Summary
- Ahsoka's training with Anakin during the Clone Wars shaped her into a warrior and influenced her distrust of others.
- Ahsoka's path of seeking conflict and focusing on death is dangerous and will ultimately lead to her demise.
- Ahsoka chose life over death and embraced a new path, symbolized by her change in clothes, signaling her transformation and newfound peace-seeking mindset. #StarWars #Ahsoka
Anakin Skywalker taught Ahsoka Tano an important lesson in Ahsoka episode 5, but there's still intense debate about it. World Between Worlds. The scene was deliberately ambiguous, leaving it open to interpretation whether this was Anakin's Force ghost or simply something in her own mind.
There's a sense in which this doesn't matter. What counts is the fact this experience was real for Ahsoka herself, and it led to her transformation into Ahsoka the White. In the aftermath, Ahsoka's character changed subtly, with Anakin's former Padawan seeming a lot more relaxed. But what lesson did Ahsoka learn from Anakin?
Ahsoka Had Never Outgrown Her Training With Anakin
Ahsoka was trained by Anakin Skywalker during the Clone Wars, a time when the entire galaxy was consumed by war. Jedi were no longer peacekeepers and were instead expected to be soldiers. Anakin dialed this up for Ahsoka and made her into a warrior, because he knew it would be the most effective way of keeping her safe. Ahsoka left the Jedi, disillusioned with the Council, but Anakin's lessons stayed with her.
Ahsoka has become a warrior above anything else. Worse still, the distrust of the Jedi Council - and Anakin's own betrayal, his transformation into Darth Vader - has left her unable to trust others. Ahsoka walked away from Sabine, refused to train Grogu, and didn't stick around to help Luke reform the Jedi. She has become a solitary fighter, wandering the galaxy, taking on whatever fight catches her eye. This has ultimately led her to focus on the danger posed by Grand iral Thrawn.
Ahsoka's Path Led Only To Death
This path is dangerous, precisely because its end is clear - as proven when Ahsoka was defeated by Baylan Skoll. Putting death before live, even if it's for a supposed greater good, will always simply lead to death. Somewhere in the galaxy, there will always be an enemy Ahsoka can't defeat. She'll die alone even as she tries to do what she thinks she knows best.
This is no way to live, especially in a galaxy as shaken by war as her own. Ahsoka is still living as though the Clone Wars were ongoing, seeking out conflicts to settle and people to fight, because that's all she has ever known. But Ahsoka will ultimately die if she focuses only on death, and this is the mindset Anakin - whether a Force ghost or an aspect of Ahsoka's own mind - had to break within her.
Ahsoka Chose Life - & In So Doing Became A True Jedi
Ahsoka could have continued to live in the comfortable and familiar pattern of the training she received from Anakin. Instead, he gave her the push she needed to finally outgrow him. Had Ahsoka chosen to kill Anakin, she would have chosen death. Instead, she threw the lightsaber away, choosing life. She stopped fighting, and so she ceased to be defined by war alone.
Ahsoka's decision here parallels the one made by Luke Skywalker when he fought Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi. Both tossed their weapons aside, choosing life for themselves and their adversaries. Anakin even hinted at this when he first met Ahsoka. She initially insisted she wouldn't fight him, and Anakin said he'd heard that before. It was a reference to Luke Skywalker, who learned the same lesson and chose life when he threw away his lightsaber just as Ahsoka did.
Ahsoka's decision to choose life over death is further symbolized by her change in clothes, beginning her transformation from Ahsoka the Grey to Ahsoka the White. She's even seen without a headpiece when she wakes, making this a type of rebirth. Ahsoka has finally freed the former Jedi Padawan from the burden of the Clone Wars, from the weight of her past disappointments and betrayals. She is choosing to hold on to life rather than fighting to the death. She's already learned to extend her trust to the unknown, as she let the purrgil take her and Huyang without knowing exactly where they're going - using a power she manifested when she first touched the Force. Hopefully Ahsoka will now break free from her stoicism, seeking peace for herself and the galaxies, all thanks to the lesson she learned from Anakin Skywalker in the World Between Worlds.
Ahsoka releases new episodes Tuesdays at 6 pm PT / 9 pm ET on Disney+.