Summary
Star Wars Rebelsfirst outlined the origin story of Sabine Wren, yet new details have come to light that make her past all the more grim. While thefate of the Ghost crew inStar Wars Rebelshas proven not to be the ending of their character arcs, there is no denying how important the animated show was to the foundations of people like Sabine Wren and Ezra Bridger. Although both are expected to have stories inupcomingStar WarsTV shows,Star Wars Rebelsdid a lot of the heavy lifting, including early character work and origin stories.
WhereStar Wars’Sabine Wrenis concerned, her arc began years before her depiction inAhsoka. InStar Wars Rebels, Sabine Wren was introduced as a Mandalorian who fled her homeworld before the Galactic Civil War began. Played by Tiya Sircar inStar Wars Rebels’voice cast, the character of Sabine was vital to the show, in which it was explained exactly why she left Mandalore. Sabine’s desertion of her planet was linked to a superweapon she inadvertently created, with new details from a recentStar Warsstory making her past retroactively much darker than it was already.
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Sabine Wren’s Superweapon Explained
The Mandalorian-Imperial Weapon Known As The Duchess Was Tied To Sabine’s Early Life
InStar Wars Rebels, it is revealed that Sabine was once a member of the Imperial Cadets long before the Galactic Civil War broke out. Sabine was one of the smarter cadets in the Imperial Academy on Mandalore, going so far as to begin developing weapons for the Empire. However, Sabine was largely unaware of what her weapons would be used for, which led her to her greatest shame. Sabine helped to create a weapon called the Arc Pulse Generator, or The Duchess, which was enough to see her abandon the Empire and Mandalore.
Sabine thought she had destroyed the weapon, though it was revealed later in the show that the Empire managed to recreate her designs…
Sabine’s weapon was designed to target the Beskar in Mandalorian armor, superheating it and vaporizing the wearer. Sabine was not fully aware of the weapon’s capabilities at first but, upon discovering that the Empire intended to use it to force Mandalore to submit, escaped the Imperial Academy. Sabine thought she had destroyed the weapon, though it was revealed later in the show that the Empire managed to recreate her designs, leading to its eventual destruction inStar Wars Rebelsseason 4.
“Trials of the Darksaber”
“Legacy of Mandalore”
“Heroes of Mandalore - Part 1”
“Heroes of Mandalore - Part 2”
The Empire Used A Variant Of Sabine’s Superweapon On Dizon Fray
The Empire’s Recreation Of The Duchess Was More Successful Than First Thought
DespiteStar Wars Rebelsseason 4 being apparently the first time the Empire used the recreated Duchess weapon, it has been revealed that this is not entirely true. A recentStar Warsbook titledThe Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire,written by Chris Kempshall, is formatted as an in-universe exploration of the Empire’s reign byStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’s Beaumont Kin. In this book,it is revealed that the Empire’s recreation of The Duchess led to a variant of the weapon being used on the planet of Dizon Fray, to truly tragic and catastrophic results.
The book then details that the Dizonites rebelled in response, prompting the Empire to use several variations of The Duchess… to electrocute them…
InThe Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire, it is outlined that the Empire used Dizon Fray to build a refueling station. In the process, the Empire damaged underwater temples belonging to the aquatic race that dwelled on the planet, the Dizonites. The book then details that the Dizonites rebelled in response, prompting the Empire to use several variations of The Duchess, written as an energy weapon from the Imperial Academy on Mandalore, to electrocute them. As such, the genocide of the Dizonites has been tied to Sabine Wren’s past, making her history much darker than it already was.
Sabine Wren
A Mandalorian rebel, Sabine is a technological genius whose ideas were turned against her own people by the Empire. She served as an important member of the Lothal cell for years, only to return to her own people for a time with the knowledge and skills she had cultivated. More recently, Sabine has unlocked her nascent ability to access the Force, becoming Ahsoka Tano’s Padawan.
The Empire Turned The Dizonite Cries Into A Weapon
The Rise & Fall Of The Galactic Empire Ties To Another Star Wars TV Show Besides Rebels
To make this story of the Dizonites simultaneously more interesting and more barbaric, the Empire turned their cries into a weapon in and of itself.The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empirementions that the cries of agony, particularly loud from the youngest of the species, of the Dizonites were recorded by the Empire as proof of the species' genocide.These recordings were then repurposed into a method of torture by Dr. Gorst of the Imperial Security Bureau, with Gorst and this torture method featured inAndorseason 1.
Bix Caleen, played by Adria Arjona inAndorseason 1’s cast, is subjected to these cries of agony and genocide inAndorseason 1, episode 9. This means that not only was the genocide of the Dizonites tied to the backstory of Sabine Wren fromStar Wars Rebelsbut it was also connected toAndor.As dark, harrowing, and heartrending as this reality may be in-universe, it proves a perfect way to utilize aspects ofStar Warscanon to make a story feel more connected to the wider universe of storytelling.
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Was This The Real Reason Sabine Turned Against The Empire?
Star Wars Rebels Could Be Retconned Even Further
As alluded to,Star Wars Rebelsoutlined that Sabine Wren left the Empire because she became aware of what her weapon was going to be used for. However, it could be retroactively embedded into Sabine’s story that she left because she realized her weapon had already been used.Sabine may have caught wind that the Empire used her designs to wipe out an entire racein theStar Warsgalaxy. As would be the case with any decent person, this could have driven Sabine away from the Imperial Academy.
If this is the case, it adds an entirely new layer of tragedy to Sabine’s backstory.Star Wars Rebelsmakes evident the guilt she possesses over building the weapon in the first place, though, with this potential new piece of information, Sabine may have been hiding a guilt that stretches even further. Not only was she sad that the weapon had been used against her people, butStar Wars Rebels' Sabine Wren may have been consumed with culpability that her designs were used to massacre an entire species of people.
Star Wars Rebels
Cast
Set between Episodes III and IV of the Star Wars film franchise, Star Wars Rebels is a canon animated series that follows a group of ragtag heroes who band together to face the Empire. In an age where the Galactic Empire is hunting down the last of the Jedi, a teenage outcast named Ezra Bridger is discovered to be force sensitive by a surviving Jedi known as Kanan Jarrus. Agreeing to join them and accept Jedi training, Ezra becomes a part of a small but growing crew of rebels determined to destroy the empire covertly.
