Was Anakin a Force Ghost in ‘Ahsoka’ Episode 5?

The events of episode 5 of ‘Ahsoka’ made us understand why there was a need for Anakin Skywalker to appear in the World Between Worlds when Ahsoka Tano was unconscious after losing to Baylan Skoll in their duel. Of course, we all know that Anakin is already dead, and this made fans wonder how Anakin appeared in ‘Ahsoka.’ So, was Anakin Skywalker a Force Ghost in the events of ‘Ahsoka’?

Anakin was likely a spirit or a vision created by the Force in the World Between Worlds, as he was already one with the Force. It is unlikely that he was a Force Ghost because Force Ghosts only manifest in the real world. As such, he was more likely a Force vision given life in the World Between Worlds.

The thing about the World Between Worlds is that there are a lot of questions regarding the nature of this realm, and it seems like Dave Filoni is willing to leave the questions unanswered to open more possibilities of what this plane of existence is capable of. As such, it is possible that its nature was what allowed Anakin to appear as a vision instead of as a ghost. Now, let’s consider whether Anakin was actually a Force Ghost in episode 5.

Anakin was the genuine article

First off, some people were also wondering whether or not this version of Anakin that they saw in episodes 4 and 5 of ‘Ahsoka’ was actually Anakin or if it’s just a version of him created by the Force through Ahsoka’s memory of him. After all, Anakin appeared as Ahsoka remembered him, and that meant that there was a possibility that the Force merely recreated him from her memories.

But what needs to be considered is that Anakin was the real deal and the genuine article. He was not just a figment of Ahsoka’s imagination or a creation of her memories. Instead, he was actually Anakin’s spirit, as he remembered what happened when he was Darth Vader. Clearly, this version of Anakin incorporated both the light and dark sides of the character, as the Force wanted Ahsoka to see him for who he was, including the bad sides.

Of course, Jacen Syndulla also heard the duel between Ahsoka and Anakin through the Force, and that means that whatever happened between the master-and-apprentice duo actually happened. So, this rules out any speculations that this was just happening in Ahsoka’s head and that Anakin was not real or was just an imagination that was produced by Ahsoka’s memories of him.

But the most important part is that Anakin didn’t appear as a Force Ghost in the World Between Worlds as he appeared human instead of the usual ghostly figures that we often see whenever someone becomes one with the Force.

This opens up the possibility that this version of Anakin was physical in nature and was not a ghost. We haven’t seen Force Ghosts doing anything physical, such as dueling with lightsabers or touching a living person. And that means that the version of Anakin that we saw in the World Between Worlds was not just a Force Ghost but actually a physical manifestation of the Chosen One himself.

The World Between Worlds made his return possible

As established, we believed that the Anakin Skywalker who appeared in the World Between Worlds was not just a simple Force Ghost but was actually a physical manifestation of the character. After all, he could duel with Ahsoka and even touch her a few times in the World Between Worlds. But how is that even possible?

Well, one of the things that we do know is that we don’t know much about the World Between Worlds and its very nature. In ‘Star Wars: Rebels,’ it was established that this world was a realm outside the normal confines of time and space because Ezra Bridger and Ahsoka Tano could peer into different events that happened in the past. As such, the notion back then was that the World Between Worlds was a space that allowed people to travel through time and space.

But in ‘Star Wars: The Secrets of the Sith,’ which is a 2021 novel, Emperor Palpatine once described the World Between Worlds as a conduit between life and death. This opens up the possibility that this world isn’t just a time machine but is actually a realm that exists well beyond time, space, life, and death. So, if that’s the case, it is possible that the Force created it as a realm that breaks all laws of physics and is beyond the reach of life and death.

That means that the Force could create a vision within the World Between Worlds and allow the dead to manifest as physical beings instead of the usual Force Ghosts that we often see in Star Wars. Considering that Anakin was already one with the Force after he died in ‘Return of the Jedi,’ the Force could manifest him in a world beyond life and death.

As such, Anakin Skywalker was a Force vision within the World Between Worlds as a physical being because anything seems possible in this realm. It is similar to the Force vision that Kanan Jarrus had about the Jedi Temple Guard version of the Grand Inquisitor. The Force allowed the spirits of these people to manifest in physical forms in worlds beyond life and death so that they could guide the characters involved.

On the other hand, in the real world outside the World Between Worlds, the concepts of life and death still apply, and that’s the reason why the dead could only return as Force Ghosts without any physical forms. But since such rules don’t apply in the World Between Worlds, those who have become one with the Force could manifest physical forms that are limited to that world, as when Anakin appeared before Ahsoka in the ‘Ahsoka’ series.

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