History Recap / StarWarsRebelsS3E20ZeroHourPartII

'''Bendu:''' You cannot see... [[{{Seer}} but I can]].\\

* IWantThemAlive: Thrawn orders his men to take the rebel leaders prisoners as per Tarkin's orders, but only if doing so is practical under the circumstances. He's more than willing to kill all of them if they won't surrender. It's very similar to his ''Legends'' counterpart ordering captives be taken alive "if possible. If not — I will understand."

* CallForward: Looking at how many ships were in the Phoenix Squadron fleet and Massassi fleet combined at the beginning of the episode, then comparing it with the handful of ships left at the end, seems to point at why the Rebel Alliance fleet in ''Film/RogueOne'' and ''Film/ANewHope'' is still rather small and is said to have been just gathered together recently hours before the Battle of Scarif. WordOfGod also states that this result from the Battle of Atollon is why the Alliance Council was reluctant to retrieve the Death Star plans, as they don't want to destroy what is left of their fleet they just gathered together again. This reluctance was also relayed by Mon Mothma to Ezra in coming to their aid on Atollon.

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Thrawn's forces manage to shoot down the Bendu when he's controlling the thunderstorm. It's then subverted when the Bendu claims he's beyond their power to kill, and proves it by vanishing into thin air when Thrawn tries to finish him off.

* CuffsOffRubWrists: Kallus does this when he finishes taking his handcuffs off while exiting the elevator.

* KillEmAll: Not the main characters, but the trope still applies. By the end only eight ships remain out of the combined forces of the Atollon and Yavin cells, two of the largest cells in the Rebellion. Of those ships, three are A-wings and one (the Gauntlet) only has a single person who was on the base when the attack happened. It's not the end of the Rebellion, but it's a very high body count nonetheless.

'''Bendu:''' You cannot see... [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture but I can]].\\

'''Bendu:''' I see your defeat... [[ImpliedDeathThreat like many arms surrounding you in a cold embrace]].\\

* UpToEleven: Dark Side users can make lightning appear out of their hands? Well, the Bendu can ''freaking teleport into the sky'' and ''become'' a lightning storm.

** In "[[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS3E08AnInsideMan An Inside Man]]", after making up an excuse to talk to them by telling them to help keep guard, Kallus revealed to two rebels disguised as Stormtroopers inside an elevator that he is now a rebel. He beats up his two Stormtrooper guards so that he can join up with the rebels.
** In "[[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS2E15TheHonorableOnes The Honorable Ones]]", Kallus was introduced to the idea of becoming a rebel by an incident with an escape pod. Kallus leaves the Empire in an escape pod to join the rebels.
** At the beginning of the episode, Ezra and Kanan reflect on their growth. At the end of the episode, Kanan says to him that in spite of their losses, they will still move forward and make progress.

%%* DareToBeBadass: Sure, the Empire has destroyed Chopper Base, but with the rebel fleet having finally joined together in addition to gathering help from [[TheCavalry the Mandalorian warriors]], why not go all out right here and now?
%%-->'''Dodonna:''' Let's show the Galaxy what we're capable of.
* DefiantCaptive: Kallus makes witty comments to Thrawn and Pryce while under Imperial custody.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: At the end of Season 3, despite indirectly leading Thrawn into discovering the location of Chopper Base and a deadly campaign ensuing, as well as being subject to loads of stress, paranoia, [[FrameUp betrayal]], and mistrust, Kallus manages to escape Imperial custody as the rebels prepare to jump to hyperspace. The crew immediately stops to grab him before leaving, and Kanan thanks him for everything he's risked to become a better man, showing that the rebels finally accept him as one of their own.

* ImpliedDeathThreat: While the Bendu doesn't say he's the one who will kill Thrawn, he sees into the future and sees his defeat, "like many arms surrounding you in a cold embrace." If anything, he's gonna let fate do it's work.

* NothingIsTheSameAnymore: At the end of it, two major characters, Sato and Konstantine, are dead; Kallus' cover as Fulcrum is dropped but he joins the Rebellion (also worth noting that he doesn't have his bo-rifle anymore due to the circumstances of the episode); Atollon is unusable as a safe haven; the Bendu unleashes his wrath on the Empire and the Rebellion, and wants neither of them to return to Atollon; the surviving Atollon rebels join up with the main Rebellion. As for the ''Ghost'' crew, Sabine still cannot return to them due to the circumstances on Mandalore.
* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: Pryce orders the stormtroopers holding him to throw Kallus out the airlock. Five seconds later, ''Ghost'' gets a message from Fulcrum for coordinates to his escape pod.

* OrchestralBombing: As the bombardment continues there's no sounds but the explosions and Thrawn's theme.

* SoleSurvivor: As of this episode, Pryce is the only one left from Thrawn's inner circle alive for the time being.

* {{Understatement}}: When the Bendu starts attacking the ''Ghost'', Kanan admits that he might've made him angry.

