Ahsoka’s Ritual of Temptation
“Every choice you have made has led you to this moment.”
Woven like a dark, leathery thread through the films of the Original Trilogy, the Prequels, the Clone Wars series, and the Sequel Trilogy, is a recurring dramatic singularity of decision and dramatic tension that I’ll refer to as the Ritual of Temptation. It is an initiatory rite, peculiar to the Star Wars saga while partaking of the broader theme of Initiation within the storytelling arc of the Hero’s Journey monomyth, famously championed by Joseph Campbell and his apprentice George Lucas. And the essence of the Ritual of Temptation can be imagined as the opening quote to an episode of The Clone Wars… if it had been written and directed by a Sith:
I. Jedi & Sith: Different Ends, Similar Means
The clip below, from S2E3 of The Clone Wars, depicts a pivotal moment, both for the saga and for Ahsoka. Here we see three seasoned Jedi, two of them Jedi Masters, using the Force to interrogate a very strong-willed individual, the notorious bounty hunter and Jedi nemesis Cad Bane. By the end of the brief session they have shattered his will, and he’s willing to give them whatever they want.
This is pivotal because, up until this point, we’ve been told that the Jedi “mind trick” only works on the weak-willed, essentially nudging them into compliance and doing no real harm (Obi-Wan vs. Stormtroopers in Episode IV, Luke vs. Bib Fortuna in Episode VI, etc). But here for the first time we see proof that that wasn’t always the case; and what these three Jedi do is no different from what Kylo Ren does to Rey (and Poe) in Episode VII.
The only difference is in their respective goals: in the case of Kylo vs. Rey, the interrogator was seeking to exact lethal revenge on Luke and destroy the Resistance’s best hope for victory. In the case of Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Windu vs. Cad Bane, the interrogators were seeking to save Force-sensitive younglings from the tender mercies of a Sith Lord. If the ends differ but the means are the same, then the ends justifies the means.
While we already knew this about the Sith and all those who follow the dark side, this is a bombshell revelation for the Jedi, particularly as it comes not in service to the Republic Senate, the perennial source of conflict with the Jedi mandate to act as keepers of the peace, but specifically in service to the Jedi themselves. Now, perhaps saving younglings from corruption or destruction by a Sith lord is a special case, warranting such extreme measures. But either way, we feel appropriately uncomfortable at what we see being done by our heroes, and that’s due in no small part to the sole person embodying a conscience in that scene: a teenaged Togruta Padawan casting a concerned look at her superiors while they engage in what she clearly recognizes as torture.
Ahsoka is not only Anakin’s conscience (and thus later Vader’s, which is why he tries very hard to kill her), she’s also the conscience of the entire Jedi order, particularly after quite literally playing the role of the Biblical scapegoat in the Wrong Jedi arc which results in her leaving the order. Because even after she’s exonerated, the Jedi still try to excuse themselves by claiming that it was all for her benefit and that this was her trial to knighthood. The ends justifies the means.
Having seen her superiors engaging in it, much to her distaste, and having been on the receiving end of it, it’s very difficult to imagine the ends ever justifying the means for Ahsoka. She is the ultimate lightsider idealist, willing to die before doing anything that will take her to the dark side.
II. Maul the Tempter
This brings us to the final story arc of The Clone Wars, and her offer from Maul to help him destroy Darth Sidious (S7E10). Now, finally, after seeing the way her character has been tested and molded for five seasons of the series, she is presented with the ultimate test of her resolve not to allow the ends to justify the means.
“Every choice you have made has led you to this moment,” Maul says to her. In being asked to join with a darksider in order to take out Sidious, she is presented with her own Ritual of Temptation, the very same temptation, focused on the very same person, we’ve seen thrice previously:
- Obi-Wan by Darth Tyranus in Episode II;
- Anakin by the Son in S3E17 of The Clone Wars;
- and Luke by Darth Vader in Episode V.
The substance of all three is the same: join me, and together we can destroy Darth Sidious.
All the while the battle between Ahsoka’s clone unit and Maul’s Mandalorian super commandos intensifies just outside, each faction painted in the colors of their respective commander, as if to underscore the stakes of the seemingly calm interaction between Ahsoka and Maul. And that’s characteristic of the Ritual of Temptation: it wouldn’t be tempting if it didn’t appeal to calm, collected, quotidian logic, which cannot happen while the participants are locked in battle.
The hapless clones are shown clearly losing ground to Maul’s Mandos amid blaster plasma and explosions. Time slows down, and we know we have entered a realm outside of the ordinary, further carried by the haunting musical score at this moment. We know we’ve entered ritual space, where the destinies of individuals and civilizations are decided.
Suddenly the window separating the participants of the ritual from the battle outside bursts inward, as if the outcomes of both confrontations are now far more intimately intertwined (which, of course… they are), and in that glass-shattered, fire-embered moment, in which the fate of the galaxy itself teeters, Ahsoka’s single sentence falls like an extinction-level meteor strike: “I will help you.”
