#with the exception of Baylan

[skoulsons]

Active shower thoughts

“You won’t help?”

vs

“I can help you”

And shin looks distraught when the latter is said to her

[the-marshals-wife]

☾ Baylan Skoll and Shin Hati ☀︎ moodboards

[furious-blueberry0]

I've been rethinking about the Ahsoka serie for a while and I realized that I'm not really the biggest fan of it...

But since I don't like to spread too much negativity on things I otherwise enjoyed I decided to make a checklist of the things I liked about it:

Sabine's haircutting scene as a parallel to Kanan's one, both of them prepering to save the people they love

Sabine using Ezra's lightsaber was cool, even though I would have prefered her not being a Force sensitive

CAPTAIN CARSON TEVA!

Lothal and the mural

MY GENOCIDAL BOY CHOPPER!!!!

MY SASSY BOY HUYANG!!!!!!!

THE GOLDEN BOY HIMSELF C3PO!!!!!!!!!

I love Star Wars droids, okay? okay

Little Jacen, and the scene where he heard Ahsoka and Anakin's duel

ALSO HIS PAULDRON, A MINI VERSION OF KANAN'S!!!

Hera basically telling the senator to fuck off and let her do her job

How Shin's grey palette is in direct contrast to Sabine's explosion of colours.

Baylan Skoll's journey to the Mortis gods (apparentely)

The whole WBW sequence

I cried at that, two times

Ahsoka going to take the clone's hand

Anakin with the Darth Vader flashes

How it took this sequence to make me realize how much PTSD Ahsoka must have from the war and everything that happened after

Ariana Greenblatt as young Ahsoka

The way they retconned the atrocious tube top

The way her Akul theet Headress looked. I never liked how it was in TCW

AHSOKA THE WHITE!!!

THE PURGILL'S SEQUENCE!! AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!

"A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away..."

THE CRAB PEOPLE

Ezra aka Space Moses

The Great Mothers

"For the Empire" "... for Dathomir"

Morgan and Ashoka's duel

ANAKIN'S FORCE GHOST

[yardikins]

WHERE ARE THE BLACK SERIES FIGURES FOR THESE TWO 💔

[naur-shaddaa]

I'm still sorting out my mixed feelings re: Ahsoka, but I'll say it felt a little bit like a love letter to Anakin Skywalker (and to Hayden as Anakin) and for that I could never hate it.

[firerose]

A little teaser for an au I thought of recently……..

What if the sequels had been different?

What if they had more buildup/and a new original villain?

What if Baylan and Shin went to Peridea on their own ( The whole Thrawn, Rebels, Ahsoka stuff happening in the unknown regions being its own series while Peridea would be solely Baylan and Shins)

What if the power calling to Baylan would have been Snoke?

A being bitter and obsessed with breaking the forces cycle just like Baylan

What if Baylan and Shin would have been the reason Snoke was unleashed to our galaxy?

What if Baylan somehow died leaving young scared Shin alone alone with this dark creature that clouds her mind with lies and manipulation (Just like Kylo)

What if Shin would have been a part of the first order in the Sequels?

What if she would have been the founder of the knights of Ren?

[warsavant]

the good news is since his current allies in force users are dathomir witches and a... former inquisitor? who is very content with his apprentice, thrawn is highly unlikely to attempt to kidnap leia organa, and in this case her small son, this time around.

[incorrectpizza]

So. The scene with Baylan, and the map. I've seen some mixed reactions to it. I feel a little torn on it myself but overall I feel like it works.

I was mad at Sabine in that moment but not necessarily at the writing because I can understand why she made the choice she did. Natasha Liu Bordizzo made me buy it. The tortured pain in Sabine's face shows she knows it's the wrong decision but she can't help herself.

It felt very Trials of the Darksaber to me. Except, this time, she's ACTUALLY lost her biological family. And her found family. And her "master". She doesn't have Kanan there guiding her, holding her back, helping her work through things. She's alone. And Baylan's manipulating her, pushing all her buttons.

