg-dead crew to Rienhardt. How everyone that didn't go along with his plans was lobotomized and ultimately he was terrified of his 'creations', even though they served him. Would it be wild if those roaming bands of scavengers are actually the surviving remnants of Thrawn's defected crew and they're the ones that have been decimating the zombie-troopers who keep getting put back together.

Thrawn was always more interested in the power and information that comes from art. His own star destroyer has a design on the bottom. I think the trooper decorating their armor is way more in keeping with thrawns character. Also in the books, it is explained that Thrawn joins the empire as part of a mission from the Chiss Ascendency. So he's not as rigid as the video makes him out to be.

I loved the 'Kintsugi' / 'Kintsukuroi' design of the storm troopers. "Beauty in the broken"

Shoutout to costume design and creation for each of the custom troopers. Reminds me of a modern day Terracotta Army. So badass

Well the more I re-watch this episode which I found absolutely great, I come to the conclusion that these troopers are dead respectively un-dead, like Marrak brought back to life by Nightsister Magick.And they gave me the chills just by the way.

The other thing that stood out to me is that Thrawns own uniform and that of Enoch is still in peak condition. Its clean, its probably ironed and there is no flaw to be seen here. So if their apperance says something about their own mental state, then those two at the least probably still very much on top of their respective game. The other thing i found fascinating about Thrawn was the subtle way they showed his frightening intelligence and knowledge: Baylan and Shin get introduced and in an instant Thrawns figures that Baylan is probably a Jedi, has served in the Clone Wars and was due to his age probably a General.

Seeing the bits of gold or bronze in some of the cracks in the armor reminded me of that Japanese pottery repair method. I don't remember the name of it, but immediately thought of that

8:31 i agree deathtroopers is an amazing book when i was in high school our library got it in and i had to keep renewing so i could finish it just dont read it before bed x.x

I don’t think thrawn would be that worried about losing too many troopers in the hunt for Ezra if they where just reanimated, the night sisters could always make more. Also his troops looking the way they do makes sense. Some of the best military commanders ever would enforce strict grooming standards when everything was perfect because it’s a good way to keep the men disciplined and prepared, but relax those standards when their men are in the shit because they understand their men need concentrate other tasks. Chesty Puller is renown for taking this approach durring the “Battle of Guadalcanal” & “The battle of Chosin Reservoir”

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I personally think they are literally all that remains of his Stormtroopers. Thats why they're fanatical. They adore him for keeping them alive in a strange galaxy all these years. The way Thrawn said 2 squads would be enough to deal with the force users suggested him and his soldiers are hardened. I bet the reason these soldiers have red ribbons is because they are trained by the Night Sisters to be Jedi killers.

The gold repairs is a nod to kintsugi the Japanese art of mending broken pottery with gold. It's a really nice visual touch.

I like the idea of this place being sort of dead or decaying or otherwise ominous. Even from the start they say it's a graveyard for Purgills... maybe it's kind of symbolic of a life after death, a place where "dead" people like Thrawn and Ezra have been for years. And I mean did anyone else think the howlers sorta resemble Ammit and/or Sobek from Egyptian mythology? Ammit especially is associated with the afterworld. It would be a cool design choice for the creators to use that as inspiration for the howlers. Definitely agree with a lot of your assessments here, and I like your observation about there being no naval officers to be seen... that didn't even occur to me. It seems too weird and coincidental right? At the very least, I'm sure there was some starvation going on, maybe some sort of disease... but the fact that only officers seem to be missing is suspect. Of course, we don't know how many stormtroopers there used to be either, but it looks like a pretty full hangar. So yeah, I think the idea of the officers being killed makes a lot of sense. As the "grunts", stormtroopers would likely be more willing to follow Thrawn's orders and would also be less likely to mutiny, and so by wiping out whatever naval officers aboard, he is basically ensuring a more loyal command structure. I am fully open to the idea that they might have even eaten them, as crazy as that sounds lol That is probably too grim for Star Wars though, and too mundane, so perhaps Thrawn sacrificed the officers for some dark magic ritual... maybe they had their lifeforce sucked out by the Night Sisters and transferred to the stormtroopers to both keep them alive and also strengthen them, turning them into Night Troopers. As you noted, it wouldn't be the first time the Night Sisters made use of the dead. I also like the idea that some or all of them might even be "ghosts" or whatever like Marrok, maybe some sort of spirit or just magic inside the armor. Whatever it is, I think it would be disappointing if they were just regular stormtroopers wearing cool looking armor... whatever they're bringing out the catacombs is clearly important to his plan, but I think the Night Troopers have something up their sleeve too. I think we might get our first glimpse of whatever that is in the next episode when the 2 squads he sent to join Balen and Shin show up. Also forgive me if this next comment sounds nitpicky, but even though gold is decently strong, it's definitely not ideal for something like armor or weapons, especially not pure gold, which dents and dulls pretty easily. That said, I LOVE you pointing out that it's something often associated with alchemy or other magical stuff. I think that's probably a more likely reason they used it. I gotta imagine it's also a stylistic and symbolic choice; it brings to mind kintsugi, the art of mending broken ceramic with gold, and of course Thrawn loves artsy shit. The appearance of it seems to suggest these troopers are/were broken and they've now been mended, but they're still a bit different. Either way, it looks amazing though... I definitely also agree that this place feels very ominous, decayed, etc... it's very much got symbolism of the world of the dead in a way.

I don't think he would turn all his troops to undead with out good reason. If he did have Night witch allies the red wraps might magic upgrades for the suits and have fallen or near dead troopers in them. the captain is likely a living being. Thrawn is a survivalist and scholar. better to have the Night sisters close. Keep you your friends close.

insightful review

Thron and his Troopers remind me of Apocalypse Now! It's totally got that vibe.

I hope that the gold is perhaps a more primitive material that has been enhanced by night sister magics to match the properties of the metal they are patching up, this could work on both the armor and the ships. I think the grey pannels are probably made from remaining plasteel in the early stranded days before they ran out of repair material and had to start using the night sister enhanced metal, the red is either part of the spell applied to the metal, or it gives the troopers some special resistance or strength to help them survive on the foreign planet better, also I think the “die well” is because the whole culture of these imperials has changed in the past 11 years and they are now both more spiritual, and probably more unified in beliefs and cultural practices. I think the voice is because enoch looks like he replaced the voice modulator on the front of his helmet, so it might be a one off production to make a new voice projector/modulator for his helmet. Or perhaps its damaged. Mabey its a side effect of the night sister physical enhancement magics. I dont know, but its all very interesting, and im looking forward to next weeks episode, though I hope they aren’t undead, because that would ruin the chance of it being a permanent faction design change for thrawn’s imperial remnant.

So , the ribbons are literally holding the troopers together? OR are the ribbons magic-infused? those are the questions i need answered.

They did give him a hell of an entrance though. Thrawn and his troops... whatever they are... have clearly been through the maelstrom, have the weathermarks the show for it, yet are still standing and ready for more.

I'd expect the most likely explanation for the Night Troopers is a bit of column C and a bit of column B. I'd say that a Nightsister Magic / Ichor augmentation was first introduced as a way to give extra powers and/or reduce the amount of food they need to consume. I'd say this was the thin edge of the wedge that led to them eventually, either through battle attrition or desparation from lack of supplies, turning into a full spirit army similar to what Marrok is, though perhaps not all of them are quite as far along that path.

You gotta wonder who killed the stormtroopers. The scavengers don't seem that dangerous or brave, the shelled aliens are clearly not great warriors. Maybe the night sisters before they allied with Thrawn started by killing his entire army so that he would be dependant on them.