1 00:00:05,160 --> 00:00:07,000 Speaker 1: Hey, this is Anny. I'm welcome to stuff I never 2 00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:19,840 Speaker 1: told you production of iHeartRadio, and yes you heard correctly. 3 00:00:19,880 --> 00:00:25,880 Speaker 1: Today I am co hostless. Samantha is out of town unexpectedly, 4 00:00:26,760 --> 00:00:31,080 Speaker 1: but we'll be back soon. I'm sad she's gonna miss 5 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:35,800 Speaker 1: this one, but alas, that is how the cookie crumbled 6 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:38,360 Speaker 1: in this case. But yes, we are back with another 7 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:42,240 Speaker 1: sub sub sub sub sub segment of fictional women around 8 00:00:42,280 --> 00:00:47,520 Speaker 1: the world, and today we are talking about Morgan Elsbeth, 9 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:52,120 Speaker 1: So that means there's gonna be spoilers for the Mandalorian 10 00:00:52,240 --> 00:00:56,800 Speaker 1: season two, Ahsoka, the TV series, and Tales of the 11 00:00:56,800 --> 00:01:00,080 Speaker 1: Empire because we are still in my Star Wars mon 12 00:01:00,320 --> 00:01:02,240 Speaker 1: I know I can make it about Star Wars anytime, 13 00:01:02,360 --> 00:01:07,800 Speaker 1: but that is who I chose for this month. Morgan 14 00:01:07,880 --> 00:01:11,920 Speaker 1: Elsbeth is a force sensitive woman and a night sister 15 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:17,160 Speaker 1: from the planet Dathamir. In the most basic of terms, 16 00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:21,440 Speaker 1: night sisters are like space witches, which I know doesn't 17 00:01:21,440 --> 00:01:25,920 Speaker 1: really help because some people call Jedi wizards, and wizard 18 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:29,640 Speaker 1: is also like a term of oh that's cool, that's wizard. 19 00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:33,080 Speaker 1: In the Star Wars universe, it can get confusing, so 20 00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:37,640 Speaker 1: condensing a lot. She was born on the planet Dathamir 21 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:42,399 Speaker 1: to native witches to that planet, who were later all 22 00:01:42,440 --> 00:01:46,600 Speaker 1: but wiped out by the Separatist in the Clone Wars 23 00:01:46,680 --> 00:01:49,960 Speaker 1: because of some actions they'd taken against Count Dooku, who 24 00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:52,200 Speaker 1: was played by Christopher Lee and was also kind of 25 00:01:52,200 --> 00:01:56,560 Speaker 1: a hidden not really a Sith lord. But that's how 26 00:01:56,600 --> 00:01:59,480 Speaker 1: we're just going to say it right now, because the 27 00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:04,240 Speaker 1: complicated the thing is a lot of force users. We 28 00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:06,760 Speaker 1: always say like Jedi or Sith, but there's a lot 29 00:02:06,760 --> 00:02:10,959 Speaker 1: of in between that. But anyway, he was, he was 30 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:15,279 Speaker 1: working on what we'll call the dark side. Elsbeth survived, 31 00:02:15,600 --> 00:02:18,800 Speaker 1: believing herself to be the last of her kind. She 32 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:22,800 Speaker 1: was not, but she did not know that another attack 33 00:02:23,120 --> 00:02:26,600 Speaker 1: left many of the clan who had taken her in dead, 34 00:02:27,040 --> 00:02:30,799 Speaker 1: and the leader warned of Elsbeth's dark intentions before leaving 35 00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:34,280 Speaker 1: Elsbeth alone in the forest. And I guess some of 36 00:02:34,320 --> 00:02:37,360 Speaker 1: it was sort of her fault. I don't, I haven't 37 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:40,280 Speaker 1: seen Tales of the Empire yet. I got a lot 38 00:02:40,360 --> 00:02:42,320 Speaker 1: of Star Wars media to catch up on, I'll tell 39 