Warning: this article contains full spoilers for Ahsoka: Episode 5! If you haven’t already, be sure to check out IGN’s review of “Shadow Warrior.”
The Star Wars prequels may have been divisive upon release, but they’ve also aged fairly well as more and more Star Wars fans have come to appreciate what they add to the overall Skywalker Saga. Of course, it helps that we now have shows like Star Wars: The Clone Wars to flesh out and recontextualize the events of the movies. In fact, The Clone Wars managed to redeem the prequel trilogy by the end of its seven-season run.
Now that process is continuing in Star Wars: Ahsoka. This series brings Hayden Christensen’s Anakin back into the fold for a lengthy flashback/dream sequence, one that finally gives us the live-action Anakin/Ahsoka team-up we’ve waited 15 years to see. In the process, the series celebrates this complicated character’s legacy as a teacher and mentor. Here’s how the series celebrates the legacy of Anakin Skywalker.
The Siege of Mandalore and Horror of the Clone Wars
Star Wars: Ahsoka plays things a bit differently than Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi did when it comes to revisiting Anakin’s prequel-era past. Obi-Wan Kenobi delivered a true flashback sequence, showing a duel between Anakin and Obi-Wan when the former was still a Padawan. Ahsoka, meanwhile, relies on the World Between Worlds to conjure up Ahsoka’s memories of the Clone Wars and thrust her back into the thick of that destructive conflict.
“Shadow Warrior” shows us two key battles from the beginning and end of the Clone Wars. In the first, Ahsoka is still a rookie Padawan growing accustomed to having Anakin as a master. In the second, which revisits the climactic Siege of Mandalore from The Clone Wars: Season 7, we see an older — but still very young — and more battle-hardened Ahsoka leading troops into battle.
Seen through Ahsoka’s young eyes, these two sequences really sell the horror and futility of the Clone Wars in a way even Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith didn’t. There’s something chilling about seeing the now-iconic Siege of Mandalore rendered in live-action this time. The clones themselves (including a fleeting cameo of Captain Rex) feel like ghosts locked in a funeral march.
Even more disturbing is the sight of the teenaged Ahsoka being unceremoniously inducted into the war. Played by a Ariana Greenblatt, Ahsoka has never seemed so innocent or so out of her depth. The early battle scenes reiterate how twisted and misguided the Jedi Order had become by the time of the Clone Wars. They showed no compunction against sending literal children into battle. Even Anakin is very cavalier about sending Ahsoka to fight and lead countless troops to their deaths.
But that’s where the “not quite a flashback” format works to this episode’s advantage. As Anakin himself points out, he wasn’t actually with Ahsoka for the Siege of Mandalore. The two had recently parted ways for what would turn out to be the last time, at least until their fateful reunion in Star Wars Rebels. But as he journeys through Ahsoka’s memories, Anakin is able to see the warrior and leader Ahsoka became by the end of the Clone Wars. He taught her to be a fighter and a survivor. Maybe that’s antithetical to the Jedi way, but it’s what allowed Ahsoka to make it through a conflict that claimed so many other lives, clone and Jedi alike. Right or wrong, treating her like a child soldier may be the only reason she lived through the Clone Wars.
There’s a sense of pride emanating from Christensen’s Anakin in this scene. He failed so many people in his descent to the Dark Side, but he didn't failed Ahsoka. Well, not in the grand scheme of things, at least. He was a better teacher than he likely ever gave himself credit for.
The Temptation of the Dark Side
While Anakin didn’t fail as Ahsoka’s teacher, nor did he fully complete her training. That’s the basic idea fueling this entire reunion in Episode 5. Anakin returns to give Ahsoka one final test in the form of a trial by lightsaber combat. True to form, he prefers actions to words when it comes to imparting wisdom onto younger generations.
This battle culminates in one of the key moments in Ahsoka’s long and difficult life. We see Anakin transform into the Dark Side-ravaged killer he was when he carried out Order 66, complete with the red eyes. And as Ahsoka clashes with her old master, we briefly see her eyes take on the same red hue, a sign that even she still struggles with the influence of the Dark Side.
But where Anakin failed to resist the Dark Side’s pull, Ahsoka is able to quickly cast aside her anger. Anakin chose death when he sided with Palpatine and put the survival of his wife over the fate of the Jedi. Ahsoka chooses life. She makes the choice her master couldn’t. She proves that, while Anakin’s brutal training methods made her strong and formidable, they weren’t able to harden her heart or make her more susceptible to the Dark Side.