Contrary to Luke, contrary to Obi-Wan, but, perhaps unsurprisingly, in tragic agreement with Anakin, here the hero gives her assent to the designs of the villain, and furthermore, in that moment, joining with Maul as the means to oppose and destroy Sidious seems entirely justified to us. Which means we, the viewer, have fallen prey to the temptation of justifying the means by its ends; we’ve failed at the Ritual of Temptation. Despite knowing what we know, we think she’d be a fool to say no: at least try to stop Sidious. Thus is the expectation of the moment very successfully and thoroughly subverted, all in keeping with the diabolically flawless logic of the temptation. That is, until she imposes her condition, the answer to one simple question: “What do you want with Anakin Skywalker?”
“He is the key… to everything,” Maul says, without even realizing how true that is, in that moment, for Ahsoka. Anakin, or more specifically her love for him, is Ahsoka’s key to pass through her present trial.
III. Triumph at the Edge of Tragedy
Anakin was also key to Luke’s passage through his second Ritual of Temptation. Sith logic, paradoxically both perverse and compelling, is nowhere better exemplified than when Sidious puts himself in the line of fire to achieve his dark ends, as he does with Luke at the climax of Episode VI.
Lest we forget, Luke also said “yes” to the designs of the tempter (in this case, Sidious himself), when, after being told, “Strike me down with all of your hatred, and your journey towards the dark side will be complete,” Luke proceeds to do exactly that: he Force-pulls his lightsaber into his hand, and attempts to kill Sidious in the heat of the moment, finally overcome by the spectacle of his friends and allies in the Rebellion being killed en masse. Like Ahsoka, Luke initially fails the test.
He further cements his failure later when his father goads him into attacking him in anger by threatening to turn Leia to the dark side. Fully charged in the dark side by his anger, Luke attacks and proceeds to relentlessly pummel Vader, slicing off his prosthetic saber-wielding hand, until he’s finally standing darkly triumphant over his prostrate opponent, ready to deliver the killing blow: both to his father, and to his ambitions of staying in the light. The act of patricide as the conclusion to the Ritual of Temptation would have sealed Luke’s fate.
However in that moment it is Anakin who saves his son from the precipice, simply by Luke’s love for him, just as Ahsoka’s love for Anakin pulls her back from her pact with Maul.
Tossing aside his lightsaber, Luke turns the tables on Sidious, puts himself in the line of fire, making of himself a sacrificial lamb rather than giving into the dark side, and tells Sidious curtly: “You’ve failed your highness. I am a Jedi, like my father before me,” with a gesture towards the black-armor clad monstrosity lying defeated behind him.
Likewise, Ahsoka’s hatred for the Sith is ultimately outweighed, tragically and poetically, by her love for Anakin. And it’s precisely this love which the calculating Maul has disastrously miscalculated: “I know Anakin. Your vision is flawed” — all said to the soundtrack of two blue lightsabers being ignited, the same ones newly renovated by Anakin. And thus, the battle is joined, the clash of red and blue plasma blades marking the end of the ritual.
Though Luke disarms himself and Ahsoka does the opposite, both ultimately pass their trials by committing to their initial respective mandates: Luke, to redeem his father, which he can only do by putting himself in the line of fire, thus calling on the last remaining bit of love in Anakin in order to defend him and kill Sidious; and Ahsoka, to capture or kill Maul, the scourge of Mandalore.
The love for her friend and mentor is what snaps Ahsoka out of the temporary delusion that helping Maul would serve any purpose other than Maul’s own ambitions. And in case she had any lingering doubts, she is further disabused of any integrity with Maul’s intentions after witnessing him casually casting aside his previous ally Gar Saxon.
IV. Togruta Triumphant
Ahsoka has seen first-hand what the dark side is made of: treachery, deceit, and lust for power; all for which the ends will ever justify the means. She got a taste of this first-hand thanks to the devious maneuvering of the Son, the embodiment of the dark side and the very same person who caused her master’s momentary downfall on Mortis. The Son “infected” her with the dark side and enslaved her for a while — a sufficiently long while for her to have tried to kill both Anakin and Obi-Wan. “Thanks but no,” are what her actions fairly yell at Maul. Ahsoka would rather die than betray her principles, just like Luke, who catalyzed the redemption of the same man who catalyzed Ahsoka’s safe passage through the Ritual of Temptation.
For Ahsoka, just as for Luke, there can be no compromise with those things that oppose her ideals, and she passes through her trial, perhaps not completely cleanly, perhaps not without some regret — like her master’s future son. But then, what has made her such a compelling character all along is her vulnerability even as she never backed down from doing what she knew was right. For Ahsoka, the ends will never justify the means.