00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:46,160 Speaker 1: you that. But it was implied from what I was 40 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:50,560 Speaker 1: reading that she had sort of paved her own way 41 00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:56,359 Speaker 1: to this outcome. She was a major ally of Grand 42 00:02:56,480 --> 00:03:00,040 Speaker 1: Amerald Throne, who, if you don't know, emerged after the 43 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:02,840 Speaker 1: death of the Emperor and the original trilogy to make 44 00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:07,960 Speaker 1: sure that the Empire continued. He's the blue guy. There's 45 00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:10,560 Speaker 1: more than one blue guy, but probably the one you 46 00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:13,280 Speaker 1: think of that's Thron. He's been in a lot of 47 00:03:13,320 --> 00:03:15,840 Speaker 1: the animated shows and was in the live action of 48 00:03:15,919 --> 00:03:21,240 Speaker 1: Soca Elsbeth was also involved in the building up of 49 00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:25,040 Speaker 1: the Imperial Navy that helped the Empire retain control for 50 00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:30,600 Speaker 1: many years. This involved pundering and stealing natural resources of planets. 51 00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:34,600 Speaker 1: It's also kind of complicated, but the Clone Wars were 52 00:03:34,600 --> 00:03:41,400 Speaker 1: sort of they were orchestraed by the Empire, so both sides. 53 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:47,760 Speaker 1: The Emperor was playing I guess he was manipulating so 54 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:52,520 Speaker 1: the separatists that she's so angry with she ultimately sort 55 00:03:52,520 --> 00:03:57,360 Speaker 1: of joined. Do you know how it goes? Once the 56 00:03:57,520 --> 00:04:01,280 Speaker 1: Empire fell, she sought out Throng, hoping that he not 57 00:04:01,480 --> 00:04:06,080 Speaker 1: only would restore the Empire but her own deathmory culture. 58 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:09,960 Speaker 1: She wanted to restore that. During New Republic times, which 59 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:13,440 Speaker 1: is what rose up after the Empire, the democratic government, 60 00:04:13,920 --> 00:04:17,760 Speaker 1: she ruthlessly acted as a magistrate on the planet Corvas. 61 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:23,320 Speaker 1: She designed a new tie Fighter, which is the imperial 62 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:26,680 Speaker 1: type of X Wing. If any of this lingo makes 63 00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:30,200 Speaker 1: sense to people who aren't so in depth into the 64 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:33,880 Speaker 1: Star Wars world like me. She designed a new one 65 00:04:33,960 --> 00:04:37,400 Speaker 1: based on their resources that they had on Corvis, promising 66 00:04:37,400 --> 00:04:40,440 Speaker 1: the people that they would benefit, but her design was 67 00:04:40,480 --> 00:04:45,040 Speaker 1: rejected for being too expensive. The people of Corvis revolted 68 00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:48,080 Speaker 1: and she deployed her assassin droid to take care of 69 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:52,800 Speaker 1: the whole thing. Tron later showed interest in her design 70 00:04:53,120 --> 00:04:55,760 Speaker 1: her tie Fighter when he asked her what it was 71 00:04:55,960 --> 00:04:58,560 Speaker 1: that she wanted, she claimed it was the power the 72 00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:02,799 Speaker 1: Empire could give her to Ae Dathamir and the Night Sisters. 