It felt very Sabine like in that moment, for her to be reckless and stupid and selfish. She's lost everything. She's the girl who was broken. Yes, she healed before, but then she was shattered again. She failed. She failed Kanan, failed Ezra, failed Ursa and Alrich and Tristan, failed Ahsoka. And now all she wants is to risk it all for the one person she still has a shot at saving. Is that too much for her to ask?

[squidthoughts]

why doesn't shin leave?

that's the question, right? there are secondary ones, of course – why didn't she kill sabine/was she sandbagging their duel/did she intentionally perform a nonfatal stabbing/was she sent there to interact with sabine at all, or just for the map.... but really, my question at the end of ep1 was:

why is she waiting here at all?

"we've been looking for this," shin says, and that's what, an accusation? conversation-starter? she's here to talk? maybe, okay – except she's actively thieving, so what can she be expecting by sticking around but a fight? so she secures the map and she waits for sabine. to fight her. but the question is still why and in my unqualified opinion i think the answer is found back here:

"ahsoka tano's former apprentice is on lothal."

what do we know about baylan? he was a jedi, once. he witnessed the purge of his order and adapted to a life of survival – he maintains certain jedi traditions, he passes these traditions to his padawan: the braid, the traditional construction of the lightsaber, if not the crystal inside (standing mystery, though). he is nostalgic but not melancholy, connected perhaps to the more elegant and noble history of the jedi but evidently strongly opposed to assuming that title at present.

what do we know about shin? well...almost nothing. except that when baylan speaks, shin listens. she obeys unquestioningly. when morgan speaks, shin watches baylan. they are close; there is mutual trust, though clearly more dependency on shin's side. and she is likely – though not certainly – born after order 66.

i'm confident answers will be forthcoming about shin's past, but in the meantime, working with the (very!!) little we have, assuming the subtle intricacies of the shot direction and ivanna's acting are all intentional, and with the full disclaimer that im brainrotty for wolfwren......i want to answer my original question.

shin has never seen another apprentice before. beyond baylan and inquisitors (apparently), she has probably never seen another lightsaber-wielder before. and yet – her master, while scorning the label of jedi, is steeped in jedi history. he seems to be training her according to some traditional jedi principles (though...what with the mass-murder and the mercenary work, of course we don't yet know the extent of those principles), and it would follow that he would have imparted the history of the jedi as well.

baylan skoll is not a jedi. but ahsoka tano is. or, was. but the antagonist squad refers to her as a jedi, so from shin's perspective it's not just "ahsoka tano's apprentice" on lothal. she is being told there is a real, live jedi apprentice on lothal.

and the jedi are extinct.

we're into the rampant speculation part of the meta now, because what is shin thinking in this moment?

there's a green lightsaber before her – a jedi apprentice before her – or at least the former-apprentice-of-a-jedi, but shin is the apprentice-of-a-former-jedi, and at some point the semantics get in the way of the exhilaration. this is probably (again, this whole thing could get disproven in the next episode or something) the first lightsaber battle shin has ever had with someone who might actually kill her. (i assume baylan wouldn't engage in prolicide while sparring.)

this is, i think, shin at her most excited. on the one hand – it's another apprentice! it's another member of an order (her order??) that was supposed to be wiped out! this is proof of concept maybe, that shin isn't so alone! and on the other hand – this is a test, no? like, the first real test of shin's full abilities, assuming she's never dueled before? again, i wish we knew more about her motivations, but it stands to reason a padawan that powerful and devoted would constantly be looking for ways to both prove and improve herself, right?

and then. sabine. sucks.

she's sloppy and weak and doesn't use the force. she's untrained and undisciplined and slow and gets tired too quickly.

shin starts blocking with one hand. she starts sidestepping sabine's wild swings. there's no way she's is trying to kill her at this point; shin is playing with her food.

i just...think she's disappointed?? like, she was probably expecting so much more from a proper jedi's apprentice, and i think we'd need more information about her to extrapolate what exactly she wants in this scene, but i'd be willing to bet it wasn't this sub-par, former-apprentice bitch-ass fight. (love to sabine but like. she did get her clock cleaned. obviously.)

regardless, i am excited to see how this experience influences the forestfight™ we know is on the way...and also if sabine, like, feels...anything....about being skewered like a county fair corn dog?? i mean trauma or anger or fear or drive or?? bc we know shin wasn't actually trying to kill her, (this is my official stance and im sticking to it) but sabine sure doesn't!!

