Alright, I'm going to try my hand at divination using Dave Filoni's Artist Series cards as my tarot. Would I rather have Ahsoka's blood and spittle in a cup that I could mix with tea leaves? Well, yeah, but that's just being absurd...anyway, come with me as I follow Ahsoka into oblivion and back out the wolf-ringed other side...what will we find on our journey? That remains to be seen, but, whether you're on team #AhsokaLives or #ShesDeadGetOverIt (I don't even think that's a thing), this should prove to be an adventure not to be missed...
Vision of the Past
The first four cards show us a glimpse of what happens after the temple is sealed and Ahsoka is left alone with her old master, mentor, and friend - someone she still cares for a great deal, despite what he's become (which, in my opinion, is, in at least some small part, because of her). We see her taking a triangular (a common theme) defensive position, ready to defend herself, but not necessarily looking to go on the offensive. In Vader we see the part of Anakin that still remains obscured by a vision of a slighter Ahsoka descending a set of stairs; not the stairs we see her traveling later in the cards, but the stairs away from the Jedi Temple where she abandoned him. He doesn't remember her fondly in that moment, there's no twinkle of redemption, this is a Vader that can only see a traitor, someone who not only turned her back on him and the Jedi, but now fights alongside those that oppose him. Moving on, we see Vader, I believe, with his back turned, already walking away, already having accomplished his goal, and Ahsoka is looking up, perhaps noticing the convor, understanding her fate is sealed, and resolving to follow this sign to whatever lies beyond...lastly in what I consider the first section, we see Vader looking back at the smoldering, ruined temple, perhaps finally allowing himself a moment of reflection, but I'd wager savoring his triumph - maybe longing to feel that kind of closure with Obi-wan. If you look closely, you can see a convor in the rising smoke, which could be a metaphor for Ahsoka soaring into the Force, or it could just be the same bird she follows into the next section, and Vader doesn't even see it...
Led to the Underworld
On the next card, we see the flip side of the last image of the ex-padawan we see in the finale: Ahsoka going through the triangular doorway, about to descend the opposite of the "Stairway to Heaven," the steps to the underworld. Once she gets to the bottom, yet another triangular doorway opens into what seems to be a vast space that shouldn't exist under the temple...probably because she's no longer actually under the temple. I believe from the point she disappears into the doorway, she's no longer on a physical journey, but a spiritual one. And I don't mean spiritual in that she's going to become an actual spirit and appear as a Force ghost, but spiritual in that she's becoming a part of the Living Force, moving from one plane of existence to another. I imagine the water that awaits her as the ocean of the Force; under normal circumstances she would just lie back and drift off with the current, but she has a guide, her convor, and a path laid out for her. She's not to simply become part of the Force, but a specific part, a gap left unfilled, a destiny that's been handed to her. The convor is her Charon, and, as he ferries souls across the river Styx to the land of the dead, so too is Ahsoka guided through the ocean of the Force (
or through the greater Oceanus from Greek mythology) on a winding, river-like path (
like that of Styx, the daughter of Oceanus) to her ultimate destination. As she wades through the path, she is cleansed of all that she was as Ahsoka, baptized, so to speak, by the Force to be reborn as the daughter, to take the place left vacant on Mortis.
Ahsoka Lives...sort of...
Okay, all you #AhsokaLives people, before you go crazy on me and call me four-letter words, let me remind you of something Yoda once said: "Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force. Mourn them do not. Miss them do not." Yes, I do think the Ahsoka you knew and loved is dead, but I think on some level she's kind of been dead since the Mortis arc, and has been living on borrowed time until she had to take the place of the daughter...anyway, as for the last three cards, we see Ahsoka wading through a (yet again) triangular-shaped path toward what looks to be the "light at the end of the tunnel." Notice also that the convor is no longer leading her from afar, but almost directly above her, as if she's realized her destiny and doesn't require further guidance. On the next card, we see the last triangular reference as an upside down triangle of light, representing the path she followed, bleeds into the stairs leading up to her final destination. That the journey goes back up is significant, I think, because it betrays the idea that she's simply gone to the underworld; on the contrary, she's come through the underworld and back out the other side. At the top of the stairs, we see that the exit is not a sharp, pointed, triangular doorway, but a smooth circle with all sides equidistant, everything in balance. A large part of me wants to say that the wolves probably have little meaning aside from further evidence of Dave Filoni's obsession, but that might be too simple. That they appear to be chasing each other around the circle does invoke an idea of perpetual motion, everything coming around again, the galaxy at large being nothing but a wheel that keeps spinning the same yarn over and over...or maybe Dave really just couldn't draw ten cards without including wolves somehow...anyway, I think this is the last time we'll see Ahsoka as Ahsoka; once she passes through the circle, she'll be the daughter, bringing balance back to one part of the Force just as Vader and the Emperor continue to tip the scales in their direction...
So, yeah, that's what I think. TLDR version: Ahsoka is dead, but has become the Daughter of Mortis in the Force after a journey through a sort of "underworld." What do you guys think? Did I nail it, or, as usual, are my crackpot theories so out of touch you're not even sure I've ever seen or read anything to do with Star Wars? (I assure you that's not the case, just by the by...) Did you come up with a different reading when you looked at the cards? If so, what'd you see? Is it in a completely different direction, or was the broad theme of the underworld similar? (Not sure how it couldn't be, that part seems blatantly obvious...which is maybe too obvious...) Anyway, I'd love to hear what other fans think of the cards and what they might mean for Ahsoka, so please give them a solid stare and let me know what you come up with in the comments. Hopefully we can get some good discussion going because I think this is a pretty intriguing way to release Star Wars information, especially about such a hot topic as Ahsoka's fate...oh, and while you're thinking things over, may the Force be with you...
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