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00:00 Welcome back to New Rock Stars, I'm Eric Vos,
00:02 and the latest Star Wars mystery is,
00:04 who's this guy?
00:05 The name's Maroak, a former Jedi hunter,
00:08 now a mercenary in the search for Grand Admiral Thrawn,
00:11 his face covered in a mask.
00:12 And because the internet loves to White Ranger this stuff,
00:15 Maroak is now speculated to be everyone
00:17 from Ezra Bridger or Sam Witwer
00:20 as Galen Merrick, Starkiller,
00:22 or Ahsoka's past Jedi Temple frenemy, Barriss Offee.
00:25 That one was one I speculated.
00:27 But to be honest, folks,
00:28 I think most of these theories are silly.
00:30 There's a lot of confusion going around
00:32 about Ezra and Rebels and how credits work exactly.
00:35 So in this video, since Maroak now speaks in episode three,
00:38 let's clear things up and look further under that helmet.
00:41 Really the best place to learn about
00:43 the history of Inquisitors
00:44 and to really get to know who Ezra Bridger really is,
00:46 is to watch our four-part Rebels recap series.
00:49 All four videos now on the channel
00:51 to get you up on all the episodes, the characters,
00:53 the timeline, the Easter eggs,
00:54 and the lore that you need to know.
00:56 Okay, the official Star Wars website
00:58 describes Maroak thusly.
00:59 Once an Inquisitor hunting Jedi for the Empire,
01:01 the mysterious Maroak now works as a mercenary
01:03 hired by Morgan Ellsworth to carry out dark deeds.
01:06 Fully encased in battered battle armor,
01:08 the warrior still carries a red double-bladed saber
01:10 with a circular hilt.
01:11 Battered, huh?
01:12 It sounds like something on Guy Fieri's menu at Flavortown.
01:14 We deep fried and battered this bad boy
01:17 in some donkey sauce.
01:19 Nom, nom, nom!
01:20 Anyway, this confirms that Maroak was an Inquisitor
01:22 during the days of the Empire,
01:24 and that now, after the Empire has fallen,
01:25 Maroak now works as a mercenary.
01:27 And while this description's wording avoids a gender,
01:29 Balin's goal in episode two implied he was male.
01:32 - Maroak will complete his task.
01:34 - So to me, this is enough to eliminate
01:35 Barriss Offey as a suspect.
01:36 The stunt actor who plays him is also male.
01:38 Now, those wondering if Maroak might be Ezra Bridger
01:41 could be thinking about Ezra's dark side leanings
01:43 during the Rebels series,
01:44 but folks, that phase was limited to seasons two and three,
01:48 the period in which Maul worked to corrupt Ezra
01:50 using the Sith Holocron,
01:51 up until the point of Maul's death
01:52 at the end of season three in the Twin Suns episode.
01:55 We did not get any dark side moments with Ezra in season four
01:58 as the mysticism surrounding his character
02:00 shifted to the Loth-Wolves and the World Between Worlds.
02:02 He easily resisted Palpatine's temptation
02:04 in the finale episode.
02:05 There was no dark side in him at that point.
02:07 Our man Ezra never served as an Inquisitor
02:09 during the days of the Empire.
02:10 He hated Inquisitors.
02:11 And the whole point of this series
02:13 is that Ezra is in a faraway galaxy.
02:15 Maroak is not Ezra.
02:17 Now, Maroak does finally speak in this episode,
02:19 saying three lines from under that helmet.
02:21 - As you wish, she's on the way.
02:24 Nothing.
02:25 - In past episodes,
02:26 when Maroak gave only a physical performance,
02:28 the character received no acting credit
02:29 in the closing credits,
02:30 but for episodes one and two,
02:32 Maroak's stunt work was credited
02:33 to stunt performer Paul Darnell.
02:35 And now, in episode three,
02:36 among the main billing of the actors in the episode,
02:39 the speaking roles,
02:40 the character is now credited entirely to Paul Darnell.
02:42 This change happened on the episode
02:44 the character began talking.
02:46 Now, last week, people began noticing
02:48 among the additional voices section
02:50 at the very end of the credits
02:51 in the sound department listings,
02:52 for episodes one and two and now three,
02:54 Sam Witwer's name is listed there.
02:57 Sam Witwer, of course,
02:58 a beloved figure in Star Wars fandom
02:59 as the voice of Maul in Clone Wars and Rebels,
03:01 but before that,
03:02 he provided the voice and likeness
03:03 for Galen Maric, aka Starkiller,
03:05 in the 2008 game Star Wars The Force Unleashed
03:08 in its 2010 sequel.
