Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Ahsoka Episode 3.
The Big Picture
- Ahsoka, despite her Force abilities, is not a Jedi and does not adhere to their traditions and rules.
- Ahsoka is training Sabine to be a Force user, not a Jedi, and emphasizes that the Force depends on discipline and focus, not just talent.
- Ahsoka distances herself from the Jedi Order due to its past problems and flaws, and she does not want to recreate the old ways but seeks a better way forward.
The Jedi Order is pervasive in Star Wars, but their storied history has ups and downs. Throughout the long period of time that the franchise spans, the Jedi are always present and impacting major events. In some ways, Disney+’s Ahsoka is the same, but because of the Ahsoka’s (Rosario Dawson) past, it takes a slight turn. When Ahsoka takes place, there are few Jedi left, and though the title character is strong with the Force, she isn’t a Jedi. While Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) is rebuilding the Jedi Order, Ahsoka is on a different mission with her apprentice Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo). Sabine doesn’t have the connection to the Force expected for potential Jedi, yet Ahsoka trains her anyway. Though the droid, Huyang (David Tennant), doubts her non-traditional choice of padawan, Ahsoka insists that Sabine doesn’t need to be a Jedi.
Ahsoka makes no secret that she left her training early, though most people still call her a Jedi. While she is teaching Sabine the ways of the Force, Ahsoka is not beholden to the tradition of the Jedi, and she isn’t trying to follow their example, much to Huyang’s annoyance. Not only does this mean that Sabine doesn’t need to be particularly strong with the Force, but it takes away other expectations the Jedi once had for padawans. The Jedi Order is largely gone after the tragedy of Order 66, but Ahsoka isn’t making an attempt to revive their former glory. Ahsoka has well-documented problems with the Jedi Order and is not idealizing the past in an attempt to return to it. There are Force users outside the Jedi and the Sith who are rarely highlighted in the franchise, and Ahsoka is filling that gap nicely.
Ahsoka Isn’t Turning Sabine Into a Jedi
As Ahsoka trains Sabine, Huyang is discouraged by the younger woman’s lack of connection to the Force. The instrumental Jedi tool doesn’t come naturally to Sabine, and Huyang admits that she would not have been selected to train as a Jedi under the Order’s standards. But Ahsoka isn’t training Sabine to be a Jedi. Jedi rely on the Force for their extra abilities, setting them apart from others, especially in a fight. While Sabine quickly grasps the technical fighting style due to her other experience, she cannot feel the Force. Ahsoka claims that, despite the element of talent, using the Force depends on discipline and focus, as it exists in everything. She encourages Sabine to continue but later reminds Huyang that she needs Sabine to “be herself” and not a Jedi. Despite the training, Ahsoka isn’t teaching Sabine to be a Jedi per se, just a Force user. So, the Jedi’s rules and standards are not applicable. Sabine doesn’t need a strong connection to the Force, nor is she expected to follow Jedi rules.
After Imperial rule decimated the Jedi and their culture, Ahsoka is one of the few who remember it and could rebuild. Yet she isn’t doing that. She says as much in The Mandalorian when she sends Grogu to find another teacher. Though her appearance in The Book of Boba Fett aiding as Luke trains Grogu to be a Jedi confuses the message, remaking the Jedi Order is not her ultimate goal. She does seem to help Luke when needed, but Ahsoka reinforces the idea that reestablishing the Jedi is not Ahsoka’s goal. If that were her goal, she would take on apprentices strong in the Force and train multiple of them while following Jedi protocols to the letter. But Ahsoka, nor her lineage of Jedi, has never been that traditional. And Ahsoka is distancing herself and Sabine further from the Jedi than before.
Ahsoka Is Not a Jedi, and She Never Will Be
Despite the training she received in her youth, Ahsoka never became a Jedi. After years of being the padawan of Anakin Skywalker (Matt Lanter) in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Ahsoka walked away from the Jedi Order. But that decision did nothing to change her Force abilities. Ahsoka made her own way through the world, not following the Jedi’s rules but maintaining the use of the Force. Though her training taught her to be a Jedi, she rejected that life and all the implications of it. Yet she occasionally displays Jedi tendencies and has not fallen to the Dark Side, as many non-Jedi Force users do.
The Force is often divided into two sections: light and dark. But it isn’t that simple. There are certainly the Jedi and the Sith, who use absolute opposite sides of the Force and are locked in a perpetual conflict of right and wrong. But they are not the only ones connected to the Force. These individuals are not suspect to the Jedi’s rules of detachment and lack of emotion, nor are they the Jedi’s enemies. Ahsoka’s removal from the Jedi gives her and her apprentice more freedom. As individuals, independent Force users have a variety of loyalties. Though Ahsoka and Sabine are fighting for the light, not all will. Ahsoka’s antagonists, Baylan Skoll (Ray Stevenson) and Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno), seem to be dark Force users but not strictly Sith, as indicated by their orange lightsabers that are not quite Sith red. With both groups defying the typical categories, Ahsoka has a rare opportunity to delve into the less-represented area of the Force.
Ahsoka Wants Distance From the Jedi Order
Ahsoka isn’t attempting to remake the Jedi Order, not only because she herself is not a Jedi, but because she is all too aware of the problems the Order had. They wrongly accused her of a crime and put her on trial while not offering her any trust or support despite her life-long loyalty to them. Ahsoka’s experience understandably lowered her opinion of the Order, leading her to walk away, but she had doubts for a long time. Growing up, she watched Anakin play loose with the Order’s rules. He never adhered strictly to the Jedi Order’s standards and often disagreed with them. Anakin’s gradual fall to the dark side impacted his padawan. Ahsoka never agreed with the Jedi Order. She saw the flaws in the system and doesn’t want a return to the old ways of blindly following the Council. Ahsoka training Sabine to be a Jedi, nor is she striving to be one herself, because she acknowledges the corruption. She’s not attempting to recreate the past because she knows there is a better way to do things. And so, she defies those expectations and makes a new way.
