The end of Season 2 of Rebels left fans with a lot of questions about the outcome of Ahsoka’s story. What happened to her? We’ve recently got a little bit of info about where she may have ended up, but don’t expect a concrete answer. The answer is a bit abstract, but very intriguing. Possible spoilers for Rebels below, so be careful!
Star Wars card trader released some new cards drawn by none other than Clone Wars and Rebels supervising director Dave Filoni. If anyone knows the fate of Ahsoka, it’s Dave. thewookieegunner.com had a thoughtful review of these cards, and analyzed the meaning of most of them. Check out that article! She was probably the first to analyze these images, and her ideas have propagated throughout the web, so credit where it’s due. For now, let’s take a quick look at some of the most interesting cards.
Two of the cards show the mysterious “owl”, known as the “condor”. Here they are:
To me, it is pretty clear that the convor is leading Ahsoka. More specifically, it appears based on the sequence of images, that it is leading her into the water. We actually discussed the convor and the meaning of the convor in a previous article. If we go back to some of Filoni’s quotes about the convor, he says in an IGN interview (emphasis mine):
It’s a subtle thing that if you know what the owl represents, then it deepens the lore of the whole thing and you go, “Okay, there are things at work here that are beyond our reckoning.” In some ways, I could say that it’s a messenger, it’s an observer.
So the idea of it being just an observer doesn’t jibe with the speculation that the owl is leading Ahsoka, so maybe it is just observing her. However, something about these images suggests a more active role. Filoni continues to call the convor and “avatar”, which many have concluded means an avatar for the “Daughter” from the Mortiss arc. This is plausibly the best theory, but I’m open to other possibilities.
The next images are a little more confusing. First, we see Ahsoka continuing to wade through the water that the convor appeared to lead her to.
Definitely, there are a lot of connections in literature to consciousness and water. Water symbolizes the unconscious, and the surface of the water can symbolize consciousness. We discussed this in the context of prequels, where water is a pervasive theme. In the context of these images, it would appear that Ahsoka is delving into some sort of realm of consciousness, possibly to some part of the ethereal plane of the Force. This journey could mean that she has transformed into something else. Johnamarie speculates that this could be something like a Force ghost, but different.
Recently, in the latest episode of Rebel Force Radio, a guest, Toronto musician, Din, from “The Soles” made a comparison to Gandalf returning as “Gandalf the White” (In fact, it was this episode that brought these drawings to my attention). Could Ahsoka return as some other form? Perhaps these images suggest that she has passed on to some other plane of the Force. Such a transition could take Star Wars into mythological directions beyond a lot of what has come before, and could be interesting if done well.
Lastly, we have this image:
With Ahsoka looking up, and with a circle surrounded by wolves. Johnamarie quotes Dave Filoni about these last couple of images:
These are the most revealing. The most interesting, I think, because it starts to get into really these kind of psychological, subconsciousness–what is this journey into the underworld mean. It’s obviously Ahsoka in that doorway. What does that mean?
Johnamarie concludes that she doesn’t know what this means. I’m not completely sure either, but it sounds like she has possibly changed form so that she can travel to another realm of the Force. The wolves surrounding her in the last image are especially interesting. There are a few examples of wolves in Star Wars, including a species of wolf native to Endor. Perhaps the most interesting examples were also seen on Rebels:
As pointed out by Johnamarie, there are wolves in paintings on the walls of the Jedi Temple on Lothal. To me, this suggests that in the Star Wars Galaxy, these wolves are tied to the ethereal plane. The Jedi Temples are definitely connected to the mysteries of the unknown, and these paintings suggest that ancient Jedi dwelling the temple had experienced these wolves, perhaps within the temple. I think the way they are depicted in this painting, with humanoids riding them, suggests that they transport people, or spirits, from place to place in this ethereal plane. My interpretation is that these wolves symbolize Ahsoka being transported to some part of the Netherworld of the Force.
In fact, the universe of possibilities in the world of the unknown has been expanding since the prequels. In addition to “Force ghosts”, Qui-gon was able to retain his consciousness after death, but not retain his form. This is also debatable since he has appeared in full form to various people, such as to Obi Wan on Mortiss. That said, he had to appear to Yoda as glowing orbs on Dagobah, suggesting that he might be limited in how he can appear. The “Lost Missions” from the Clone Wars also expanded the possibilities to planes beyond the physical world that are connected to the Force. So it is certainly possible that Ahsoka has transformed into something else. But how? In a universe where Jedi can disappear and return as ghosts, anything is possible. Time will tell how Ahsoka’s transformation will be revealed on screen, but speculation is half the fun.
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