Lil thread on thoughts about #TheMandalorian Chapter 13.

Ahsoka provides a complex double-edged sword re: emotions & the Jedi. On the one hand she is still reeling from Anakin falling to the dark side because of his (toxic) love for Padmé. 1/

Anakin was her father figure, her teacher & her friend. She knows the Jedi are flawed in terms of the council & what they did to both her & Anakin, and the role they played in pushing Anakin to seek ways to protect Padmé. This ofc comes from his separation from his mother. 2/

The original sin of SW is the separation of Anakin from Shmi (the feminine). This made him feel inadequate because he couldn’t protect her, which causes him to love Padmé in a toxic, possessive way, and make him determined to do anything to save her. Ahsoka knows this by now. 3/

So naturally she’s wary of separating Din & Yodito. Not necessarily because she believes emotion = bad (the fatal flaw of the Jedi) but because she knows the damage that can be done by separating a child from its parent for the sake of training them in the ways of the force. 4/

It can lead to fear of abandonment (ie. Din’s lone wolf existence, if you don’t let anyone get close to you, they can’t hurt you by leaving) & to projecting that separation trauma onto others & clinging to them in damaging ways (ie. Anakin’s unhealthy way of loving Padmé) 5/

Separating Anakin from Shmi is the fatal wound that sets Anakin on his path to darkness. It could have been avoided if Qui Gon had been able to be the father figure he needed but instead the Jedi council’s stance on attachment forced Anakin to keep his love for Padmé a secret 6/

Thus forcing it further into the shadows/darkness.

When first faced with the decision of whether to take Yodito Grogu from Din & train him, her instinct is fear. Because of Anakin. She doesn’t want to take that risk or have that responsibility. Which is understandable. 7/

From what Ahsoka tells us we know that Yodito’s obviously been through much trauma already. She doesn’t want to give him more by taking him from Din, the only person who has made him feel safe. That way darkness lies. I think that’s what she’s saying in this moment 8/

NOT that attachment = bad. But that her experiences have taught her that BREAKING attachments = bad.

This is further confirmed by what she says at the end. She (a feminine force user) is the first person to use the word “father” to describe Din’s relationship with Yodito. 9/

She offers a compromise that allows Yodito to decide what HE wants to do, instead of the Jedi deciding for him, as they did for Anakin when they separated him from Shmi. She first illustrates the old, flawed Jedi way of thinking & then offers a new way, the Middle Path. 10/

TL;DR

By refusing to separate Yodito (a child) from his parent (Din) Ahsoka is attempting to heal the original sin/wound of SW (Anakin’s separation from Shmi) —which many of us wanted TROS to do via Ben & Leia — and provide a new Middle Path. It’s beautiful & I love it. 11/11