73 00:05:03,279 --> 00:05:05,480 Speaker 1: On top of that, she'd also been getting messages or 74 00:05:05,560 --> 00:05:10,719 Speaker 1: visions from the Great Mothers of Dathamir. She lied to 75 00:05:10,760 --> 00:05:13,000 Speaker 1: the people of Corvus about the collapse of the Empire 76 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:16,360 Speaker 1: so that they would continue to work. An attempt at 77 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:20,000 Speaker 1: diplomacy resulted in Elsbeth blowing up the diplomat ship and 78 00:05:20,320 --> 00:05:24,520 Speaker 1: lighting the nearby forest on fire. She described herself as 79 00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:30,480 Speaker 1: a survivor and she was really hell bent on revenge. 80 00:05:30,839 --> 00:05:35,760 Speaker 1: This is where the Mandalorian aka Din Djarren came in. 81 00:05:36,080 --> 00:05:40,240 Speaker 1: He was looking for a Jedi to return Grogu slash 82 00:05:40,279 --> 00:05:43,719 Speaker 1: Baby Yoda to his kind because baby Yoda is for 83 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:47,839 Speaker 1: sensitive and Elsbeth offered him a spear made of pure 84 00:05:47,880 --> 00:05:51,000 Speaker 1: bestcar which is a metal of almost religious importance to 85 00:05:51,040 --> 00:05:55,000 Speaker 1: Mandalorians that the Empire also stole to him if he 86 00:05:55,080 --> 00:05:58,719 Speaker 1: killed Ahsoka Tano, who was a former Jedi who was 87 00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:03,039 Speaker 1: on the planet looking for more information about Thron. But Ahsoka, 88 00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:05,719 Speaker 1: in her first live action debut that was a very 89 00:06:05,720 --> 00:06:07,560 Speaker 1: big one, made a lot of waves on the internet, 90 00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:10,839 Speaker 1: offers to join forces with him, and together they defeat 91 00:06:10,880 --> 00:06:16,320 Speaker 1: Elsbeth and her forces and then gets the spear. Ahsoka 92 00:06:16,360 --> 00:06:21,400 Speaker 1: pushed Elsbeth to reveal Thron's location, but Elsbeth refused and 93 00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:26,120 Speaker 1: was arrested for her imperial sympathies. Much later, Ahsoka was 94 00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:29,040 Speaker 1: able to get Elsbeth to divulge Thron's location on a 95 00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:33,440 Speaker 1: star map. With elsbeth resources, a ring capable of multi 96 00:06:33,520 --> 00:06:36,200 Speaker 1: galaxy travel had been constructed, which, by the way, was 97 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:38,919 Speaker 1: a big There wasn't supposed to be another galaxy. That 98 00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:43,120 Speaker 1: was one of George Lucas's rules, but they broke it here. However, 99 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:46,880 Speaker 1: Elsbeth was freed a little later and resumed her request 100 00:06:46,920 --> 00:06:49,720 Speaker 1: to rejoin Thron. She even was able to make the 101 00:06:49,800 --> 00:06:53,680 Speaker 1: journey to the Far Galaxy where Thron was. He had 102 00:06:53,720 --> 00:06:58,159 Speaker 1: been kind of banished. There, she reunited with Thron and 103 00:06:58,200 --> 00:07:00,840 Speaker 1: put together a plan to kill the Jedi Ezra Bridger, 104 00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:04,080 Speaker 1: who was also stuck in this far Galaxy and in 105 00:07:04,200 --> 00:07:06,240 Speaker 1: this whole thing. She was granted some powers and a 106 00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:10,320 Speaker 1: pretty fancy weapon in order to help Thron escape. She 107 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:14,320 Speaker 1: engaged with Ahsoka, destroying one of Ahsoka's lightsabers, because Ahsoka 108 00:07:14,360 --> 00:07:19,760 Speaker 1: famously has two lightsabers. But Ahsoka defeated and killed her, 109 00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:24,240 Speaker 1: but her stalling, Elsbeth stalling allowed Thron to escape, which 110 00:07:24,280 --> 00:07:26,320 Speaker 1: was what I mean. She didn't mean to die, but 111 00:07:26,360 --> 00:07:28,000 Speaker 1: that was what she was trying to do, was give 112 00:07:28,080 --> 00:07:31,240 