Liberation of Lothal The liberation of Lothal was a battle during the early rebellion against the Galactic Empire in 1 BBY which resulted in the liberation of the Lothalian s and their homeworld of Lothal . Prelude . Before the Empire . The Clone Wars saw the Outer Rim world of Lothal untouched by war , but devastated by a drought and plague . Lothal ' s pleas for help were ignored by the Senate of the Galactic Republic . Later , the Lothalian government successfully petitioned for aid from the Republic ' s successor , the Galactic Empire , which resulted in the annexation of Lothal by the Empire in 19 BBY . Imperialization of Lothal . By 18 BBY , the Empire had dispatched an Imperial Planetary Occupation Facility and planted it in Capital City , almost immediately asserting Imperial dominance on the world and projecting Imperial strength . The presence of the Empire was not favored by all Lothalian s , however , which included Ephraim and Mira Bridger , who had begun conducting underground transmissions with the support of the Governor of Lothal Ryder Azadi . Within a month , Azadi had been ordered by the Empire to end the transmissions . When Azad disobeyed and defender the Bridgers , the three were arrested by the Empire . As a result , the Bridgers ' son Ezra Bridger was left orphaned . Azadi would be supplanted by one of his rivals , the Lothalian Arihnda Pryce , who after exposing a rebel spy operation on Coruscant , had attained the temporary position of acting governor while she trained for the governor ship of Lothal , bringing with her starship manufacturing contracts for Lothal , including the expansion of naval facilities and factories . The Imperialization of Lothal saw a further expansion of mining operations , as beneath the vast grasslands of the planet laid large veins of doonium , a metal that was primarily used for the construction of starships and a secret project . This expansion resulted in the eviction of farmer s and expansion of mines and factories , resulting in anti - Imperial sentiments . By 6 BBY , a bombing attempt of Imperial seismic surveyor droid s led to a massacre of peaceful protesters , and culminated in a small - scale skirmish between Imperial forces and a handful of insurgents , eventually resulting in the capture of the group . Growing dissidence . By 5 BBY , another rebel group , the Spectres , led by the former Jedi padawan Kanan Jarrus and the Twi ' lek Hera Syndulla , and consisting of the droid C1 - 10P , the Mandalorian Sabine Wren , and the Lasat Garazeb Orrelios , had begun operations on Lothal after successful small - scaled operations against the Empire on other worlds such as Toydaria and Christophsis . Their early attacks , including a raid on an Imperial supply convoy , an attack on a Lothal airfield , and a heist in Capital City , which saw them collaborating with the Force - sensitive city orphan Ezra Bridger , resulted in the attention of Imperial Security Bureau agent Alexsandr Kallus . After further operations resulted in the attraction of Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin and The Grand Inquisitor , and culminated in the capture of Kanan Jarrus and the Spectres broadcasting a call to action to Lothal and nearby planets , the Spectres were able to defeat Imperial forces above Mustafar and rescue their friend with the help of the rebel cell Phoenix Cell and the former Jedi Ahsoka Tano . The events above Mustafar saw the destruction of the " Sovereign " , Grand Moff Tarkin ' s flagship , the death of the Grand Inquisitor , the attention of Darth Vader and the induction of the Spectres into Phoenix Squadron . Whispers of what had occurred above Mustafar eventually reached the citizens of Lothal , which according to Agent Kallus , made some believe that the Empire was weak and vulnerable . Consequently , the Empire ' s grip on Lothal tightened , imposing a siege in an effort to route out the insurgents . By this time , Emperor Sheev Palpatine , secretly the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious , had become interested in Lothal , a secret known by a few , including Lothal ' s Minister of industry Maketh Tua who sought to exchange that information with Phoenix Group in exchange for safe passage off of Lothal . After Phoenix Group ' s flagship , the " Phoenix Home " , was destroyed during the siege by Darth Vader and their hideout on Garel City was discovered by the Inquisitorius , Ezra ' s broadcast would eventually reach his parents , Ephraim and Mira , who were imprisoned with former governor Azadi . Hearing his rallying call , they instigated in a revolt , and although they lost their lives , Azadi was able to escape and begin a quest to search for their son , Ezra . The actions of the rebels consequently resulted in Governer Pryce requesting the Seventh Fleet and Grand Admiral Thrawn . Thrawn designed and built TIE / D Defender s on Lothal