03:09 Galen Maric is Darth Vader's secret apprentice,
03:11 categorized technically as a Legends character,
03:14 but you know what, who knows?
03:15 With the way Dave Filoni loves to reconfirm Legends
03:17 categorized details as canon,
03:19 so could Maroak be Galen Maric
03:21 with his similar sounding last name?
03:23 Ah, here's the thing, folks.
03:25 Sam Witwer often does credited and uncredited voice work
03:28 for all of these titles.
03:29 He's kind of like always hanging out in the room.
03:31 They love him.
03:32 His name has appeared in additional voices
03:33 for all three episodes of Ahsoka so far,
03:35 right beside names like Matthew Wood,
03:37 a sound editor who also lent his voice
03:39 to animated versions of characters
03:40 like General Grievous in Bif Fortuna,
03:42 and Helen Sadler, who voiced Jyn Erso
03:44 in the Battlefront game,
03:45 Rey in the animated Star Wars Lego titles,
03:47 Dr. Scalder in The Bad Batch,
03:49 and in Ahsoka, she voiced the HK assassin droid leader
03:51 in episode one.
03:52 Not only that, if you look at the additional voices section
03:54 of every episode of The Mandalorian season three
03:57 earlier this year, Sam Witwer's name appears
03:59 in every single episode of that too.
04:02 And no Galen Maric cameos showed up in those eight episodes.
04:05 So I submit to you, the jury,
04:07 when it comes to the identity of Maroak,
04:09 this additional voices credit is evidence of nothing.
04:12 Just think of Star Wars with Sam Witwer's voice
04:14 always floating around in the background,
04:15 because Maul is with us always.
04:17 Like Sam Witwer did an uncredited voice cameo
04:19 as a shore trooper in Andorra season one, episode seven,
04:21 on the planet Nyamos.
04:22 - What do you think you're doing?
04:23 You look like you're sweating.
04:25 Pier nine, pier nine, runner's heading south.
04:27 - For us, it's yours.
04:28 - You heard me, tourists don't run.
04:31 You need to calm down, sir.
04:33 Droid assistance, please.
04:34 Hang on to this one for me.
04:36 - So we can compare that voice
04:37 to what we hear from Maroak in Ahsoka episode three.
04:40 - As you wish.
04:41 She's on the way.
04:42 Nothing.
04:43 - Yeah, it kind of sounds like Witwer
04:45 has a higher pitched baritone to his voice.
04:47 Clearly, Maroak's voice has been pitched down.
04:50 And I guess you could say it kind of sounds like Witwer,
04:52 but you know what?
04:53 Witwer's so talented and so versatile
04:54 that every male voice through a mask
04:56 is gonna sound like him.
04:57 Especially if you go into this expecting
04:59 that to be Witwer's voice.
05:01 It's called confirmation bias, folks.
05:03 Now the best way to get into the Star Wars spirit
05:05 for Ahsoka is to pick up a tee
05:06 from our new World Series line.
05:08 We have imagined a softball league
05:10 from a galaxy far, far away
05:12 with teams like Kashyyyk, Kessel, and beyond.
05:14 The designs come in three quarter baseball shirts,
05:17 the wide striped sleeve football tees,
05:19 and in just regular tees.
05:21 Embrace the light and the dark side
05:23 of the nerd jock spectrum at the same time.
05:25 And if you're looking to soak up Ahsoka,
05:27 you can grab the fulcrum, balance,
05:29 or galactic graffiti tees for your next watch party.
05:32 And if you think Nerd Riot isn't working
05:34 on a really cool line of designs for Loki season two,
05:37 you've probably been eating too much
05:38 of that toxic green pie from the TVA break room.
05:40 Join the riot over at nerdriot.shop.
05:42 Really, I think the biggest evidence
05:44 against Maroak being Starkiller is Maroak's power set.
05:47 Starkiller is a beast.
05:49 He goes toe to toe with Vader.
05:50 He holds his own against the Emperor.
05:52 Ahsoka has defeated Inquisitors before,
05:54 but against Vader, she would have lost
05:56 had Ezra not pulled her through the portal
05:58 into the world between worlds.
06:00 Now, Maroak in episode two put up a strong fight.
06:02 Paul Darnell's stunt work, incredible.
06:04 But these were not Starkiller moves.
