No one in the Star Wars community can agree on what lesson Anakin was actually teaching Ahsoka

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Ahsoka episode 5. Make sure you’re up to date before reading any further.

Ahoska episode 5 saw our hero pulled into the World Between Worlds by her former Master, Anakin Skywalker. When there, Hayden Christensen’s Jedi tells her that he’s going to "finish her training", but it’s not explicitly spelled out what lesson he is trying to teach her. Naturally, the Star Wars community is up for a debate. Below, we’ve gone into some of the big theories about what is actually going on, and whether Ahsoka manages to learn it by the end of the World Between Worlds sequence.

Ahsoka is more than her past

Star Wars fan AdamOtaku argues that the lesson is all about Ahsoka Tano coming to terms with her former master becoming Darth Vader. "Ahsoka is held back by the guilt of being the legacy of the person who turned into Darth Vader," they wrote in a lengthy post on Reddit, pointing out that Anakin’s lesson is to show her she’s more than this. They argue that Ahsoka must not only reckon with what Anakin became in the flashbacks but also overpower that evil, referencing that Sith eyes moment. AdamOtaku adds, "Anakin is helping her move forward by re-contextualizing her past: to show that his legacy to her was greater than she thought and that just because Vader was a part of that legacy doesn't mean she can't make her own choices. Ahsoka is now ready to move forward again and live again, literally."

Ahsoka is a soldier who must choose to live

Young Ahsoka in episode 5 — (Image credit: Disney/Lucasfilm)

Fan Powerful_Loan_5836 has another theory, based around the direct circumstances that Ahsoka is in at that specific moment. She’s dying, and she needs to be reminded of her fighting background in order to push herself to live. "The point of these visions was to show that she IS a warrior, just like she was trained to be," they suggest. "It’s not the life she wanted, it’s not the life she deserved, but it’s the life that she was given. She was trained from far too young an age to be a soldier; that is the weight she’s carried all these years. The Jedi found her, and all her abilities and pimped her out to fight a worthless war."

Anakin needed to save someone he loved

Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker in Ahsoka — (Image credit: Disney/Lucasfilm)

Okay, this one is pretty heartbreaking. Similar to the previous theory, user ViciousSquirrelz shared their own opinion on Reddit, arguing that it was all about Anakin trying to convince Ahsoka to live. However, it was for a poignant reason. "Ahsoka was ready to die and in the process of dying," they write. "We all know that outside of Padmé, the one person that Anakin felt attachment for was Ahsoka. In life, he couldn't save the one he loved from death. In death, he was given a second chance to save the person he cared for most, and he finally succeeded." Oof, right?

This is just a snippet of the many, many interpretations of that scene, and it seems like showrunner Dave Filoni plans to leave this one up to the viewers to decide. Elsewhere, we’ve delved into the other big moments of episode 5, the introduction of a young Ahsoka, cameo from a Clone Wars character, a reference to Luke Skywalker, a subtle outfit Easter egg, a clue that Anakin may also come back, and a Leia Organa reference. For more on Ahsoka, here are our guides: