Star Wars: Could Ahsoka Have Saved Anakin Skywalker and the Jedi Order?

Star Wars: The Clone Wars has finally come to its end, and the final season added some expansive (and tragic) depth to the Skywalker Saga prequels. One of the most important storylines Clone Wars had left to tell was that of Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker’s former padawan, and how she managed to escape Order 66 and the eradication of the Jedi Order. Clone Wars revealed that Ahsoka was locked in battle with Darth Maul up to during the events of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, and that conflict raised a major question that Star Wars fans are now debating:

Could Ahsoka Tano have saved Anakin Skywalker from falling to the dark side, and becoming Darth Vader, and the entire Jedi Order from collapsing?

The question about Ahsoka’s pivotal moment comes up in the penultimate episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, “The Phantom Apprentice” and “Shattered”. Ahsoka Tano had to lead the Siege of Mandalore alone, as Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi were called away to rescue Chancellor Palpatine from Count Dooku and General Grievous (as seen in the opening sequence of Revenge of the Sith). When Ahsoka confronts Maul, the dark side crimelord reveals to her that he senses his former master Darth Sidious’ plan is about to be carried out, and that Anakin Skywalker is Sidious’ chosen apprentice. Ahsoka doesn’t believe Maul’s warning, thinking it’s a dark side mind-trick.

When Ahsoka eventually wins her duel with Maul, she takes him into custody. We then see a new version of a key scene from Revenge of the Sith, in which Mace Windu and Yoda and the Jedi Council begin to realize that Palpatine may be an evil threat. Clone Wars adds a scene where Ahsoka joins that same meeting mid-broadcast, and steps on into one of the most pivotal moments in the entire Skywalker Saga. Even though Yoda and Windu hint that Palpatine could be a major threat, Ahsoka chooses not to mention anything about what Maul tried to warn her about. That choice obviously has fans now debating if Ahsoka didn’t let one of the darkest events in the galaxy unfold, when she could’ve potentially stopped it.

However, anyone who watched The Clone Wars will almost certainly argue something different. The entire point of Ahsoka’s story is that she fell out with the Jedi Order because she thought they had lost their way – and as it turns out, she was right. It’s been examined in everything from Star Wars Rebels to the Original Trilogy films, as surviving Jedi like Obi-Wan, Yoda, or Kanan all struggle with the hindsight that the Jedi Order got too into politics and war to see the Sith threat against them with clarity. That blindness led to the rise of the dark side across the galaxy – but it was a blindness that Ahsoka didn’t share. Ahsoka stayed on her own path and followed the light, and when her former masters were either dead, hiding, or corrupted, she fought on in their place and helped steer the galaxy back into the light, and bring balance back to the Force (see: Star Wars Rebels), and apparently did so more than once (see: The Rise of Skywalker).

If the Jedi Order had listened to and trusted in Ahsoka more, it may have lasted longer.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars is now streaming on Disney+.