[illuminatedquill]

Sabine Wren & Ahsoka Tano (Quick Analysis)

Fear is The Path

Alright, let's get into it.

For this post we're going to take a look into the Master/Apprentice relationship between Ahsoka Tano and Sabine Wren. Specifically, I'm going to be looking into why Ahsoka felt it necessary to walk away from Sabine's training as a Jedi.

In Ahsoka, we're pointed to a major historical event known as the Great Purge of Mandalore being the catalyst; the Empire carpet bombing the planet surface, killing millions of Mandalorians, scattering the remaining survivors to the stars and, for Sabine, causing the loss of her entire family: Alrich Wren (father), Countess Ursa Wren (mother), and Tristan Wren (brother).

Ahsoka, for reasons only known to herself, abandoned Sabine's Jedi training shortly after this event. We're given some insight via Huyang in Ahsoka 1x08, however:

Huyang: Ahsoka became afraid that Sabine was training to be a Jedi for the wrong reasons after what happened on Mandalore. Ezra: Which was? Huyang: At the end of the war, the Empire purged the entire surface of the planet, killing hundreds of thousands. Ezra: Her family? Huyang: Were all lost, sadly. At the time, Ahsoka felt that if Sabine unlocked her potential, she would become dangerous.

However, it's clear that Huyang doesn't have the full picture of the fallout between Ahsoka and Sabine. Sabine herself only has her own warped view of why Ahsoka left, as evidenced by Baylan's manipulation in Ahsoka 1x04:

Baylan: I know you feel that Ezra Bridger is the only family you have left. Your family died on Mandalore . . . because your Master didn't trust you.

Piecing together the, admittedly, few clues we have paints the picture that Ahsoka prevented Sabine from helping her family during the Purge - which led to their deaths.

It's understandable that Sabine would have been outraged; both at the loss of her family, her people, her way of life and also at her Master who, for whatever reason, did not want Sabine present on Mandalore to save her family.

Until Dave Filoni reveals the exact details of what happened during that event, we're left with speculation. My personal take is simply this: Ahsoka did not want Sabine to die alongside her family. It's what makes the most amount of sense to me.

Ahsoka cares about Sabine, like any Master would do for their student.

So - Sabine loses everything and begins to take steps towards a turn to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger; anger leads to hate; hate leads to suffering, as Master Yoda says. Ahsoka, sensing this dark rage bloom in her student, decides to stop the training out of fear that Sabine becomes another Vader.

Except. That doesn't make any sense to me.

Because Ahsoka Tano is who she is.

Ahsoka survived her own Purge. The fall of the Jedi Order, her home, and the institution that she pledged most of her life to, the only family she had ever known.

Ahsoka knows this pain. She is, arguably, the best suited to steer Sabine away from a potential turn to the Dark Side after her student loses everything in the same way that she did.

Actress Rosario Dawson - and backed up by the hat man himself - has stated that Ahsoka has had plenty of opportunities to turn to the Dark Side. She's fought through two Galactic Civil Wars, seen everyone she loved die, and has been betrayed by the people she fought so hard to protect.

And, yet, Ahsoka Tano never turned. She stayed on her path, long and winding as it may be, and continued to serve the Light in the best way she knew how.

At some point, she takes on Sabine as a Padawan, seeing echoes of Anakin in her. Yes, there's the anger and the recklessness there that makes Ahsoka uneasy, but that's always been a part of Sabine's character. It's nothing new. She decided to take Sabine Wren as her apprentice, anyway, and it worked fine until the Purge.

So, what happened? What changed? What was the growing darkness in her Padawan that convinced Ahsoka Tano that the best course of action was to abandon the Jedi training - abandon Sabine entirely - at a time when she needed counseling the most?

Attachment. Sabine's attachment to Ezra.

Dave Filoni and the actress for Sabine Wren, the fantastic Natasha Liu Bordizzo, have both pointed out that there are echoes of Anakin in Sabine. In separate interviews, both spoke about the anger and recklessness in Sabine - but, more interesting, they did not acknowledge the major factor in Anakin's downfall.

