longer.blue

Anakin promises to finish Ahsoka's training and gives her a choice. "Live or die." She doesn't understand and thinks he is being literal. "I won't fight you." So, Anakin has to teach her in a different way. He brings her back to their shared memories of the Clone Wars, but this only confuses her more. He has to find the right moment. Ryloth. They talk about the cost of war. Something that she has struggled with for a long time in both Clone Wars and Rebels. She feels guilty about her mistakes, her role in the war, and the Clones who died. Anakin admits it bothers him too. They have both seen darkness and they are products of their time. He shifts the topic to his responsibility as her master. Ahsoka uses this to bring up their legacy for the first time. Is fighting all she'll ever have to teach? Anakin counters that she needs to fight to survive. Ahsoka is still only thinking about his question in the literal sense. So Anakin moves on. For a brief moment Ahsoka sees what she is really afraid of. The darkness inside of him - and by extension inside herself. On Mandalore, Anakin praises her strength and touches on their legacy again. Ahsoka tries to counter this twice. She doesn't want to just be a fighter. She doesn't want her legacy to be one of death and war. Anakin denies this and says there is more to both of them. They aren't defined by this. Then Ahsoka finally shows all her cards. The part of their legacy that really bothers her isn't just the war and fighting, but the darkness. Inside of Anakin and inside of herself. Baylan taunted her with this. "Few would live to see what he became, surely that must leave a mark." She was worried Sabine would fall to the dark and stopped her training. She wouldn't mentor Grogu for the same reason. So if she doesn't want to face the darkness, Anakin will have to show her. Once again, the same choice, "Live or Die", but Ahsoka refuses to choose. Fighting Vader as she did during their last meeting, Ahsoka now has to rely on instinct alone. She overpowers him and then for a brief moment her eyes turn yellow. She touches that darkness inside of her, but it doesn't control her. Just like Anakin there is more her than that darkness. It does not define them or their legacy. The light is stronger than that. She is stronger than that. Then her eyes turn normal again. She finally realizes the depth of Anakin's question. It's about choosing to live despite the darkness. Despite the fears and regrets. It's not about just fighting to survive, but about truly living. Anakin says there might be hope for her yet and then Ahsoka is reborn. She still carries these things with her, but they don't weigh her down. Her strength is renewed. She is lighter in every sense of the word. With the help of her master, someone she thought was truly lost to the dark, she has finally faced that darkness. Now she returns as Ahsoka the White. She commits to Sabine's training and promises stand by her no matter what. Sabine had to her own darkness to face this season, but it no longer scares Ahsoka. She even holds out her hand to Shin. No one is ever truly lost. That's such a huge change. From not even daring to train the adorable Grogu to reaching out to this 'enemy'. Then she is tested one more time. Baylan's words about Anakin threw her off balance. Yet when Thrawn later compares her to Anakin, and says "one wonders just how similar you might become," it no longer phases her. As she tells Huyang, she sees the good in Anakin too. He was a good master despite all of it. Now that she embraces that, she sees Anakin for the first time in his brightest form.