New Clone Wars Second Half of Season 3 Trailer (SPOILERS) Part 1 of 2

CAUTION: The following post will contain SPOILERS for Episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars that have not been released. The trailer being discussed below has not yet been released to the general public. I imagine sometime in the next month it will appear on Starwars.com.

As many of you have no doubt heard or read by now, attached to the Savage Opress screening was a preview of the remainder of Season 3 of The Clone Wars.

Given the fact that my mind was blown by the Savage Opress story and the way that Lucasfilm cuts these teaser trailers it was tough to be totally sure what was going on much of the time. But the following are my thoughts on what I saw or think I saw.


#1: The season finale will focus on a Dark Ahsoka.

The final scene of the trailer is a very angry looking Ahsoka, her face and body covered with purplish veins or markings of some sort, is seen attacking Anakin.  I would predict that this story regarding Ahsoka is part of a likely two episode season finale.  One interesting thing is that the way they drew Ahsoka is the way I would expect one of the EU's Nightsisters to appear.  It was described that when a Witch of Dathomir used the dark side blood vessels would rupture causing discoloration to her skin and here tribe would see this as a sign she had become a Nightsister and banish her.  Well we have already seen the Clone Wars interpretation of the Nightsisters, so I don't think that theory fits.

I wonder if Ahsoka becomes infected by something.  We have seen Barriss Offee in last seasons' Brain Invaders have her will dominated in spite of her Jedi training.  So its certainly possible what we could be seeing was Ahsoka not being in her right mind.  Perhaps some Nightsister magic that makes Ahsoka see things in an altered reality or puts her under Mother Talzin's control. 

Another theory would be that Ahsoka actually falls to the Dark side and becomes a villain, future season could alternatively revolve around the Jedi hunting her and trying to redeem her.  While this direction could be interesting for a number of  reasons, I don't think its terribly likely.

#2:  We are going to get a ton of Anakin and probably Obi-Wan

There was a lot of Anakin in the preview, much of which I can't remember, but there was one memorable scene where he appeared to be in an audience chamber or arena and was using the force to perhaps balance two objects on opposite sides of him.  I'm not entirely sure what was going on but it looked interesting.  I think we are going to get a lot more of the Clone Wars big three (Anakin, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka) in the second half of season 3.

#3:  Planet Speculation: Zonama Sekot

This is entirely speculation on my part.  In the trailer we have some really weird planetary visuals.  The highest probability is that it was Felucia.  But based on the weird vegetation and one particular character shown, I have hopes that it is in fact the living planet Zonama Sekot.  For those unfamiliar Zonama Sekot features prominently in Greg Bear's novel Rogue Planet (Set between Episodes I and II) as well as the New Jedi Order as a world that came from the Yuuzhan Vong's galaxy.  

Plot Summary from Wookieepedia...

Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi and the young Anakin Skywalker travel to a very strange and mysterious planet Zonama Sekot, whose citizens live under the influence of the Potentium. The Padawan and his master intend to purchase a Sekotan spacecraft and discover the fate of Jedi Knight Vergere who visited the planet a year earlier, and was not heard from since. Also looking after the magnificent Sekotan ships are Raith Sienar and Wilhuff Tarkin, who struggle with each other for political power. The creation of the living ships is thoroughly described, from the joining with the Seed-Partners, to designing and construction of the ship. The climax of the novel depicts the Second Battle of Zonama Sekot between the Sekotan and Tarkin's forces.

On top of the weird planetary images we see a blue woman, I am not sure of this is a hologram of some sort but it didn't look like the hologram effect.  It made me think of Jabitha, who was the Magister (ruler of sorts) of Zonama Sekot.  Anakin had a special relationship with her and the planet and its seed partners (which grew into star ships).  I would be interested to see Anakin and Obi-Wan returning to this planet in the cartoon.

#4: Another Dark Side force user or group of force users.  

Also prominently featured in the trailer was a yet unseen male character.  He appeared tall and fairly lean and my instant reaction to him was bad guy.  He looked like a dark side force user, but he may not be.  No idea who he is and he didn't make me think immediately of any characters from the EU.

That about it for now, until I can watch the trailer again an attempt to dissect it in greater detail.