Ahsoka’s Jedi apprentice isn’t like any we’ve seen before

The Jedi are a pretty cut-and-dried group in the Star Wars universe. While everyone else is happy to find ways to bend the rules, the Jedi follow the letter of the law — often to the galaxy’s general detriment, which is exactly why Ahsoka Tano called it quits on the Order. And while she may be older and wiser now than she was then, her new TV series shows that she’s still willing to shake things up. Very quietly and unexpectedly, the first episodes of Star Wars: Ahsoka are making the whole concept of a Jedi’s apprentice more interesting.

[Ed. note: This story contains spoilers for Ahsoka episodes 1 and 2.]

We learn quite a bit about several familiar characters in the first two episodes of Ahsoka, but the most interesting revelation is that Ahsoka took Sabine Wren in as an apprentice after the events of Star Wars Rebels. Since then, the two have had a very minor falling out — which led to the temporary end of Sabine’s training — but by the end of episode 2, they’re back together as master and apprentice.

A young and talented Star Wars character becoming a Jedi isn’t anything to write home about, but a couple of different things about Sabine make her training unique. First of all, she’s much older than traditional trainees, especially those Ahsoka would have been used to seeing. Second, and far more importantly, she doesn’t seem to have any connection to the Force.

A Jedi, in training or otherwise, who can’t use the Force is almost unthinkable in the old hierarchy of the Jedi Order. It’s also something that neither the original trilogy nor the sequel trilogy of films showed us. If Sabine is really training to be a Jedi — and why would Ahsoka be training her to be anything else? — then she would be an entirely new type of Jedi for the on-screen Star Wars universe.

Image: Lucasfilm

Rogue One did give us a couple of characters who believed in the Force but didn’t have a connection to it in Baze and Chirrut, but as Guardians of the Whills, they weren’t directly connected to the Jedi Order. And while they do believe in the Jedi’s philosophy, it’s more like a religion to practice than an organization to participate in.

But if Sabine really is going to be a new type of Jedi — one who can’t use the Force but is capable with a lightsaber and out to do good by the galaxy — then who better than Ahsoka to bring her into the fold?

Dedicated fans may remember that Ahsoka herself left the Jedi Order while she was under the tutelage of Anakin Skywalker during the Clone Wars. Ahsoka, always a hardheaded kid and a rebel, often balked at the Order’s rules, and eventually sought her own path to decency and oneness with the Force. This kind of disagreement with Jedi tradition is exactly what could prompt Ahsoka to do away with the old rules and take on a Force-less padawan.

Of course, there’s still a possibility that the series will eventually reveal that Sabine is actually Force sensitive and has been this whole time, but that would be a shame. Then again, deciding that everyone has the Force and every main character was born special is also the most Rise of Skywalker option possible, so it shouldn’t be counted out. Until then, however, it’s a very exciting place for a show to start.