Anakin's attachment to his loved ones. His inability to let go.

It's bizarre that they didn't talk about this and I suspect that it's on purpose. Because that is arguably the biggest reason why Anakin fell to the Dark Side. The anger and the recklessness were all symptoms of this larger issue for Anakin Skywalker.

And Ahsoka Tano sensed the same in Sabine Wren.

Let's look at evidence from another Filoni series, The Mandalorian. From episode 2x05, The Jedi, when Ahsoka is re-introduced into the Star Wars universe.

There's a pivotal moment when she meets Grogu and Force communes with him to get a sense of his history.

She senses "great fear and anger" in him at the beginning; it makes her wary, of course, but it doesn't seem to perturb her.

However, when Din asks if she can teach him, Ahsoka flatly rejects the idea for this reason:

What she says is vitally important:

Ahsoka: His attachment to you makes him vulnerable to his fears. His anger. Din: All the more reason to train him. Ahsoka: No. I've seen what such feelings can do to a fully trained Jedi Knight. To the best of us.

That's where Ahsoka draws the line in the sand; it's not the anger that scares her - it's Grogu's attachment to Din.

And, mind you, the timeline of this episode occurs after Ahsoka and Sabine had their split. So, even though she's clearly referencing Anakin here, I don't doubt that Sabine is also on her mind.

Think about it. Sabine has just lost everything - except for Ezra. The anger is something Ahsoka can deal with, but Sabine's attachment to Ezra is not; she knows it's the primary reason for Anakin's downfall and she was powerless to stop it.

That's what drives Ahsoka away. That is what scares her. She couldn't be there for Anakin, was blind to what was happening; and now, it's happening with Sabine.

The only path Ahsoka can see forward is to leave Sabine; prevent her Padawan from reaching full potential. It's an awful course to take and it leaves Sabine stranded, feeling alone, at a time when she needed mentorship and guidance the most.

But it's all Ahsoka can think of. She cares about Sabine and is too blinded by her own fears to believe in her own ability to stop Sabine from falling into the same darkness that took Anakin.

Sabine only has Ezra now with Ahsoka gone. He's the only one she can save now, the only one she can do anything for. The loss of her family has caused her attachment, her feelings for Ezra, to sharpen into something deadly: possessiveness. The exact feeling that Jedi warned against.

Why didn't Ahsoka stop this from happening earlier?

Because this is Sabine and Ezra; we know Sabine and Ezra were close, as did Ahsoka. It's probable that Sabine's feelings were gradually heading in this direction and the Purge just gave it a decisive push to the inevitable conclusion.

Ahsoka, also, presumably knew how Sabine felt the entire time and didn't want to have an honest talk with her Padawan about it.

Because it's Sabine and Ahsoka herself was still operating under the influence of Anakin's legacy as Vader; she was scared to bring it out into the open, because she didn't know what to do if her fears were confirmed about Sabine's feelings.

I mean, it's obvious that this isn't the first time they've probably talked about this, as evidenced by this scene in Ahsoka 1x04:

Ahsoka knows. She comes the closest in this scene, out of everyone else in Sabine's life, to directly confront Sabine about her true feelings for her old friend.

She knows that there's more going on underneath the surface of Sabine regarding her feelings towards Ezra. It's not a conversation she wants to have in this moment (just look at the body language), but there's no other choice - not with the stakes this high.

There is no way that this is the first time Ahsoka has broached the subject about Ezra with her Padawan and, knowing Sabine, she probably walked away from every attempt a little more worried.

But Ahsoka refused to really have that open conversation with Sabine, settling only for these half-hearted comments and, in doing so, set up her student for failure. Sabine was unprepared; had no way of being vigilant towards her worst enemy - herself.

Ahsoka's actions, caused by fear of herself and Anakin's legacy, left Sabine vulnerable to her feelings.

They had been growing all this time and now, with no one to temper them, were allowed to become something more - something dangerous.

The Purge happened. Sabine's family died. Her people died. Mandalore was lost.

After that, Sabine had nothing left to lose. Her attachment to Ezra, her love for him - it made her vulnerable to her fear. Just as Ahsoka feared it would.