This episode touches on a theme that has come up a lot in the Disney-era Star Wars — the idea that a Jedi is never too old or too set in their ways to benefit from learning. Qui-Gon Jinn was there to teach Yoda and Obi-Wan the secret to manifesting their consciousness after death. Yoda, in turn, appears in The Last Jedi to impart some much-needed wisdom to the disillusioned Luke Skywaker - “We are what they grow beyond. That is the true burden of all masters.”
That iconic dialogue speaks as much to the Anain/Ahsoka dynamic as it did Luke’s mentorship of Rey. Ahsoka is defined by her ability to do what Anakin couldn’t. She rejects the Dark Side, a testament to her master’s teachings. Anakin may never be able to fully escape the shadow of Darth Vader, but Star Wars: Ahsoka ensures that his legacy is about more than death and destruction. Ahsoka, like Luke before her, is able to channel her love for Anakin into strength and serenity. As we see from her new white costume, Ahsoka is now at peace, having finally put the ghosts of her past to rest.
The World Between Worlds: The Unanswered Questions
While Anakin’s return was a very welcome development for the series, it should be pointed out that it raises some major questions about the relationship between Force Ghosts and the World Between Worlds. How did Anakin appear before Ahsoka in the first place? Was this all a dream, or did Ahsoka truly travel to the World Between Worlds and reunite with her old master?
To some extent, those questions are irrelevant. Real or not, all that really matters is that Ahsoka had a profound experience and emerged on the other side as a changed woman. Still, it’s worth digging into some of the lingering mysteries surrounding the World Between Worlds.
We know that, unlike in Star Wars Rebels, Ahsoka didn’t physically travel to the World Between Worlds. Her body was adrift in the ocean of Seatos while her mind communed with Anakin. But it stands to reason that she was able to mentally travel to the World Between Worlds because of her past exposure to that realm. Apart from Ahsoka and Ezra Bridger, no other living Jedi (that we know of) has traveled to this realm before. Ahsoka has an unusual relationship with time, one that we may continue to see explored in the remainder of the season and a potential Season 2.
How did Anakin appear before Ahsoka? At this point, it’s clear that this wasn’t a time-displaced Anakin who was drawn into the World Between Worlds before his downfall as Darth Vader. This is an Anakin who experienced the full scope of his life and eventual death. He appears as an Episode III-era Anakin Skywalker because Return of the Jedi (the more recent versions, anyway) established that this is the form Anakin’s Force Ghost takes. He appears as he did before he became Vader - the last time his spirit was still attached to the Light Side.
This suggests that Force Ghosts have a fundamental connection to the World Between Worlds. Perhaps this is the realm where they dwell when they aren’t manifesting on the living plane. Because the World Between Worlds exists outside of time and space, this may be where Jedi draw their power and unlock the secret of maintaining consciousness after death. Does that mean Obi-Wan, Yoda and Qui-Gon are floating around somewhere in this endless void? Why didn’t they show up to help guide Ahsoka along her way?
There’s also the question of whether Anakin has ever manifested to other Jedi since his initial appearance as a Force Ghost on Endor. Did he ever meet with Luke again? Did he appear before Leia to apologize for the misery he caused her? A version of that scene actually took place in the Expanded Universe novel Star Wars: The Truce at Bakura. However, given the tragic passing of Carrie Fisher, that may be a reunion we have to imagine rather than see play out in Disney's Star Wars universe. Lucasfilm may be happy to digitally recreate a young Mark Hamill’s likeness, but adult Leia is a character they’ve pointedly avoided in post-The Rise of Skywalker projects.
It’s probably too much to hope that Star Wars: Ahsoka will answer these questions. Only three episodes remain in this season, and we still have yet to see Ezra or Grand Admiral Thrawn in the flesh. But, hopefully, the series opens the door for other Star Wars projects to delve deeper into the mysteries of the World Between Worlds. If this mystical realm can redeem Anakin Skywalker, what else can Star Wars storytellers accomplish in that sandbox?
For more on Star Wars: Ahsoka, learn how the series could be setting up Skeleton Crew and learn about the history of the Witches of Dathomir.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
