Rescue of Hera Syndulla In 1 BBY , the Spectres of the Alliance to Restore the Republic launched a mission to rescue General Hera Syndulla from the Imperial Complex on Lothal . Despite rescuing Hera , the Jedi Knight Kanan Jarrus was killed when he sacrificed his life to protect his fellow rebels from being incinerated by the exploding Lothal City fuel depot . The death of Kanan had a tremendous impact on the Spectres and Ryder Azadi ' s rebel cell . While Ezra Bridger underwent an encounter with loth - wolves in the wilderness , Sabine Wren and Garazeb Orrelios fought against the Noghri Rukh , who had been sent by Grand Admiral Thrawn to hunt them down . Prelude . In 2 BBY , the Rebel Alliance sent a squadron of T - 65B X - wing starfighter s led by General Hera Syndulla to attack the Imperial Armory Complex in Lothal ' s Capital City , which was manufacturing TIE / D Defender s for the Galactic Empire . However , the squadron was intercepted and wiped out by Grand Admiral Thrawn ' s Seventh Fleet before it could attack the factory . The rebels Chopper and Mart Mattin managed to escape but General Syndulla was captured by the Noghri tracker Rukh . Governor Arihnda Pryce torture d Hera for information about the location of the Alliance Fleet but she held out against her Imperial captors . At the request of Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin , Grand Admiral Thrawn departed for Coruscant to lobby the Emperor to continue funding the TIE / D Defender project ; which was facing competition from Director Orson Krennic ' s Death Star project . After Ezra Bridger sensed through the Force that Hera was being imprisoned in the Imperial Complex , the Spectres undertook a mission to rescue their leader . While Kanan Jarrus meditated in the Force and cut his hair , Ezra along with Sabine Wren , Garazeb Orrelios , and Chopper built three gliders which they dubbed Loth - bat glider s due to their resemblance to Loth - bat s . For the mission , Ezra and Sabine disguised themselves as TIE fighter pilot s . Zeb launched them with a speeder bike , with the help of C1 - 10P , telling them to " get her back . " The mission . Rescuing Hera . Ezra ' s plan worked and the Spectres ' gliders succeeded in gliding above the streets of Capital City undetected . Only Rukh smelled that something was afoot . The three Spectres landed at the south entrance ' s garbage chute , which lay six stories above Pryce ' s office where Hera was being interrogated . While Ezra and Sabine went to find an escape transport , Kanan used magnetic climber s to scale down to Pryce ' s office . Meanwhile , Governor Pryce used an IT - O Interrogator to inject a truth serum into Hera in an attempt to coerce her into revealing the location of the Alliance Fleet . At that point , Hera witnessed Kanan scaling down the window . Thinking that Hera was delusional , Governor Pryce went to speak with Rukh and left two stormtrooper s including LS - 261 to guard the prisoner . Knowing that Kanan was around , Hera warned the stormtroopers that they were in danger . Kanan entered the room by using his lightsaber to cut a hole under the floor of one of the stormtroopers . Kanan then hurled LS - 261 out the window before he could summon reinforcements . He then destroyed the IT - O Interrogator droid and kicked it down the hole in the floor . While Kanan freed Hera , the two expressed their feelings for each other . As a favor , Kanan also managed to recover Hera ' s Kalikori , a family heirloom . The two then climbed back up to the garbage chute before Pryce , Rukh , and several death trooper s stormed the office . While Rukh pursued Kanan and Hera , Governor Pryce ordered her forces to muster gunships to hunt down the rebels . At the garbage chute , Rukh attacked Kanan but was thrown off the building . Rukh managed to cling on to a balcony . Escaping the " Dome " . Kanan and Hera managed to escape on a glider despite being attacked by a death troopers . Despite their glider being damaged by a blaster bolt , Hera managed to steer the craft towards the Lothal City fuel depot . While fleeing , the two managed to take down two death troopers . Meanwhile , a disguised Sabine and Ezra stole a patrol transport which joined a