Sabine couldn't lose Ezra. Her love for him - her fear of losing him, like her family - dictated that no sacrifice was too great; no cost, too high.

And Baylan used it as the perfect weapon against her. "Do it. For Ezra."

We know the rest.

Sabine gambled. The galaxy lost.

Fear won.

[incorrect-kotor-quotes]

Thinking back on the Ahsoka series, I know many people, myself included, drew parallels between Baylan Skoll and Kreia. They both show a pretty cynical outlook, and Baylan's plan is likely rooted in distrust of the Force, much like Kreia's. That's about where the similarities end.

Whereas Kreia infamously cannot shut the hell up, Baylan is the opposite, excessively cryptic. One reason I find Baylan more sympathetic than Kreia is that he at least thinks he's going to help people once he... does whatever he's attempting to do. Kreia pays lip service to the idea of helping people by rejecting the Force, but it's pretty obvious manipulation and her actions aren't meant to help anyone except herself.

I think the better comparison is between Baylan and the Exile.

Both were Jedi Generals, both were among the few survivors of the Jedi Order's near-extinction. What really sets Baylan apart from Kreia and makes him closer to the Exile is choosing to teach Shin. In an age of darkness where many Force-sensitives never discovered their power, Baylan found one and trained her. Certainly a non-traditional apprenticeship, but still with elements of Jedi culture, like Shin's padawan braid. The foundation is presumably similar. Shin thinks of herself as a Jedi, though Baylan says she's something "more" than a Jedi, whatever that means. Explain yourself, you enticingly vague dilf.

As far as we know, Baylan never joined the Sith/Empire at any point, to any degree. He wasn't an inquisitor, or any kind of imperial agent, and he seems to loathe Vader specifically. How he and Shin survived for decades is uncertain, but they must've kept themselves far from galactic society, far from the Empire. In exile. There's no loyalty to Thrawn, the admiral just happened to be where Baylan wanted to go and Thrawn's followers could help him get there. When he recalls the Jedi, he's saddened they were killed and wants to understand why it happened. The Order wasn't what Baylan wanted it to be. He's devastated that it's gone.

Baylan's not dark, he's wounded.

[flilisskywalker]

I feel like people are not understanding the gravity of Sabine's arc. It's obviously not just about finding Ezra. This is clearly not just about bringing him home. It's clearly about her wanting to BE WITH HIM. Whatever that means to you.

Baylan read her thoughts.

She feels Ezra is the only family (Whatever that means to you, but don't tell me this term is exclusively platonic) she has left, even though we know the rest of the Ghost Crew (Except Kanan, Force bless his soul) is alive.

Her goal as Baylan says is to be reunited with her long-lost friend, but then Thrawn points out that's not simply her goal: That's her DESIRE.

And she accepted the possibility of being stranded in that galaxy forever with Ezra. That's literally what she wants. To be with the person who understands her the most, this dorky man she has witty banter with, who always paid attention to her and tried to cheer her up.

She wants the happy ending she couldn't get in Rebels and now, she will have to fight for it like she always has.

Going even further. Baylan asks Sabine in Part 4: "Do it. FOR EZRA." , but in Part 6, Ahsoka says: "A choice she made FOR HERSELF."

Finding him has nothing to do with fulfilling some promise like the ending of Rebels implied. The mission aspect of it is just a cover.

Sabine wants Ezra.

[isagrimorie]

I love the look on Sabine's face when Thrawn was giving his final taunts to Ahsoka:

This was the part that gave Ahsoka pause.

Sabine also takes a beat, she freezes and it makes me wonder how much Ahsoka shared with Sabine about Anakin and who he became.

Her issues aren't over. Just because she's wearing white doesn't mean her issues are over, especially with the fear that she could become like Anakin and Fall.

I actually clapped when Thrawn said, 'Ronin.' Bokken, ronin, a few Japanese words mixed in Basic.

Can I just say?

Is such an Anakin move. She learned it from her Master, and the mere fact that she was seems to intimidate Thrawn a lot.

But also, this goes to show that Thrawn doesn't know Ahsoka because she can be negotiated with.

