Star Wars: Choosing Your Own Destiny

How Ahsoka and The Bad Batch break free from their pasts and find their own paths forward.

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One of the things that I’ve loved about Star Wars stories is their persistent questioning of who the characters believe themselves to be. Is Luke a Jedi or will he fall to the Dark Side? Is Vader a redeemable father or a monstrous machine? Is Anakin the chosen one or a talented and dangerous man? Is Din (the Mandalorian) a Bounty Hunter or a father (lots of fathers in this universe)? This has always been true, and it continues into more recent stories like the Ahsoka show and The Bad Batch. Specifically, these shows deal with individuals who struggle to believe they are more than just soldiers.

Looking at the Ahsoka show, Ahsoka is traumatized from so many things. She grew up on the battlefield, she was kicked out of the Jedi Order and framed for murder, her Master turned into a Sith Lord and plunged the universe into chaos and attempted to murder her. She’s watched so many of the people around her perish as ordinary people in the galaxy embraced fascism and hate. By the time the show begins, Ahsoka isn’t the cheerful and optimistic person she once was. She’s scared.

Her fear manifests in her abandonment of her own Padawan, Sabine. When Sabine’s world is destroyed by the Empire along with her family, Ahsoka decides to walk away from her training, fearing that a trained Sabine might become what Ahsoka’s Master became. That fear shows an even deeper fear though: the fear that Ahsoka can only teach someone how to be a warrior.

In the World Between Worlds where she speaks with Anakin, Ahsoka questions her future role as a teacher. She wonders “Is that all I’ll have to teach my own Padawan someday, how to fight?” And when Anakin says she is a warrior, just like he trained her to be, Ahsoka replies, “Is that all?” At that point, Ahsoka is scared of who Anakin was. He was a warrior and used his power to create and maintain the Empire. If Ahsoka passes on her knowledge and her training to an emotionally devastated Sabine mourning the loss of her family, is she only capable of giving Sabine the knowledge of how to wage war and destroy? The titular “Shadow Warrior” is Ahsoka’s fear of who she is and what she has to contribute to the universe. She’s afraid that all she is is a warrior, and that her teachings can only lead to others being a warrior as well. Only in the World Between Worlds does she start to see that Anakin was more than just a soldier, more than just Darth Vader, and that Ahsoka is more than that too.

The Bad Batch grapples with some similar ideas, though in a different way. The clones of Clone Force 99 aren’t necessarily afraid that they are only capable of being soldiers, but they’re unsure of how to be anything different. When the Republic becomes the Empire and everything is changing, Crosshair decides to stick with the Empire and play the role of soldier while the other members of the squad find a new person to take orders and conduct missions for. They all fall back on their identities as soldiers and remain stuck in who they were told they were.

And then, a pirate enters their lives and brings the squad (minus Crosshair) to a far away planet with an island city. The pirate reveals she isn’t really a pirate, but someone who collects artifacts from cultures that were forced to relocate to the island city because of the Empire. She and the people who run the city are taking care of refugees and giving them a safe place to start a new life. The members of the Bad Batch had discussed moving away from the soldiering life, but they never really managed to break free. Once they’re on the island, however, the possibility of settling down and letting Omega have a normal childhood begins to seem like a real possibility.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t quite work out. Tech is killed and Omega is captured along with Crosshair, and the others need to rescue them. The third season just premiered yesterday (at the time of writing this), so we don’t know if the Batch will manage to retire as soldiers completely. Though, I think, the argument could be made that they have already proven themselves to be more than soldiers.

Throughout the show, our heroes have their beliefs and ideologies challenged. They’re still fighting and going on missions, but I’d argue that, like Ahsoka and Anakin, they are more than just soldiers. They follow orders, sure, but they also begin to understand when and why questions should be ordered. We see them fail a fair few missions, first for the Empire when they are told to go after Saw Garrera, and then for Sid. And it isn’t because they aren’t capable — no one is more capable than this specific squad — but because they are able to discern when completing the mission isn’t the most important thing going on, or might even be the wrong thing. They’re past the point where they believe that “good soldiers follow orders,” and I hope we get to a point in season 3 where they all can settle down for good and find lives outside of war. I think Hunter would make an excellent guide for a guided hike and wilderness survival. Honestly, now that I think about it, the Batch should absolutely run a camp with adventure courses and stuff. Omega can run the ropes course and teambuilding exercises, Crosshair can grumpily manage the archery range, Wrecker would be excellent out on the dock overseeing fishing and water recreation, Tech would lead the arts and crafts and science based activities, and Echo would be the principal/support and make sure everything is running smoothly.

All of these characters, Ahsoka and Clone Force 99, have had plenty of soldiering experience, but that isn’t the entirety of who they are. They are more than soldiers. They are kind, they build communities and take care of people. Ahsoka leads Sabine to discovering that she too can wield the Force, and ultimately helps bring Ezra back home after ten years. She has inspired so many people to fight back against the Empire. The Bad Batch has rescued countless innocents from the Empire and brought families back together. Sure, they are amazing fighters, but that isn’t what makes them all amazing. It is their compassion for others and the ways in which they contribute to making a safer, kinder, and more accepting galaxy that makes them awesome. It’s taking these characters a while to see that, but I’m hopeful that by the end of their respective shows, they will all arrive at a happier, peaceful place.

I’m so excited to see what Ahsoka season 2 and The Bad Batch season 3 will contribute to these already incredible stories!

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed. Consider checking out my podcast, “Determination, Deliberation, and Dragons.” My friends and I workshop original stories, analyze books and films, and interview authors and other creative people.