* WhamEpisode: The rebels live to fight another day, but with significantly less assets (including the loss of Kallus' cover as a Fulcrum, but he gets to take any Imperial knowledge with him) and losing Atollon as a safe haven because of the Bendu.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Many viewers wondered what happened to poor Lieutenant Lyste after Kallus set him up to take the fall in "[[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS3E15ThroughImperialEyes Through Imperial Eyes]]". His fate isn't touched on, despite Kallus's unmasking meaning he is clearly not guilty.

--->'''Bendu:''' [[AC:I BRING DEATH!]]\\

!!Tropes:

!!Tropes in this episode include:

** After Thrawn shoots down the Bendu and finds him in the impact crater. Neither is impressed by the other -- the difference is, the Bendu is right.

* TheBadGuyWins: Sure, the battle ended as a decisive victory for the Empire -- Thrawn dealt a serious blow by having annihilated a huge portion of Phoenix Squadron, demoralized the remaining rebels, and destroyed any hopes of liberating Lothal in the near future. While Thrawn managed to send them packing, he failed to destroy the entire rebellion, not knowing how big they really are, and failed to bring Tarkin their leaders. In the grand scheme of things though, nobody really won, let alone gained anything beneficial.
* BatmanGambit: Kallus goads Pryce when she starts losing, causing her to order him thrown out the airlock. Two troopers escort Kallus to a lift... which his smirk shows is exactly what he wanted. By the time the lift reaches its destination, he's beaten both troopers up, fought more on the way, and can get to an escape pod.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Kanan wanted the Bendu to get involved in the conflict even though the Bendu does not take sides. When he arrives, he provides a distraction at a crucial moment, but true to his word he attacks everyone regardless of their alignment, and they're only given one warning.

** Same goes for Governor Pryce -- had she just ordered the Stormtroopers to execute Kallus on the spot as opposed to ordering him thrown out the airlock, Kallus wouldn't have had the time to beat them up (with his hands cuffed behind his back, no less) and escape.

** At the beginning of Season 3, when he starts to show signs that he is Fulcrum unbeknownst to the rebels, [[DeadpanSnarker Sabine snarks]] when Pryce tells Kallus to get out so she can interrogate Sabine properly that it "looks like they found ''someone'' [[KickTheDog who can do your job]]", which Kallus looks like he took a little harder than expected, because he was having doubts in his job and efforts at the time. At the end of the season, after the rebels retrieve him from the Empire, he thanks Kanan for letting them take him in, to which Kanan tells him "Thank you for risking everything.", a show of gratitude that means a lot to Kallus after his season-long struggle of staying undercover.

* CallForward:
** Looking at how many ships were in the Phoenix Squadron fleet and Massassi fleet combined at the beginning of the episode, then comparing it with the handful of ships left at the end, seems to point at why the Rebel Alliance fleet in ''Film/RogueOne'' and ''Film/ANewHope'' is still rather small and is said to have been just gathered together recently hours before the Battle of Scarif. WordOfGod also states that this result from the Battle of Atollon is why the Alliance Council was reluctant to retrieve the Death Star plans, as they don't want to destroy what is left of their fleet they just gathered together again. This reluctance was also relayed by Mon Mothma to Ezra in coming to their aid on Atollon.

* DidntSeeThatComing: Thrawn, for all his planning and research, has nothing in place for dealing with a Force Wielder more powerful than any Jedi. The Bendu proceeds to command a Force-enhanced tempest to obliterate anything in his sight with Force Lightning. Bendu then doesn't see Thrawn's brass ones as he orders all his remaining troops to focus fire on the eyes of the storm, seemingly downing the Bendu. But as Bendu later taunts, he is something more than mortal. Thrawn lives through it anyways.

* ElevatorActionSequence: Off-screen, Kallus beating up the Stormtroopers escorting him to an airlock.
* ForcedToWatch: In "Zero Hour", Thrawn makes Kallus watch as he demolishes Chopper Base.

* GetOut: The Bendu's ultimatum calls for everyone to leave the planet or perish, backing it up by raining lightning onto the remaining forces, Rebel and Imperial. Thrawn, however, couldn't take a hint.
* GondorCallsForAid: Ezra cannot get help from the Rebel Alliance, because Thrawn's whole plan was to attack Chopper Base and draw out the entire Rebel fleet to him. His only other alternative was Clan Wren, but they were in the middle of a civil war with Gar Saxon's loyalists backed by the Empire.

* InternalHomage: Thrawn's "defeat" of the Bendu is quite similar to the way Darth Vader killed Obi-Wan in ''A New Hope'' -- the bad guy kills his opponent's physical body, but the latter's spirit lives on, arguably more powerful than before. Bendu's body even vanishes, although ''before'' Thrawn fires the final shot.

* IWantThemAlive: Thrawn orders his men to take the rebel leaders prisoners as per Tarkin's orders, but only if doing so is practical under the circumstances. He's more than willing to kill all of them if they won't surrender. It's very similar to his ''Legends'' counterpart ordering captives be taken alive "if possible. If not -- I will understand."

