The Transformative Journey of Ahsoka: Revealed by Rosario Dawson

Ahsoka's Character Development

Ahsoka actress Rosario Dawson has reframed Ahsoka's whole character arc with just one word. First coming onto the scene in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars 2008 movie, Ahsoka has become a popular character in large part because of her excellent character development. She moved from an annoying, often apparently arrogant young girl into an intelligent, mature woman. Her character journey continued in Ahsoka, which saw her step into the World Between Worlds and confront Anakin Skywalker's Force Ghost.

Ahsoka in the World Between Worlds next to Ahsoka vs Anakin

This was a key part of Ahsoka's character arc, and Rosario Dawson herself has confirmed this in an interview with Dagobah Dispatch. As Dawson observed, the World Between Worlds left Ahsoka changed. 'There's a quietness to her, an intensity to her, that starts to soften, and it's not right away. I love that moment where she's with Huyang, and says, 'Tell me that story of far, far away.' She needs to be in her head because she's still grappling with it. By the time she sees Sabine, she's graduated to a different place now.'

Whether Anakin Skywalker was real or a hallucination, he had a transformative effect on Ahsoka. He forced her to confront her own lack of conviction, and make the choice to live. Only once she had done this was Anakin willing to return to his light side self and confirm there is still hope for Ahsoka. But the key word in Dawson's account is 'graduated,' which has real significance in Jedi terms.

The World Between Worlds: Ahsoka's True Jedi Trial

As Anakin Skywalker's Padawan, Ahsoka would only become a Jedi Knight - ready to take on an apprentice - when she passed her Jedi Trials. The Jedi Council retroactively claimed her experiences in Star Wars: The Clone Wars season 5, in which Ahsoka was framed for an act of terrorism on the Jedi Temple, were her Jedi trial. Ahsoka left the Jedi instead, shaken by the Council's refusal to trust her. This planted seeds of doubt that she still carries with her in Ahsoka; questions of whether she can be more just a warrior, challenges over the ethics of the Clone Wars.

It isn't surprising that the Jedi offered Ahsoka the rank of Jedi Knight. After all, during the Clone Wars, the Jedi accelerated their knighting process. This started with the Battle of Geonisis, which they counted as Anakin's Jedi Trials. But Dawson's use of the word 'graduated' - typically used to refer to someone completing a period of education - suggests the Jedi were wrong about Ahsoka's trials. She had never resolved the inner conflict - at least not until the World Between Worlds. It is only after this experience, and when she claims the identity of Ahsoka the White, that Ahsoka truly 'graduates' from Padawan to Jedi Knight.

Anakin Skywalker's Last Lesson

When Anakin turns into Darth Vader and tells her she must fight or die, it is a test. This is evidenced by the fact that he turns back into Anakin, stops fighting Ahsoka, smiles, and says, 'There's hope for you yet,' after she throws away her lightsaber and declares that she chooses to live. Up until that point, Ahsoka had been asking Anakin if she was anything more than a warrior. That is the question of a child who still needs their parent to help them define who they are. To truly be a Jedi Knight, Ahsoka had to find her own identity.

Oddly enough, this interpretation also makes the World Between Worlds a key moment for Anakin Skywalker as well. A Jedi Master is one who has successfully trained a Padawan - one whose Padawan has become a Knight. After all these years, Anakin Skywalker presents the final lesson that sees his Padawan become a Knight, and in so doing he becomes a Jedi Master at last. This makes Ahsoka a beautiful part of the overall Skywalker saga.