How Ahsoka Episode 5 Solves an Important Star Wars Mystery

Warning: This post contains spoilers for Ahsoka episode 5.

Following the blast from Star Wars past who showed up at the end of Ahsoka episode 4, the fifth episode saw Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) take his former Padawan Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) on an actual journey into the past.

Having ended up in the World Between Worlds, a mystical dimension within the Force that touches every point of time and space in the Star Wars universe, Ahsoka was forced to go head to head with Anakin in a lightsaber duel that transported the pair to pivotal points in time of their shared history in order to "finish [her] training."

A younger version of Ahsoka (Ariana Greenblatt) first found herself fighting alongside Anakin in an early battle of the Clone Wars, one of their first missions together. She was then sent to the Siege of Mandalore, where Ahsoka was busy fighting to retake the planet from Darth Maul while Anakin was turning to the Dark Side and betraying the Jedi. As the episode progressed, Anakin began to show more and more signs of his transformation into Darth Vader, culminating in him attacking current Ahsoka with his scarred face, glowing Sith eyes, and red lightsaber back on the translucent plane suspended in the World Between Worlds.

Read more: Breaking Down the Surprise Cameo at the End of Ahsoka Episode 4

However, Ahsoka was ultimately able to best him, declaring that she wanted to live, not die.

"There's hope for you yet," he told her after shifting back into Jedi Anakin mode.

Anakin then disappeared and Ahsoka sank slowly out of the World Between Worlds into the waters of Seatos before being rescued by Hera (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and her squadron. Following her recovery from the ordeal, Ahsoka appeared in new white robes, seeming to signify that she had completed her transformation into "Ahsoka the White," a reference to the wizard Gandalf in Lord of the Rings that is used to describe the version of Ahsoka that emerged from the World Between Worlds in the epilogue of the animated Star Wars series Rebels.

Although the circumstances surrounding her journey to the World Between Worlds were tweaked a bit for the live-action show, what Ahsoka experienced during her time there had not been revealed prior to this.

In order to ascend to a higher plane of Force enlightenment, it seems that Ahsoka ultimately had to learn how to reckon with the ghosts of her past, namely Anakin's dark turn and her belief that her legacy is one of only death and destruction.