Star Wars: Ahsoka Episode 4 “Fallen Jedi” on Disney+ ends with a humdinger of a cliffhanger that directly ties to one of the most iconic episodes of Star Wars Rebels ever, Star Wars Rebels Season 4 Episode 13 “A World Between Worlds.” Understanding where Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) finds herself after her face-off with Baylan Skoll (Ray Stevenson) is not only key to the mystery surrounding the disappearance of one Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi) and the villainous Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen), but also helps clarify how it is that Ahsoka reunites with a long-dead mentor from the past.
**Spoilers for Ahsoka Episode 4 “Fallen Jedi,” now streaming on Disney+**
Star Wars: Ahsoka Episode 4 “Fallen Jedi” ends with echoes of Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back. That is, the bad guys win. Ahsoka Tano loses her duel to fallen Jedi Baylan Skoll, leaving her apprentice Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) with the difficult choice to either destroy the map to Ezra and Thrawn or give it to Baylan. Baylan Skoll uses his powers of persuasion to appeal to Sabine, noting they have common goals — to find Ezra/Thrawn — and that the situation need not devolve into violence. In a shot that echoes Darth Vader (David Prowse/James Earl Jones) offering his hand to his son Luke (Mark Hamill) at the end of Empire, Baylan extends his hand to Sabine and Sabine puts the star map in it. Soon Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto) is firing up the Eye of Scion and hurrying across the universe to Thrawn. Baylan destroys the map with his orange lightsaber, telling Sabine that no one will follow them. Or will they?
The final scene in Star Wars: Ahsoka Episode 4 doesn’t just reunite Ahsoka Tano with Anakin Skywalker, but with the World Between Worlds. Ahsoka has been to this odd netherworld before and knows, as Ezra Bridger does, its awesome powers to bend time, space, and even the physical limits of the Cosmic Force. So what exactly is the World Between Worlds in Star Wars? How can Anakin be alive there? And what does it mean for the future of Star Wars: Ahsoka? Here’s what you need to know about the World Between Worlds in Star Wars…
What is the World Between Worlds in Star Wars? Ahsoka Episode 4 Ending Explained
Ready for some hippy-dippy, timey-whimey, hard-to-explain Star Wars lore? Good. Because Dave Filoni brought the “World Between Worlds” to live action this week.
The World Between Worlds first appears towards the end of Star Wars Rebels Season 4. In Star Wars Rebels Season 4 Episode 12 “Wolves and a Door,” Ezra, Sabine, Hera, and their Rebel friends discover that the Empire is attempting to open a gateway in an old Jedi Temple on Lothal. Using the Force, Ezra is able to open this door and finds himself in a mysterious nexus of time and space in the fittingly titled Star Wars Rebels Season 4 Episode 13 “A World Between Worlds.”
The World Between Worlds looks like a great void full of gateways made of light, connected by paths and bridges also made of light. In Star Wars Rebels, Ezra encounters a Convor (a green Force-sensitive owl creature that is the symbol of Ahsoka) who leads him to a portal to Ahsoka’s last duel with Darth Vader. Ezra pulls Ahsoka out of danger just as Vader’s killing blow falls, thus saving Ahsoka Tano’s life. The two realize that they can access any important moment in time and space through this realm. Ezra wants to save his master Kanan Jarrus (Freddie Prinze Jr.), but Ahsoka talks him out of it. The two eventually return to the last points in which they lived and Ezra soon disappears with Thrawn.
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Okay, so that’s the long explanation. Basically, Ahsoka has woken up in a magical place that can take her anywhere and anytime she wants to go. Meaning, she doesn’t need a map to follow Morgan Elsbeth, Baylan Skoll, and Sabine Wren across the universe to meet Ezra and Thrawn. That’s the importance of the World Between Worlds.
So how does Anakin Skywalker factor in??
How Does Anakin Skywalker Appear at the End of Ahsoka Episode 4?
You might be thinking, “Isn’t Anakin Skywalker dead?” And yes, he is. So what is he doing at the end of Star Wars: Ahsoka Episode 4?
The way we see it, there are two explanations for Anakin’s appearance. One is that Anakin secretly found the World Between Worlds sometime before he fell to the Dark Side and has just been hanging out here, waiting for a cameo in Star Wars: Ahsoka. That would not only be a major retcon, but it also doesn’t make sense. Young Anakin quite simply would not have the patience to wait around for an older version of his apprentice.
The other, more likely, explanation is one that Ahsoka Tano herself comes up with in Star Wars Rebels. When Ezra wonders aloud about all the coincidences that led him to the World Between Worlds, it all circles back to his deceased master, Kanan Jarrus. Ahsoka explains that Kanan is now part of the Cosmic Force, ergo he can still find ways to influence the living. With that in mind, it makes sense that the deceased soul of Anakin has found its way via the Cosmic Force to this place to guide his former apprentice. You know, like how Obi-Wan Kenobi (Sir Alec Guinness) would show up for Luke.
Of course, this is all speculation, but it’s rooted in what we know about this mysterious realm from Star Wars Rebels Season 4 Episode 13 “A World Between Worlds,” which is also streaming now on Disney+.
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