Does Ahsoka Ever Return to the Jedi Order? Is she a Gray Jedi?

As one of the rare Jedis who walked away from the Order and still remained good, Ahsoka Tano’s story is as complicated as it is inspiring.

It was in The Clone Wars season 5 finale, “The Wrong Jedi”, that the Togruta warrior and Anakin Skywalker’s Padawan Ahsoka Tano abandons her Jedi life for good.

After she is wrongly accused of a terror attack on the Jedi Temple, her faith in the Order is shaken down to its roots. She finally sees through their dogmatic ways and declines the offer to return despite being proven innocent.

Ahsoka is so strong in her conviction that even her quick-tempered master, Anakin Skywalker, fails to change her mind.

In what is one of the most heart-wrenching scenes in the franchise, Ahsoka walks away from the Jedi High Council as well as Anakin, who we know is going to turn soon, to build a life separate from the Jedi.

The next time we see Ahsoka is in Star Wars Rebels’ season 1 finale, nearly a decade after the events of The Clone Wars since Disney cancels another Clone Wars season.

Some of the time she spent as a non-Jedi has since been highlighted, until the revived Clone Wars season 7 finally gives us what her life really looked like.

We find out that she has been living like a Jedi albeit much less glamorous and still in refusal of identifying as one.

By the end of Rebels, the inciting incident of Kanan’s sacrifice rouses hope in her fans that Ahsoka finally has a change of heart.

Or maybe her fight with Vader in Rebels and subsequent guilt of leaving Anakin weak and undefended against the Sith, could inspire her to become a Jedi again.

Or, of course, she might not and remain just a fabulous Force-sensitive warrior who chose to leave the orthodox Jedi ways behind. Walking the Gray Jedi path instead.

No, we don’t know if Ahsoka ever returns to the Jedi Order. All the speculation arose of course after we heard Ahsoka’s voice with all the dead afterlife Jedi in the Rise of Skywalker.

It is this scene mainly which leads us to suspect that she was veering back toward the Jedi path between her years of returning to Malachor in Rebels to the events of the Rise of Skywalker.

But we don’t know for sure. Hopefully, there’s a new Ahsoka spin-off in the future to give us some answers!

1. Why does Ahsoka quit the Jedi?

We first met Ahsoka as Anakin Skywalker’s Padawan in the Star Wars spin-off The Clone Wars. Set in the years between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, the series showed us what a great team Anakin and Ahsoka made.

They won several battles and brought a positive influence on each other’s lives. While Ahsoka learnt the importance of having a good leader from Anakin, the latter learned to become more responsible.

However, as fate would have it, Ahsoka leaves the Jedi Order in Clone Wars Season 5 after the Jedi Council accuse her for bombing the Jedi Temple, expel her and even issue orders to execute her.

A furious Anakin manages to prove his Padawan’s innocence and finds the real perpetrator. The Council then withdraws its charges and offers Ahsoka to return to the Order but Ahsoka is already disillusioned with the Order.

Ahsoka was unable to believe the group that raised her in the highest principles know to the world, could give her up so easily and decided to leave altogether. Even Anakin wanting her to stay was not enough to change the young Togruta’s mind.

However, it still takes a whole other courage to ditch a group as powerful as the Jedi. Especially since every time a Jedi has decided to make it on their own, either they were killed or had fallen to the dark side.

But the fact that Ahsoka does not leave in anger at the Jedi way itself, and only at the Council, she finds a way to not fall to the temptations of the dark ways of the Force.

In fact, it is one of the main things which make her one of the most powerful Jedi ever.

2. Does Ahsoka continue to live like a Jedi?

In the final season of The Clone Wars, episode 5, “Gone With A Trace” wastes no time in bringing Ahsoka back into the story. She flies right out of the lower levels of Coruscant – particularly level 1313 – on a run-down speeder.

Upon crash landing, she meets Trace Martez, a mechanic who’s down on her cash. Their conversation is what reveals more about what Ahsoka has been up to. Unsurprisingly, her life has not been as glamorous as it once was.

In a world stricken with crime and poverty on the mysterious level 1313 of Coruscant, Ahsoka had been struggling to make ends meet. Her speeder was run down and her financial situation in shambles.

Trying to establish a life apart from the only one she ever knew had not been easy. The details are scarce but we get the general idea that she had been trying to reinvent herself – not only for her safety but to distance herself from her Jedi past.

She, however, does still keep up with Jedi habits. She meditates, is very strong in the Force, and her fighting has only improved.

She watches old videos of Anakin’s teachings and teaches Kanan, a Force sensitive she decides to train, a thing or two as well. She is basically a Jedi through and through but doesn’t accept that title.

Next, let’s jump to Ahsoka in Star Wars Rebels. By the time Ahsoka made her Star Wars Rebels debut, about 15 years had passed since she left the Jedi Order in The Clone Wars.

She had begun working for the Rebellion under the name “Fulcrum”, carrying lightsabers while acting more or less in accordance with her Jedi upbringing.