flight of patrol transports searching for the rebel fugitives . After being contacted by Kanan who requested a pick - up , Sabine and Ezra jettisoned the stormtroopers aboard their gunship and shot down the other patrol transports . Sabine and Ezra then rendezvoused at the Lothal City fuel depot . Before boarding , Hera expressed her feelings for Kanan and the two kissed passionately . However , they were interrupted by the arrival of Governor Pryce and a phalanx of AT - AT walkers . Determined to destroy the Spectres once and for all , Pryce ordered her AT - ATs to open fire on the central fuel pod of the depot . This triggered a massive explosion . However , Kanan used the Force to hold back the explosive wave long enough for his rebel comrades to escape . Kanan was subsequently consumed in the resulting inferno . Aftermath . The Spectres ' mission to rescue Hera Syndulla was a success but came at the cost of Kanan , who laid down his life to help his rebel comrades escape . Pryce ' s decision to destroy the Lothal city fuel depot in an attempt to eradicate the rebels would have serious ramifications for the Empire . Besides the loss of two AT - AT walkers , the destruction of the fuel depot destroyed the Empire ' s fuel reserves on Lothal and also inflicted serious damage on the Imperial TIE Defender factories . As a result , Thrawn ' s TIE Defender initiative was dealt a major blow . In an attempt at " damage control " , Pryce convened a parade to celebrate the death of Kanan , the purported leader of the Spectres . By her authority , all of Capital City ' s citizens including factory workers were compelled to attend . Thrawn soon learned about the destruction of the fuel depot and chastised Governor Pryce for her incompetence . Realizing that Kanan ' s rebel comrades would be out for revenge , Thrawn tasked Rukh with hunting them down . Meanwhile , Kanan ' s rebel comrades particularly Hera mourned his death . Without Kanan , the rebels were directionless with Ryder Azadi believing that the war on Lothal was over . Seeking vengeance , Sabine and Zeb attempted to sabotage the Imperial parade . Upon scanning Capital City , they discovered that Kanan ' s actions had not only saved their lives but had accomplished Hera ' s original mission by knocking out Imperial war production on Lothal . The two Spectres then fought with Rukh , who had been tracking down . Following a vicious fight involving Rukh ' s Sinrich optical dephaser , Zeb gained the upper hand and tried to kill Rukh to avenge Kanan ' s death . However , Sabine appealed for restraint and the two instead sent Rukh back to his masters after spray - painting him . Elsewhere , a distraught Ezra encountered a pack of loth - wolves in Lothal ' s wilderness . Despite an initially hostile encounter , Ezra managed to communicate with the pack ' s leader Dume , who told him that the Lothal Jedi Temple was in danger . Meanwhile , Hera at the advice of Chopper honored Kanan ' s memory by attaching a piece of his holocron to her family ' s Kalikori . Later , Zeb and Sabine returned and informed Hera that their mission to take out Lothal ' s TIE Defender factories had succeeded . Together with Ezra , the Spectres then embarked on a mission to save the Lothal Jedi Temple . During the mission to the Jedi Temple , Ezra discovered a portal into a mystical realm known as the World between worlds , which connected all space and time . There , he encountered his old ally Ahsoka Tano , whom he saved from falling into a chasm during the Mission to Malachor . Believing that he could save his late master as well , Ezra toyed with pulling Kanan into the portal at the moment before the explosive wave consumed him . However , Tano pointed out that doing so would have harmed Ezra and the other Spectres . She then convinced Ezra to honor his master ' s sacrifice by letting him die for his comrades . Ezra obliged and made peace with Kanan ' s death . Behind the scenes . The rescue of Hera Syndulla formed the main conflict of the " Star Wars Rebels " Season Four episode " Jedi Night " , which premiered on Disney XD on February 19 , 2018 . The aftermath of the rescue mission was explored in the episode " DUME " , which premiered on the same day .