What does he really want out of this? I know he's being called Heir to the Empire, but why would he want that?

People can talk to Ahsoka. Maul almost got to Ahsoka, but he kind of bungled his way out of a possible alliance with Ahsoka.

Ahsoka can be reasonable in the way Anakin couldn't be. She's able to make an alliance with pirates that almost killed her and the kids under her care.

It's the same with Baylan, except he didn't talk with Ahsoka but passed judgment immediately.

[aymethyst]

Ahsoka offers Shin a hand, a new start. A chance to start over after a heavy defeat, except that would be betrayal to Baylan. Baylan who was already beytrayed by the clones after his life of service to them as their general during the clone war that lead to the extinction of the Jedi Order, both who he had once blindly but his trust in. Plus Sabine’s betrayal to her master is what got them here in the first place. Going against direct orders for her own gain. Yet here her master is, back from the dead, defending her despite practically endangering her masters mission and the galaxy’s whole future, going rogue making up her own mission, for a /chance/ that an old friend is still alive. /That/ is what interests Shin in the first place. That refusal of black and white thinking, taking risks with huge consequences, Shin never thought was possible, only foolish. A world of possibilities await, yet its dangerous, and she’d be alone or at least without her master, the only one who truly knows her and her strength after all these years. What if something went wrong? She’d end up on her own, in a galaxy far far away with no way to reach back to her master, /if/ he would even take her back. Would all her training be for nothing? Would she no longer have a purpose in this universe? How can Sabine make such a rash decision that could ultimately lead to their destruction, so quickly and with confidence. She sees something she wants, and she goes for it. Doesnt matter who stands in her way. Quickly turning her back as she leaves, Shin can see the desperate urge in Sabines eyes, locked in on her, but this time Ahsoka is there to reign her in. Its too intense a gaze, knowing Sabine will do all in her power to make her own path come true. But this time, Shin knowns, this time Sabine is coming for her, and to make it even worse, she isn’t coming for just a fight and wont take no for an answer.

[hobbitkiller]

I find it interesting how much Ahsoka keeps referencing fate and destiny. Morgan, Ahsoka, and Baylan have all talked about fate, the future, and whether it’s clear or clouded.

I also find it interesting that the Nightsisters were able to see everything coming to pass except for Sabine, which is part of why they saw her as dangerous. They had this very clear plan that they had been working on, and Sabine comes in as a wild card.

To me this says Morgan was always going to make it to Peridea whether or not Sabine helped—which makes sense given I’m fairly certain Sabine wouldn’t have been able to destroy the map given Baylan could have easily just killed her before she did. Her being present has the potential to unravel whatever threads of fate are at play.

[pandora15]

okay i'm gonna rant a lot (like. a LOT) about the ahsoka series and most of it is like. pretty critical, so please skip if you love the series! (you're valid and there are things I did like about the show i'm just. frustrated and tired i guess)

i think i just really miss animated ahsoka and like. ahsoka having actual flaws y'know? and like being an actual character that I can relate to.

it bothers me SO much that she like. has no reverence or even respect for all the jedi who mentored her, to the point that she won't even mention them? instead she mentions anakin, who yes had a major role in her training, obviously, but he's also the source of a lot of her trauma. HE'S the one who stormed the temple and killed jedi. he's the one who spent years afterwards hunting down the rest and killing them — the same people who took ahsoka in when she was a child and raised her.

literally, anakin is the one who tried to kill HER in rebels.

but it's fine because "he's the only one who stood by her even when no one else would" right? and "he was a good master" because he left recordings for her and taught her to survive and —

like okay.

okay.

anakin and ahsoka's relationship is wonderful and important and I love their dynamic in TCW. seeing anakin be in a position of mentorship was really cool, and ahsoka's personality worked with his PERFECTLY.

but TCW also made it a point to see ahsoka be mentored by other jedi, and that was one of the things I loved most about it. we get to see ahsoka with plo koon, with aayla secura, with luminara unduli, with tera sinube, and it was amazing to see all these different jedi and how they're all wonderful and unique and AMAZING through the lens of ahsoka.