Speaker 1: him time to escape. Thron told the Great Mothers who 113 00:07:31,320 --> 00:07:35,960 Speaker 1: escaped with him. Elsbeth quote has done what was required, 114 00:07:37,080 --> 00:07:39,920 Speaker 1: and so that's where her story is right now. But 115 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:43,160 Speaker 1: you never know in Star Wars universe. But that brings 116 00:07:43,240 --> 00:07:45,720 Speaker 1: us to the actress who plays this character in live action, 117 00:07:46,040 --> 00:07:49,480 Speaker 1: Diana Lee in Asanto, whose father was a martial artist 118 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:53,840 Speaker 1: and Bruce Lee was her godfather, so she grew up 119 00:07:53,880 --> 00:07:58,280 Speaker 1: surrounded by and learning martial arts. She's been involved in 120 00:07:58,320 --> 00:08:01,320 Speaker 1: all kinds of projects, and she's been very open about 121 00:08:01,320 --> 00:08:04,080 Speaker 1: her experience of being mixed race and not white enough, 122 00:08:04,320 --> 00:08:06,960 Speaker 1: or not Asian enough, or not Spanish enough, all of 123 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:10,760 Speaker 1: that stuff. And she's also been open about agism in Hollywood, 124 00:08:10,840 --> 00:08:13,080 Speaker 1: because when she got cast in The Mandalorian, she essentially 125 00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:16,320 Speaker 1: thought she was being crank because her time was up. 126 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:20,960 Speaker 1: Apparently about half the stunt team had trained underneath her father, 127 00:08:22,520 --> 00:08:25,840 Speaker 1: and the creators of The Mandalorian really wanted her specifically, 128 00:08:25,880 --> 00:08:29,120 Speaker 1: like they had her in mind. She does have a 129 00:08:29,160 --> 00:08:33,040 Speaker 1: really fun story about seeing a new Hope in theaters 130 00:08:33,080 --> 00:08:36,000 Speaker 1: with her father and him being so into the lightsaber 131 00:08:36,080 --> 00:08:41,680 Speaker 1: fight that he purchased those plastic extendable lightsabers for them 132 00:08:41,720 --> 00:08:44,760 Speaker 1: to practice with, and she ultimately did get to have one. 133 00:08:44,880 --> 00:08:47,280 Speaker 1: In a live action Star Wars show, she has a 134 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:52,360 Speaker 1: kind of a lightsaber fight with that's okod It's yeah, 135 00:08:52,400 --> 00:08:55,720 Speaker 1: that's so cool. I loved that so much. I think 136 00:08:55,840 --> 00:08:59,960 Speaker 1: I read somewhere that the name is based on Merlin 137 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:04,400 Speaker 1: and a character from Merlin, but I couldn't. I didn't, 138 00:09:04,720 --> 00:09:07,679 Speaker 1: I wasn't able to verify, but let me know listeners 139 00:09:08,360 --> 00:09:10,280 Speaker 1: and let me know if you have any thoughts about 140 00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:14,160 Speaker 1: this character or any suggestions for future episodes. You can 141 00:09:14,280 --> 00:09:16,160 Speaker 1: email us at Hello at stuff I Never Told You 142 00:09:16,240 --> 00:09:18,280 Speaker 1: dot com. You can find us on blue Sky at 143 00:09:18,280 --> 00:09:21,160 Speaker 1: mom stuff podcast, or on TikTok and Instagram at stuff 144 00:09:21,160 --> 00:09:23,040 Speaker 1: I Never Told You. We're also on YouTube. We have 145 00:09:23,080 --> 00:09:24,400 Speaker 1: a Tea papluk store, and we have a book you 146 00:09:24,440 --> 00:09:26,839 Speaker 1: can get wherever you get your books. Thanks a Zowis too, 147 00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:29,960 Speaker 1: our super producer Christina, executive producer My and your contributor Joey, 148 00:09:30,080 --> 00:09:32,160 Speaker 1: and thanks see you for listening. Stuff Never Told You 149 00:09:32,200 --> 00:09:33,880 Speaker 1: is production of My Heart Radio. For more podcasts from 150 00:09:33,880 --> 00:09:35,520 Speaker 1: my Heart Radio, you can check out the heart Radio app, 151 00:09:35,520 --> 00:09:46,560 Speaker 1: Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.