Why Did Ahsoka Leave The Jedi Order? A Star Wars History Lesson
Do you know that feeling where you have to constantly ask people to use your preferred pronouns or tell them how to correctly pronounce your name? Or when you simply let people who don't really know you that well call you by your legal name since you no longer have the bandwidth to keep telling everyone you go by a different name in your daily life? Or, honestly, any other variation on that theme? It's enough to make you wish you had your own Janet from "The Good Place" who could appear out of thin air and bring the world up to speed whenever needed.
One imagines Ahsoka Tano would know where you're coming from. Indeed, those unfamiliar with the world of "Star Wars" animation would be forgiven for assuming she's a Jedi if all they know her from are her live-action appearances on "The Mandalorian" and its spin-offs. Now, granted, it wouldn't be fair to expect everyone tuning in for the continuing adventures of Din Djarin and friends to have seen the combined 200-plus episodes of "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" and "Star Wars Rebels" that cover most of Ahsoka's backstory. Still, "The Mandalorian" has been curiously blasé about highlighting a key sticking point: Anakin Skywalker's Togruta Padawan isn't actually a Jedi.
In the show's defense, Ahsoka's had little reason to explain that she left the Jedi Order years ago in casual conversations with the likes of Din (a dyed-in-the-wool himbo who, never forget, responded to Luke Skywalker mowing down a small army of Dark Troopers with his lightsaber by earnestly asking if he was, like, a Jedi or some s**t — and I'm only slightly paraphrasing). But with the "Ahsoka" TV series right around the corner, this feels like a good time for a "Star Wars" history lesson.
The bombing of the Jedi Temple
One could argue Ahsoka's schism from the Jedi was a gradual process. Having been taken from her home planet of Shili to train at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant at a very young age (she was literally an infant when her connection to the Force became apparent, as seen in the terrific animated anthology series "Tales of the Jedi"), Ahsoka knew little of life outside of the Jedi prior to becoming Anakin's Padawan. Fighting alongside him and his peers during the Clone Wars gave Ahsoka a crash course in different cultures and ways of living across the "Star Wars" galaxy. It also taught her that the Force, much like our personal moral codes, is not binary, and the line between right and wrong, or the light side and the dark, can be much fuzzier than she realized growing up.
Even so, Ahsoka was dealt quite a rude awakening when she found herself falsely accused of bombing the Jedi Temple (an attack that left several Jedi and Clone Troopers dead, among others). Convinced it was up to her to clear her own name, Ahsoka fled into the underbelly of Coruscant, even allying herself with Count Dooku's former apprentice and her sworn enemy, Asajj Ventress. Things didn't work out, though, and Ahsoka was ultimately captured, expelled from the Jedi Order, and found herself on trial for the crime under the threat of no less than the death sentence. Luckily, thanks to Anakin, the real perpetrator was exposed: Barriss Offee, a fellow Jedi and a close friend who Ahsoka had even reached out to after going on the run, unaware of her treachery. Now that's a twist worthy of a space opera like "Star Wars," right?
'How can I trust myself?'
As if being betrayed by a trusted companion and, to some degree, saved by her nemesis wasn't enough to leave Ahsoka's head spinning, Barriss was far but repentant upon being exposed. Instead, she justified her actions, arguing the Jedi had lost their way over the course of the Clone Wars, becoming as corrupt and ineffectual as the Old Republic. The thing was, Ahsoka didn't entirely disagree with her, even if she didn't realize it at first.
While the Jedi Council offered to reinstate Ahsoka as a member of the Jedi Order after the dust had settled, she declined, telling Anakin, "The Council didn't trust me, so how can I trust myself?" When Anakin insisted she was making a mistake, she replied, "Maybe. But I have to sort this out on my own without the Council and without you." When Anakin then admitted he understood wanting to leave the Jedi Order, it felt like their way of silently acknowledging that Barriss was more right about the Jedi than anyone would want to admit.
For Ahsoka, of course, it was all a much more personal traumatic experience — a moment in which any gnawing doubts she had ignored or brushed aside fighting over the course of the Clone Wars came flooding in all at once. I'm sure most of us have gone through something similar in our lives (I know I have), and the fact that she refused to return to the Jedi Order prior to its downfall during Order 66 is proof positive that, on some level, she knew Barriss wasn't wrong. That Ahsoka's absence in Anakin's life directly contributed to his fall to the dark side only further compounded her guilt ... something that's important to bear in mind while watching "Ahsoka."
"Ahsoka" premieres August 22, 2023, at 6PM PT/9PM ET on Disney+.