* MenOfSherwood: Fenn Rau and his squadron of Fang Fighters did a much better job of holding off the [=TIE=] fighters than the Rebel Alliance's fighters, and did so without suffering any casualties.
* NearVillainVictory: At the climax, Thrawn and his Death Troopers manage to corner the ''Ghost'' crew and General Dodonna as they try to flee the base, and Ezra's attack on the Interdictor has stalled. Then [[DeusExMachina the Bendu makes an appearance]].
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: If Thrawn had been left to his own devices, he would have just bombarded Chopper Base from orbit until the shield failed and the rebels all died. However, Tarkin ordered him to capture the rebel leaders -- which led to our heroes getting the chance to escape with their lives.

* NothingIsTheSameAnymore:
** At the end of it, two major characters, Sato and Konstantine, are dead; Kallus' cover as Fulcrum is dropped but he joins the Rebellion (also worth noting that he doesn't have his bo-rifle anymore due to the circumstances in the episode); Atollon is unusable as a safe haven; the Bendu unleashes his wrath on the Empire and the Rebellion, and wants neither of them to return to Atollon; the surviving Atollon rebels join up with the main Rebellion. As for the ''Ghost'' crew, Sabine still cannot return to them due to the circumstances in Mandalore.
** There's another major change -- for the first three seasons, the ''Ghost'' crew, and later Phoenix Squadron alongside them, are based in the Lothal Sector and conduct the majority of their operations there. With the move to Yavin 4 and the recent formation of the Rebel Alliance, it seems there will now be a shift away from the focus on Lothal and its sector to issues in other parts of the galaxy.

* OutsideContextProblem: Thrawn had no idea of the existence of the Bendu, and so is completely taken by surprise. Thrawn can handle Jedi, but the Bendu was another level. Furthermore, the fact that the Bendu is extremely powerful in the Force means that Thrawn has no cards to play against him. It doesn't stop him from trying, though.

* PersonaNonGrata: The Bendu bluntly tells everyone -- including the Empire, the Rebel Alliance, and ''especially'' Kanan -- to leave Atollon, and they do so. Thrawn, however, doesn't give a shit.
* ProperlyParanoid: Rex recommends the Rebels stagger their journey to Yavin over three jumps to prevent Thrawn from calculating their destination, because going in a direct path was how Thrawn found them the first time.

* ThrownOutTheAirlock: Pryce orders Kallus tossed out an airlock after he taunts her about the losses she's taking which Thrawn will blame her for. It never comes to pass because Kallus overpowers the Stormtroopers escorting him.

''[Thrawn, visibly unnerved, [[ShootTheMessenger shoots him]], only for Bendu to disappear, laughing.]''

* WithMyHandsTied: It's implied that Kallus beat up the Stormtroopers in the elevator with ''his hands cuffed behind his back''.

* WhamEpisode: The rebels live another day, but with significantly less assets (including the loss of Kallus' cover as a Fulcrum, but he gets to take any Imperial knowledge with him) and losing Atollon as a safe haven because of the Bendu.

'''Bendu:''' [[IAmTheNoun I am the Light!]] [[BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil I am the dark!]] I am the Bendu!

'''The Bendu:''' [[BadassBoast One beyond your power to destroy.]]\\

'''The Bendu:''' You cannot see... [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture but I can]].\\

'''The Bendu:''' I see your defeat... [[ImpliedDeathThreat like many arms surrounding you in a cold embrace]].\\
''[Thrawn, visibly unnerved, [[ShootTheMessenger shoots him]], only for the Bendu to disappear, laughing.]''

--->'''The Bendu:''' [[AC:I BRING DEATH!]]

'''The Bendu:''' One beyond your power to destroy.\\

* EarnYourHappyEnding: At the end of Season 3, despite indirectly leading Thrawn into discovering the location of Chopper Base and a deadly campaign ensuing, as well as being subject to loads of stress, paranoia, [[FrameUp betrayal]], and mistrust, he manages to escape Imperial custody as the rebels prepare to jump to hyperspace. The crew immediately stops to grab him before leaving, and Kanan thanks him for everything he's risked to become a better man, showing that the rebels finally accept him as one of their own.

* PersonaNonGrata: The Bendu declares tells everyone -- including the Empire, the Rebel Alliance, and ''especially'' Kanan -- to leave Atollon. Thrawn however, doesn't give a shit.

* PersonaNonGrata: The Bendu declares that ''nobody'' is welcome on Atollon anymore -- not the Empire, not the Rebel Alliance, and ''especially'' not Kanan. Thrawn however, doesn't give a shit.

'''The Bendu:''' One beyond your one to destroy.\\

--->'''Thrawn:''' What manner of creature are you?\\
'''The Bendu:''' Something beyond your capacity to destroy.\\