For a while now, I have been wondering what Grand Admiral Thrawn has been doing since he was sent out into wild space with Ezra in the Rebels Season 4 finale. 

Could Thrawn be the missing link in the chain between the Empire and the Chiss Ascendancy? In both Legends and Canon, ever since the battle of Endor (RotJ), the Empire has been becoming weaker and weaker as they had lost both the Emperor, Darth Vader and many of their top admirals in the Imperial command. This caused disarray and disorganisation amongst the Empire, stripping the Empire of the seemingly impenetrable glue which had held them together: Order. Over the next few years, the Empire began to loose control of more and more systems, resulting in them taking more desperate measures and showing the general public that they can be defeated. 

As their numbers grow fewer by the day, the Empire would need something to reassure their extinction never comes about. A sort of partnership between them and the Chiss Ascendancy would help ensure this. The Chiss Ascendancy has ships, money, warriors and knowledge of the unknown regions of space, all of which could be highly important to the Empire. The Chiss Ascendancy would have almost as good of a deal; they get a vast knowledge about the rest of the galaxy from the entire Imperial archives and knowledge of new technology. This would be like a partnership in real life where a company which is loosing stock/sales partners with another to help it stay afloat. If the Chiss Ascendancy think they can take on the Empire (with Thrawn’s help as he is loyal to the Chiss Ascendancy, ahead of the Emperor [who is dead]), they may become the new villains that the New Republic will have to face.

If the New Republic feel threatened by this partnership, they may even be inclined to make one of their own. This could possibly be with the Mandalorians or even Crimson Dawn (and the criminal underworld) if they can recognise they have a common enemy. 

I think there is potential for a very interesting power dynamic in this time period where there is no dominant force ruling the galaxy. 

Was Thrawn badly injured and needs time to recover? Where did he and Ezra exit hyperspace? Did they even come out of hyperspace at the same point and if so wouldn’t Ezra have killed him… would that go against the Jedi code… or would he be too weak to kill him due to being drained of energy from extensive use of the force? Why has it been so long since their return?

I’ll be interested to know what you think may happen involving Thrawn, Ezra, the Empire, Chiss Ascendancy and New Republic.