But Rebels also gives us the chilling scene when a vengeful Ahsoka explicitly says to Darth Vader “I am no Jedi” when told that “revenge is not the Jedi way.”

After we are told like a thousand times through the series, we know Ahsoka is definitely not a Jedi. But then what is she exactly?

She is acting like a Jedi, working like a Jedi, dealing with people like a Jedi, still Force sensitive and training in its ways – so is she a Gray Jedi?

3. Is Ahsoka a Gray Jedi?

For those unaware, a Gray Jedi is a Force user who is as powerful as a Sith, but with all the teachings, morality and honor of a Jedi.

Gray Jedi are most prominent in Star Wars video games of course, where the player is allowed to use both the light and dark sides of the Force. The classic Knights of the Old Republic series is most notable for its use of Gray Jedi.

Gray Jedi have also appeared in other Legends material, such as books and comics. In fact, some say the Sequel Trilogy has tried to introduce the concept of Gray Jedi and that Rey is essentially one too.

As for the older canon, we also have the example of Qui-Gon Jinn who was called a Gray Jedi for his tendency to act against the Council’s wishes.

It was Qui-Gon Jinn who brought a young Anakin to the Jedi Order, despite being refused permission to train the orphan.

That is also how we can say Ahsoka Tano could be called a Gray Jedi as she left the Jedi ways but still followed a path of good.

While she has always wanted to be ethical in her decision making, Ahsoka was no longer hindered by Jedi’s rules. Get the job done. Bend the rules if you have to, but refrain from violence.

That said, technically speaking, besides Rey, neither Rey nor Qui-Gon ever use the dark side of the Force, so they are not “true” Gray Jedi per se, but you get the point.

Ahsoka’s story definitely sets the tone for everything that was wrong with the Jedi Order. They had lost touch with reality, grown indifferent and insincere, and were unwilling to see the darker truths of life.

We better appreciate the concept of staying away from Jedi, as the Gray Jedis do, because of her.

4. Why’d Ahsoka want to return to Jedi?

As a young Padawan, Ahsoka had understandably idealised the Jedi Order. Any kind of weaknesses among the Jedis were unacceptable to her and she held these high standards as much for others as she did for herself.

For instance, unchecked emotions were unimaginable to Ahsoka, especially among fellow Jedis.

Which is why the actions of Barriss Offee, the friend who betrayed Ahsoka by setting her up for the attack on the Jedi Temple, were incomprehensible to the young Togruta.

It was not until she left the Order and met sisters Rafa and Trace in the netherworlds of Coruscant that she finally got an honest opinion of how the world perceived the Jedi.

Especially by the regular citizens whose lives were directly affected by the insincerity of the Council.

Which is why once the Council was dismantled, many believed Ahsoka could have returned to the Jedi Order.

Especially after the death of Kanan, who was like a Padawan to her, there is a very good possibility Ahsoka may have considered returning as a Jedi. But there are other reasons as well.

In Star Wars: Rebels, we first see Kanan sacrificing his life to protect his brethren and then his apprentice, Ezra, saving Ahsoka from being killed by Darth Vader.

Individually, these two events may not be of any significance but when put within hours of each other, are likely to have put immense pressure on Ahsoka to reconsider her life away from Jedi.

Especially since the duel with Darth Vader, aka her former master Anakin Skywalker, must have roused guilt in Ahsoka for abandoning her master when he needed her the most.

(What if she had stayed, could he have been saved from turning to the dark side?) She also learns that Luke and Leia are Anakin’s kids, which could have pulled her even more toward the Jedi path.

Star Wars: Rebels never explains what exactly Ahsoka did after going back to Malachor, but she does return in the epilogue of the series finale, looking a whole lot more mystical and Jedi-like.

She had been away from the rebels for about six years at this point, with her two or so on Malachor and the four of the original trilogy – giving her a lot of time for reflection!

So what do you think? Does Ahsoka return to the Jedi Order during this hiatus? Comment below and let us know.

5. About Star Wars

As the only apprentice of the Chosen One, Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka has slowly but surely carved a place for herself in the Star Wars franchise.

Despite not being featured in the canon films ever, the spin-off series Clone Wars and Rebels flesh out the character of the Togruta warrior Ahsoka Tano for us.

We first met Ahsoka as Anakin Skywalker’s Padawan in the Star Wars spin-off The Clone Wars. Set in the years between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, the series showed us what a great team Anakin and Ahsoka made.

They won several battles and brought a positive influence on each other’s lives. While Ahsoka learnt the importance of having a good leader from Anakin, the latter learned to become more responsible.

However, there were still some gaping holes her in story since the last season of the Clone Wars was cancelled by Disney. This season finally came out earlier this year and filled some of her story gaps.

Audiences finally knew how she spent her time since leaving the Jedi behind. Star Wars: The Clone Wars has thrust Ahsoka Tano back into the spotlight in season 7.