What is the Point of Ahsoka’s Story? When Should it Have Ended?
WARNING: SPOILERS FOR STAR WARS PREQUEL AND ORIGINAL TRILOGY FILMS, CLONE WARS, AND STAR WARS: REBELS
When a story focuses on a single character, it puts a lot of pressure on the writer to do something compelling with them, because they need to hold the reader or viewer’s interest throughout. Not only must the reader connect with the character but the story must have meaning. To put it another way, their story must have a point. It must show why the character deserves to be the focus.
Disney+ made Ahsoka Tano the focus of their latest Star Wars TV show. It is fair to wonder if her character deserved her own show and whether her story had a point on its own but also as part of the larger saga.
Ahsoka Tano began as the unexpected apprentice assigned to Anakin Skywalker in the midst of the Clone Wars. Anakin is the protagonist of the prequel trilogy, the tragic character who was believed to be “the chosen one”, only to fall and lead the galaxy into darkness. In the cartoon, Ahsoka is assigned to him after Episode II: Attack of the Clones.
At this point in the saga, he is a powerful Jedi knight who is still a prophetic figure of hope but the dark side has begun to consume him. The slaughter of the sand people after finding his Mother was a clear sign something was very wrong with him.
Ahsoka’s character in the animated film Clone Wars and the animated series that came later, was intended to be a part of Anakin’s evolution between Episodes II and III. Taking on the responsibility of every Jedi knight to take on an apprentice was intended to be a maturing influence on him, in the same way parenthood impacts new parents.
The animated series succeeded in this respect, albeit at a slow pace and with plenty of trivial kid-focused entertainment along the way. It succeeded where the Clone Wars movie failed.
In the beginning, Ahsoka Tano was not a well-liked character. Her early depiction was an obnoxious fourteen year old padawan learner thrust into the ridiculous situation of commanding troops in an intergalactic war. The first season and a half largely failed to develop her or create some kind of appeal for the audience.
To Dave Filoni’s credit, his work on the middle seasons of the show brought maturation and appeal to Ahsoka’s character. Both characters were growing. Anakin was still brash but his sense of responsibility and attachment to his padawan did seem to steadily change him. Although, this maturation would matter little in the end. It was Ahsoka’s arc that became more interesting in later seasons. She is the reason the show managed to become more than a pointless kids show.
Ahsoka ventured further on adventures without Anakin, and explored the subtle aspects of the war and the Jedi Way. Rather than be a secondary character and influence to Anakin, she became a vehicle for the audience to witness the overconfidence of the Jedi Order and the numerous mistakes made prior to Order 66.
In the end, Ahsoka makes the difficult choice Anakin cannot and let’s go of her attachments. She let go of her commitment to the Jedi Order after they chose not to defend her or believe or pleas of innocence during her trial. She let go of her loyalty to Anakin and many friendships within the Jedi Order and the clone army.
She becomes a ronin, more or less, and one who is no longer part of the Jedi/Sith rivalry. She finds her own path to make the Galaxy a better place.
Some argue she should have died as part of Order 66. Her purpose as a character had been fulfilled. There was nowhere to go with a character that should have been killed easily in the purge. If Jedi Masters can be slaughtered, a teenage padawan who never finished her training didn’t stand much of a chance.
There are two problems with having Ahsoka Tano die in Order 66. First, she is sixteen or seventeen years old at that time. Killing a character that young is too disturbing for a Star Wars story, certainly for Disney Star Wars. To avoid killing a child, whether on-screen or off-screen, it is better for her to perish post Order 66 when she is older.
Second, she was Anakin Skywalker’s padawan, making her a significant figure in the life of the prequel trilogy protagonist. Having her die off-screen in Order 66 would be anti-climactic. Someone that important deserved a more dramatic end.
This also allows her story to have a couple additional chapters. The problem is, she had already outlived her point as a character by then. What now?
This is where things go wrong for Dave Filoni and Disney’s Star Wars.
Ahsoka is a character created after-the-fact, to fill in a gap in the Skywalker saga. She is not part of the movie saga, so she cannot impact events in the prequels or original trilogy.
The Clone Wars animated show was largely a kids show and not meant to be on equal terms as the live action films. The events depicted in the show should not be taken seriously with a few rare exceptions. Yet, Dave Filoni and others among the Disney writing team felt the need to treat it as equal to the films from a canonical perspective and wanted to give her a prominent role throughout the saga.
However, having her play a role in the Battle of Yavin or the Battle of Endor would lead to many awkward questions. How did neither Luke nor Darth Vader sense her? Let alone the Emperor. Yoda’s statement that Luke would be the last of the Jedi could be hand-waved by the fact Ahsoka left the Order and was thus no longer Jedi, but still an experienced and skillful force-user would be of special significance to Darth Vader, Luke, and the rebellion.
If Darth Vader knew of her survival, it is hard to see how that would not motivate him to find her, as well as cause the Emperor some concern. Anything from Anakin’s past that may create conflict within him was a threat.
Therefore, it makes the most sense that Ahsoka would be hunted and ultimately would have to perish before the Battle of Yavin.
It avoids silly canon questions and having the character significantly outlive her intended purpose. This benefits from a logic and storytelling standpoint. Having her vanish then time travel via the world between worlds is silly, and reeks of fan fiction from someone who just wants her to be part of everything Star Wars forever.
For these reasons, the Disney+ show Ahsoka doesn’t need to exist. Her survival lacks purpose and complicates canon. Her character arc was already substantial and her role in the saga cemented. In fact, had she been killed at the hands of Darth Vader on Malachor (as it appeared in the Star Wars: Rebels episode Twilight of the Apprentice), that could have been the dramatic end she deserved.
Upon her fall, she could have called him by her nickname for him “Sky Guy” or “Ani” or “Master” as she fell, with Darth Vader left struggling with what he has done. The end could have shown him conflicted, the Emperor suspicious that Ahsoka’s death is affecting him too deeply. It could give that subtle hint that there was indeed doubt, conflict, and that glimmer of light within him. It was that glimmer that Luke would sense all those years later.
Ahsoka Tano was a padawan learner during the Clone Wars. Dave Filoni found a way to extend her story into the era of the Empire. Yet that extension is where it should’ve ended. The new TV show is flawed in numerous ways but, most of all, it cannot justify its own existence.
Ahsoka Tano should have died long ago.