but now it's like. she doesn't even mention any of them? in rebels she did mention a few and I was happy to see that, but in the ahsoka series it's like. only anakin, the rest of the jedi don't even matter to her because "wow anakin was the only one who ever stood by me no one else did anything for me"

also damn i used to LOVE sabine. when I was watching rebels I was so in awe of her because she's so cool and interesting and intelligent and has that creative fun side to her as well? and the fact that tiya sircar is an american with bengali origins (just like me) made me feel like. really good about her and her character.

when natasha liu bordizzo was cast as sabine for ahsoka I was pretty disappointed — not because she wasn't asian because she absolutely is, but because to me, sabine was indian-coded. in rebels, her entire family (except for her father iirc) were all portrayed by indian voice actors. that could not have been a coincidence. it was something that I was grateful to see — that I can see interesting, intriguing characters in animation and in star wars that look like me.

but like, fine. I decided to look past it and try to be excited for the show.

but now I feel like sabine is like. a totally different character who she was in rebels. and I understand that the show tries to write off her change in personality as grief over what had happened to her family, but it just doesn't feel like a logical direction from where she is at the end of rebels to where she is at the beginning of ahsoka. maybe if the show decided to take more time to explain what happened during that time or even gave us some flashbacks to that time, i'd be more accepting of it but it doesn't. it just feels jarring to me.

more than that, sabine literally condemns the home galaxy to whatever thrawn will end up doing in his attempts to bring back the empire because she gave baylan the map. rebels sabine would never have done that. it's as though she completely forgot not only what kanan sacrificed when he died, but also ezra at the end of rebels.

and the fact that we don't see ezra finding out about what sabine did (and we likely never will) is INFURIATING to me. like????? this is such an important thing and he doesn't know about it?

and we think about the fact that sabine doing all of this for ezra is something that's like. so attachment-coded and such a central theme of star wars but then not really facing any consequences for doing that is like. hello????? it almost feels like the show is encouraging unhealthy attachment, which is extremely counter to what star wars and being a jedi is all about.

and to be clear, the concept of a character in their thirties who was previously considered non-force sensitive training to become a jedi but struggling to reach the force is definitely interesting. i feel like if it was done for a different character, I may have been more on board for it. the problem with it being sabine is that I feel like this arc is almost at the expense of the arc she had in rebels and it takes away from the aspects of her personality that I really enjoyed in rebels -- like her art??? her mandalorian identity????

i would've also been okay with her like. becoming someone like chirrut imwe — like being someone who believes in the force and the jedi way, and like seeking internal balance for herself, but her becoming force sensitive "because she trained and trained and really wanted it so badly for literal years" (even though rebels never showed us that she wanted to be a jedi, even when she was literally living with two of them and learned solely to use a lightsaber from kanan).

also no one tell chirrut imwe that he could've become force sensitive all this time, he just wasn't trying hard enough i guess. RIP.

okay another random topic change.

i'm eternally GRATEFUL that we didn't end up seeing ahsoka taking obi-wan's place on mustafar to fight anakin because that would've. i probably would've turned off my tv right then and there. (there was a leak about obi-wan's dead body being shown i'm assuming on mustafar but who knows. and genuinely i think that would've traumatized me. i'm not kidding.) i was so NERVOUS about this happening, and i'm really glad it didn't. here's hoping they don't do it in season 2 or whatever ends up coming next for ahsoka.

(ewan please stay away from the mando-verse shows i'm begging)

that being said, looking back at ahsoka's journey from start to where we are now, I just feel sad. I feel like we hit such a beautiful ending point to her arc at the end of rebels and now this show completely soured it for me. I have no idea how they're going to resolve it from here, and I'm getting this sinking feeling that we're never going to get to a beautiful ending point for her character now because we've gone way too far and there's no way to step it back.

I feel like sabine is like. a completely different character than who she was in rebels. literally, in my head, sabine from rebels is a different person. I think that's the only way I can make sense of this in my head. I can't connect the two together.

anyways, sorry for the long rant, now that it's been almost a week since the finale and I had time to reflect, I'm realizing that I'm not very happy about this series. there are things I did like (ie. ezra, huyang, baylan, shin, the music), but I feel like they really fumbled on the main two characters here and it's really unfortunate.