06:06 So as with Ezra, if Maroak were revealed to be Starkiller,
06:09 I think there'd be some temporary excitement
06:10 at seeing Sam Witwer's face,
06:12 but I just think it would ultimately be a version
06:14 of Starkiller that fans don't really recognize.
06:16 It would kind of just be Galen, Merrick,
06:18 and Sam Witwer's face and voice only.
06:19 So let's look back at the evidence that matters.
06:21 Maroak was an Inquisitor.
06:23 All the Inquisitors we know of were Jedi
06:25 during the time of the Purge,
06:26 and they were captured by the Empire
06:27 and turned into Jedi Hunters, and Vader despised them.
06:30 He killed several of them.
06:32 And by the time of the Battle of Yavin in "A New Hope,"
06:34 that's zero BBY, Vader was believed
06:36 to be the only practitioner alive
06:38 of what was called the ancient religion
06:39 by Imperial leadership in "A New Hope."
06:41 So the fact that Maroak survived is very unusual.
06:44 He would have had to have gone unseen by Vader,
06:47 good luck with that, or protected by the Emperor.
06:50 So I think the real truth about Maroak
06:51 lies in his name and his helmet.
06:53 It's not that Maroak sounds like Merrick.
06:55 The name in this spelling
06:56 actually comes from Arthurian legend.
06:58 Ser Maroak was the bodyguard of King Arthur.
07:00 Maroak's wife, working for the witch, Morgan Le Fay,
07:03 turns him into a wolf or a werewolf
07:05 and binds that spell to a talisman.
07:08 And yes, we should acknowledge this is another instance
07:09 of wolf imagery on this series,
07:11 as Dave Filoni is obsessed with wolves and loathwolves,
07:14 Skull and Hati being references to the Norse mythology wolves
07:17 who chase the sun and the moon,
07:18 and Dave Filoni's X-Wing pilot is named Trapper Wolf.
07:21 Really, I think Maroak's helmet
07:22 isn't a nod to the eighth brother, the Inquisitor who died,
07:25 but rather a medieval-style helmet, like an Arthurian knight.
07:28 And you may have noticed the red lights
07:30 on the side of his helmet
07:31 and the angled bulge in the back whenever he turns his head.
07:34 The light would line up with the red light
07:36 on the temples of the AJ-6 cyborg construct,
07:39 like the one worn by Lobot in "The Empire Strikes Back."
07:42 So I just wondered if Maroak might have been
07:43 an Inquisitor controlled with a cyborg attachment,
07:46 or perhaps, if we're sticking with the wolf theme here,
07:48 a Shistavanian, the wolf-like species
07:51 that was originally in the Cantina Bar in "A New Hope."
07:54 Maroak could be a former Jedi,
07:55 a Shistavanian who survived Order 66,
07:57 turned Inquisitor, assigned a bodyguard, Palpatine,
08:01 or one of Palpatine's cloned Strandcasts,
08:03 one of whom became Rey's father, remember that?
08:05 And that Maroak, in the aftermath of Palpatine's death,
08:07 was lost and looking for a new mission,
08:09 and here he is now.
08:10 I'll admit, it's not as sexy of a theory
08:12 as Ezra or Galen Merrick's and Witwer,
08:14 but I think it's more satisfying
08:16 to just let Maroak have a new backstory
08:18 than to potentially ruin another character
08:20 by putting them under the mask.
08:21 So who is Maroak?
08:22 I think he's just Maroak, people.
08:24 I know the fandom wants a Mephisto for this series,
08:27 but while Mephisto made "WannaVision" more fun,
08:29 for some of us,
08:29 Maroak is more like the aerospace engineer madness,
08:32 where we were definitely barking up trees for no reason,
08:35 because I think people saw what "New Rockstars"
08:36 was doing with Mephisto
08:37 and learned all the wrong lessons from that experience.
08:39 So stop asking who Maroak is,
08:41 and instead just ask who built the star map,
08:43 because I think that answer
08:45 is gonna be far more interesting.
08:46 And to that end, please watch our video
08:48 translating all the runes in the star map
08:49 in the episode's closing credits,
08:50 because it's just gonna be extremely valuable for all of us.
08:53 And please support us
08:54 with an Ahsoka-inspired Volcrum shirt at nerdriot.shop.
08:57 Subscribe to The Break Room
08:58 for our "Wookiee Leaks" aftershows,
08:59 and to "The Deep Dive."
09:00 You can follow me @EAVOS.
09:01 Thanks for watching, I'll see you next time, bye.
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