and the Spectres were keen to put a stop to it . Their first attempt had the unification of Phoenix Group , Massassi Group and the Lothal resistance to take out the factories . However , Thrawn learned of their location and ambushed them , destroying all but a handful of ships . The second attempt involved an Alliance X - wing squadron but Thrawn destroyed them with ease . The Spectres were there for both failures but refused to give up . When rescuing one of their own , Hera Syndulla , the Governor Arihnda Pryce open fired on the Lothal City fuel depot to stop them , killing Kanan Jarrus but also halting TIE Defender production . This had completed their initial mission and infuriated Thrawn . The Battle . Preparing for the Attack . With Thrawn not on Lothal for the time being , the Spectres had an opportunity to liberate Lothal from the Galactic Empire . Ezra had Hera round up all their old friends from their past missions over the years including Hondo Ohnaka , Clones Rex , Wolffe and Gregor , Ketsu Onyo and Alexsandr Kallus . With Thrawn preparing to return , they needed to work quickly . The first step was to capture someone who could get them into Lothal ' s Imperial command center , or command dome . Lothal resistance leader Ryder Azadi contacted Governor Pryce pretending to turn in the rebels . Pryce fell for it and brought her forces to their location and attacked . The rebels were easily defeated , losing at least three of their resistance fighters and their Ore crawler , and were rounded up . But then Hera arrived with reinforcements on the " Ghost " and Ezra brought the Loth - wolves to attack the Imperial forces . Pryce soon found herself defeated and surrendered . Taking the Dome . Using Governor Pryce , the rebels got their stolen Patrol transports onto the domes landing pad and then ambushed the inspecting stormtroopers . They then stormed the control room taking the command center . Their next move would be to order a code 13 to have the Imperial forces evacuate to the command center before the rebels locked it down . The Imperial officer s were confused about this but Ryder pretended to be Colonel Wullf Yularen to verify it for them and they started the evacuation . They then planned to launch it back into the air with it ' s thrusters . But Thrawn had returned and he and parked his Imperial - class Star Destroyer , the " Chimaera " , above the dome . The rebels attempted to get the shields up to protect the city but Thrawn ' s Noghri assassin Rukh had shut down the domes shield generator . He wanted Ezra to surrender himself and started bombarding the city , killing many civilians . Ezra ultimately surrendered and went up there to meet Thrawn . There Thrawn took Ezra to see the Emperor who was in the form of a hologram . The emperor took him to a piece of the Lothal Jedi Temple and offered him the chance of seeing his parents again . It was really a ruse to make Ezra open the portal to the Cosmic Force . Ezra almost took the bait but let go of his parents and collapsed the piece of the temple . The emperor then had his guards attack Ezra with Force pike s but he threw rocks at them with the force to stop them . Meanwhile , Zeb Orrelios Gregor and a few others went down to the generator to get it back online . The Ugnaught Melch was injured and Gregor was shot dead in the ensuing firefight , but Zeb managed to trap Rukh on one of the power beams and Onyo activated the shield generator , frying Rukh to death in the process . With Ezra on the loose again , Thrawn prepared to bombard the city for a second time . With the shield generator back online , the remaining citizens of the capital were safe . Ezra got to the " Chimaera " s bridge and faced Thrawn . Thrawn was convinced he wasn ' t going to win , but then Ezra played his final card — the purrgil . At his words , the purrgil suddenly arrived above Lothal and destroyed the Imperial blockade , as they had been contacted by Ezra ' s fellow rebel Mart Mattin . They then entered the atmosphere and attacked the Star Destroyers , bringing down two of them . The purrgil then latched onto the " Chimaera " and jumped it to hyperspace . With no Imperials left to stop them , the rebels launched the dome and blew it up in the sky . Pryce and many Imperials died on the dome . The citizens then captured the remaining Imperials in the city and Lothal was Liberated from their control . Aftermath . The citizens of Lothal prepared for the Empire to return and take it back . However with the Battle of Scarif and the Galactic Civil War , the Empire became too preoccupied too quickly and therefore never got the chance . Lothal soon prospered again , and the Empire would eventually fail and collapse at the decisive Battle of Endor . The Spectres went their separate ways , while Sabine Wren stayed on Lothal and hoped to find out where the " Chimaera " had gone , to find Ezra again .