‘Ahsoka’: Is Morgan Elsbeth a Nightsister? How Did She Survive?

One of the things that we know about the ‘Ahsoka’ series is that Morgan Elsbeth is front and center during the early part because she was the one with the grand plan on how to find and bring back Grand Admiral Thrawn so that he could lead the Imperial remnants against the New Republic. But we also know that Elsbeth was a survivor of a people that were wiped out during the Clone Wars, and the people we can think of are the Nightsisters of Dathomir. So, does that mean that Morgan Elsbeth is a Nightsister?

Morgan Elsbeth admitted while they were on the planet called Arcana that she was a Nightsister of Dathomir. She said that she was a survivor of a people that had been wiped out decades ago. In fact, in one scene in episode 2, Elsbeth used her Nightsister magick to operate the starmap.

It came as a surprise to a lot of people that Morgan Elsbeth was actually a Nightsister the entire time. Of course, this could be because she doesn’t even look like a Nightsister at all. Then again, we know that some humanoid races around the galaxy resemble humans in almost every aspect. So, with that said, let’s look at what we know about Morgan Elsbeth’s Nightsister heritage.

Morgan Elsbeth was a survivor

In season 2 of ‘The Mandalorian,’ we first met Morgan Elsbeth when Din Djarin went to the planet Corvus, where she was the Magistrate of a walled city. Din went there to learn more about Ahsoka Tano, supposedly on that planet. However, Elsbeth hired him to kill Ahsoka instead. Din and Ahsoka had other plans as they worked together to defeat Morgan Elsbeth and her small band of mercenaries.

After defeating Elsbeth, Ahsoka confronted her and asked for the location of Grand Admiral Thrawn. This is directly connected to the opening parts of the ‘Ahsoka’ series, as it was revealed that the New Republic took custody of Elsbeth after Ahsoka interrogated her to learn the truth about Thrawn’s location. And this led Ahsoka to a planet called Arcana, which had ancient ruins that contained a starmap leading to Thrawn’s location in the galaxy’s far reaches.

Of course, Elsbeth was broken out by the duo of Baylan Skoll and Shin Hati as they ended up working together with her to get to Grand Admiral Thrawn’s location and take him back to the galaxy so that he could lead the Imperial remnants against the New Republic. And Elsbeth went to the same planet where Ahsoka was.

While on Arcana, Elsbeth realized that Ahsoka had already obtained the starmap she wanted to get her hands on. When Baylan and Shin asked more about this planet, Elsbeth revealed that the ruins of this planet were constructed by the Nightsisters of Dathomir long ago. She also said that the Nightsisters were her people.

For those who may have forgotten, the Nightsisters of Dathomir were humanoid beings living on the planet of Dathomir and were known to be witches that practiced magick, a Force-based power that relied more on illusions. The Nightsisters have humanoid appearances except for the black marks on their greyish-pale faces.

The Nightsisters were wiped out during the events of the Clone Wars after Count Dooku ordered General Grievous to kill them all. And Elsbeth’s status as a Nightsister was already hinted at in season 2 of ‘The Mandalorian’ when it was mentioned that she lost all her people during the Clone Wars.

But in ‘Ahsoka,’ Elsbeth finally said she was Nightsister of Dathomir. After revealing that knowledge, Shin asked if she was a witch, to which Elsbeth replied that she was a survivor. And we know she spent the post-Clone War years working together with the Empire as one of Grand Admiral Thrawn’s loyal subjects.

How did Morgan Elsbeth survive the Dathomir purge?

As mentioned, the Nightsisters of Dathomir were all but wiped out during the Clone Wars when General Grievous and an army of droids attacked the planet and killed all of them. We know there were survivors among them, but the only survivor we saw on Dathomir was Merrin, who spent five years on that planet alone.

That means that Morgan Elsbeth likely wasn’t on Dathomir when the purge of the Nightsisters happened. If she had been on Dathomir the entire time, she and Merrin would have lived together for five years. But Merrin said that she was the only one who survived the purge because she could keep herself hidden the entire time.

So, if that’s the case, there’s a good chance that Morgan Elsbeth may have been on another planet at that time and was not on Dathomir to help her fellow Nightsisters out. This would have allowed her to survive the purge of the Nightsisters in the same way that other Jedi were able to survive the purge of the Jedi because they were nowhere near Coruscant or any other clone-filled battlefield.

Another theory is that Morgan Elsbeth wasn’t a pure Nightsister as she is more human-like than other Nightsisters. In fact, Elsbeth actually looks human, whereas the Nightsisters have unique facial features, including their greyish skin color.

This opens up the possibility that Morgan may not have been a Nightsister based on Dathomir or was just a human being adopted by the Nightsisters and was taught their magicks before she had to leave them before the purge of the Nightsisters.

After all, Morgan Elsbeth was able to make a name for herself within the Empire during the Empire’s reign, which would mean that she might have already been with the Republic well before the purge of the Nightsisters. Being away from her people allowed her to become one of the few Nightsisters to survive the events of the Clone Wars.

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