Did Anakin’s Spirit Really Appear to Ahsoka? Here’s Our Theory

One of the things that we know about Star Wars is that anything seems to be possible when it comes to the Force due to how mysterious this cosmic power is. In that regard, we know that Ahsoka Tano ended up in the mysterious realm called the World Between Worlds, which is one of the most incredible planes of existence in Star Wars. In ‘Ahsoka,’ she saw Anakin Skywalker in that realm. But did Anakin’s spirit really appear to Ahsoka?

Anakin Skywalker’s spirit really did appear to Ahsoka. This Anakin wasn’t just Ahsoka’s memory of him appearing in the World Between Worlds because he made references to events that took place after he and Ahsoka parted ways. As such, Anakin’s spirit came to Ahsoka as a vision created by the Force itself.

It is important to take note that Anakin did indeed become one with the Force upon his death, as he appeared as a Force Ghost to Luke after the events of ‘Return of the Jedi.’ In that regard, it wouldn’t be too off for him to appear to Ahsoka in the World Between Worlds, which is a realm that is said to be a conduit between life and death. Let’s look at whether or not it was actually Anakin who Ahsoka saw.

Anakin appeared as how Ahsoka remembered him

In episode 4 of ‘Ahsoka,’ we saw at the end that Ahsoka ended up in the World Between Worlds and saw Anakin Skywalker. But in episode 5, she was quick to make a comment about how Anakin looked the same as he did when they first parted. This was the very same Anakin that Ahsoka remembered back when they last saw one another near the end of the Clone Wars. And as the episode progressed, Ahsoka started to replay events that happened to her during the Clone Wars.

This made people think that the Anakin shown in the World Between Worlds was not real because the Force was probably just creating a recreation of Anakin as Ahsoka remembered him. If that was actually Anakin, he could have appeared as an older version of himself instead of a younger version.

But the thing is that even the Force Ghost of Anakin in the re-released version of ‘Return of the Jedi’ was the young version instead of the older version. Of course, in ‘Ahsoka,’ Anakin would have preferred to appear as his younger self because that was the version that Ahsoka was familiar with. After all, he would have wanted to appear in a form that his apprentice was familiar and comfortable with so that he could drive the point that he wanted to drive.

Anakin references ‘Return of the Jedi’

Another thing to consider was that Anakin also referenced events and things that happened after he and Ahsoka parted ways. Some theories say that this version of Anakin was just the Force recreating him from Ahsoka’s memories. But the fact that he references events that Ahsoka wasn’t familiar with proves that he was the real deal.

The most prominent of the references that Anakin makes is when he tells Ahsoka to choose between living or dying as he draws his lightsaber to challenge her to a duel. Ahsoka told him that she wouldn’t fight him, to which he replied that he had heard that before. Star Wars fans would know that Anakin was referring to the time when he and Luke were forced to fight one another during the events of ‘Return of the Jedi.’

In that scene, Luke tells Vader that he won’t fight him. Anakin was clearly referring to this moment because he understood that Ahsoka and Luke were similar to one another in the sense that they both loved him and weren’t willing to fight him for no real reason at all.

Of course, Ahsoka wasn’t aware of everything that happened between Vader and Luke. She might have heard stories about the things that happened to them, but she wasn’t entirely privy to the conversations between the two. As such, she wouldn’t have known that Luke told his father that he didn’t want to fight him.

This further strengthens the theory that this was actually Anakin’s spirit that the Force recreated in the World Between Worlds and isn’t just the Anakin that Ahsoka has in her memories. After all, Ahsoka wasn’t there when Luke told Vader that he didn’t want to fight him. As such, if this was just a version of Anakin from Ahsoka’s memories, he wouldn’t have told Ahsoka that he heard that statement before.

Anakin didn’t want his downfall to weigh Ahsoka down

Of course, the biggest reason why this version of Anakin was actually the real deal and wasn’t just a memory is related to the fact that he was aware of what his inner darkness had done to him. Throughout the entire time that he was dueling Ahsoka, he tried to make her embrace her past and the fact that she was part of a bigger legacy that included Anakin, Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, Dooku, Yoda, and all of the other Jedi who passed their knowledge down from their masters to their apprentices.

Anakin wanted Ahsoka to accept that there was an inner darkness within her, just like there has always been darkness in every single Jedi who ever lived. But while there was darkness within Ahsoka, Anakin also wanted her to understand that she didn’t have to hold back just because she feared turning to the dark side, just like he did.

This means that this version of Anakin was already the redeemed version because he already understood the consequences of his actions when he turned to the dark side. While Anakin didn’t want his apprentice to turn to the dark side, he still wanted her to live a full life instead of regretting what had happened to him long ago while avoiding any meaningful attachments just because he turned to the dark side.

This means that this version of Anakin was not just a memory within Ahsoka’s head. Instead, it was actually Anakin himself, as he had already accepted what happened to him and what he did when he turned into Darth Vader. Had this been a memory of Anakin, he wouldn’t have known the consequences of his actions. And most importantly, he wouldn’t have tried to teach Ahsoka a lesson about what it meant to live. 

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